PS033 - Kinky Camping Success

Jun 18

Written By

Episode: https://shows.acast.com/660e243b2f834f0017de9181/episodes/660e2440acbcaf00174d993f

It’s summertime! Having done kinky camping events for well over a decade, a bit obsessively so, Lee takes you through his packing lists, proposals, concepts and ideas on how to make your kinky camping as successful as possible. Is licking bug spray a good idea? Do people really bring inflatable hot tubs when they camp? What can you do in the woods that you can’t do in the dungeon? What do I wear? Sharing stories along the way, we journey from backyard BBQs to outdoor fetish festivals, and remind each other to stay hydrated.Listen here!

Dan:
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Lee:
Hello, fellow adventurers of sexuality and spirit, and welcome to Erotic Awakening with Lee Harrington.

It is my delight to bring this podcast every month on the third Monday of the month, give or take a little bit.

And for those of you just joining me, feel free to go to my website, passionandsoul.com, go to the podcast button, and you'll be able to listen to all my previous podcasts with the folks here at Erotic Awakening, as well as read my blog and all kinds of other goodies as well.

So, this month, I am so excited because kink camping season is in full swing.

Back in May, I got to attend Sacred Sexuality Beltane down in Maryland, and it was a delight to be back on site at Ramblewood, which is a beautiful venue that warms my heart, and this is my 10th year of attending events at Ramblewood, the original one being Leather Retreat for me back in 2003.

And part of this that's really exciting to me is that with kinky camping, it's different than being involved with kink conferences.

In a hotel, there's these cut-off rooms that you get to hide away from the world with, and though you get to do that with camping, tents and cabins aren't quite the same.

With camping, there's not just you and your experience going to classes, but it's you and a shared experience of being out in nature or whatever equivalent of nature the kink conference is happening at, the kinky camping experience is.

I've been to kinky camping events where it has literally been a handful of people in a backyard.

I've been to others where it's a thousand people on a sprawling 200 acres with programs and performances and fire rituals with people's genitals pointed at giant bonfires while fire spinners were moving around them and a ritual drummer was chanting in time.

Chanting in time that every act of pleasure is her ritual and the diversity between these where it's a family barbecue that happens to involve some perverts all the way through orchestrated amazing dances of delight and everything in between makes it really cool for me to get to go to these things that we call kinky camping events.

And to be honest, it's the piece that fills up my soul.

This summer, I will have been at Dark, I will be at, I was at Beltane.

I just did a week long writing retreat down at Ramblewood, which is where we do the kinky camping events for Dark Odyssey Fusion, which is next week.

I'll also be at Summer Bash up in Albany.

I will be at Dark Odyssey Summer Camp.

I'm not going to be able to make it this year to Rope Camp or to Fet Fest, but both are fantastic events.

And it's really cool to get to be part of all of these different things.

But for me, one of the things that makes kinky camping great is that I'm prepared.

Having done this for over a decade, I've gotten to work out a few of the kinks, as it were.

I mean, it's kind of a play on words, but not really intended.

It's simply what it is.

And I was thinking recently about what do I need to be able to make any event happen?

Because there's so many choices you can do, right?

Like, what does it take for me to have an event be really successful?

Well, for me, it starts with what do I bring to a play party, right?

Because if I'm going to go to a play party, I need to be able to think ahead of time about what I'm going to use, right?

So I, for a play party, am going to need my play kit, which might sound really obvious, but for those of us who are used to playing at home, and have access to everything around our house, it's not quite as easy as it might sound, because everything you take to a kinky camping event, you have to pack up at the end to take home.

Now, do I know people who show up with their giant rolling trunks full of gear and haul it every night up to the dungeon, on their roller wheels or carrying it on their shoulders like a beast of burden?

Yeah.

And I admire y'all.

I really do.

The people who bring the giant piercing toy kit, that bring the whip toy kit, that bring their suspension toy kit, that bring all of these things.

I salute you.

I tend to strip it down a little bit more.

