At some point in your life, everyone needs to take a camping trip. Why? Camping allows us to be at one with nature. There’s nothing better than scavenging for food and relaxing under the stars with a friend or a loved one.
Once you go camping, you’ll never go back to a ‘conventional’ vacation ever again. That is how good an experience you and the rest of the crew will have when you pitch up your tent.
However, you can’t walk into the Great Outdoors and hope everything falls into place. That mindset usually ends in having a terrible time or a dangerous situation.
Camping is fun but hazardous. For that reason, you need to respect it by taking the proper equipment. The right equipment could save your life. At the least, it will make the experience much more comfortable and enjoyable. Here are a few ideas when it comes to camping essentials.
- A Big Tent
It is obvious that you will need to take a tent of some kind on your trip. What you might not realize is that you need a rather large one. Even if only two people are sharing a tent, the small ones tend not to have a lot of space. Also, you have to think about your bags and all the other accessories.
You can’t just leave them outside for the bears! Everything you have should be on your person or in your tent at all times. With that in mind, double the recommended size. For instance, if it’s a two-person tent, get a four-person tent instead. Obey this rule, and you’ll have the perfect amount of room to do more than sleep.
- Warm Clothes
Even in the middle of the summer, the temperature will plummet at night. There’s no central heating in the wilderness. Apart from lighting a fire, only another layer of clothing will help. It stands to reason that these extra layers should retain heat. After all, you can take them off during the day when you are hot.
Clothes that use thick materials and heavy fabrics are best because they prevent heat from escaping, radiating the warmth toward your body instead. Lightweight clothing might keep you warm, but it is expensive. Look for Gore-Tex material. Climbers use these to scale Mt. Everest, so they should be fine for camping.
- Sleeping Bag And Ground Cover
A decent sleeping bag will keep you warm at night. Its purpose is to radiate your body heat around the bag. Because you’re tucked in, the heat can’t escape. To be fair, most sleeping bags are pretty good as long as they use decent materials. What you need to look out for are good tent and ground cover. Thanks to companies like Nasus Supply, they are easy to locate and buy.
Still, you should know what is best before you make your final purchase. With regards to ground cover, you need a piece of material that keeps your body off of the floor. Then, you won’t radiate the cold from the ground. A good idea for a tent cover is a storm tarp. As you can tell from the name, they will hold up in the most extreme weather conditions.
- Cutting Tools
Those of you that take camping seriously shouldn’t rock up to a campsite five minutes from your house. To be honest, you might as well pitch your tent in your garden. For the ultimate experience, you need to go deep into the woods. However, deep forests are notoriously unkind and harsh environments.
Because they are not tourist attractions, there are no paths or walkways. And, the vegetation grows wild like in a jungle. If you want to get through this vegetation, you will need a big, sharp knife. Think of a machete or an ax. Although they might seem over the top, they have the ability to cut through the forest. Plus, you can use them to chop wood for the fire.
- Storm-proof Matches
Speaking of fire, it’s always a good idea to bring matches. Our cavemen ancestors created sparks by rubbing two pieces of stone together, but this isn’t a practical solution when a match is available. Even the most avid campers use certain “cheats,” and using matches is high on the list. It will save you a whole lot of time and energy, two things you don’t have when you are trying to get warm.
Instead of picking up the first brand you see, opt for the waterproof ones. Rain can get into matches, making them impossible to light. That isn’t the case if they are storm- or water-proof. You might prefer a lighter to a match, but a match is the best option. When your hands get cold, sparking a lighter is one of the hardest things in the world.
- Waterproof Cases
Depending on the climate, rain might be something to contend with. The main problem with rain when camping is that it soaks all your essential items. From your clothes to your rucksack, everything will get a soaking unless you secure your items in waterproof cases. It doesn’t take much — only need a protective plastic case.
Keep your essentials in the case to keep them safe. There’s nothing worse than waking up in the morning to find the weather has destroyed your trip. A little tip: put one item in one bag unless it is only small. If the case is fit for bursting, it negates the entire point of the case.
- Solar Charger
Just because you are out in the wild doesn’t mean that you don’t need electricity. In fact, you need it more in the wild than you do at home. If there is an emergency, you need to be able to contact the emergency services regardless of your location. The problem with electricity is that you don’t have any outlets when you go camping.
You can buy electric tents, but they are a bit of a novelty. Instead of spending all that money, opt for a solar charger. As the name suggests, the charger absorbs sunlight to create electricity. As a result, you will always have the ability to charge your phone or other essential items. A solar charger is a particularly brilliant piece of kit that you should consider for your excursion.
- Cooking Apparatus
You have to eat and to eat you will need the proper utensils. Obviously, you won’t be sitting down to a three-course meal anytime soon. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare a decent meal for your lunch and dinner. And, all it takes is a small gas cooker. Most camping stores sell these cookers because they have become a major part of the experience. The logic is simple: you turn on the gas, light it, and heat the pan.
When the pan is hot enough, you throw in your food and create a basic meal. You can cook your food over the fire if you prefer. But, there is no need thanks to this piece of kit. It does all the hard work so that you can sit back and relax.
- Cooler Box
For those of you that want to find your food, there is nothing wrong with being a hunter-gatherer for a day. Still, you won’t be able to find certain foods in the forest. Bread, for example, isn’t readily available when you go camping. The same goes for a lot of food groups, which is why a cooler box is essential. The box will keep everything cool for the majority of your trip.
Then, you can enjoy some luxury while you are ‘slumming’ it under the stars. As long as you take enough ice, the food will keep for a very long time. If you want, you can even take a few beers and enjoy a nice cold one under the stars. Sounds like a good idea!
- Lantern With Removable Panels
You can’t turn on a switch when it gets dark. When the sun drops, you will need to make light on your own. Thankfully, there are plenty of lanterns that use kinetic energy to create light. As such, you should never run out of light on your trip. To take it one step further, you might want a lantern with removable panels.
That way, you can take a panel if you need to leave the comfort of the campsite. And, anyone at the campsite will still have light. They think of everything nowadays!
Surviving in the wild isn’t easy, but it’s a lot easier with the tools above.
