Don’t bring firewood. Mot state parks are not allowing outside wood to be brought into parks due to the emerald ash borer. I know that is the case in MN and WI. Buy it at the parks, or within 25 miles of the park you will be camping in.
Don’t forget your pillows, as we did last week.
I like to make hobo dinners - ground beef, potatoes, onion, peppers, corn, etc. in foil. I assemble them at home and they can be customized to individual tastes.
I love all this stuff!
My advice: be prepared for vehicle emergencies. I’m not familiar with you area, but I have learned the hard way that it takes very little for a vehicle to get stranded in the woods. So I HIGHLY advise to bring a shovel and a saw, along with a long length of heavy-duty rope. You can get folding shovels at most army/navy stores and some home centers. If you can’t find a folding model, get a regular shovel with a wooden handle and trim the handle as needed to fit in your car. Has a myriad of uses, from digging a latrine to helping you get out of sand or mud if your car gets stuck. Likewise get a simple long-bladed pruning saw from home depot, the kind with a folding handle. Useful for gathering firewood, also a lifesaver if a big tree branch comes down, blocking your road. Shovel and saw should fit under a seat in the car, so isn’t like it’ll take up a lot of room.
Bring along a couple of road flares for emergencies. Useful for signalling or a last-ditch emergency fire starter. Vital for vehicle breakdowns on windey mountain roads.
In the same vein, bring a small fire extinguisher. Some states require campers with open fires to have one on hand, bit its a good idea nonetheless. You can buy a small one, designed for vehicles, at wally world for maybe ten bucks.
If you are one of those people who have trouble getting a fire started, bring along a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid. Works better than those fire starting cubes or shavings sold in sporting good stores.
In your box of dry food add a roll of aluminum foil, the heavy duty kind. Has a ton of uses, not just with cooking.
As for dinners, something I’ve done for years is cook up a big pot of chili or stew a week or two before we leave, the put it in some ziplock freezer bags and freeze it. Can do the same with stuff like spaghetti & meatballs - cook up the meatballs and sauce, then freeze. When you’re camping the bags help keep the cooler cold, then all you have to do is pull out the bag and heat up the food - no big empty containers to worry about, everything is pre-made.
Make a point to cook meals that are easy to clean up. Doing dishes without a sink sucks.
You must know my friend Jim. 
With him around, I know we have every eventuality covered. If he doesn’t have it, he can McGyver it. He spends every Thanksgiving just doing shit around camp.
Very relaxing, he is.
The ground is harder and more uneven than you think it will be.
Take a good foam pad or air mattress to sleep on.
Alll other problems are secondary to being albe to sleep comfortably.
I second that. Also, if your tent has plastic stakes, go get spares or replace with heavy-duty metal ones.The plastic ones WILL break eventually. Tying your tent to a rock on the ground is less than ideal.
All of the above. To carry it all, some Rubbermaid or Sterlite totes.
You can tailor the totes to the cargo space in your vehicle. One for clothing, one for dry groceries, one for cooking gear, one for miscellaneous items. Everything stays dry, clean and seperated.
If you’re only going to be out a day or two, rather than bring entire gallons of milk and so forth, I’m a fan of taking just one salsa jar filled with milk. Salsa jars and small tupperware containers are much more useful for the small foodstuffs than carrying it willy-nilly wrapped in plastic or carrying more than you need.
Any suggestions about coffee? I’m a big coffee drinker and I plan to use a French press when we’re out camping…can’t think of an easier contraption than that…suggestions?
I had considered an Italian Moka express as an ideal portable but the heat required to steam the water would run my propane cans dry quickly.
A french press will work - but it’s one more thing to clean up and/or break. Or you could just go with cowboy coffee - putting the grounds (a very rough ground) in your cup, fill cup with hot water, drink. Or put coffee in teabags. Or use instant coffee.
Figure out how many plastic tarps you think you will need. Double that number. Add at least two rolls of duct tape.
Coarse-ground coffee in a tea ball or other diffuser. I do that when people in my group want decaf. For a regular pot-size dose of caffeine I would recommend a simple percolator (yes, I know coffee snobs don’t like percolators. Who cares?) The benefit of a bialetti is you can use the campfire to heat the pot. Same with a percolator. I’ve used a French press camping; don’t like having something glass and fragile rolling around the back of the car. Don’t like an extra thing to wash. Tea ball works best IMO.
