A Guide For Various Camping Needs
Awareness of our own camping needs and of others that camp with based on the kind of trip planned, is essential.
Weight, comfort, costs, usage, weather condition's and who's going will all play an important role for what we need to take and where we can go.
When we're camping with a group, family, going solo, backcountry camping or a variation of any of them it's likely we're going to take very different supplies and gear.
For example, a family can take a nice 2 burner camp stove and a cooler packed with food, but the solo person backpacking may have a lightweight one burner stove and basic dried food meals, making him light enough to hike with a pack.
Backcountry – Backpacking
Out in the wilderness we have to cater for needs that we don’t have when were pitched up at a base camp.
The different basic needs we have include:
- If there’s no clean water supply we will need to be able to purify water.
- We have a need to be lightweight if were carrying a pack and have supplies that pack well. This applies to food, sleeping gear and cookware.
- We also have to take a compass, map, GPS or all of them for navigation purposes when hiking.
- What type of shelter will we use? A lightweight tent, tarp, or bivy is what most of us use.
When it comes to backpacking camping trips we have to make the choice of what we are willing to carry, what we don’t have to take, the essentials we do (i.e. what keeps us safe), and how much we want to sacrifice comfort for a lightweight pack.
Some will find anyway to reduce a gram or ounce while others like myself will just go as light as needed.
Family – Car Camping
If you're wanting a comfortable trip for the family or your car camping with friends then it's worth considering gear and supplies that provides comfort and meets other needs. You can also go as basic as you wish.
Here’s some useful ideas:
- Bring a tent that offers plenty of room. Buying a tent bigger than what you need is a good idea (e.g. 5 people camping buy a tent for 6 or 7 person tent).
- Take as much as you need that makes you comfortable, packs well in the car and keeps everyone happy. There's very little to restrict what a person takes when car camping.
- When I first started to take my kids I couldn't afford all the top notch gear and had to compromise by taking anything from the home that would be useful, especially the cookware.
Needs When Solo Camping
I've been camping, hiking or backpacking solo a fair few times and still do when I get the opportunity.
I've picked up ideas, tips, and suggestions that help others......whether a novice or an experienced enthusiast that I like sharing.
Keeping ourselves safe and knowing the right gear to take is important to help make the trip easier and safer.
Disabled People
Those that have a disability obviously have special needs and requirement's.
Fortunately if you live in the US, UK, Aus, parts of Europe and other countries there are some great campgrounds to choose from that cater well for people with disabilities.
Equipment is often a big issue to be considered and medical care....
Checklist
One of the ways to manage what gear and items needs to be packed for a trip is by creating a list.
Eveyones list will differ slightly based on who is going, that place they go and they type of camping, however, the basics of shelter, cooking and sleeping are very similar.
To make it easier for those that need a list I have created one than can be printed off with a section to add extyra items.