What to Bring Camping

What to Bring Camping

This is about what basic camping gear to bring on your trip. OK, this might be your first trip or you haven’t gone camping in a while. But, here’s a basic checklist. Just to get your camping gear in order and get you out there on a trip.

The first thing that you’re going to want to have is a shelter. This could be a tent. Maybe you’ll bring an RV or a trailer. Or maybe just something as simple as a hammock. You know just anything to make it more comfortable. So that you’re able to sleep throughout the night. Now depending on weather you might be able to just get by with a sleeping bag, or very little, a sleeping mat. And you never know what’s going to happen with weather. It is much better to plan on bringing a shelter with you.

Next, Bedding. The bedding will depend on which shelter choice you go with. If it’s an RV or trailer, you’ll probably have a bed built into that. If it’s a hammock, that’s a sleeping arrangement by itself. Now if you go with a tent, what you’ll need is a sleeping bag, a pillow, and an optional air mattress. I always like it just to get you off the ground in case there’s rocks or something under your camping site. It’s nice just to get that little extra layer of cushion and make it a more comfortable experience throughout the night.

OK, Site Gear. Site gear is really important. This is just gear for your general camp site for everyone to use. In some cases, everyone brings their own but these are things that are generally for the entire camp site. Now, first of all what you’ll want is lantern or some light source. Usually, a lantern is the best option. It’s nice just to have it on your picnic table and it lights up when you’re eating dinner. Or when you’re cooking your food. But, you’ll want a lantern with you or some sort of light source. Another option is chairs. Usually, everyone brings chairs with them. It’s nice to put them around the camp fire to stay warm. But it’s nice for everyone to have chairs with them. Now, garbage bags. Garbage bags are really important. You want to make sure everything that you bring with you camping you take out with you. And you pick up everything before you leave.

A fire starter. A fire starter is really important. This could be something as simple as a lighter. You might want to bring one of those flint fire starters. But there’s a lot of options out there for fire starters. You can just search for them on the web. But you’ll definitely want to have a fire starter with you. Now some optional items that you might want to bring for the site gear. You might want to have a shaded tent. You never know what your camp site is going to be like until you get there. So you might want to make sure that you have some shade that you bring with you. It’s always good to put it maybe around your picnic table. Or somewhere like that where you can just escape the sun. Ok, firewood. Firewood is always nice to at least bring firewood in for the first day. You can pick this up at almost any grocery store. On your drive in, you might even be able to find places to buy firewood. But it’s good to have enough firewood just for your first night. Just so that you’re not you know in a rush to find firewood before you get there. Once you get there you can probably find firewood. Or you can bring firewood for the entire trip. But it’s always good to have a little firewood just to get you started. You can also bring a shower or toilet nowadays. Also this just makes roughing it a little bit more easy.

And it makes a lot of people more welcome to camping. when you have your own set up and you know you don’t have to rely on what’s at the campsite. The next type of camping gear is for cooking. Most likely you’re going to want to bring a grill with you. This is the best option for cooking. It’s something from home that you’re used to. It’s a clean grill. You can trust it. A lot of camp sites do have grills that they provide. Usually, they are over your fireplace. But it’s always nice to have your own grill with you that you can trust. If you’re bringing a grill, you’re going to want to bring enough propane tanks. If it’s a charcoal grill, then you’re going to want to bring enough charcoal with you. But either propane or charcoal you’ll want to bring with you just to get you through the trip. Also, you’ll definitely want to have a large cooler with you. To store all of your food throughout your trip. If it’s an area with wildlife you’ll want to make sure that you put that into your trunk. Or even in some places you might even have to hang it from a tree. But you’ll want to bring a large cooler or some place to store your food during your trip.

If you’re bringing a cooler,you’re going to want to bring ice. Just to keep your food and drinks cool. Pots and pans. You’re going to need something to cook in. It’s always nice to have at least one pot and one pan to have with you. Pots are good for boiling water or different things like that. A pan is also good for making pancakes in the morning, cooking eggs, whatever it is. Cooking utensils. You’ll want to bring utensils just to cook your food, get it ready and make camping that much more of an enjoyable experience. Depending on what type of food you’re bringing, you may want to bring a cutting board and some knives with you. Foil is a really great item to have with you while you’re camping. While you’re cooking, sometimes you don’t have enough pots and pans or burners. So, it’s nice just to keep your food warm. You can go on and cook the next thing. But it’s. . . sometimes you can even cook in the foil. So, it’s nice to have foil with you just so you have options.

