During the recent heatwave I tried to think my way out of it. For instance, why not flood myself with thoughts about cool climates. As luck would have it, Book Bub notified me of a discount on "The Last Viking" by Stephen Bown. It is a biography of the Norwegian polar explorer, Roald Amundsen.
At the end of the day I was inspired to take an unheated shower. That doesn't mean "cold" water, such as the water that comes out of the ground. It just means ambient temperature water from 5 gallon water jugs that sit around at camp. After showering with a half-gallon of that kind of water, I felt wonderful. And there was something pleasing about not using any propane to heat up water for a shower.
The book helped me stay flexible because that was a big part of Amundsen's success. He studied the Inuit in northern Canada and learned everything he could about dogs, sleds, clothing, and equipment.
It has long been a cliché that the Eskimos have a large number of words for snow. Perhaps we should imagine summer campers as having a large number of words for shade. There really is a difference between the shade of different trees -- not just different species of trees, but also open-growth trees versus dense growth of a given species. With some practice, a camper can get the right shade, get his door facing north or east, and do his solar charging in the morning.
There are so many habits that affect a camper. A beginner/weekender is likely to want to keep the wasteful habits of stick-and-brick living when they camp. They will then try to solve every problem by buying yet another gadget or piece of equipment.
Even your eating habits need to adapt to your environment, when camping. You don't need a microwave oven or a fancy food processor that takes a gallon of water to clean. You need a good knife. You don't need the latest trendy expensive food fads.
One of the pleasing things about hot weather is our indifference to food. I only cook breakfast.
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