It’s time to go camping, how exciting. With all of the things you’ll need to bring, you are worried about what to take and it’s sapping the life out of the camping trip. How are you going to start gathering up the right camping gear. You need to ensure that you have all the basics in the right place and ready to go before the camping trip.

1) Depending on what kind of camping trip you are taking, where you are going and you activities you will need to pack accordingly.  If you were to go camping in Alaska while forgetting the misquito spray, you may as well never pack, you’re going to be eaten alive.  So it’s best to think of any special items you will need for your trip up front.  Like if the area you are camping is damp or wet you can never have too many tarps.  If you are going where there are bears it’s good to have something to tie food into a tree etc.

2) Before your trip look for local sales flyers.  You never know what your local camping / sporting goods store may have in there that you will see and go, yeah I need that.  And who know you might find it on sale.

3) Also it’s good to go to places like Walmart and see what they have.  Not always the best quality but they might have some of the items that you forgot.  Even if you don’t buy it there it’s good to look and see so you’ll know you need to get it.

4) If you are new to camping you should probably consult some camping tip sites, like this one to make sure you have covered your bases.  There is nothing worse than going camping and not having something important.  I went one time with my wife and we had everything under the sun, except pillows.  We were too far away to go back and get them so we had to improvise and use towels, but what a dumb thing to forget.

5) Sometimes buying all of the gear you need isn’t the right solution.  You camp say once or twice a year at most there’s no need to have $1,000 in camping gear, ask friends and family if they have some items you can borrow.

6) Having something to put your camping gear in is really helpful.  We like to take extra backpacks.  They are easy to carry, hold quite a bit and can be moved easily.  We also have a large duffel bag filled with items.  Now when we go it’s as simple as one, two, three or 10 bags LOL

7) Make sure any food items you may have are not out of date.  Nothing like thinking you have items only to find out they have spoiled or are woefully out of date.  Most food will be good for a while after that date in a pinch but best to check up front.

Do you have the right cold weather gear.  You might be used to hot summers and then go to a mountain region where it gets down in the 50′s at night.  That can be mighty cold.  Also are you ready for rain?  A cheap poncho is easy to carry and lightweight but in a downpour it’s a must have.

That’s pretty much it for this camping tip!  Now go out and have some fun.