ETA: Bialetti = moka pot
Regardless of how you make it, 6:30am coffee wafting into your tent is the greatest smell of all time, and that first sip is the most delicious. Even if there’s a bug in it.
I was going to say something about campground coffee being the best damn coffee in the world, but thought it was a bit much.
Thanks!
hands Munch a cup of coffee
I don’t know haw bad ants are where you’re heading, but bring a can of Comet in a ziploc. A solid line around your tent and cooler will keep the crawling bugs out.
Everyone is saying air mattresses, but I prefer cots. They can’t deflate, you get more floor space, and I find them easier to get out of in the morning. If you get an air mattress, get a good one (aerobed makes nice ones, I’ve heard). They cost more, but nothing sucks more than waking on the ground because the mattress deflated in the middle of the night.
A gallon of water with a golf tee stuck in the bottom makes a handy faucet for washing hands and toiletries.
One of our favorite things to eat in camp was fried bread dough. We used to buy pre-made packages of it. Flatten out a piece, deep fry it in oil, sprinkle on powdered sugar and cinnamon.
Now why didn’t I think of that? Planning a car camping trip in about a month myself and this will be longer than I’ve ever gone out on one trip (4-5 days) and debating with what would be good, easy meals for camping.. Why not a bag of frozen chili?
Hobo dinners are awesome, you can also do hobo pies with some pie filling, margerine and bread and one of these. There’s all sorts of desserts you can make. Banana boats (bananas which have one peel pulled down and a little bit carved out of them, chocolate chips and marshmallows and then the peel put back and all wrapped in tin foil to bake in the fire.. mmm).
I like kebabs myself as one of the first night meals. In bags or a container with the sauce, you can cook them on practically anything (fire, stove, bbq). Last summer it was souvlaki.
I’ve stocked up a lot of my smaller supplies from the dollar store. Who cares if you lose a fork then, or it gets banged up?
Bring some sort of games for the kids. Soccer ball, baseball and mitts, something to be played with and work off some energy (one year we went to the lake and Dad bought us all super soakers! This was when they were new, so BIG DEAL! ) and for the adults some cards or something. Some of my best memories are of hanging out late at night by the light of the lantern and playing Cribbage with the adults. Uno is good for all ages if the kids will be allowed to stay up late. Nothing big, but something fun.
Bourbon. Hide it from the kids if you must, but a highball or three makes the ground a lot softer.
If you are staying at the river mouth campground at T-falls, there is a nice beach just north of the park entrance on the lake. When I was there last August, the water was actualy warm (probably because it was very shallow)
A real pillow is something I bring car camping that I don’t bring bicycle / backpack / kayak camping.*
Bring rope for clothesline - for swimsuits and towels (beach, shower and dish)
Most UP State Parks have electric (whether you want it or not). One downside is the sites are usually close together.
Besides T falls, where else are you staying? I’ve been in most regions of the UP on a supported bicycle tour. Surprised Athena hasn’t replied.
Just bring plenty of food - everything always tastes better camping.
Hashbrown / egg/ sausage combo, Bear Creek chedder potato soup (augmented with meat), oatmeal are some of my camping staples.
Bring folding chairs - easy to move around the campfire. I’m personally only so-so on them, but s’mores are near obligatory.
Secod the suggestion frisbees and games - I personally would avoid electonic games, but decide for yourself.
Brian
This works with dry good as well. We measure out and pre-mix the dry goods for pancake batter so we only need to add water. When backwoods camping, where we carry everything, we carry the pre-mix pancake flour in a ziplock back so it’s easier to pack.
Edit: Or as Flutterby says. Pre-make everything and put it in zippies.
This is not recommended. Many campgrounds have restrictions on the kind of soaps you can use because they are bad for river and creek systems. Many places require you to only use “Camp Suds” or a similar product that has minimal environmental impact. I can’t imagine dumping Comet on the ground will be taken well by park rangers, it contains bleach. And I’d certainly be whizzed if, as your campsite neighbour, I saw you do such a thing.