Kick Off Summer Camping

So what do you need to camp? If you’ve never been camping, borrow as much equipment as you can. No sense spending a fortune to find out you hate camping. So what are the basics?

First on the list is a tent. Yes, you could sleep under the stars, but there are bugs and critters that would love to snuggle up to you. A little secret about tents: Don’t believe it when it says it sleeps six people. What that means is that six people can lie on the tent floor one right next to the other. No room for anything else. No luggage. No room to walk between people. No nothing.

Our tent says it sleeps six. There’s room for a queen-size air mattress, card table 2 chairs, 2 small plastic drawers and that’s it. There’s a bit of room to move between the furniture.

Tents can be had for as little as $50 and as much as $1,000. Tents can be one season – summer, three season – spring, summer, and fall. And four season, which obviously includes winter.

Now for the rest of the basics for two people

Tent – $200
Air mattress – $25 to $150
Air pump – $10
Lanterns – $25
Flash lights – $25
Folding camp chairs (2) – $20 to $50
Cooler – $35 to $500, I’m not kidding one brand is very expensive
Propane cook stove – $25 to $125

You might think you’ll cook over an open fire so you won’t need a cook stove. Think again. It takes longer to build the fire and cook. It’s a challenge because you can’t regulate the temperature of the fire very well. And then there are the fire restriction which often prohibit the use of campfires and charcoal grills. Trust me, a propane cook stove is much better.

So there you have it.

Dee
Note to Self: Pack extra batteries, lots of extra batteries.