Weekend camping is a good way for a family to relax and enjoy fresh air and sunshine in nature. It’s smart and skillful to pack camping stuff light while covering everything you need. Apart from packing clothes in a smart travel backpack, I also pack the following camping essentials for my weekend trips.
1. First Aid Kit
Active camping and hiking might be bound with burns, scratches, cuts or bumps, so to take care of such camping accidents, a first aid kit is especially needed on hand. Do take a first aid kit with you, either you are going camping and hiking, or traveling in the wild. In this way, you could take care of yourself and your family in an emergency.
2. Maps and Compass
Camping spots usually locate at remote mountains and forests, where there is no signal or weak signal of your phone with GPS. What’s more, the further distance you go into the mountain/forest, the weaker the signal is. You might get lost. Don’t put yourself in that position, prepare map and compass for your camping, which is more reliable than your phone.
3. Tent
Make sure you bring a tent, even if you prefer to live in the wild rather in the tent. Weather changes quickly in nature. It is fine in daylight, while at midnight there can be heavy wind, flood, snowstorm, rain or heavy dew. To avoid these cases, get your family shelter, a tent is essential.
4. Sleeping Bag
Don’t forget sleeping bags. Temperatures are different between daylight and midnight in the outdoor. A sleeping bag could keep you and your kids warm when the sun goes down, even prevent insects from upon you and kids’ bodies, ensuring comfortable night’s sleep.
5. Lantern, Flashlight or Headlamp
Besides a campfire outside the tent, it’s important to have a lantern or flashlight in the tent. No matter you want to go to the toilet at midnight or search for something in your backpack, a lantern or flashlight is useful and needed. If you would like to free both your hand, a headlamp is a better option.
6. Tarps
A tarp is always essential. It can be easily folded to take up a small amount of space in your packing bag. Whether you’re using it to protect your tent from water leaking or create an alternative shelter once you forget to bring a tent, a tarp is especially needed.
7. Rope
Don’t go camping without a rope. Rope can be useful at a campsite, like make a clothesline for wet clothes, hang a lantern, create a shelter and so on.
8. Pocket Knife
A pocket knife is an essential camping gear for its many uses, for example, opening packages, cutting fruits/vegetables/meat, making kindling for a fire or opening a bottle, etc. You’d better take a folding one for allowing security while it’s not in use.
9. Canteen and Water Filter
Water is pretty important for survival in the wildness, the further you go into the forest, the more water you need and the more quickly you run out it. Hence, you need to refill water from a stream nearby, which is with bacteria. A canteen and water filter on hand is essential to purify stream bacteria and keep you healthy.
10. Fire Starter
Camping without a warm campfire is not perfect. So you will need a tool to start a fire quickly. Firestarter is the best choice. Bring with dry bark or newspaper as well, it will help you a lot in starting campfire quickly.
11. Rain Jacket
In the forest, you might often encounter heavy dew or rain. We usually bring a few changes of clothes available, so it is important to prevent them from wet. To avoid dangerous in cooler climes, get a lightweight and waterproof rain jacket for each camping member is essential. If it cannot cover your travel backpack, get yourself a waterproof one or get an additional rain bag to protect your gear.
12. Toilet Paper
Toilet paper plays a vital role in camping activities. Bathroom facilities at a campsite might run out of toilet paper or even has no toilet paper for there are no decent bathroom facilities. Instead of toilet paper, there are replacements like bark or leaves which has a poor condition in both comfort and hygiene and make sitting painful. If you are worried about the environmental impact of using toilet paper, buy biodegradable one.
Spending a weekend or a vacation in the wildness could be an amazing adventure or a nightmare, camping packing matters a lot. No matter you are a new or experienced camper, a camping list is necessary for you. If you are an experienced traveler, you know exactly how terrible it is when you forget taking the necessary items with you. Thus, hope this list may help you with your next journey.