Choosing a Time & Location

Choosing a Time

Choosing a Location

Acquiring Equipment

• Family - Check with parents, grandparents or siblings to see if they have any old camping equipment you can use
• Freecycle - A non-profit group that facilitates giving or receiving free stuff of all sorts
• Salvation Army or other thrift shops
• Flea markets and tag sales
• Auction sites like E-Bay

Must-haves

• Sleeping bags, sleeping pads
• Tent, ground cloth
• Food
• Water (five-gallon collapsible jugs and plastic sport bottles)
• Plastic bowl, cup and spork (one set for each person)
• Camp stove and extra fuel, waterproof matches, cooking utensils
• Pocket knives for the adults
• Some means of outside communication (cell phones for most people)
• Large trash bags
• Small camp towel (for drying dishes or hands)
• Flashlights, extra batteries
• Sturdy shoes or boots
• First-aid kit, Prescription meds
• Sanitary supplies (hand soap, dish soap, TP)
• Clothing appropriate for your climate with one spare change of clothes
• Foul-weather gear (raincoat or poncho and hat at a minimum for everyone)

Basics

• Hiking boots, rain boots
• Backpacks
• Water filter or purification tablets
• Ground coffee and French press
• Cooking spices
• Camp lanterns, tent lights
• Spare stuff sacks
• Large and small plastic bags
• Bandannas
• Family games, special stuffed animals or toys, books
• Emergency whistles (one for each child)
• Mosquito repellent (with DEET)
• Sun block
• Small shovel
• Half a sleeping pad (to sit on, one for each person)

Nice-to-haves

• Tarp (useful for covering your eating area)
• Hammock
• Parachute cord (for hanging a tarp or hammock, also for tying things to the inside of your tent)
• Folding camp chairs
• Lightweight camp shoes
• Solar shower
• Chemical toilet
• Cooler for drinks, frozen foods
• Flavored drinks, favorite snacks or desserts
• Small camping pillows
• AM/FM/Weather radio
• Portable, two-way radios

• Moleskin, small scissors
• An anti-diarrheal, such as Immodium
• Benadryl or other over-the-counter anti-histamine for allergic reactions
• Various sizes of band-aid and a few butterfly enclosures

Thirty years ago there was a surge in the number of people who went backpacking in New England. But in recent years the number of overnight backpackers has declined. One survey found a 23 percent decline between 1998 and 2005.

• Let your kids participate in everything, from setting up camp to planning a day hike with trail maps to planning the trip itself - where to go, what to bring, and what to do once you arrive. Buy them small backpacks (school-size is fine) and have them pack their own “essentials”. We let our kids choose their own books for bedtime stories, and a few small toys.
• Kids love to have their own camping equipment. Some ideas - give kids their own flashlight and disposable camera. For older kids that might like to venture short distances from camp, give them a portable radio or emergency whistle. You can also let them pack their own snacks and water bottles.
• Organize a treasure or scavenger hunt. For younger kids, you can limit it to your campsite (think Easter-egg hunt). For older kids, you can write instructions to the next waypoint on a piece of paper, that waypoint would have another piece of paper with directions to the next, and so on. Open up the hunt to nearby woods. If you know how to use a map and compass, this can be even be a good way to teach your kids the basics of map and compass navigation.
• Board or card games - Go Fish, War, and magnetic chess or checkers are favorites in our family.
• Pick-up-twigs - Help your kids collect small, straight twigs to play this classic game.
• Exploring - Pick a limited area of your campsite for each child and have them see what they can find. A magnifying glass is ideal for this.
• Collecting - This can be incorporated into day hikes or exploring. Bring bag(s), tweezers, and magnifying glasses for each of your children, and have them collect leaves, rocks, bugs, or anything else they can fit in the bags. Bring a permanent marker so you can label the bags afterwards.
• Construction - Have your kids collect twigs, bark, rocks or leaves and encourage them to build play houses or make crafts. Bring along some twine, glue, elastic bands and scissors to help out.
• Read books to kids just before meals or bedtime to calm them down a bit and pass some time. At night in the tent, a battery-powered lantern or LED headlamp work great.
• Take a family day hike. During the hike, make frequent stops and integrate exploration and collecting to keep kids occupied. You can also play trail games like “I-spy” or “Follow the Leader”.
• Journals - Something that works for very young children is to have them make picture journals of their finds or daily experiences.
• Leaf rubbings - Bring along some blank paper and a few crayons to make leaf rubbings.
• Nightly fire - Have your kids gather wood for a fire, then give them a treat of s’mores.
• Primitive living - This one might be fun for you, too. Work with your kids to make primitive tools and niceties, for example, making a sundial, making a bench seat from rocks, twine and small logs, starting a fire without matches, making rope, or making baskets from bark (unless you’re a primitive-living aficionado, you’ll need to do a bit of Internet research before you go on your trip).

*~*~*~

Also from the AMC, a very good article on How to Find and Disinfect Water in the Backcountry.

*~*~*~

This is just wrong on so many levels…why on earth would you use aftershave while camping? Choice quote (you can’t make this stuff up):

The Brut products do say they’re flammable and shouldn’t be used while smoking or near a fire, but Lewitzke’s lawyer argued that doesn’t suffice because Lewitzke didn’t actually use the products by the fire.

“They’re arguing they did not say, ‘After you put it on you remain flammable for a period of time,’” Geske said.

*~*~*~

Here is a quick article on Tips for Hiking Etiquette.

