“Camping is an art form,” the author of this blog asserts (and I agree). “It requires vision, planning and execution. I want to be a master of camping, a Monet, a Rembrandt, a DaVinci. I realized this weekend that I’m far from being a master camper…. You never want pack/unpack time to overshadow actual camp time. This is where my amateur status really hurt us…. [and] The masters of camping don’t forget the can opener, aluminum foil, lantern, salt and pepper, milk and towels all in one trip.”

What follows is an itemized list of everything to be included in the future in duffel bags, buckets, etc., devoted to camping (not to mention personal luggage). We haven’t had a list of camping essentials in some time, Dear Reader, so I thought this one might be helpful.

Remember, your own list may differ quite a bit from anyone else’s; the trick is simply to have one and to use it!

Yours,

Jean B. in SC

This is a post about preparing to go tent camping, and it and its many comments are good to read especially if you haven’t camped in awhile, like the author.

This post is odd to me because, although it features a very sensible list of, well, things to bring car camping, the accompanying photo shows a tent in the foreground with the groundcloth used badly. If there’s any chance of rain (and remember, we’re talking camping, here!), the tarp needs to be folded to fit the footprint of the tent, so water doesn’t build up underneath it. And what do those people do, push their tent stakes through an otherwise perfectly good tarp? Or do they just not stake their tents down?!

I see photos like this all the time, which leads me to believe the authors of the post don’t really camp too much at all. Oh, well. Maybe they’re just stupid stock photos.

In this post, Yvonne talks about items that make her camping kitchen work for her, and her ideas are great for car campers (such as myself). This is the first of three similar posts, so be sure to click on “newer post” when you’re done reading this one.

In this blog post, Heidi writes: “We have two large tubs that stay on the shelves in the garage for 361 days out of the year. So, after brushing off the dust, we opened up the tub and lo and behold there was a typed out list right on top of everything that was inside the tub…including a small list of things we needed. Hello, organization! It’s so good to see you! I was so thankful that I had taken the time 2 summers ago to do this.”

I agree that this is a wonderful time-saver. I do the same with my Christmas ornaments, too.

Here is Tasmin Hemingray’s spreadsheet for camping essentials, so nothing is overlooked in the packing and preparing stage of your trip. And I’ve got to second Tasmin’s recommendation of the game Pass the Pigs– we love playing it on camping trips, and at home.