Camping in 10 Easy Steps

Getting Started with Camping

Whether it’s your first trip or you’re a veteran camper, camping done right is the perfect vacation. In order to help anyone that needs some help figuring it out, I’ve written this article to help you out. This article will have affiliate links in it, as few as possible to be honest. I’ll ask that you view our products here only once in this article, since we need to keep the lights on somehow. With all of that out of the way, let’s begin with the article proper!

Pick a Date

The first thing to do is picking a day that you are going to be at a camping spot. This gives you a deadline as well as a day or two that you can tell anyone making requests that you are busy. If you need to, set your email to auto-reply during those days. The process for that is quite simple, but if you need help, here’s a link from google that tells you exactly how to do it for gmail. I personally think the deadline is the most important part though.

Pick a Spot

We actually wrote an article on how to do this earlier this year, the link being right here. This should be carefully considered. Do you have a truck? Are you going to be camping with a trailer? Another consideration is how far are you willing to go for a great camping spot? The Bureau of Land Management has to be one of the best resources I have come across for great camping spots. They list the sites available throughout your state, then even give you the option to book it then and there. I would suggest doing this at this point. You don’t want to plan your trip around a spot, only to find you missed reserving it.

List all Gear Needed

This has to be the most vital part of camping preparation. There are so many things if you are going for more than 1 day that you will need to bring and think of. So many things that I doubt anyone would be able to list them off from memory. Paper and pen is required at this point. I’ve provided a list to help you out with any gear necessary for a 3-day trip. You can help me expand this list in the comment if you feel so inclined.

• Tent, Sleeping bag and/or sleeping pad
• Fire starter, tinder, emergency blanket, emergency whistle
• Backpack with food and water for those 3 days
• Clothes and 1 extra pair of socks
• Camping mess kit and water purifier
• I personally also bring about 3 meters of paracord and a hatchet every camping trip

Plan for the Absolute Worst

If you noticed, I included an emergency blanket and an emergency whistle, which I believe everyone should have in their camping kits. You have to consider what you would do if someone was to say break a leg, or lose a finger. People that have allergies to bees usually always carry an EpiPen on them, just to be prepared in the same way. I would seriously recommend to anyone that carrying a tourniquet on you at all times is a good idea while camping. I’m certain enough people heard about the man that cut his arm off in order to free himself from a boulder. 

Plan Your Meals

There’s another thing you have to consider, you need to carry all your food in and the packaging for the food out. This part might be some of the heaviest you’ll pack in if you’re going for 3 days. You need to think in terms of heavy meals equaling 2,500 calories because you will be burning most of those just hiking and doing things.

Also think about a water purifier since carrying a gallon per day is pretty unrealistic. Just make sure there are water sources to pull from or you are going to have to ration and pack in all the water needed. Freeze dried meals will help with the weight you have to pack in so here’s a tasty one to do. Just try to make your packaging as light as possible.

Gather Your Gear and Food

This can be done a few days before leaving, just make sure to have a day or two before you need to leave. You want to get the food you need and all the items on your list that you can realistically bring with you. Get all of it into a backpack setup that you can work with. Get creative on this too. I’ve used a messenger bag below my backpack and had my personal items and mess kit in that messenger bag. Just make certain that you can carry all of this to your site, whether that is by car or by hike. Make sure to check out our Lighter Sleeves to make it easier to have your fire going in an instant! Just click this link to check out the store

Condense the Size

There’s always a few ways to condense all your needed things you will be packing in after you’ve gotten them all in one place. You can use duffle bags and backpacks for a lot of things. A messenger bag is really only comfortable to use when it’s less than half packed. Like I have said previously, get creative with this. The only objective right now is condensing everything.

Pack it All in

Just get to your camping spot and be safe!

Enjoy Camping

Pack it ALL Out

I CANNOT emphasize this part enough. I absolutely hate when I go camping and the spot is left a gigantic mess by whoever was there before. Make sure you are packing everything out that you brought in. I personally pick up some extra trash, or I’ll burn some of the trash I can while I’m out camping myself. It’s a great feeling to arrive at a beautiful camping spot and be ready to enjoy a weekend. It’s a feeling I believe everyone should have the option to enjoy. Because I believe that, it’s my job to help clean up around myself.

Thank you for getting to the end of this article! If you have any other suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below!