I know there are a fair number of people here who hike, camp and spend time outdoors- I love camping, I do not get the chance to go as often as I wish, but I do enjoy getting out as much as I can. Infact I am headed out to Colorado where I’m taking a 10 day backpacking trip from Colorado into Utah. My pack is solid, and I’ve got all the necessities to my knowledge, but I know I am forgetting something. So in an effort to help me remember I ask: What kinds of things do you absolutely, without-a-doubt, never forget when camping? If you have a story to go along with it thats good too!
For me, there is the obvious; toilet paper, I have only forgotten it once, but I will never forget those four days in Vermont without it. Ugh! Thank og I can recognise poison ivy!
Down here in Florida, camping season is pretty much over until fall. Right now, if the heat and humidity don’t get you and a hurricane doesn’t decide to land on you, the skeeters will simply carry you off.
That being said, I’m a big fan of camping in the cooler months. I have to admit, though, my required list goes something like:
extra pairs of socks
tent
bedroll
trench tool
fry pan
cooler full of beer
are we sure we have enough beer?
better get some more beer on the way.
One time, as a kid, my sister and a friend and I were camping down on an aunt’s lower 40. We remembered everything except the can opener and a spatula. A knife will open a can of beans, if you try hard enough, but you just can’t wash a trench tool clean enough in a small pond to not wind up getting grit on your pork chops if you use it to flip your food.
Yep, some of the essentials in my pack have to do with food. Some montreal seasoning and a spatula are basic necessities, the pan and other materials are in my mess kit. A sharp knife helps too.
compass (even if you have a gps)
topo maps (USGS is best)
moleskin
sunscreen (waterproof)
parachute cord
lighter (I always carrry a bic plus a zippo w/extra flints and fluid - in a pinch that fluid comes in handy to start a fire)
headlamp and spare batteries (and spare bulb if’n it’s not LED)
flask of whisky (Jameson works best)
Water proof matches, magnesium fire starter, space blanket, fishing line and hooks etc, water purification, canteen, hard haft (non folding) hunting knife, first aid kit, candles, sleeping bag and pad, salt and sugar, insect repellant, parachute cord.
I would take my .22 target pistol, but that’s just me.
Aluminum foil
Water purifier
Moleskin
Toiletries: I wear contacts and have managed to forget my glasses, or saline, or a case. Soap. Sunscreen. Toothbrush. Hairbands (if you have long hair).
ETA: Except upon re-read, everything I said was already mentioned. Go me.
It baffles me that so few people think to take an axe while camping, but it really is essential. There is nothing more frustrating than being surrounded by hundreds of thick, hard, dry, beautiful logs, and not being able to cut them up into smaller campfire-sized pieces because you have no axe. Instead you’ll be hunting pathetically for more sticks and branches that are smaller or thin enough to break into pieces; meanwhile there will be prime firewood all around you but the logs will all be way too long to use, and too strong to break in half over a knee.
Bring an axe. Not a small dinky folding axe but a real, good, solid axe.
Good multi-tool/knife
Sleeping bag/pad & tent
Some duct tape wrapped around something (I use my lighter)
Camp burner & fuel
Altimeter/Compass
Maps
Water Purifier
LED Headlight
Dry foods (pasta/nuts/dried fruit) for their weight. No canned stuff.
1 pot and 1 spork
Sunglasses/Hat
Extra clothes including Light sweater, Rain poncho, Toque
Sunglasses
Small First Aid kit
Toiletries including toothbrush/toothpaste, brush, deoderant
Industrial Strength Hair Dryer
An axe is a pretty heavy thing to haul around on a 10 day backpacking trip. Many parks don’t allow fires in the backcountry anyways. If you must have a fire consider bringing a small hatchet maybe, but personally I just bring a camp burner for making food and leave it at that. I don’t want to waste my evenings in the backcountry finding and hacking at wood anyways.
Oh, I guess I kind of misunderstood the sort of camping you were doing. I should have read the OP more closely. I thought you were going to spend 10 days at the same campsite, not travel to different campsites over 10 days. (My fault for not catching that.) If you’re not going to be making fires, yeah I guess you don’t need an axe - I would still bring a folding one.
I used a soviet MPL50 sapirka entrenching tool. Sharpened, it works as a shovel, a trencher, and a light hand axe. I also know a few self defensive moves using it =)
The one I have is non folding, ghu knows where my dad got it.
And NEVER break anything over a knee, lay it diagonally over another log, and whack it with a log not your foot [heaven help you if you crack a bone in your foot while 10 miles away fro the car …]
There is also a flexible saw essentially a chain saw chain with handles … it is several pictures down the list.
Get some solid fuel tabs you will be able to get a fire started in wet nasty conditions. If you can stay warm, you can survive a lot …
For me, an axe is way way too heavy to carry for such a non-essential use. But, hike your own hike, as they say, and if you don’t mind the weight then go for it. Personally, I’d save that weight for more whiskey
See Argent Towers response on review - makes sense now!
I never carry an axe, but I rarely build fires. A small camping stove works fine for most of my hiking.
Earplugs - sometimes you need to block out the world (or a snoring tentmate)
Two headlamps - They’re small and light enough that I don’t want to ever be without one
Whiskey, repackaged in a Nalgene bottle to save on weight. I also wrap duct tape many times around my Whiskey Nalgene because you never know when you might need duct tape, it is a convenient way to transport it and it helps me distinguish between my water Nalgene when it’s dark out.
I am more of a fan of beer on camping trips rather than hard liquor like whiskey, because whiskey will dehydrate you and make you consume more water. Beer has enough water in it that it will not dehydrate you to the same extent, though all alcohol ultimately does take water away from you.
Yeah, but backpacking carrying beer sucks ass. Therefore, if you’re going to bring the drinky, make it something that packs a nice wallop for its weight.
