My seven-year-old nephew recently experienced his first Cub Scout campout and became instantly hooked. My sister and her family now find themselves in camping-gear-acquisition mode, and I shared some of our tips, developed over 25 years of camping. I thought, "Hmmm, this might be a fun blog post." It's lengthy, so it'll be 2-3 parts.
I'm sure many of you already enjoy camping. But if you don't/haven't, I highly recommend it. Spending nearly 100% of a weekend outside is highly rejuvenating. You don't need a lot of gear, and in fact, can borrow from friends if you just want to give it a try for a time or two. Texas has many, many parks suitable for tent camping, in all areas of the state.
For starters, we always make campsite reservations at parks with tent-only campgrounds, with water (but no electricity) at the site and nearby flushies/showers. (And I highly recommend reservations; nothing stinks more than getting all geared up and finding out there are no sites available.) You *can* tent camp at an RV site (has electrical hookups), but we don’t like these, as many RVers bring televisions and whatnot, which doesn’t really seem like “camping” to us. And you want water at your site….very useful for cooking, cleaning, and dousing your evening campfire. Otherwise you’ll have to pack in water or lug it from a tap nearby.
1) The Basics
**A tent: You will need some kind of shelter. We like a tent big enough to stand up and move around in. I recommend one with a “fly” (a piece that goes over the top of the tent) as it promotes good air circulation while keeping rain out.
**Something to sleep in/on: You don’t necessarily need sleeping bags, but on cooler evenings, sleeping all snuggled up inside something has definite merits. I use a camp cot, and Bruce brings an Aero bed. (Our only electrical item, inflated using a car battery adapter. He can’t sleep on the ground without ruining his back for days.)
**Food and a means to cook it: Yes, you can do cold cereal and sandwiches, but that doesn’t make for a very interesting campout in our book. We carefully plan all our meals and buy food ahead of time, just in case the surrounding area doesn't include a grocery. We like a hot breakfast (cooked on the Coleman stove), sandwiches/fruit for lunch (we’re usually out somewhere enjoying the scenery), and a campfire-cooked dinner.
You can bring regular dishes and cooking utensils from your kitchen and use paper plates/forks. We have a plastic bin with basic cooking supplies (pots, a griddle, can opener, knives, cutting board, etc., plus a set of camp dishware). We developed this strategy after one too many campouts where the can opener or cutting board didn’t make it out of the kitchen into the truck.
IMPORTANT note about food: we have a plastic bin for non-perishables and a cooler for perishables (refilled daily with ice). DO NOT store food, even in coolers/plastic bins, in your tent; don’t even take food in there. This is *particularly* important if you camp in bear habitat; but you don’t want raccoons in your weekend abode, either. We keep food in the cab of our truck at all times, except when we’re actually cooking. Raccoons are devious little devils and can get into most anything. A corollary: keep trash carefully confined in a trash bag, and take it to the dumpster *immediately* after the meal. Campground raccoons have learned where to look for treasure, and you don’t want that to be in your site.
**Lanterns/lighting: With no electricity, you’ll need a lantern or two (either battery or kerosene operated) for light in the evenings. Most tent sites have poles with hooks specifically designed for lanterns. We have a battery-operated model for inside the tent. (NO kerosene-fueled anything in the tent.) You’ll also need flashlights for evening trips to the facilities and for exploration.
Next: optional items to make your site more pleasant
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