Camping Equipment Essentials

When I go camping I tote alot of equipment with me for my adventure. The equipment that I take is usually determined by whether I am hiking in with my gear or driving up to the campground. When I hike with my equipment I am more focused on weight and normally do not take the creature comfort items.

When I am taking the family to a public campground we generally have room in the car for most anything and we generally try to take to make the trip fun for the kids as well as the adults.

We always carry binoculars to look at wildlife and most definitely look at the stars. A nice 10x50 or 7x50 binocular will give you awesome views of the stars and will be fun to look through at wildlife as well. 

If you are really ambitious, a nice short tube telescope could be fun to look through as well and won't take up a ton of room. The nice thing about campgrounds is that you are generally not far from some nice dark skies so your view of the stars will pretty clear.

When I am hiking in country with my gear there is not alot of room besides food, extra clothing, water, camping tent and sleeping bag. However the one thing I will always bring on a trip is a camera.

Whether it is a one shot disposable or a rugged digital or film camera you will always be glad you had one to capture the moment. I really like digital cameras for hikes since you don't have to hassle with carrying tons of film. I just carry a couple of large size memory cards for the digital camera.

An item that may be considered indispensable for the hiker and just a lot of fun for the family is a GPS. These little jewels are great when you are on the trail. I carry one but I always carry a topo map and lensatic compass as a backup wherever I'm hiking in country. However, I find it enjoyable to track my location on a topo map just to learn terrain navigation. Plus it's safe to have a backup just in case.

One item that you may not think of bringing but we've found it nice to have is a weather radio, especially in the spring during the storm season. The family is always interested to know if it is going to rain at the campground.

You may not want the added weight of having one on a hiking trip. I personally wouldn't carry one hiking in the backcountry since knowing that it's going to rain is not going to do me much good anyway. But we like to carry one in the car, especially if we are going camping for more than a few days.