First Time SOLO Motorcycle Camping in the Wild: Dispersed Moto Camping on my Africa Twin by Myself

I'm going to go dispersed wild moto camping by myself for the first time. We're going to stay here tonight, so let's get camp set up. They don't taste terrible. And I'll tell you what, don't get you drunk. I like it mostly well done, but still juicy. Cheers, everybody. So I think it's coffee time. I have no idea how that snail got in there. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the dork side. I'm the dork in the road, and today I'm going to go dispersed wild moto camping by myself for the first time. I'm the dork in the road, and I want to be your internet writing buddy. So please consider subscribing. So I've camped off my motorcycle. I wouldn't go as far as to say many times, but half a dozen times, a handful of times. And I've camped by myself half dozen times, handful of times. And I've dispersed camped half a dozen times, handful of times. But I've never dispersed camped by myself off the motorcycle before. Should be an interesting experience. I have a decent idea of where I want to go. I'm going to get my gear on. The bike's all packed up. We're going to head out and find a spot to camp. So thanks for coming along. Hope you enjoyed the video. All right, friends. Home sweet home. Still here. Beautiful as ever. Doesn't look like anyone else has been here, honestly. It's duck fan tonight. We're here. The birds are chirping. I haven't seen a single person for the last, I don't know, four miles, five miles. Much better than the other side where there were people everywhere. So I'm pretty happy with this. We're going to stay here tonight. So let's get camp set up. So I just have to point out it's 78 degrees right now, according to the temp on my bike, and it's usually pretty accurate. I was here last week filming the Tusk Excursion review video. This same area. I filmed it two miles from here and it was snowing on me. And today it's 78 degrees. So we always joke about how fickle Oregon weather is. But this week is crazy. It is mid-April and there is a wildfire caution warning. It's not banned. So I'm going to have a small fire tonight to cook my dinner on. So we'll be careful. But the point is, we don't wildfire season doesn't start until July or August. And we are here in April because this is so unseasonably hot and dry right now. You know, this spot, you've seen it. If you haven't seen the early spring moto camping, freezing our butts off video, I'll link that for you with Duck Fan and I. This is that same spot, but quieter, better company this time. Just kidding, Duck Fan. Or am I? Just have to show you my new sleep setup because I'm pretty stoked about it. So this is the Big Agnes Diamond Park 30. I got this from Motocamp Nerd. There's a link in the description. But it's a very unique sleeping bag setup. That's really more like sleeping in a bed. And I'm unbelievably stoked on it. So it's my first down sleeping bag ever. That's pretty cool. And so it packs down really small, but it's really big and comfortable. It looks like a regular sleeping bag, right? Here's the bottom. You see this? This is a sleeve for your sleeping pad. So it goes in the bottom of the bag and then you can't roll off of it because it's attached to your bag. I'll put it in. I'll show you. It goes in like this. You see that? All right, I'll flip it over. Both sides zip down. See, like this. And you can lay in there. And like this is like your quilt on top of you. And then if you zip it up, you can turn it into a mummy bag. But you don't have to. So it's supposed to be like the most bed like sleeping set up. There is because your mattress won't slide out from underneath you and you're not constricted by a bag, which is nice if you're a bigger guy like me. Also, here's a little life hack I saw. Take a neck gaiter and you put it over this like a pillowcase and then you can take the gaiter off and wash it because you can't actually wash the pillow. At least the center part is washable. That's my bed made. Pretty cool. Tent set up. Bike's right there. I'm going to set up my little table and then I think it's going to be firewood time. I think I'm going no rain fly tonight because it's supposed to be pretty warm. OK, time to process a little firewood. We have a little bit of a head start that I'll show you. But to do that, we're going to need silky saw and hatchets. As I mentioned, this is the spot where Duncan and I camped three weeks ago, almost a month. And a lot of the wood that was here when we were here is still here, except now it's dry and useful. That's a head start. That's enough to cook on. So all I'm doing right now is gathering wood for a small fire for the rest of the night, maybe some in the morning. It's worth mentioning, because you're probably going to notice my fashion choices, but I didn't bring another pair of shoes. So it's riding boots and shorts for the remainder of the evening. Maybe I'll start a new trend. That's possible. OK, well, that's a start, but it's not going to last the night, so I've got to find a couple more dead trees and knock down. This will be good to have lots of twigs for getting the fire started on. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Real dead. Oh, yeah. That is a doornail, bro. That is a doornail. I just walked up to the road to look for wood, and I just found all of this. So I think I'm good. I just need to break this up into burnable chunks. Some of these were in a ditch. Some are better than others. This one I may actually have to saw. Let's see. Nope. That's how you know it's good and dry. That'll get me through the night, I think. I think it's time for a Steve Wallace step two. What do you think? Many of you know, I've been doing keto for a couple of years now. I lost 80 pounds and kept most of it off. The quarantine 15 is creeping back in, as you can see. But it means no carbs. So beer is kind of out of the question. I'd like to get my fire going and stuff before I start hitting the whiskey. So something light, cold and delicious sounds good. And I just happen to have it in my bag. Corona seltzer. That's fine. Give me crap in the comments, but zero carbs. And they don't taste terrible. And I'll tell you what, don't get you drunk. That's the best time of camping. The chores are done. Just chill and enjoy. Half an hour or so, I'll start this fire so I can cook my steak. I brought a steak, marinated it overnight last night. It's a thick sirloin steak. Too cheap to buy a ribeye. Looking forward to grilling that on the fire. I'm just going to chill here for a bit and enjoy this. Bring it back in when it's dinner time. Time to get this fire going so that I can burn it down to coals and I can cook on it. We're going to use this combat wildfire stick again because I have some left. And it worked so well last time. And it's just this cord stuff, right? You just take apart and make it down, get it as fine as you can. The little fine threads is what takes the spark and makes fire. There it goes. Got it. OK. And then, oh, that's going. Got your twigs. Twigs are good. Oh, now we're crackling. Now we're cooking with fire. Once your little twigs are on and going, put your bigger twigs on. And then you're off to the races. It's going to work. It's going to work quite well. See? It's happening. It's working. Well, that's burning down to coals. Let me show you what I brought for dinner. Oh, yeah. Look at that. Look at that. Marinated overnight. Sirloin steak. It's got some garlic, got some Montreal steak, vinegar, oil. Oh, it's going to be good. It's going to be good. We're going to cook it on the fire once we have some coals. Let me show you the campsite. For those of you that haven't been here before in the other video, there's my bike. There's the tent. Here's a fire pit. So there's two sides. So to the left, there's this neat little... Honestly, if I was a hammock camper, I might consider setting up my hammock in here. Kind of a cool little area. Smaller area. It's where I got that one dead tree. And then across the camp this way. Don't worry, I'm watching the fire. I'm not leaving it unattended. Across the camp is another much bigger wooded area. Up underneath, I love this Pacific Northwest forest where you have the various levels, right? So the underneath is relatively open, if you don't mind ferns, because the canopy shades everything else out. And then the road. It's close, but this is a pretty rarely used road. So I feel OK about it. Up and then it only goes about another half a mile and it dead ends. So there's no reason for people to come through here, which is one of the reasons why I like this spot. Because you're either coming down here for this spot or one of the two below it, or you're not coming down here at all or you're lost because there's no reason to come through. So it's not a busy road because of that, which I like. I think this will work. So let's cook some steak. This thing has worked out well for me so far. It's my third trip with it. Oh, yeah, that's plenty hot. That's steak cooking hot. Man, nothing beats a steak on a campfire. That's a good looking piece of meat. Good trip so far. What tools and tips have you got for me for managing that camping by yourself anxiety? I have plenty of firewood. Feeling good, relaxing, just been chilling, listening to the forest, just sitting here listening to the forest. I have a confession to make. This is my third camping trip this year in April. And if I survive the night, which I'm pretty confident I will, I will have completed three camping trips already this year. Last year, all of last summer, I went on three camping trips. It was the weirdest, slowest, crappiest, non campiest summer of my life. Well, since I rediscovered the outdoors, I spent a lot of summers not camping at all in my wasted late 20s and early 30s. It's crazy. Last year. I mean, you guys know 2020, right? It's like everyone rediscovered camping at once. And I was really comfortable. There was a couple sort of out of the way