My name is Dan and my wife is Katherine.
(photo taken on Lake Murray in South Carolina)

We thoroughly enjoy the outdoors, especially backpacking, hiking and camping. Lately it's been day hikes with the grandchildren. Along with those activities you need to eat, so we took another one of our favorite things to do and that's cooking and brought it outdoors. We especially like campfire cooking and Dutch oven cooking using charcoal briquettes. Almost any meal that's cooked at home can be transformed with minimal effort and cooked outside. Many of the Dutch oven recipes here at South East Camper have come from the home.

This is an old skill that's missing from most people's life. Call it a survival skill if we were without electricity or away from modern conveniences. When your campfire cooking or any other kind of outdoor cooking you get to play with fire and who doesn't like that. The whole idea of open fire cooking is mysterious and primal and I think that that's half the fun.

I remember my early experiences campfire cooking with my dad. He would take me, my brother and some friends for a day of fishing and an overnight camping trip. He would make his world famous potluck stew in an old cast iron Dutch oven cooking next to the campfire. After a long day of fishing and the sun going down, the smoke from the campfire in the air would make dinner taste like a gourmet feast.

Here at South East Camper we want to show you everything you need to know about Dutch ovens, campfire cooking along with many other outdoor cooking ideas. We have Dutch oven recipes you can use in the backyard or while camping. If you take off for the day or a week we will also have backpacking recipes and ideas for quick backpack meals on the trail.

We wanted a place where all these things come together in one spot. As we travel around North Carolina, South Carolina and beyond we will add pictures of the places we visit and how we cooked our meals. We will show small local parks for simple walking and picnicking to National Parks for day hikes, backpack trips and camping.

Please book mark this site and stop back often as it will be ever evolving. Stop by the Camper's Blog to add your comments about Dutch oven recipes, backpacking recipes, favorite places to visit or things you would like to see on our site.

Thank you,
Dan & Katherine