Camping. That word makes me think of waking up early to the sun, snuggled in a sleeping bag with the smell of campfires smoldering nearby. My husband and I have been camping for three summers now. I had next to none experience before we began camping, my husband had a little more experience than I, but together, we had a lot to learn. We just completed our last camping trip of our summer and while we were hiking, we came up with a list of all the things we have learned since we started camping in 2011.
Below is a list that seems pretty basic, but trust me, I'm sure we are not the only ones who have forgotten these things. Hopefully this list will make your next camping trip more enjoyable.
*P.s. I'm not claiming to be a camping expert, just providing advice from our lessons learned.
Don't Forget:
1. To Bring Kindling & Fire Sticks: We struggled getting our campfires started. Some times we would sit there for an hour trying to get our wood to catch on fire. What were we doing wrong? First, we learned we needed "kindling". Not grass or random sticks, but small pieces of a log that would burn long enough to catch our whole logs on fire. My husband invested in a hatchet that he now uses to cut up one or two of our logs into approximately 8"x 2" pieces. We keep a pile of these for the duration of our trip. But what has been our most successful method to getting these kindling pieces to catch fire? We found these awesome fire starting sticks. There are multiple brands - you can find them in the camping section at almost any sporting goods store. We first tried Coghlan's Waterproof Fire Sticks - they work great. They are cheap to - about $2 or $3 per pack. There are two ways we have been most successful in creating a fire:
- We create a tripod out of our "kindling" sticks. We break a fire stick up into two or three pieces and put it under the tripod. We use our lighter to light the fire sticks. They stay lit long enough to catch the kindling on fire. While this is happening, we gently place the whole logs in a tripod over the top of the kindling sticks. The kindling sticks stay hot and flame long enough to catch your logs on fire.
- The next way is to lay 4 logs in a square, kind of "log cabin" style so they are overlapping. Place four kindling sticks in the middle, each kindling stick should touch one of the logs. Lay pieces of fire sticks in the middle of the kindling sticks and start them on fire. It's a chain reaction. The fire sticks flame up the kindling, the kindling flame up the logs they are touching, and then you can add four more logs in a square if you choose to do so.
- Make sure your flame has oxygen. Don't plop the logs directly on the flames, or your logs will smother the flame and you will have to start all over again.
2. To Check the Weather: We learned a big lesson on this. If you see a "chance" of rain in the forecast - even 10% chance, put your firewood, and anything you don't want wet (chairs, towels, shoes etc) in your car! We made a huge mistake and didn't even check the weather - we left everything outside, including the firewood, and well, let's just say we did not have a fire for breakfast the next morning! It doesn't take that much time to load your car with your stuff, and then pull it out again in the morning.
3. To Plan Meals/Prepare Food Ahead of Time: Plan your meals out, or you may end up with a) not enough food or b) way too much food that is likely to spoil. Not only should you plan your meals, if you have food ideas that you could make at home before camping and could easily wrap in foil to warm over the fire - do it! This saves time and the amount of food you need to pack. For example, we have made pancakes multiple times at home before camping. Wrap them up in foil and heat them up over the fire for a nutritious breakfast. We made flatbread pizzas over the fire: cook sausage at home, and measure our your pizza ingredients before hand - then you don't have to bring a whole bag of shredded cheese, a whole jar of pasta sauce, etc - you will have the perfect amount, and no leftovers to spoil. Don't forget nutritious snacks like trail mix and granola bars for hiking.
4. To Keep Your Cooler Cold: Soooo our cooler isn't that awesome, and ice melts pretty quick. We have done the whole "bagged ice" thing, but it kept melting, and we had to keep buying more to keep our food cold. Solution 1: buy a better cooler. Solution 2: (our choice) Keep your crappy cooler, and use BLOCK ice. Our friends told us block ice takes way longer to melt - but why buy it when you can MAKE it!?! My husband's idea was fabulous - he filled my bread loaf pans with water, stuck them in the freezer and then we dumped out the frozen block and put it in a gallon storage bag. He had to shave the end of them just a tad to get them to fit in the bags, but still - it was worth it! The ice didn't melt as quickly and kept our cooler colder. Another idea is to freeze plastic water bottles and throw those in your cooler, too. Just remember to pour out an inch of water before you freeze them so the water has room to expand. Side note - keep your cooler locked in your car so animals stay out of your food!