I, at what I'm doing, an outdoor camping event that includes having to bring my own tent and everything, can load myself in with a frame pack with a tent on the bottom, a sleeping bag and a sleeping pad on top, and all of my clothes and all of my toy gear in one frame pack and carrying groceries on each hand.

That's me for five or six days.

But I'm a little more minimalistic than other people because I figure that, you know what, I probably don't need all 500 feet of the rope I was thinking about bringing, or a thousand feet.

I can get away with about 150, 200, and some carabiners and a steel ring, because I like bondage, right?

If I'm really going to be doing a lot of whipping or paddling, I might not bring a lot of paddles because I have two hands.

I could get a little bit more minimalistic.

I, being a caning person though, know that I can tuck two canes, two shorter ones, in my roller bag or in my frame pack, instead of bringing the giant tube of all the ones I might think of otherwise.

Now, if you're driving, go as crazy with the Cheez Whiz as you want to, right?

Like, go as crazy as you're called.

But for me that's coming by transit or is going to have to walk in a little ways, I second guess some of these things and I consider whether it's a good idea for me.

But think ahead of time about what toys you might want and what things are really important to you.

So for example, what's really important to me is my safer sex gear.

Yeah, events like Dark Odyssey are going to have in their sex-orama space a whole bunch of, you know, condoms and gloves, maybe some dental dams.

But if I like things that I, you know, I have a favorite brand of lube, if I've got condoms that, you know, I like bringing flavored condoms that I can have oral sex that's protected, because I don't like doing that with people I don't know very well, or to be honest, I don't have unprotected sex of any sort with people who aren't my primary partner.

That's its own thing, right?

Because I know that, you know, gonorrhea is transmittable into the throat, and that's not the kind of gift you want to bring home after an event.

Just don't.

And not everybody knows what their status is for everything are, even if they got tested a few months ago.

And it doesn't mean you're not trust...

they're not trustworthy people.

It doesn't mean that you're not trusting.

It just means that you're careful and cautious, and that's totally sexy in my opinion.

So for me, priorities include bringing my safer sex kit.

Right?

That needs to fit in my bag.

I need to bring for myself, you know, a water bottle that's refillable.

Right?

And these are things that I bring to all play parties anyway.

Right?

I'm going to bring some sort of blanket item, because yeah, I'll have my sleeping bag, but what if I get chilly after a scene?

Maybe for myself, I have this wool shawl that I love, that I got back in Ireland in 1998, made by a woman named Mary McNeilis.

And it's traveled with me everywhere.

And I love it because it's a picnic blanket, it's a shawl, it's a head scarf.

I could use it as a sensory deprivation tool by wrapping it around somebody's head.

To me, it's my Douglas Adams towel.

Right?

I could take it everywhere, do everything with it.

What also is really important to put in my travel bag is my toiletries.

Especially my medicines.

Right?

That also includes when I'm camping, Benadryl.

For me, that's really important if there's any chance of poison ivy being in an area.

That includes my bug spray.

That includes sunblock.

Though again, thinking about planning ahead of time, if you're going to be doing that genital worship or foot worship scene, or the making out with the neck biting thing, gotta say, the bug spray in the mouth, distinctly unpleasant.

Distinctly unpleasant.

So think twice about that.

Right?

I always, when I'm traveling to events, even ones that have a fantastic meal plan like the Dark Odyssey events, I pack power bars or some sort of other backup plan and nutritional supplement system of some sort.

I always pack extra because, you know what, there might be that meal where it doesn't quite work out.

It isn't gonna be what's perfect.

And so I like to think that ahead of time, like what's going to really be good for there.

Alright, next thing I think about, clothes.

And that might sound ridiculous at a kinky camping event, right?

Because I can bring flip-flops and sunblock and I'm good, right?

Absolutely.

If I like being cold at night.

If I don't get chilled in the afternoon.

If I don't want to play dress up.

So, kinky camping events can still get cold at night.

Yeah, the idea of being a nudist is fantastic.

And I've done nudist events.

But, really, sometimes it's nice to just put on some, you know, put on a pair of overalls, right?

Be comfortable when I'm sitting on the ground.

