Tag: tentipi safir 5 cp

Kids camping with Outdoor Life Växjö

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2021, Car camping, Overnighters, Trips1 Comment

There’s a Facebook group called Outdoor Life Växjö where we share tips and tricks about gear and sweet spots nearby. The group has meetups every now and then. Since a lot of the members in the group has kids I thought it would be fun to have a meetup with the kids.

In mid September a bunch of us met up on Skälsnäs on the northern side of Helgasjön. Christoffer and E from Friluftsfrämjandet Skogsknytte also joined, and Christoffer also brought E:s little brother. A couple of the guys who came with their kids only stayed for the evening but four of us camped with our kids.

Skälsnäs is a good place for car camping trips. There’s a shelter, privys, a sandy beach, several fire pits and lots of room for tents.

I had brought the Tentipi with the HeatPal. Since it was a car camping trip I wanted as much comfort as possible. I had also brought a lot of good food, with a couple of beers and tasty cheeses and sausages. But despite having the carriying frame I wouldn’t want to carry this setup any longer distances. It really is heavy.

We had a fire next to the shelter and hung out there most of the evening. The kids where playing, but C was a bit shy until Christoffer and E came. C was very happy that E came and they played together for the rest of the evening. When it was getting darker they went inside the tent with snacks and an iPad to watch a movie. The kids had been soaked from playing near (in) the water and I hung up the clothes to dry and fired up the HeatPal.

The adult stayed by the fire, chatting and eating. It was really nice and relaxing. By midnight it was time to go to bed. Dario, who started the Facebook group, and his daughter and friend used the shelter, while the rest of us used tents.

Next morning Christoffer and I had to leave pretty early, since we where going to Skogsknytte with the kids. It was more important for Christoffer since he is one of the leaders om Skogsknytte.

It was a fun trip, and nice to be out with the kids and meet other patents. I’d love to do it again, but next time I would like to do a hiking- or paddling trip instead of a car camping trip.

Overnighter in Tiveden

On By Småland OutdoorIn Car camping, Overnighters, TripsLeave a comment

In late February me, my wife and C decided to go on a road trip to do some Geocaching. In our part of the world it’s been raining more or less non stop for since beginning of October, and this weekend would be one of the rare ones with sun.

We decided to go to Tiveden national park, situated between the two largest lakes in Sweden, Vänern and Vättern. Tiveden is roughly a 3h drive from home. The last times I was there camping was prohibited within the park, but since then the park has expanded some 30-50% (not sure about the exact numbers), and now has two designated campsites. These are fairly small though, and you’re only allowed to have the tent pitched between 18.00-10.00.

When we arrived I ran out to one of the campsites to check it out, and see if it was possible to bring the tipi and the stove out there. We had also brought a backpacking tent, in case it would prove to hard to carry the heavy gear to the campsite.

After I had checked out the campsite, we drove to the main entrance of the park, and started to hike in the northern parts of the park. Tiveden national park consists of old pine forests and steep cliffs. I’ve been here a couple of times before, but this was the first time my family came along.

We hiked a mixed route where we followed parts of the yellow, grey and purple routes, and found some Geocaches along the way.

We had some spectacular views over the lake Stora Trehörningen, in the sunset. Despite being one of the few sunny days, and during the February school break, it was fairly few people there.

After our hike, and bagging a few Geocaches, we got back to the main entrance and drove back to the southern parts of Tiveden, to get to the campsite on Mellannäsudden.

It was dark when we got there, and we had to hike with the head lamps on the narrow trail out to the camp site. I had the stove and cooking gear on my back, a bag of fire wood in one hand and the tipi in the other hand. It was only a 1 km walk, but it was a hard km. The tipi weighs 10+ kg, the stove with the cooking gear probably weighs 15+ kg and I don’t know how much the firewood weighted. But since my wife isn’t too fond of camping I wanted to bring luxury.

Once there it felt really nice to set up the tipi and the stove and get going with dinner. The campsite did have some firewood, an axe, a saw and a privy. It was a nice place, but I guess it will be crowded during peak season.

