Okay, all you modern outdoor fanatics, scenic adventurers, landscape wanderers, and amateur trek-photographers: a web portal to the ultimate camping store is at your fingertips! Created for prepared travelers and campers by a team of folks that truly see earth as our home base. We hand-select everything on the site because we’ve used them and attest to not only their quality, but the degree of their usefulness.
Make Your Next Trip a Real Life-Experience Here’s a taste of the things we support, a sampling of our products, a peak at our services and content compiled just for you.

• Survival Training: Welcome to the 21st century where extreme weather, emergencies, and vivid socioeconomic transformation are ever at the gates. This precision-crafted 12 week urban survival course was engineered by David Morris to do one thing and one thing only: dramatically increase the chances of your survival during soft-to-catastrophic disasters or emergencies. Click Here for more info!
  
  
• Unconventional Guides: Camping Fantastic is 100% community supported through our use of select affiliate products as well as our own. However, we also take the time to offer exceptional guides that are far afield from the norm. For example, Chris Guillebeau’s Unconventional Guide Selection is among the best out there today.
  
  
• The Objects Photo Book: As I journeyed all over the world I made sure to document the trip. From Amsterdam to Hollywood, from Rome to Yosemite Valley, after years I realized I was sitting on a truly valuable and visual narrative. So, I put together a photo book I call “Objects” and you’re cordially invited to experience it for yourself. I know you’ll appreciate it.
  
  
• Travel Photography: By all means, feast your eyes on the photographic time-line I’m compiling. I call it Eat, Drink, Camp, Explore! It’s growing, and I would love it if we could accompany each other on our escapade.
  
  
• Services: So basically, consider me at your disposal if you would like someone to guide your trips and provide in-depth excursion consultation, especially if you’re new to California or Colorado. I’m also knowledgeable about the hot spots all across the U.S. If you’re interested in National Parks, meet-ups, social outdoor groups, or need suggestions for creative ways to get the most bang for your buck…contact me and the journey begins!
  

Pay a Visit to The Camp Store

Click here for The Camp Store.

All your bases are covered, from Fire Starters and special lighting to backpacks, cots, and floating coolers for those wavy river outings. Like our list of guides or the Travel Photography stream, our store is building over time as we use different products for different destinations and find the best fits for your lifestyle.

We’ve also got a small line of survival kits that really work wonders when it comes to sleeping easy these days. The more informed we become, the more necessary it is to have them for a good night’s sleep. So thanks for reading and we look forward to helping your trips make memories that last lifetimes. Enjoy!

As promised, I returned to Wine in the Pines this year and it didn’t disappoint. Once again, the wine quality was fantastic and only slightly more intoxicating than the highly engaging mountainous pine-scented atmosphere. This year was also cooler and less crowded. In this article I’d like to share a bit about the adventure and my favorite wineries/wines.

The Setting Honestly, this year was better than last year and the weather was mild compared to last year's scorcher. To say you get a fabulous smorgasbord of California’s best is an understatement. The food was incredible this year too. Everything from refreshing salads to delicious sliders to BBQ. No wonder it sells out!

Classy and comfortable from top to bottom, yet you won't find the wine snob factor here. By all means, if you have the opportunity to go then please do. Even if you’re a seasoned wine festival fanatic, give the crew and the wineries at Pine Mountain Village a go. You can't go wrong with unlimited food and wine samples, being surrounded by a picturesque landscape, and breathing fresh mountain air. So, now to the really juicy details: the wine!

The Wineries I Especially Enjoyed I could literally go on and on…I was going to. But I decided to limit myself and name the top 4. Here they are in order:

1: Tobin James Cellars: www.TobinJames.com

The smooth and calm evervescence of their wine seems timeless but they’ve only really been in business roughly 20 years, although their respective histories with wine-making go much further back in time. I tasted a little bit of everything, from their Chardonnay to their Cabernet Sauvignon that works especially well with subtly fatty foods. A real crowd pleaser.

2: Coruce Vineyards and Winery: www.CoruceVineyardsandWinery.com

Because of my experience with the Ojai Valley Wine Festival and Wine in the Pines last year, I find myself attracted to wineries with a smaller, more select menu. My favorite is easily the Coruce Syrah. A memorable aroma with full flavor but with a light sweetness that lingers on your palate.

3: Pear Valley: www.PearValley.com

I can tell you that I was very excitd to try their 2009 Charbono. I'm actually a member of their wine club and haven't had a bottle that I've disliked yet. The Charbono was delicious, as was the Distraction. Both of these red wines were incredible.

4: Gen 7 Wines: www.Gen7Wines.com

Normally, I don't like wines from the San Diego area but this winery was certainly an exception. I absolutely adore not only their wine, but their wine culture, their philosophy, and the standards at which they presented themselves at the festival. It probably helps that some of their wines are made from grapes grown in Santa Barbara.

And there you have it! While I thoroughly enjoyed my time here and at the previously mentioned Ojai Valley Wine Festival, I am always on the lookout for the next exceptional experience where nature and wine meet. Have any suggestions?

On our recent trip to Virginia we decided to stop by and pay a visit to Shenandoah National Park. My girlfriend and I drove the entire Skyline Drive and witnessed a string of awesome sights along the way. While we weren’t able to get out and hike or camp, the trip was well worth it. More than a dozen deer made an appearance, along with six bears (the park is known for its bear population) and a raccoon.

In this quick article I’d like to share some information about the park in the hopes you’ll pay a visit, if you haven’t already. It’s a scenic camping and hiking paradise. Below I’ve outlined 4 hikes to waterfalls that you can consider for your trip as well. Enjoy!

Let’s Talk Specifics At about 105 miles, you can easily drive the entire length of Skyline Drive and explore the park in just several hours. And, if time allows we recommend camping or hiking within the park. However, you should store your food in a bear proof container as this park has one of the largest bear populations of all the National Parks.

Shenandoah National Park lies along the Blue Ridge Mountains 75 miles outside Washington, D.C., with what looks like endless rolling green hills and sweeping valleys looming across the distance. There are numerous scenic turnouts where you can gaze at the beauty of the famed Shenandoah Valley.

A Few of the Waterfalls within the Park

Here’s a sampling of some of the many waterfalls you can hike to in the park.

• Cedar Run (Hard): Located at mile marker 45.6 you’ll be able to park at Hawkbill Gap. We wanted to hike the 3.4 miles but there wasn’t enough time. Along with the falls there are holes to swim in and even smooth natural rock slides!
  
  
• Lewis Falls: Parking can be found in the Big Meadows Lodge area, and the trailhead is a short distance from the amphitheater. I would suggest a map as parts of the trail are poorly marked and the return trip is very steep and rocky. According to local blogs and travel guides, it’s a 3 mile hike from start to finish with natural beauty in all directions. The waterfall is 81-feet tall.
  
  
• South River Falls: Other than the danger of running into some water snakes, you get to trailblaze to an overlook that provides a vantage point over the falls out into the photo-worthy landscape below. You end up at the base of the falls. Look for it at mile marker 62.8 near the South River picnic area.
  
  
• Doyles River Falls: 3 to 7.8 miles round trip that begins at mile marker 81.1. You get to see it from both above and below, just like the South River Falls. According to locals and travelers, if you go a bit past the lower falls viewing area you’ll run into a scenic gem.
  
  

Thanks for reading! Sharing our love of nature, travel, and adventure with you is a central pleasure in our lives. Next time we visit Shenandoah National Park we’ll be ready for more hiking and camping adventures.