The Big Camping Checklist

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

If you’ve done all of your preparation and have packed nearly everything you thought you needed for your first big camping trip, it’s time to go through your checklist. But there’s just one problem: what if your initial checklist wasn’t comprehensive to begin with? If you start out with a bad checklist, you won’t necessarily bring all of the materials and supplies you’ll need to have a comfortable, fun camping experience. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most important camping materials you’ll need to bring on your big trip.

For the Tent

Inside the tent, you’ll want the following things: sleeping blankets, an air mattress or at least sleeping pads, a flashlight or a lantern, reading material, and enough pillows to rest comfortably. You can also bring some optional material like camping cots, which keep you above the ground.

Why bring reading material? In case there’s a particularly rainy day, you’ll find that your tent is one of the most welcoming places you have. Bringing a favorite book or some humorous material to read can really boost your mood on those ugly-weather days. It should go without saying that you’ll need to bring a tent along with all of these items: do not forget the tent!

After your sleep is taken care of, another high priority will be your stomach. There’s no point in going camping if the entire time you’re racked with hunger because the campfire won’t start, or you didn’t bring enough supplies to create effective meals.

Make sure you bring a cooler full of food that needs to be cooled: efficient foods include hot dogs, pretzels, energy bars, nuts, trail mix, and buns, breads, and bagels. You’ll also want to make sure that you bring along a camping stove to put over a fire.

When it comes to the fire, try to bring at least some matches or a lighter. It won’t hurt to bring a flint just in case you run out of either of those. If you plan on getting a lot of firewood together, bring a water-resistant tarp that you can store the wood in.

Medical, Communications, and Other Items

The most important thing on your big camping checklist? Safety. Communication with other people can help you stay safe, but you’ll also want to make sure you bring some medical supplies of your own.

In order to stay fully prepared, bring a Swiss army knife, a first aid kit, batteries for the gadgets you’re using, a compass, maps of your area, as well as phones and GPS devices if you can afford them.

Photo Credits: HGruber

Five (Less Traditional) Reasons to Enjoy Camping

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

We all know about the traditional reasons to take a camping trip – enjoying the fishing, getting away from the city – but what about the small reasons that seem to pop up only when you’re out under the stars? Sometimes, these are the types of things that we can only learn by experience, after we’ve already made the decision to head out to the woods. Even so, these can acts as inspirations to get out there again. Here are some less traditional reasons people enjoy camping.

#1: Stargazing.

This is especially true for city folk, whose participation in the metropolitan lifestyle comes with one downside: more light from the city means less stars in the sky. It can be frustrating for an aspiring stargazer, and when night rolls around at the campsite, it serves as a good reminder for just how many stars are in the sky. If you’ve always felt like an astronomer hidden in a city slicker’s body, camping might be for you.

#2: Buying gear.

Some camping enthusiasts believe that the more gear you buy, the less you’ll be in touch with nature. Others say that the gear is what makes the trip fun – and comfortable. Buying camping gear can be just as fun as the experience itself as you imagine all of the things you can do in your rental camper. This is especially nice for the less risk-averse among us.

#3: Eating simpler food.

Believe it or not, camping can be a refreshing break from the hour of nightly cooking you might do in order to prepare a dinner table. Going camping often means eating simpler food – hot dogs, burgers – and actually enjoying it as part of the experience. Need desert? S’mores just have three ingredients.

#4: Nightly campfire socials.

For some odd reason, human beings still find gathering around campfire to be a fascinating experience, as desensitized as we might be to the warmth of fire. Gathering around with friends and family around a campfire is a great excuse to gather around and talk the night away – and keeping the flames high gives you something to do.

#5: Seeing your inner survivalist come out.

There’s a certain satisfaction that comes when you escape from your tent in the morning and find out that it rained overnight. Dry and comfortable, you can’t help but feel that you “beat” nature, at least for one night.

Photo Credits: slworking2

How to Save Money on Camping

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

In these difficult economic conditions across the world, it’s not always easy to consider luxuries like camping trips and vacations as “essentials.” However, if we’re going to maintain our sanity during these times, we’ll have to keep living our lives and find ways to scrimp, save, and still pull off an adventurous, fun lifestyle.

That’s why this article will explain how to save money on camping, allowing you to take a quick, easy, fun camping trip for less money then you’ve been spending in the past. Let’s take a look at how this is done.

To save money on your camping trip, start in your house.

Your house? Absolutely – before you even start spending money for equipment and camping gear, you need to look in your garage, basement, and attic to see what you’ve already got. No sense in buying a new tent if you already have a perfect one downstairs, waiting to be used.

Second, don’t go to the store to buy camping gear without a search online.

Online stores like Amazon and eBay might have what you need at lower prices, especially if you’re buying used equipment. If you don’t have an Amazon or eBay account, don’t worry – it won’t take long to set up and you can be saving in no time! Use the internet to find cheap items you can buy that you didn’t find around your house.

Third, bring your own food and be ready to cook it.

Buying bulk items like hot dogs and buns will be much cheaper than taking your family out to eat, and roasting wieners over the fire makes the process fun. Just make sure that you’re ready for your food: pack up a cooler with ice to keep your meats cold and fresh and you’ll be set for the weekend. You can even cook popcorn over your fire, which makes a great snack and is incredibly easy to carry.

Looking at these tips, you have a great starting point for saving money during your next camping trip. There are dozens of other ways to save money, so the rest will depend on you: if you adequately plan and prepare for your camping trip, you’ll find that saving money is easy, as long as you hold a watchful eye on every purchase and ask yourself “can I save money doing this a different way?”

Photo Credits: mckaysavage

Making Your Camping Bed (And Sleeping In It, Too)

Friday, July 31st, 2009

It’s no secret that one of the purported miseries of camping – as espoused by the willfully-sheltered folk who happily name themselves “indoor types” – is that sleeping on the ground is no fun. In fact, it can be downright painful. The experienced camper, however, knows that sleeping on the ground would be like eating a camping diet solely comprised of almonds and hot dogs: with a little preparation it’s not necessary. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how you can make your camping bed and actually want to sleep in it, too.

First, understand your options. An airmattress will keep you off the ground, but so will a cot, a futon, a foam pad, and even something home-made. So many people think about sleeping on the ground outdoors that they forget it takes very little action in order to rectify the problem: simply buy something for your bed that you can bring with you.

That’s why you’ll still want to bring that camping staple so many enjoy: the sleeping bag. Most sleeping bags come with zippers that allow them to fold out like blankets. You can use this feature to spread out the sleeping bag like a blanket on your airmattress or cot.

Why not just use a regular blanket? Regular blankets work well, but they’re not designed for the outdoors. Sleeping blankets usually have lining on the outside that keeps them dry, sealed off from insects, and insulating well against the cold. You’d be surprised how much heat you can still trap with a sleeping blanket that’s been folded out.

Once you have your gear ready, simply bring a comfortable pillow or two from home. If you really want to stay luxurious, you can even bring sheets; it will feel like you’re still in your bedroom. Make sure to keep your pillow and sheets in a safe, dry place (such as the back of your car, if it’s nearby); exposing them to the elements can mean bugs, sticks, and moisture. Make sure to put together your bed after you’ve set up your tent: when bedtime arrives, you’ll be ready to slip in the covers right away, just like at home.

Photo Credits: Felipe Skroski