What makes for a great family camping trip?
Great company, the perfect campground, and getting your list of camping essentials right. Pack too much, and quality time with the family turns into time spent packing and unpacking. Pack too little, and you are potentially packing a recipe for disaster.
Getting your list of camping basics right can be tricky at times, and depends on where exactly you choose to pitch that family camping tent. Whether you choose an organized campground with all the amenities, or you venture out to a campsite in the wilderness, this article will help you get your camping basics right.
Organized Campgrounds with Amenities
These types of campgrounds usually come with all the perks: clean drinking water, hot showers, and electricity. These are perfect places for camping light, places where you can get by with the bare basics. Here is a list of what you will need:
- A family camping tent, with adequate space for sleeping and storing equipment,
- sleeping bags,
- food,
- water,
- flashlight/lanterns,
- matches,
- first aid kit,
- cookware/eating dishes,
- multi-purpose camping tool/knife,
- personal hygiene items, such as towels, wash cloth, sunscreen, and clothing.
You should be able to get by with very few cooking utensils. One frying pan, a medium size cooking pot for heating water and making stews and a couple of spoons will be enough to cook for a group of four. For larger groups, simply double the numbers for each increment of four. Remember that it is more practical to have two medium pots than one large one – you can cook much faster over two fires than one. Don’t forget the can opener, the coffee/tea pot and cups!
Rustic Camping
These campgrounds offer an outhouse and a pump for clean water, but little else in the way of amenities. You would need to expand your list of camping essentials to include basic equipment such as a shovel, a pail, and an axe. You will need the shovel to dig or clean out a fire pit, the axe to chop your wood, and the pail for a whole number of small but important tasks, such as gathering twigs for the campfire or carrying water or sand. You could consider carrying a small propane cooker or a charcoal BBQ as an alternative to using a fire pit for your cooking.
Wilderness Camping
If you want to head off into the great outdoors, where there is nothing but you and nature, wilderness camping might just be your thing. The camping essentials you pack should make you completely self-sustainable, and, in addition to the items already listed for the other campsites, you should include a supply of water, purifying tablets in case you run out of water, maps, a compass, and a little extra dry food in case of an emergency.
If you are hiking into a wilderness area, consider purchasing collapsible shovels and a small hand ax with a case that will attach to your belt, decreasing the weight you carry in your backpack. Leave the pail behind, and replace the medium cooking pot with a larger kettle with a handle, so that it can double as both a pail and a cooking pot.
For cooking, consider which would be your best option: a fire-pit, which would require dry wood being available, or a small propane cooker and charcoal BBQ, both of which will add considerable weight.
