Many people love heading out for a camping trip. Quite simply, camping brings mankind back to our earlier roots and touches our instincts. We get out and commune and survive in nature. Sure it’s a limited form of survival, but just getting rid of some of the things we take for granted in our day to day life can be a bit of a fun challenge without getting too dangerous. 

Camping can be great on your own, but is best with family or friends as you get out of doors together. That being said, to go camping, you need two things. You need to pick a place that will cater to your interests, and you need the right equipment to keep you safe. This article will take a look at those two factors of camping and hopes to provide some basic information to ensure your next camping trip will be a successful one. 

Finding the Right Camping Location

There are a huge number of places that a person can go camping. From commercial campgrounds to vast national parks, there is good camping available somewhere for everyone. The most important thing is to look at the things you like to do when you camp and make sure that you can participate in them. 

A good example is people who enjoy swimming, canoeing or kayaking. If those are for you, then you want to find a campground that is located close to a lake, or perhaps a river if that fits your interests better. An additional useful thing about camping near a lake or river is that you have a water source in case you need to boil and purify water in an emergency. While many people bring their own bottled water with them camping now, having a water source nearby a camp site is typically very important in case of emergency. 

For people who like to hike, then a forest or mountainous camp site is likely going to be more to your liking. You want to make sure it’s near some well known trails. Remember when hiking that someone should always know your itinerary just in case. Deep hikes can cover many miles and in case of emergency, it’s better if a friend or relative could report your plans to a park ranger or rescue squad. 

Bringing the Right Camping Equipment

Everything you bring camping should be designed to help you survive in some manner. Once you have all of that, then you can bring entertainment. The first items need to help you survive from the elements. This means bringing a tent that will keep you dry during rain and protected at night as you sleep. Within the tent you should bring sleeping bags and camping pillows to keep you warm. Sleeping mats to go under the sleeping bags will keep them off the ground and preserve more warmth in the tent as well. 

The second thing you need to do is make sure that you have the food and liquid you’ll need to survive. This means bringing a camping stove or other method to cook food. It’s important to have this in case you need to boil some water as well. This also means having a pot or other container that can go on top of your eating implement. In addition, it’s always wise to bring food and liquids in a cooler to cover your stay. Some people insist they will “catch their food” fishing during their camping trip. It’s always better to assume a net zero return on finding your own food. 

The final is to help you survive and thrive with movement. You need to bring proper footwear to make sure that you can get around. Any travel craft like kayaks will need to be brought in from the outside. Items like head mounted lights will allow you to search through your campsite and the surrounding area at night. If you’re in bear country, you’ll want to bring a satchel or container that can be hoisted high into a tree at night to ensure that there’s no reason for those fuzzy monsters to come strolling into your campground.