Camping is one of those activities that you either love or hate, there is little middle ground. Having camped from the Pacific to Atlantic and Gulf to Canada, the key to camping is learning what you and yours need to be comfortable. Don’t try to rough it. While some don’t mind to be hot, cold, hungry, dirty, or wet, most will tolerate very little before running for the nearest hotel. Here are few thoughts that our family have learned along the way:
- make lists (notice I said plural, lists, not singular), and make lists that have other lists as part of those lists, be organized
- check everything out before going, air in tires, batteries charged, lights working, stoves that cook, nothing worse that trying to fix something at a dark campsite
- set up the campsite when its light outside, make certain you get there in plenty of time before it gets dark
- no drinking until everything is set up, keep a lock on the liquor until you have somewhere to sleep
- read the campsite rules, we’ve had many visit from the ranger due to ignorance (known offender)
- get a campsite reservation, print it out, take the print out with you, reservations get lost, computer systems at camp sites are terrible, and there is often no cell phone service at camp sites
Below is a monster list of things you might want to bring camping, if you bring all of these items, you are just short of crazy, this list is all encompassing, things you might want to bring, remember, no roughing it, make it enjoyable.
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