Gearing Up...

As I've stated in the description of this blog. I am by no means an experienced gear head. In fact, on the original cross-country trip I packed a whole table top weber gas grill into the trunk of our car... which took up a lot of room...and never worked. Since then we've gotten a bit more savvy, but our hardy Swiss Gear Tent(left) ,purchased at K-mart over 3 years ago, is still weathering the storms. When we head out for a weekend trip there are two goals in mind in terms of gear: to be as prepared as possible and travel as light as possible. After all, all of our food, clothing, shelter and dog needs to fit in our hatchback.

Below is a a list of gear that we take on a typical 2 night car camping trip as well as tips for packing it in and packing it out. This list is the product of a lot of trial and error, but I can safely say it works for us. I hope it will be a good jumping off point for you as well...

Weekend Car Camping Gear List...

Food Prep:

• Camp stove that takes those little green Coleman tanks, and call ahead or check out the campground's website to find out what they have in terms of fire pits and grills. If it rains, your going to need the camp stove.
• Long Matches and a Lighter
• Charcoal
• Starter Bricks
• Mess Kit: 1 per person, spoon, fork, knife, plate, cup, bowl
• Pot+cover
• Nonstick Pan+cover
• French Press (not glass!)
  
• Paper Towels
• Sponge
• Eco friendly dish soap
• Wash Basin
• Drinking/Cooking Water (It's not always so great at the site)
  
• Trash Bags
• Some basic food prep items we've kicked ourselves for forgetting: Salt and Pepper, Sugar or agave syrup, non-dairy creamer or condensed milk, ketchup, mustard, tea, coffee!
• Chopping knife
• Can opener
• Cooler/Cooler Bag
  

Shelter

• Tent
• Rainfly
  
• Footprint or Tarp
• Stakes (we take several kinds depending on terrain)
• Mallot
• Extra Tarp and Rope for picnic Shelter
• Sleeping Bag (Check the weather report and make sure its rated for the lowest temp!)
  
• Sleeping Pad
• Pillows (or use your duffel)

**Most car camping sites will have a picnic tables but extra folding chairs can come in use.

Other Necessities

• Flashlights (1 for the car, 1 for the tent, 1 for the picnic area)
• Lantern
• Swiss Army Knife
  
• Playing Cards
• Camera
• Check the Day Hike Essentials Page if your planning on heading into the woods!
  

For the Dogs

• Tie out leash
• Bowls
• Food
• Drinking Water

A Note on Firewood: Every year there are more and more warnings about moving firewood or bringing it with you to the campground. As a general rule check the park's website ahead of time to see if they allow firewood from surrounding areas. Most campgrounds will have a way to purchase it on-site. In addition campfires are only permitted for cooking in New York State.

Packing:
We keep everything sorted into gear bags of one form or another. A large upright duffel for the kitchen gear, small bag for the tarp, stakes and shelter set up, cooler bag for the dry goods and a cooler with ice for any fresh perishables we bring as well as condiments. When setting up the campsite, take out the items that you will use the most(and won't blow away) and organize them on a surface, then take out only what you need when you need it and clean up often, this will ensure that your gear stays packed and ready to toss into a car or bear box if when you leave your site.

Please be responsible and follow the "Leave No Trace" Principles of Outdoor Ethics:

Plan Ahead and Prepare | Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces | Dispose of Waste Properly | Leave What You Find | Minimize Campfire Impacts | Respect Wildlife | Be Considerate of Other Visitors

For more information and more information on the principles you can visit the following link:

Leave No Trace
(http://www.lnt.org/programs/principles.php)
The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is an educational, nonprofit organization dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and active stewardship of the outdoors by all people. worldwide.

Around the Country in 30 Days...The first time always hurts a little

Before we embarked on a month long road-trip around the country and back in 2007, I hadn't camped since girl scouts, which I was only a member of for about a month so you can infer what a fantastic experience that was.

In my perfect camping world there were beautiful and competitively priced, aesthetically pleasing little cabins dotting the country-side all the way to California and back. For the nights we were to spend in National Parks, I dreamed of pulling into perfect remote little campsites in a pick-up truck with a camper top similar to Rocinanthe in John Steinbeck's "Travel's with Charley." Unfortunately this would not be the case and we would have to rough it with our shoestring budget.

Starting from zero we had about $300.00 to spend on gear. If you've checked the REI site lately that doesn't go very far. Instead we turned our cash toward K-mart for the bare necessities: tent, lantern, and mess kit. We stuck to what we had for the rest. We grabbed blankets, lunky suitcases, an old lunch kit cooler, utensils out of the drawer and my dad's weber gas tabletop grill, packing all this and more into the back of a PT cruiser with the backseats pushed down, this was going to be interesting.

If you've camped before you know that blankets do not do the job that a sleeping bag does, and by the time we reached Wyoming we were freezing our asses off and waking up in the middle of the night to huddle closer together, it was quite romantic.

Our gas grill was a bust and had we not promised to return it safely to my father along with his beloved car, we would have left it by the side of the road for the next unknowing camper.

I got used to the tent pretty quickly, as well as the bugs, snakes, racoons, birds, squirrels rambling buffalo and grizzly bears, which were all much scarier in my mind than in reality, although I can’t say enough about heeding bear warnings wherever you go, I had written it off until a ranger at a Yellowstone campground handed us a photo of a bear who had torn the window out of a car and climbed in.

In the end, after the scrapes and scares and one night spent in our car while whistling pacific winds destroyed our tent, we had seen countless beautiful landscapes and met some amazing people, we had tried local foods and adopted a wonderful puppy. Now I can’t imagine a summer with out it.

And so as I sit here in my warm living room with a cup of tea and a serious case of cabin fever watching snow blanket the BQE out my window, I'm looking forward to campfires and creatures howling in the night again. Of course this year, there will be a real sleeping bag involved.