Clothes, food, tent, and sleeping bag are bare minimum of camping essentials. If you’ve camped for any length of time you know that you’ll need more than just those few things. Plus it’s not just having clothes, it’s having enough clothes and the right clothes. Camping is all about having the right equipment to make your trip fun, and safe. The question is what are the basics you need for a fun, and safe camping trip?
Water
People can live for a few days without food, water, on the other hand, isn’t as easy. Depending on the weather you will suffer dehydration in hours or days. Because not all campgrounds have easily accessible water you’ll want to plan on bringing your own or at least have a plan to make any available water potable.
It’s best if you just bring water from home. Make sure you consider the weather, and how much water each person on your camping trip will need to stay hydrated for the length of your trip. It’s pretty easy to go through 5 gallons a person a day if the weather is hot enough. Plus don’t forget any water you may need to cook with or even your morning coffee. If you like your water cool or cold you may also want to consider an insulated water jug.
Of course, sometimes it’s not practical to carry enough water with you to last your entire trip. This is where you need to have means to make whatever available water you have potable. Many times this can be done by just boiling it for a little bit. Other times you are going to have to filter your water. Sometimes you even want to add purification tablets.
Food and Coolers
Although you can definitely try to be “Mr. Outdoors” and hunt for you all your food while camping. Most of us don’t want to do that. So make sure you have enough food for your camping trip. Of course, if you are at loss for what to bring there are lots of easy camping meals.
As far as a good way to keep your perishable food cool and good, having a good quality cooler is a must. Depending on your length of trip depends on the quality you need. If you are just camping over the weekend pretty much any cooler will do. Heck, just a styrofoam cooler works. However, if you plan on camping in high temps and more than a couple days plan on a good quality cooler look into a Yeti style cooler, or just buy an Ozark Trails cooler.
One little trick for keeping your cooler cold is to skip buying bags of ice. The bags can leak or just leave a water mess of all your food. Instead, freeze 2-liter pop bottles or other plastic bottles and put them in your cooler. They will take longer to melt and keep your food just as cool while keeping it dry. Not to mention as the ice melts you have more water to drink.
Cooking Equipment
You can always try to bring the whole kitchen when camping. Yet you only need a few basic camping essentials. If you intend on cooking on an open fire, you need a Dutch Oven and/or a grill that fits over the fire. Of course, sometimes a roll of tin foil is all you need. If you cook on a charcoal grill or a camp stove, you’ll want a skillet. Use Cast Iron for all your cooking needs. Cast Iron is durable, easy to clean, and when seasoned correctly, non-stick.
Shelter
You are going to need some sort of shelter. Not everyone can afford a nice big camper or own a camper. Which means a tent is a basic camping essential. Your Choice of tent is personal. Not everyone likes the same type of style of tent.
What you want is a tent that is easy to set up, and takedown. If it looks difficult to set up then look for a different tent. You will have to make sure the tent is big enough for your needs. If it’s only you and another person consider a 4 person tent. Remember when a tent company rates a tent for the number of people it can fit, they forget about all your gear. The general rule of thumb cut the number of people the tent is rated for in half and it will be almost big enough for people and gear. With a tent always bring a tarp to put under the tent to keep the tent dry. Even if your tent has a waterproof bottom you are going to want a tarp if nothing else, just to protect your tent.
Sleeping Bag
Once you have a tent you’ll need something to sleep in. You can always bring a couple of blankets and a pillow, but it’s a lot easier to grab a sleeping bag. Make sure you get the right weight of a sleeping bag. Sleeping bags are rated for a specific outside temperature range. However, if you have a sleeping bag that is too lightweight you can always throw a blanket in it, or buy a fleece liner. Picking too heavy of a sleeping bag will cause you to either sweat all night long or get cold as you sleep outside the covers.
When using a sleeping bag it’s a good idea to use a cot or an air mattress. When using a cot or air mattress remember that the ground insults you better than air. So if you are camping in colder weather you may want an extra layer between you and the cot to keep you warm.
First Aid Kit
When you are out camping at best you are 20-30 minutes away from any professional medical help. At worst they won’t be able to get to you without a helicopter. This means you are your own first responder. So you better have a good camping first aid kit. Make sure you know how to use everything in your first aid kit also.
Clothing
You will, of course, need to bring weather appropriate clothing. It would be silly to bring shorts to a cold-weather campout. However, no matter the weather you should always have a pair of pants. Pants seem to one of the things people forget in the summer. Even in the summer, you need to bring a pair of pants.
When it’s 90+ outside walking through tall grass or high weeds it’s best to have pants on. Tallgrass and weeds can cut up your legs, and leave you itchy and scratchy. If you forget your pants you’ll feel stuck on well-worn paths to keep your legs from getting scratched up.
Remember for basic camping essentials, bring an extra change of clothes. Even on an overnight camp out have at least 1 change clothes. For longer trips have a complete extra change of clothes and a few extra pairs of socks. If space is limited at least bring extra underwear and lots of extra socks. There is nothing worse than having wet feet because the only pair of socks you brought got wet. Things happen when camping having extra clothes is one of camping essentials.
Rain Gear
Rain gear is another one of the camping essentials. Most people don’t go camping if they are expecting rain. However, you will eventually get rained on when camping. Always bring a poncho or raincoat. Having to sit a rainstorm out in your tent or a shelter is almost as much fun as getting soaking wet. Arguably one of the best lightweight rain suits are made by Frogg Toggs.
If you forget raingear. One thing you can do is always bring a few 55-gallon drum liners for hauling your garbage out. That way if you need a poncho you can cut holes in it and use it as a poncho. Sort of a backup for those of us who forget things.
Knife/ Hatchet/ Survival Knife
The most important thing you need with you camping is a pocket knife. You never realize how much you need a knife until you don’t have one. For those of you who carry a knife every day, you know the feeling of being naked without one. There are all sorts of knives on the market, plus multi-tools like Leatherman or Gerber. Get whatever one you like. CRKT makes great knives if you only want one blade. Picking the right pocket knife is a matter of knowing what you like and what you want to use it for.
Along with a pocket knife having something a little bigger. A hatchet is good for getting firewood. Making kindling, and most other jobs a pocket knife is too small for. While they sell camping hatchets with knives and other stuff built into the handle. All you really need is a good simple hatchet that comes with a sheath.
Flashlights and Lanterns
It’s no secret it gets dark out in nature at night. So having a good flashlight to find your way around, is a camping essential. There are lots of different camping flashlights and lanterns. It’s really up to personal preference what camping light you bring. Just remember to bring extra batteries for lanterns that requires batteries and extra fuel if it requires fuel.
Firestarters, matches, and lighters
One of the most overlooked camping essentials are firestarters. Having matches or a lighter is definitely important and something you need to have with you on every campout. Having a simple firestarter makes building a fire so much easier that you should never forget to have at least one or two with you.
Conclusion
There are plenty of things you need when camping, depending on where you go camping. As long as you have the basic camping essentials, the rest is a matter of comfort. The more you camp the more you’ll figure out what you need for the camping you like to do. Always remember you never forget the camping trips where things went wrong, so take a chance to have fun and try not to forget the essentials.
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