Five Essential Items For Your Camping To-Do List

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Have you ever gone camping before and felt, well, terrible at it? Sure, you might have packed well, but when your feet actually hit the great outdoors, you’re in a whole different world, especially if your experience is going to be truly rustic. Good camping comes with good experience, but it also comes with the right kind of knowledge.

If you ever feel lost camping, this article is for you. Here’s your checklist to kick off your camping trip right:

1. Shelter first. I was recently on a camping trip with some friends and we arrived in the twilight hours. Luckily, we followed the idea of “shelter first” by setting up our tents with the limited light we had left. By the time we were done setting up camp, it was dark out and we were getting our fire ready. If we had built the fire first, putting up the tents would have been a major nuisance.

3. Get warm. The fire is useful for keeping warm at night, but you’ll also want to be ready for sleeping out under the stars. Even on summer nights the temperature can drop drastically and you’ll want to make sure you’re properly insulated. Bring some heavy flannel clothes even for camping in the summer and be sure you have a sleeping bag that really traps heat well.

4. Plan for the next meal. If your shelter is up and you’ve got heat taken care of, plan for the next meal – even if it’s tomorrow’s breakfast. Check your cooler and make sure you have all of the utensils and goods you need. When you wake up tomorrow, you should be ready to start a fire and get the bacon crackling.

5. Set up your wants. The three needs of survival in the wilderness tend to go like this: shelter, water, food. With all of that taken care of (you brought fresh water, right?), set up your “wants.” Have the DVD player ready to go in your tent. If you brought an outdoor shower, make sure you found a suitable place to put it, and that it’s filled.

Photo Credits: tranchis