You can cut back on the amount of clothing you pack by realizing that it’s OK to wear the same set of clothing more than one day in a row. With that in mind, pack one of each type, and use synthetics or silk next to your skin, wool or nylon on the outside. For example, one pair of nylon shorts (doubles as a bathing suit for the boys), one pair of nylon pants, one pair of synthetic long underwear. The only exceptions might be cotton T-shirts or socks that get damp and can’t be dried easily. Here is what I might bring for one person on a typical Fall camping trip:

• One pair polypropylene long underwear (long-sleeve top and bottom, you can sleep in these in colder weather)
• Fleece vest or jacket, depending on the expected weather
• Nylon shorts, Nylon pants, nylon shell jacket with hood
• Two or three pairs of lightweight wool socks, also polypropylene sock liners for day hikes
• Flip-flops (for bumming around camp or showers), sneakers or lightweight hiking boots/shoes
• Cotton T-shirt, for warmer daytime temperatures
• Cotton bandanna
• Wool or fleece cap, wool or fleece gloves
• Raincoat
• Sun hat (I use an army-style camo hat, but baseball caps are fine), sunglasses

For most family outings, you’ll need a camp stove (we use the two-burner, propane Coleman stove), a large pot with lid for boiling water or pasta, and a frying pan. Bring just enough utensils for everyone, usually a spoon (or spork), insulated mug with lid and a bowl for each person are all that is needed. The cook should have a knife, some strike-anywhere matches, a spatula, pot gripper, glove (for handling hot pots - heavy-duty gardening gloves work well) and perhaps a stirring/serving spoon. If you want coffee, a french press is ideal and makes great coffee from store-bought grounds.

Rather than go for the ‘pack the fridge’ approach, you should plan your meals and throw in some extra snacks or trail mix as needed. One thing that helps reduce waste and clutter is to re-pack foods in plastic bags - use heavy-duty freezer storage bags you can label with a permanent marker. This way, you can pack only what you will need. For family outings, a large, plastic box with a lid works very well to store the food near your camp kitchen, while at the same time keeping pests out. You can get margarine or butter substitutes in spray bottles, they are very handy and a lot less messy when cooking outdoors (as an aside, keep in mind these bear safety tips if you are storing food in bear country).

If your campsite has a clean drinking water supply (most family sites do), bring an empty 5-gallon collapsible water carrier and fill it once you arrive. That way, you won’t have to carry water. For questionable water sources, bring along some water-purification tablets.

Apart from the obvious (sleeping bags, air mattresses or foam pads), I leave the pillows at home and use clothing sacks as improvised camp pillows. You can bring one cloth sack for each person, and fill it with their (dry) clothes at night. From experience I can tell you that the adults will mind the lack of a “real” pillow much more than the kids.

This one is always touchy. Some people can’t survive without a daily shower. In most family campgrounds, flush toilets and showers are the norm, so this isn’t a big deal. However, you should know from someone who spent 31 days in the North Cascade mountains without showering - you won’t die from dirt (although you and your companions might smell, you get used to it in a few days).

• Truly minimalist campers pack just toothbrushes and toothpaste for all, along with any other absolute essentials. If you have to bring toilet paper, the leave no trace guidelines mandate that you pack out used tissue (for young children or toddlers, baby wipes will be easier to use than toilet paper, but you still should pack them out).
• If you do pack soap, try to use the biodegradable variety, and don’t wash yourself or dishes near water sources (at least 200 feet away is a general guideline). Read my Low Impact Cooking post on how to clean and scrub dishes without soap.
• If you do want to use anti-perspirants, use the non-scented variety so as not to attract bees and other insects.

When I awoke at midnight to the stench of a urine-soaked sleeping bag (a consequence of camping with a toddler), I was wired. I had many cold, dark hours ahead of me to contemplate why it is that “accidents” happen on the first night of a camping trip with no prospect of doing laundry for the next three days. Occasionally I would try to distract myself from my wretched situation by counting the number elbows digging into my ribs and the number of roots digging into my spine.

• Leave cotton at home, and take advantage of synthetic, wool, or silk shirts, long underwear, and socks.
• Dress in layers, you can add or remove layers as needed to warm or cool off. A lightweight, nylon outer layer is great for deflecting cool breezes and will be water resistant. Bring a pair of nylon shorts for warmer days or to wear while hiking.
• Bring a small wool or synthetic cap to wear at night, it especially helps to wear it while sleeping, since most heat will be lost through your exposed head while you are in your sleeping bag.
• If you will be doing any hiking, read my tip on Dry Socks Every Morning.
• Use a sleeping mat or air mattress to insulate your sleeping bag from direct tent-floor contact. This will keep you warmer at night. I’ve had good luck with Ridge Rest sleeping pads over the years, they are cheap and lightweight, and have just enough padding. For something more comfortable (and a bit more expensive), try a Self-Inflating sleeping mat.
• Bring extra fuel for your stove, you will use the stove more often in the fall to make hot drinks or soups between meals.

With that in mind, here’s some outdoor cooking low-impact tips:

• Rather than carry dish soap and scrub brushes or sponges, clean
  utensils and pots with nature’s brushes - pine cones, pine needles,
  sand, or snow. Once they are scrubbed, rinse them in boiling
  water. Just get in the habit of boiling a pot of water for cleaning
  after every meal. Pieces of leftover food should packed out, not
  thrown on the ground.
• Don’t start cooking fires anywhere in the backcountry - even if local
  regulations allow it. Campgrounds with designated fire pits and
  streams with sandy shorelines are the exceptions - in the latter case,
  it’s easy to remove any trace of fire when you are done. If you do
  start a fire, never use wood from live trees.