So your always forgetting something when you go camping? You want to bring the right amount of food for your backpacking party of five? Feel like you could go more gourmet with your base camp dinner? Here are 25 tips to make your next camping trip slamin’!
25.) Write a Packlist- Always forgetting things? Make a pack lists for your trip. Save ones geared for certain seasons/trips to use on later expeditions. Create a group gear list, kitchen equipment and personal gear.
24.) Build A Medkit Cache- Every time you use supplies from your medkit in the field, you are depleting your stash for next time. Stock up on a Cache of equipment so you can rebuild your medkit when you return from trips instead of scrambling to do so right before. You’ll thank yourself in the long run and you’ll feel like a pro.
23.) Make a Food List- Plan out your meals to a tee. Know what you need and what you don’t, when you need to use your perishables by and how you’ll need to pack. If you’re planing on hiking in frozen perishables, make sure you account for their use in the first few meals.
22.) Make a Kitchen Set Bag- Awesome items to have: Spatula, Spork, Scraper (the best!), strainer, bandanna, potholders, lighter, stove repair set, dinner set, cooking spoon.
21.) Make a Log of Your Trips- give yourself a sense of satisfaction, and stay organized. Know what to do differently next time and log it in your next trips goals.
20.)Nikwax Your Boots- not sure when the last time you did this was? Do it again! If you want your boots to be totally waterproof, this is the only way to go. You’ll thank yourself later!
19.) Respray Rain Jacket- Nothing worse than finding yourself in a rainstorm with a jacket that doesn’t keep the elements out. Buy a bottle of Nikwax TX Direct Spray-On or McNett Revivex, then wash it, iron it and treat it.
18.) Buy a Pack Cover- Don’t get caught under a tree again when the rain starts coming down. Keep your momentum and don’t worry about your stuff getting wet as you hike. Pack covers are also great in camp when you have no room in your tent for your gear, but its raining cats and dogs.
17.) Buy a thin, narrow cutting board- For the few extra ounces it is really worth it. It can be 1/8″ in thickness, or even less! Cut up produce, cheese, meat, and candy bars without ruining your blade, and while seeming utterly civilized!
16.) Take Extra Stakes- You never know when you may need to batten down the hatches, counter weight a bear-hang, or wield a clove of garlic and stab a vampire in the heart. Bring a few extra stakes!
15.) Bring Duct Tape- Those people you see, with duct tape or Gaffers tape wrapped around the bottom of their nalgenes….they’re smart! When $&it hits the fan and you have a tear in your tent fly, or a gash in your sleeping pad, you’ll be grateful you wrapped a few rounds of gaf to your bottle. In a pinch, its better than nothing and it can temporarily fix almost anything.
14.) Bring Extra AAA Batteries- Don’t let your headlamp die again! Bring some extra batteries dude!
13.) Bring Suntan Lotion- Long hikes in the high country will leave you looking like a rock lobster. Better to slather up in som SPF 50 and look like a dork than get burned and have to shoulder a pack the next day!
12.) Bring $20 Cash- Sometimes, you will find yourself in a pinch. You left your dome light on and your car died, or you hiked out to the wrong trailhead. Have some cash to bum a ride, or at least to buy a hamburger at the food truck at the trailhead when you get out! Sweet reward!
11.) Bring electrolyte Pills- Easy to store in your med-kit, and crucial when a member of your party gets dehydrated. Swallow one with a liter of water to re-hydrate and replenish salts lost through exertion.
10.) Freeze perishables My motto, “do everything with style”. Go all out. As long as its frozen when you leave, and its sealed tight you can trek in meat or sauces to eat in the first few days. Keep in mind that all packaging MUST be packed out. I try to bring cured meats like bacon or sausage and put them frozen, in a Tupperware for use the first night or second morning of a trip.
9.) Bring Fresh produce If you don’t mind a little extra weight, it’s always nice to have an apple, an orange, some carrots, an onion and a cucumber or zucchini. You can supplement these things into lots of different meals and they will keep for a few days. Awesome for base camp trip where you can leave your weight in a travel cooler.
8.) Invest in a water filter MSR sells great water filters for under $70. They will save you tons in treatment cost through filters, or iodine tablets, and allow you to drink fresh filtered water straight from the source after pumping. The difference between pumping and drinking directly from a cold mountain creek and drinking it after waiting for purification/filtration is a sweet reward, well worth the investment, and the filter will last for years.
7.) Tell One Person Where You Will Be- Don’t be an idiot! Tell at least one person where you will be hiking, and when so if you don’t come back, we can send a search party to look for you.
6.) Bring A Coffee Press- Though Cafe Bustello has its novelty, there is nothing better than waking up on a mountain or in a canyon and asking your group, “french press?”. There are lots of BPA free and aluminum options, as well as an addition to the Jetboil Personal set that turns the pot into a coffee press.
5.)Bring Treats, and save them for late in the hike- this will guarantee friends on your camping trip. Nothing like a long day of hiking, starving and dying of thirst when someone announces “anybody want Oreos?”:
4.) Bring a Good Book To Read Out Loud- Embrace your inner entertainer, and bring something funny or scary to read to your friends. I’ve been going with Rohald Dahl lately.
3.) Hot Beverages- Chai, coffee, hot toddy, tea, cider bring it all!
2.) Bring a pack with a removable brain for a day pack, don’t waste extra weight bringing another bag, most bags nowadays have this option, which comes in handy on long trips with peak ascent days.
1.) Go with people you can teach and learn from- Knowledge is a two-way street. Learn to play with others and share responsibilities in a group, and above all seek knowledge when exploring the wilderness!
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