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7 Steps to Curb Waste at Campsites and Music Festivals

Courtesy Pinterest

It’s a conundrum for campers of all stripes. We want to get back to the outdoors and feel at one with Mother Nature. But when we break camp, do we leave behind more than a molehill of trash. It can be no small mountain of shame. Whether camping to take in the outdoors or a music festival, how can we curb consumption and waste and leave the site better than we found it?

It goes beyond the old adage, “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.” That’s been a warm and endearing mantra for years. Contrary to what Mr. McGuire told Dustin Hoffman’s Ben in The Graduate, plastics suck – especially when roadtripping. A frightening / sickening / maddening National Geographic report from a few years back noted that mankind has generated 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics in about six decades since its widespread introduction.

OK, we suck and have made short work of screwing up our precious planet. But what do we all do to curb waste – be less of a problem? Try these seven tips – and share what you’re doing beyond these…

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Cathartic or Chaotic, Finding Comfort Camping in Lousy Weather

Storm brews at Lockn Festival (courtesy Kris Hall)

Rain + Camping + Music festivals. Would you? There’s a fine line between the cathartic and chaotic qualities of rain. It can be about more than a couple of inches filling the rain gauge. It’s a feeling. Rain’s gently soothing ways, versus the ominous blackness of approaching clouds. The introspection of our greater place in it all, against the unnerving shrill of a weather alert blaring from your smartphone.

Though we may find pleasure in rain, sometimes, like dogs and other animals, you just know a storm is out there and shit’s about to go sideways. It’s instinctual, from back when early homo sapiens would scramble into their caves as the clouds loomed and the gods boomed in discontent. As those winds suddenly changed direction and the air turned cool, they just knew the heavens were angry. Today, campers among us head to the safety of the RV or the tent or the car. But the gut reaction is the same. Must. Seek. Shelter.

When camping in the woods or a music festival, are you prepared to weather any storm?

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On Your Own But Never ‘Alone’; Rollin’ Solo at Music Festivals, Camping

When I told my wife I would be traveling solo and camping alone at the Suwannee Roots Revival Music Festival in Live Oak, Fla., more than 350 miles and a six-hour tow from home, she wondered why I’d go alone. Wouldn’t the solitude and seclusion be unsettling? No one to talk to or hang with or enjoy the music beside? Wouldn’t I be… Lonely?

Nay, m’lady. To the contrary, “I know people.” And a few trolls who dwell in Spirit Lake.

So imagine the coincidence when this meme came across my Facebook feed days later: “Instead of naked and afraid, i want to see a reality show of someone being dropped off at a music festival for four days, one pack of smokes, phone but no charger, tent, $20, no map, no friends and watch them navigate, barter and befriend.”

I had to repost – and comment: “Just got back from rollin’ solo to #SuwanneeRootsRevival. But I was never ‘alone.’”

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Everglades Roots Music Festival Gives Swamp Life a Playlist

Don’t ask Jack Shealy what really excites him about Everglades Roots Festival at his family’s campground deep in the Florida swamp and expect an easy answer. It’s tough, and he really can’t put his finger on it. There’s the music, the Trail Lakes Campground itself, the Everglades experience, the Cracker Culture, even the skunk ape he’s certain lurks in the woods and maw just beyond the treeline.

It’s easy to understand Shealy’s struggle. Now in its third year, the festival will bring a hot line up of blues, bluegrass, and folk talent. The show’s line-up boasts two sets of Grateful Dead players Grass Is Dead, along with The Firewater Tent Revival, Free Range Strange, Gator Nate, Daryl Hance PowerMuse, and a host of other acts. In this installment of Sit Down with the Producer, we’ll see what makes Everglades Roots Festival and host Trail Lakes Campground shine is this neck of the Glades.

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Northern Music or Southern Camping: Which Do You Dig?

As RV campers (who also happen to dig live music festivals), we’re witness each fall to an occurrence that saddens us. Friends and fellow campers beyond Florida are telling tales of some alien practice: winterizing their campers. What is this “winterizing” they speak of so forlornly? The short story is simple: Campers carry water in pipes and holding tanks. Let it freeze, and both could burst. Not only would the repair cost no small fortune, but it could be next winter before the RV repair shop gets to your job. So, owners drain the system and pipe in antifreeze. It’s an annual chore that people like us in SoFla cannot begin to comprehend. Besides, we’re putting Damp Rid in our rigs during the summertime. We all bemoan the chores that speak to the seasons we may loathe, for one reason or another.

Down here, we have two seasons: Summer, and Summer Lite. What we don’t have is that wicked year ’round live music scene it seems folk up north take for granted. We wanted to know if they really appreciate what they’ve got.

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