Maybe it's that I'm going to be bringing something warm for at night.

Maybe it's me bringing my rain jacket or rain poncho and that's it.

Because we all want to be sunny throughout the entirety of the event.

But it's not always.

And could we have that really hot scene where my bottom is naked, tied up in the mud?

Yeah.

But could we also be sexy with them wearing something completely waterproof?

Yeah.

It's choices about how we want to play or we have the chance of having our bottom naked, tied up in the mud while we're in rain gear being comfortable as the tops.

Because, you know, some of us are assholes like that.

Now, for playing dress up, though, different people have different standards of their concepts, right?

Because even at campgrounds where it's up and down hills, I have seen the rock out fems and drag queens who will still pack their seven pairs of stiletto heels for the three day event.

Respect.

Serious respect.

Even when I was high fem, I still, like, limited it down to three heels when I was traveling.

If nothing else, because if you're on a grass hill, your stiletto heel will sink into the grass.

Consider bringing a little shoulder bag, wear flip flops up the hill or a pair of sandals that you can still wear your reinforced toe and heel stockings, and when you get to the top of the hill or the bottom of the hill, put back on your fabulous shoes.

You might not have to do that at a kink conference, and I've seen people who weren't used to it sink into the mud and really mess up their beautiful shoes.

Think ahead of time about jockstrap, socks, underwear.

Are you going to have any parties there that have a theme?

So for example, I've gone to kink camping events that have literally a Roman slave auction.

Bringing your toga makes that all the more fun.

The leather event that's happening at that kinky camping event, whatever it might be, look ahead of time at the program and see if there's anything fun you can bring with you.

Think ahead of time about notebooks and pens for taking notes in classes.

I'm also a big fan of bringing a stuffed animal in case I get lonely, in case I wish I'd had something with me.

Also, for me, honestly, a thing that I usually forget about, bring a watch.

I personally don't want to be wandering around the kinky camping event with my phone.

I want to be out in the woods camping.

And if I have my phone on me, I'm going to be looking up what's going on, what's my email like, what's coming in from the world at large.

But if I have a phone to be able to put in the aforementioned satchel I'm carrying around or strapped to it, I have the ability to be like, oh, what time is it?

Is it time for that next class?

Or, oh, is it time for the big gangbang?

Or, oh, when was I supposed to meet that hottie down at the lake?

I could pull out my watch and have it.

I know it's really high tech.

It's really fancy, but I think it's worthwhile.

Now, if I'm the type of person who likes to have a little bit of a tease when uncovering instead of being completely naked, fetish wear is fantastic.

Now, think ahead of time about what type of fetish wear is going to suit the kind of camping that you're doing.

Is it going to be jock straps, knee-high socks and boots?

An A boot?

I mean, you could have A boot, but that doesn't make a lot of sense.

To me, I don't know.

You could be one-legged, in which case A boot would be fantastic.

I know a couple of one-legged tops in the scene, in which case, bring your boot.

That's cool.

But for some people, that's that bikini or that fabulous 1950s swimwear piece, or the 1910s swimwear with the bathing dress that comes down below the knees for that full role-playing scene.

Maybe it's bringing that little skimpy latex dress, or that you're dedicated and choose to bring your full military dress.

Now, you could actually have fetish wear, though, that fits perfectly into the environment of camping.

What about bringing your full camos, or with your BDUs and your kicker boots?

What about that boy scout or girl scout, or completely gender neutral scout kind of fantasy?

Bringing all of those out fits perfectly in with that kind of environment.

Maybe it's going to have abduction scenes, in which case what kind of abduction would be really hot for you, and having wardrobe that fits accordingly.

For me, also being social means that I want to have props that will help me be social.

So there's a lot of different events at camping things that say bring a potluck item, or bring a bottle of whatever to the drinking night, to the drinking circle.

I might, for example, bring a couple of extra cigars if I know there's going to be a cigar social, or a brick of really good chocolate if it's going to be cigars and chocolate.

Now, think as well about what helps you have fun camping.

