Camping Gear List
Updated Mar 2025
- Plate, bowl, anything to hold your food.
- Cup, mug, anything to hold your beverages.
- Utensils for your food.
- Your tent or tarp is your shelter in the woods. And like any room, the bigger it is, the longer it takes for it to warm up. If you can accommodate one or 2 other campers in your tent, the better. Pro-tip: Get a $10 tarp and plastic rope at your nearest hardware or big box store. Anything smaller than 10x10 works. Your tarp can also double as a footprint for your tent, extending out as a "vestibule" and keeps your tent cleaner and dryer from moisture. Then, pack your tent/tarp on top of or around your other gear to keep things as dry as possible. Pro-tip 2: Use your tent's rainfly for added warmth or take it off to cool down your tent.
- Sleeping bag or hammock. There are lots of different types of sleeping bags or hammocks for different temperatures, but really, any bag or hammock will be fine. Pro-tips: 1) Bring a hot water bottle. It just works. 2) Bring an emergency blanket or if you don't have time to get one, a very large garbage bags pack small, light, and keep you super warm in a pinch. Totally won't say anything about you if you sleep in a garbage bag. Fam don't judge.
- Mattress. There are 2 reasons you want to sleep on top of something like a blanket or inflatable pad: a) The ground is the most efficient conductor of body heat in nature. It'll suck your heat right out the minute you sit or lay down on it. Some of you might like that. Most of you won't. So, your blanket or pad keeps a level of critical insulation that allows you to stay warm. b) Comfort. Mornings where you slept on top of an acorn or twig all night are rough. Your blanket or pad will make you feel like you slept like a baby in your own bed.
- For extra comfort, bring a light-weight fleece or down-quilt blanket just in case. They come in handy as substitutes for inflatable pads, adds layer of insulation in sleeping bags, keeps condensation at bay inside the tent and it's just snugly af.