5. To Bring More Bug-Spray Than You Need: We thought we could last a 2 day camping trip with a half bottle of bug spray. WRONG. On this specific camping trip, we had a "hike-in" campsite and walked two miles to our site. The bugs were really bad. By the time we got to our site, our bug-spray was gone. My hubby had to hike 2 miles back to the ranger station to buy more and then 2 miles back. Yikes. It's ok if you bring too much, but if you don't bring enough, the bugs will love you.
6. To Price a State Park Parking Pass: If you are going to go to multiple state parks during the summer, check out your state's yearly parking pass costs vs. daily parking pass costs. In Minnesota, it is a way better deal to buy the yearly parking pass for about $25.00 vs. paying for a parking pass every time you enter another state park. This can save you money, so check it out.
7. To Check the Low: Make sure you bring enough blankets and warm clothes for sleeping if you are camping in a cooler climate. That was a big oopsy for us. Although it can be nearly 80 during the day, the temperatures can drop significantly at night. We traveled north a few hours, and didn't realize the low was going to be in the 40's at night - and we froze! We only brought one pair of sweatpants and one sweatshirt so we had to wear the same outfit every evening. We slept in our socks, sweatshirts, sweat pants, hoods up with them tied tight around our face, sausaged in our sleeping bags, one blanket a piece, and I even resorted to pulling clothes out of my suitcase and placing them on top of me. Hello summer "up north".
8. To Bring a First-Aid Kit: We have always brought a mini first aid kit with us when we go hiking on our camping trips - but little did we know how much we would need it. My husband and I were hiking at a state park, the morning after it had rained. We both had on waterproof hiking boots, but it was still slippery outside. We were hiking along and all of a sudden, I slipped on a wet rock and crashed down on my knee and hip. I had a big scrape and a goose egg on my knee. We whipped out that first aid kit and covered it with a bandage until we made it back to camp. Once at camp we were able to clean it up and put some ointment on it. So glad we had that.
9. To Make A List: Keep a master list of everything you need to pack for camping. Continue to add to it after each camping trip, or cross things off you realize are not necessary for camping. This makes packing sooo much easier.
10. To Bring Flip Flops: If you want to use the showers at the campground, it's a great idea to bring flip flops. The shower floors aren't the cleanest, and it makes the process a whole lot easier.
11. To Grab a State Park Map: Grab a state park map at the ranger station. These have all the trails and mileage for each trail which makes it much easier to navigate your way around.
12. To Save Your Battery: Most of us have smartphones these days. They are really nice to have while camping for weather updates, maps, and taking photos. However, when you are out in the wilderness, there is usually low or poor signal that leaves your phone searching for signal - and that drains the battery really quick. If you're tenting it, you probably don't have much access to outlets besides charging it in your car. To save battery, put your smartphone on "Airplane Mode". Just remember, when your phone is in this mode, it means you won't be able to make calls/send texts or receive calls/texts. Take your phone off airplane mode to use those functions. It's great to put it in this mode overnight when you are sleeping and don't need your phone.
13. To Bring Fire-Proof Utensils: So many times we have forgotten utensils for flipping and stirring food on the fire grate. A plastic spoon will not do- it will melt. Consider hot dog/marshmallow roasters that are long enough so you won't have to get your hand too close to the fire to roast them.
14. To Make a Reservation: In the summer, campsites fill up so fast! Yes, there are some non-reserveable campsites that you can get the day-of, but that is a big risk if you aren't the first handful of people to arrive at the campground. If you go online to the campground website, there will be a way to reserve your campsite ahead of time. You will also be able to pick a campsite with your preference: close to a lake, close to the bathrooms, secluded, etc.
15. To Bring Games: Without a doubt, you will have some downtime while camping. Bring some board games and card games to entertain yourselves. Some of our favorite games include Ticket to Ride, Sequence, and Pit.
16. To Bring Aluminum foil: This is my best friend while camping. But make sure it's the non-stick kind. (I've used the kind that isn't non-stick, and I had to peel the foil off of the food - not fun.) Wrap food in the foil and place it directly on the grate to bake it or warm it. Line your pans with the foil for easy clean up.
17. To Bring More than Enough Water: If you are at a campsite with close access to drinkable water, you don't have to worry about this. But if you choose to go to a hike-in/backpack-in campsite, MAKE SURE you have more than enough water. One of the hike-in campsites we went to, we were severely low on water and had one small bottle left for our 2 mile hike back to our car with all of our gear. We cut it really close. Water is crucial.