Are you the kind of person that if you're going swimming would love having an inflatable whale?

Could that be a thing for you?

Or I've gone to kinky camping events where they've brought for the swimming space, whether it was the lake or the swimming pool, have brought the inflatable balls.

Have you seen these things?

They're amazing that a person crawls inside them.

It zips up and then an airblower like a reverse vacuum blows air into it to inflate it.

I've done a fantastic, I did a fantastic scene in this where I tied up my partner and put them inside of the ball and then pushed them out over the water.

They were kind of freaking out about the fact that they were walking on water or crawling and rolling around on water while completely tied.

That if the balloon had popped, they would have sunk and potentially drowned.

Wow, right?

Like that's, that's something to think about, right?

Like those kinds of play things can be really fun, super soaker scenes.

Play around.

Now, if you're on the glitzier end, if you're the kind of person who wants to do kink camping in full style and regalia and a pair of warm pajamas and a pair of gloves isn't going to be enough for you, you can go a little fancier.

So if you're doing camping in cabins, you need to remember to bring a head time even if the beds are provided.

Bring your own pillow, pillow cases, blankets, all of that kind of stuff.

Towels, washcloths.

I see a lot of people who go camping who just forget shampoo and a towel.

And I gotta say, especially if it's a sex camp, bring supplies for showering.

Because otherwise, that's just gross.

But if you're going to do it a little bit more glitzy in a cabin, think about Christmas lights.

Think about decor.

Think about bringing a coffee maker and coffee supplies.

Bring an extra fan that you can plug in.

And part of that is bring some extension cords, because they're never near what you want to be.

Bring your flashlight to be able to get around if you're not a crazy person like me that can see in the dark.

Bring some portable lawn chairs.

And if you don't think mattresses are comfortable enough, bring your own air mattress to put on top.

Because at a lot of camps, you could squish the two beds together and put a queen or a king size air mattress on top and it fits fantastic.

Alarm clocks, radios, your own cooking setup.

Think about how fancy you want your, you know, your cabin to be.

Now, some people go full out.

Leather retreat, there used to be this woman who brought her own hot tub.

Every time, right?

She brought this inflatable hot tub, she filled it up, she kept a lid on it when it was, you know, to keep most of the stuff out.

By the end of the weekend, I didn't really want to get in it because people had had a lot of sex in the hot tub, and I think that that's kind of dubious.

But she had a hot tub.

How awesome is that?

Right?

I've seen people, there's a piece that happens at Dark Odyssey Fusion that I refer to as Tajma Tent, where they bring this tent that's the size of half of my apartment.

Mind you, I live in New York, so that's not necessarily saying a lot, but it's a huge tent, right?

That has a full bar at one end and a dance floor and a social area, and they set up a full bar for all of their friends to dance and hang out and have a succulent, fantastic fantasy weekend.

I know people who bring shaded areas.

I know folks who bring plaster casting equipment to be able to do outdoors, the full mummification with plaster casting and attaching somebody to a rolling device and hauling them up and down the hill or turning them into furniture.

I've seen people bring coffins with air tube systems coming off of them so they could do burial scenes.

Some people go full out.

So if you can dream it, do it.

If you want to bring your clit washer that requires power hoses to force torture people's genitals, rock on.

In fact, come to Dark Odyssey Fusion and he'll be there.

Right?

Dream.

And if you're not sure if it's an appropriate thing to bring to the specific camping event you're going to, drop them an email ahead of time.

Because, really, they have an idea of what their event looks like.

I could tell you that if you want to, at a Dark Odyssey event, do a full kidnapping take down scene in Roman gladiator costumes in the middle of the camp, people will go, huh, cool.

Right?

If you want to have a human pony corral event with carts pulling around and what not, cool, drop in at Camp Crucible and they'll love it.

Right?

But if I'm at FetFest and want to do that really intense take down scene that involves forced fantasy rape role playing, as it were, there's only certain areas of FetFest where that's okay because they don't want to trigger and upset people who are playing at the, you know, I want to come and do some naked fire spinning kind of thing.