You want to bring plates and plastic utensils. You may have camping utensils. If you have that, it’s great. You can just wash them each night. But if you don’t, bring paper plates and plastic utensils. Those work great. Just when your food is ready you have something to eat on. And they’re easy to dispose when you’re done. And you don’t have to wash any dishes or anything. You may even reuse them throughout your trip, so that you’re more green. But you know plates and plastic utensils are always great to have with you. Food & Drinks. Food and drinks are really important to plan for before you leave. You want to make sure that you have all of your meals for each day of your trip. This may be breakfast, lunch and dinner for you. It just depends on what your plans are. But you want to make sure that you have every meal covered. And the best foods are foods that you can bring that cover multiple meals. You know some sort of ingredients that you can use for various meals. This might be eggs or some sort of deli meat or whatever it is. But you want to just plan out each meal and make sure you have enough to get you through the trip. Ok, snacks are a great item to have with you. In case you’re going on a hike, or out on a little excursion just from your campsite. You want to have snacks with you just to get you until the next meal. Don’t forget your condiments. If you go camping, a lot of times those are easy to forget. If yo’re cooking burgers, you want some ketchup and mustard. If you\’re making sandwiches, you want your mustard and mayonnaise. Whatever it is, and whatever your favorite foods are just make sure you bring your condiments with you as well.

Depending on what you like, you want to bring some drinks other than water with you just to make camping something where you’re not roughing it as much. This also includes coffee. Which, I have to have coffee every morning. It’s just a nice way to start the day. It makes camping that much more enjoyable. To sip on your coffee by the campfire in the morning. And just kind of adjust into the day. Ok, you’ll want to bring plenty of water. You’ll want to bring plenty of potable water. But you’ll also want to bring some containers for non-potable water. I always go with way too much water. It’s always better to have too much that you don’t use and you can bring home. But you’ll want to plan on having a lot of water with you. You never know what it’s going to be like when you get there. The non-potable water is nice. A lot of times you can find a faucet at the campsite. You can fill up with that water. Use it for cleaning your dishes or just putting out your campfire. Different things like that. But it’s good to have plenty of both potable and non-potable water at your campsite. The potable water most likely you’ll have to bring in with you. With the non-potable water you’ll just bring a large container or a tank with you, that you can fill up.

Personal Items. This could just be as little as a tooth brush or your toiletries. You know, just things to get ready in the morning. You know, whatever you need. But you’ll definitely want to have some personal items with you. Flash lights. Usually, it’s nice to have a headlamp or bring your own flash light with you. But this is a personal item that almost everybody needs when they’re on a camping trip. When you’re in your tent, going back to the campsite it’s always just nice to have when you’re walking and keep it with you at all times once it gets dark. Plus, you’ll want sunblock and insect repellent. This is almost for any trip. Then, a first aid kit. If you require any medicine, make sure you bring that with you. You’ll want to bring some bandages. Probably a space blanket for whenever you go on hikes. Or if the weather changes, you at least you have an extra blanket. You know you can pack it up real small. Maybe a snake bite kit.Just anything that you feel is necessary to keep in your first aid kit. And make you are that much more prepared in case some sort of accident happens. You’ll want a water bottle or a camping cup. Just something to fill up your drinks. You don’t have to throw it away each time. It’s less garbage that you’re bringing with you. Yeah, and it’s just nice to wash it throughout the trip. And keep filling up on water. You can bring it on hikes, you can bring it where ever you go. It’s also good for your other drinks. You know, you can pour it into your bottle or your camping cup. But it’s nice to have just a regular option. Where you don’t have to keep throwing away paper cups. And you just have a water bottle or a camping cup with you.

Camera gear. If you’re going all the way out camping, you probably want to bring some sort of camera. Or something as a personal item. It could be something as little as a cell phone. But you just want to make sure that you’re capturing those memories. If you’re going all the way out camping. You also might want a multi tool. It’s nice just if there’s things you have to cut. Sticks you have to carve. Or you never know what’s going to happen while you’re camping. But it’s nice just to have a multi tool. There’s a lot of different uses for it. And I don’t use it that much in our regular life. But when I’m out in the wilderness I find that you use it a lot more. OK, clothing. You’re going to outdoors a lot so you want to plan accordingly. Check the weather before you go. See what it’s going to be like. A lot of places that are very warm can be very cold in the mornings and nights. Just make sure that you plan accordingly. You’ll want to bring a lot of layers. That you can take off or pile on. You know, depending on how the weather changes. But, usually when you’re outside,the weather changes a lot so you’ll want to plan accordingly.

Most likely, you’re going to want to bring a swimming suit. This will depend on where you’re going. But, usually where you’re going camping, there’s a lot of water sources. Where people want to go swimming. Or even a creek, where you can, or hot baths (springs), whatever it is. But, usually you’ll want to have a swimsuit with you. It’s even nice if you’re just wanting to go for a hike. You know and have something comfortable to wear. You know it’s nice to have a swimsuit with you. I hope that was helpful to you. If you have any items that you think I forgot or you think will be useful to add please leave them in the comments below.