campgrounds that we really like going to. It was pretty easy to get into them because they were kind of unknown. Well, everybody sort of rediscovered camping and they're booked up all summer. So I couldn't get any any campsites with my family because my wife only has weekends off in the summer. It was all booked up during the week, too. It was crazy. And I wasn't quite at this point yet, which is why I've pushed myself to come out and do this wild camping stuff this year, because I don't want to let that stop me. But damn, we looked and tried to book some camping weekends this year. And same thing, they are booked up. Everyone is camping. So I am eager for covid to sort of die down and be over because I want my campgrounds back like I don't know what people were doing that they're now camping all the time, but it is not the same. So looking forward to getting out quite a bit more. I have a few more friends this year who are willing to go more often. Really refining this moto camping setup has really helped. So a big thanks to Moto Camp Nerd for the sponsorship, which encouraged me to do that. Hope to get out a lot this year. Let's try to break a record. Two years ago, I went a ton of times like every other week. I was out camping last year three times. It's embarrassing. Here's to more camping this year. What are your big camping plans for the year? Have you got adventures planned? How did last year look compared to this year? Tell me. I'd love to know. I want to go back to cooking my steak. I think that's about done. So I'm going to take it off and let it rest. And I'll build up the fire in the interim. Oh, yeah, you rest right there, my friend. The best camping meal, steak. Let's cut into it and see how it looks. I'm also going to enjoy my last seltzer with dinner. Oh, that is about perfect. Just a little pink. It's more so in the middle. My wife likes it pinker than this. I like it mostly well done, but still juicy. I can see there's a little pink on the other cut. Damn, that's good on the edges. I think maybe I overdid it on the marinade, but I was sort of half-assed following this recipe I found online, but I didn't measure anything. Dinner's done, eaten, in my belly, settling well. Dishes are done, food's put away, bed's made, fire's going. Man, I feel like there's only one thing left to do. It's Mr. Puff Puff time. And an Alec Bradley V2L Black. I'm going to go with the Alec Bradley. It's a case I got for camping. It's pretty sweet. It's got its own cutter and lighter. This goes right in here like this. See? And the lighter has its own little pocket. Everything is altogether self-contained. Worth mentioning, as I do every time, that this is a gross habit, and don't do it. Not advocating it. It's bad for you and me. What goes really good with cigars? Any thoughts? Oh, bourbon? OK, well, I brought some. Cheers, everybody. Leave a cheers in the comments. Thumbs up for bourbon. Bullet bourbon. Just going to hang out, man. There's not much else to do. Best part of camping. Let me know if you want to see more camping trips. I think it helps me find the motivation to go camping when I know people enjoy the videos and want to watch them. So if you like these trips, you like these videos, please say so in the comments, because that stuff really motivates me and keeps me going. And the smoke sucks. There's so much smoke. What kind of things do you want to see in camping videos? Do you want to see more of the setup? Do you want to talk about gear, cooking stuff good? Do you want me to cut out the Mr. Puff Puff? Do you want to see more of the ride out or should that be separate? Tell me. Let me know. I want to make more camping videos. This being my first solo wild camp, so I would check in about how things are going. I'm pretty relaxed, honestly. I feel like there's a lot of things I was anxious about right before I came out. A lot of things I was worried about. So far, things are going well. I feel fine. I feel calm. Might change when it gets dark and I get a little paranoid with the noises and stuff. But I guess the point why I'm trying to share all this is if you're nervous, anxious about going motocamping, going camping by yourself, particularly in a not campground area, I would encourage you to just get out and do it if you can, because what's going to happen is you're going to go. You might have a moment or two. I'm sure I'm going to have a moment or two when I get in the tent. When it's quiet, all the noises sound really loud. Then you start to worry about dumb things. I'm feeling pretty good. So if you're nervous or anxious about going motocamping by yourself, go out and do it. Give it a try. Rip the bandaid off and try to identify the source of your anxiety. So for me, a lot of it, I think, is just other people stumbling across me. And here, I don't think that's very likely. So that helps a lot. Just go do it and be successful. Success breeds success. Well, it's officially dark. This light's funny because I go here. You can't see me, but here you can see me fine. About 830. I'll probably hang out here by the fire for an hour or so and then go in the tent. Maybe read for a while. Catch up with you before I go to bed. Just hanging out, chilling. You know, it's what you do when you're camping. That's the point. I'm in the tent. Still early, so I'm going to read for a while, I think. Super excited to see how this Big Agnes Diamond Park 30 does. It's, um, I didn't bring an extra blanket because I'm so certain it's going to be fantastic. Feels very comfortable already. So I'll definitely let you know in the morning how that went. Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't. That's a fun thing to do. Maybe even hit the like button. All right. I'll see you in the morning. It is a beautiful morning. The birds are singing. It's not too cold. I slept pretty well, considering. I mean, I've yet to find a sleep system where I don't get pressure points from laying on my side. So I wake up every couple hours to a numb shoulder and have to roll over. It was plenty warm. That Diamond Park 30 sleeping bag? Freaking game changer, man. That's the most comfortable sleeping bag setup I've ever used. You don't have to worry about the pad rolling out from underneath you. You don't feel all tight and claustrophobic in a bag because it just feels like you've got a comforter over the top of you. My feet were plenty warm and had lots of room to move around. So A+, the Diamond Park setup, pretty sweet. Motocamp Nerd sells those. Just made a little fire here because I'm a little chilly and I have a ton of wood left. So I think it's coffee time. Let's make some coffee. So funny story from last night. Funny to me, maybe disgusting to you. I don't know. I went in the tent about, I don't know, 9.50, 10 o'clock. I just hung out in there and read for a while. I got up to pee about half an hour later and I go to open the flap of my tent. And there is a snail on the inside, about a foot off the ground on the inside of the door of my tent. I have no idea how that snail got in there because my tent, I put it up, put my stuff and zipped it up. It was zipped up all night. I was only in and out. You know, it's like I was laying there, leaving the door open or anything. I have no idea. I'll try to put a picture of the snail because I took one. Well, I don't know how that happened, but surprised the hell out of me. I had to grab him and throw him out. So I have no idea how a snail got in my tent. But I had a little visitor. He was a snail. And I don't know where he went because I kind of gave him gave him a fling after I got him off the inside. So I talked a lot yesterday about being my first time wild camping. All the scenarios I'd concocted in my head and all the things I decided to be anxious about. And I got to tell you, it was it was nowhere near as scary as the wrong word. I wasn't anxious. I wasn't that anxious. I had a few moments like I heard a car driving with music blasting. And I thought, hey, come on down here. But I think it just carries really well from the main road, which is about a mile from here. For the most part, I just went in my tent, did my thing. I had a few moments of like, what was that? But all in all, everything's good. It's a good it's good to get it done. Like I was saying last night, go out, do it, rip the bandaid off, be successful because success breeds success. And I definitely will have a lot more confidence going into the next time. So I'm sure you'll see more solo wild camping videos. Well, I'm going to have a cup of coffee, maybe two. Let this fire die down because I definitely don't want to leave it warm at all when I leave and pack up and out of here. I'm going to enjoy this coffee and I'll catch up with you in a bit. Coffee drink. Morning enjoyed. Enjoy the mornings. The silence, the quiet. Ron Swanson says mornings are for coffee and contemplation. And I've done both. So I think I'm going to start packing up and think about heading home. What's your least favorite part of camping? Mine is definitely packing up, but we'll get through it together. All right, y'all. Moto camping managed all loaded up. Nothing left to do but throw my riding gear on and get out of here. So I just want to say thank you for coming along on this adventure. And I want to give a big shout out to all my patrons and channel members without whom content like this would not be possible. Channel members get early access to videos, merchandise, discounts and other perks, and there's a join button right below the video. Also, if you're shopping for moto camping gear or motorcycle gear, you want to support future adventures and help me get this much closer to my dream of doing this full time. Please check out the affiliate links for RevZilla, Motocamp Nerd, Rocky Mountain ATV and Amazon in the description below. I appreciate that. But I'm going to get on the bike. I'm going to get out of here. It's been a great trip. Thank you for coming along. And please do not forget to be excellent to each other. Thank you. Excellent.