And if you're a fire spinner, bring your fire gear, unless it's the middle of fire warning season, in which case, look at that stuff up ahead of time.

Get, dream big, dream fantastic, right?

Have fun.

However, remember to bring in some things from the outside because you'll need your license, you know, license or ID to get in, but also bring some cash because there's going to be vendors at most of these events.

Some of them will take credit cards, but we're coming with some money to buy that last minute set of handcuffs because you never know when you might need them or a sarong.

Or maybe you'll get there and they will have that amazing leather encasement bag that you've always wanted.

And it's on sale for 20% off.

And you know that if you bought it this weekend, that you could attach it to the chain hoist that's attached to the branch 30 feet up in the tree, and you could be suspended in a tree in an encasement bag and have a memory that you'll never forget.

Right?

So bring some money to support the vendors.

And some camps also have food vendors, that kind of stuff.

So make sure to bring those sorts of things.

It also sounds silly, but thinking about the things to have fun, bring things to have actual fun.

Bring a kite, right?

Bring a pair of sneakers and, you know, a long shirt and a pair of jeans to go hiking.

I know at Ramblewood, people forget that there are 200 acres of land, that there's a labyrinth and that there's an obstacle course and that you can hike off property and go down to the Susquehanna River.

It's amazing, absolutely amazing.

And if you want to go down to the Susquehanna and you don't know how to get there from property, go down to Cabin 2021 and keep going into the woods past the storage areas and keep going.

And when you hit a split, go to the left and keep going until you hit the property line.

You'll know it's the property line because there's a steep incline.

And at that point, tie something bright colored to a big tree.

Bring some caution tape or something.

And then go to the bottom of the hill and then tie some other tree with some caution tape.

And turn right once you're at the property line, because that's where the trees end, right?

So tape off both those areas, turn to the right and go all the way down and you're at the river.

And you can hike up and down miles of property or sit with the river or bring that kite and fly it and be in nature, stepping away from the craziness and kink for five minutes or half an hour or three hours and be in the woods.

And I say bring that neon colored stuff, because when you come back turning left onto the property line and trying to get left into the woods, I have mistaken which area was where I needed to come from.

And it's inappropriate to leave that tape up, because you don't want people stumbling out onto Ramblewood and finding naked people.

It's just awkward.

Don't do it.

So, but bringing it back to general kink camping events, the other great thing is that you get to play in nature.

That means sometimes if you're fucking, you might run into some ants.

Bring a blanket.

Better yet, bring up one of those, like the Liberator blankets that have the plastic lining in the middle and are soft on one side and silky on the other.

Love those.

Right?

But bring a blanket so you can brush the ants off in the eternal words of Johnathan Coulton in the song First Of May.

Right?

Think about the scenes that you couldn't do in your dungeon or at your house.

Could it be tying someone to a tree?

Could it be being poolside and lounging with your lover in nothing but latex?

What scene would be amazing for you in the great outdoors?

Could it be blindfolding someone and seeing if they trust you?

Or if you trust them, I should say, going through the woods, blindfolded?

Is it that hot pickup scene where you go down to the obstacle course and see who you could cruise?

Who's going to be there to pick up in the middle of the night?

Is it getting to play around the bonfire with the heat of the fire pushing up against you as you're dancing back and forth, or that drum of yours dancing out into the night and then turning the giant drum around, strapping a dildo to it and having your partner ride as you beat out the rhythm with the rest of the drum squad?

What can you do outdoors that you can't do anywhere else?

Dream big is an option.

Could you do the flesh hook suspension?

Right, you can, absolutely.

Or dream simple?

Being with that amazing creature you met last night over dinner and sitting together in a field of lilacs, staring at one another, breathing back and forth, back and forth, lips locking, until you look up finally and see the hawks flying overhead.

It doesn't have to be the things that look good in photos.

Kinky camping can be about living and breathing, and I would argue that it should be.

Make kinky camping what you want it to be for you.

Do you want it to be 30 of your friends sitting around a campfire?

Talking?

With other perverts who get it.