We snuggled up in the tipi and enjoyed our good food before going to bed. The sky was clear with no clouds, and there wasn’t any wind. I went outside too cool off, and stood a long time by the lake, just enjoying the silence and watching the stars in the sky and their reflection in the mirror-like lake.

The temperature dropped during the night, and the next morning a thin layer of ice had formed on the lake. The winds picked up, and the large thin ice sheet blew towards the shore, where it cracked to pieced, that piled up on the shore. It was a marvelous spectacle.

After packing up we carried all of our gear back to the car, and drove to the entrance at Vitsand, where we hiked out to the campsite Käringaudden and took a couple of Geocaches on the way.

We left Tiveden, and spent the next night at a hotel in Arboga, before driving back home again.

 Tiveden is a beautiful area, and I want to come back here again when it’s warmer outside. But it’s a place I really recommend visiting.

Autumn canoe camping in a canvas tipi

On By Småland OutdoorIn 2018, Canoe camping, Overnighters, Trips1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago, in the middle of November, I went on a canoe camping trip with C. After trying hot tent camping a couple of times, I got really hooked, and upgraded the tipi to a Tentipi Safir 5 BP.

I had looked up an island on Tolgasjön that would be perfect for a camp. Since it was November I didn’t want to paddle too far with C, and this was just a couple of hundred meters of paddling from the campsite on mainland where I had planned to put in the canoe.

I drove to the area, but there was a sign at the private road down to the lake, that said it was prohibited to drive on the road. In the end of the road there was a designated campsite for the hiking trail Sigfridsleden and the canoe route Värendsleden.

I knocked on the house closest to the road where the owners lived, and they told me it was ok for me to drive down to the lake and unload the car.

I put the canoe in the water and packed it with my gear. It got pretty filled up, with a sack of firewood, the stove, a backpack and the large bulky tent. I had expected the tent to be large, but I was still surprised by how bulky it actually was. But this wasn’t a tent intended for hiking or having to carry it any longer distances.

C and I got into the canoe, and paddled out to the island. It didn’t take long, and once there we set up the tent and the stove, to have the camp ready.

We made some lunch, Pepper steaks, fried bell peppers and onions with rice, as usual. It really felt like fall, with the cold damp air around us. It was really nice to hang out in the warm dry tent instead.

After lunch we paddled out to do some fishing. It was a team effort, where I threw in the lure, and C reeled it back in. We did it for a while, but didn’t catch any fish. I didn’t really put much effort into it either, but it would have been nice to catch a pike.

The rest of the day we mostly hung out in the tent. With the damp cold weather outside, C preferred the inside of the tent instead of the cold outside.

When it got dark we lit the oil lamp and my new UCO candle lantern. That, and the light canvas of the tent gave us some really ambient lighting.

For dinner we had burgers, which was C:s choice. But I’m not complaining.

I kept adding firewood to the stove to keep us warm and snug, and eventually it was time for C to go to sleep. This night she was sad though, and it took a long time for her to go to sleep. Eventually she fell asleep next to me, in my sleeping bag. She woke up sad a couple of times, and I gave up the idea of getting her back into her sleeping bag. We ended up having her sleeping bag as a quilt above us.

The next morning C was up and running early. Too early in my opinion. She had used my arm as a pillow, which forced me to lay on one side the entire night. I usually toss and turn a lot, so I didn’t get the best sleep this night.

We fried some pita breads for breakfast and then explored the island. It was a small island, and we had camped at the southern end of it, but there was a nice spot for a tent at the northern end too. Good to know for future trips.

We went out with the canoe again to do some fishing. Same procedure as the day before, with me throwing it out, and her reeling it back. But we didn’t get anything this time either.

After that last attempt to catch something we paddled back to the island and took down our camp. We paddled the short stretch back to main land, packed up the car and drove home.

This had been my first night out with a canvas tent. I actually sold my Bergans Ally to fund the Tentipi Safir instead. It’s heavy and bulky, but roomy, light, comfortable and easy to set up. The quality feels impeccable, and since the fabric breathes you don’t get bothered by condensation. For these kind of trips, where comfort and good food is the main goal, a tent like this is perfect.