Where it's not going to be strange when you hold up your beer and say, Oh my God, have you ever had that issue where you get your hand into somebody's ass and they just freak out?

And have the other guys around the bonfire say, Yeah, I've been there with you, brother.

Is it going to be that kind of an evening?

Is it going to be a group of people building a labyrinth of PlayStations together out in the middle of nowhere?

What's going to please you?

Or will it be a combination thing like used to happen at a campground event called In The Woods at their old site?

So this was a while back where there was an area that was cleared off for a main PlayStation area where there was a suspension frame, a couple St.

Andrew's crosses, a spanking bench.

There was a pop-up tent thing that was built to be a piercing station, so it was a little cleaner?

Piercing in the woods at your own risk, right?

Keep it as clean as you can.

But this group of gay guys from Bellingham Men Of Leather went into the woods and cleared pathways and built this labyrinth of secluded, anonymous play areas where they hung up a sheet and that was like a glory hole space where you could go behind the sheet and play with whoever was there.

Then they had another space that was like, it was just like these really dirty, nasty little areas, and it made it so sexy that it was very DIY, very just in the woods, right?

Because this isn't in the Marriott.

This isn't in the Hyatt.

This was in the woods.

And they did something that was in the woods.

If you're doing something out in the desert, what does it look like to be around a giant Tesla coil?

The little ones we know as violet ones.

But I got to be present at Burning Man when...

I can't remember his name.

Anyway, this guy who used to bring giant Tesla coils to the Playa built a cage.

And you had to stand perfectly in the center of the cage as the Tesla coils hit the giant metal cage, or else you get shocked.

Talk about an intense scene, right?

I've also seen things with scuba diving scenes, with top and bottom and safety person all being trained scuba divers, so that in mind.

But what can you do outdoors that you can't do anywhere else?

And that includes curling up with your honey and watching the stars, sitting on a bench or sitting on the far side of the campfire across the lake, and looking up at the stars while across the way, naked people are dancing or fucking and fire spinning, fire breathing and drumming.

Looking at the stars and holding each other close and whispering perfect little secrets, or doing it by yourself and remembering that it's yours to make whatever you want it to be, including if you want time to yourself.

So that's my hope.

Think about going to a kinky camping event, whatever it might be, or make one of your own.

Have a couple of people that you know who are a little on the pervy side over for a backyard barbecue.

And if you live in the middle of a major metropolitan area and this thing called backyard does not exist, maybe it's getting together some people through meeting on a social media site like FetLife, drop a little note saying, hey, if you're in New York, say, hey, we're going to go to Prospect Park and meet up here at this location and then hike together into the middle of the Prospect Park, go to the top of this one hill and have a picnic.

Have a pervy picnic.

And you don't have to do any play unless you're very, very stealthy and please don't get arrested.

That's awkward.

But sit around and have a picnic with each other.

Because it's summertime.

It's summertime and I'm not going to sing the DJ Jazzy Jeff song.

Okay, it went.

But, and if it got stuck in your head, blame me.

But go have fun.

It's summer.

Own it.

Enjoy it.

Have a great time.

I myself am going to be this coming weekend.

As you listen to this, this coming weekend, I will be at Dark Odyssey Fusion.

And I think there's still tickets available.

It's in Northern Maryland.

You can come out and be a bare minimalist camper or a bare minimalist.

Then goes off to have a hotel stay 10 miles away.

I think all the cabin beds are sold out.

But it's going to be beautiful.

And I'm looking forward to it.

And until then, whether I see you in person or whether I'm going to see you next month on this podcast, what I ask you to do is if you have any questions that come up, feel free to drop me a line at Lee, lee at passionandsoul.com or find my website which is passionandsoul.com and you can find me pretty much anywhere on the Internet using passion and soul as one word.

FetLife, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, you name it.

Yeah.

And thank you so much for joining me this month.

I really appreciate it to you, my fellow adventurers of sexuality and spirit.

This has been Erotic Awakening with Lee Harrington and until next time, stay cool, have fun, stay hydrated, be authentically you and have a fantastic journey.

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