Camping Equipment

Author: Gen M. Kanai - Gen.M.Kanai@dartmouth.edu

Camping means many different things to different people. My background is from mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing etc. But I use the same gear for my 4 wheeling overnights as well as my motorcycle touring. Equipment is a personal taste thing but for me, these are a few of my personal rules. Clothing: If you are planning to have multi-function clothing that you might use for hiking as well as 4WD camping, it might make sense to invest in some name-brand gear. Not the high-zoot stuff, but a good waterproof-breathable shell and rain pants are a must for inclement weather. When buying long underwear-synthetics are a must. Cotton=death is the slogan I learned because cotton holds water/sweat against the skin and doesn't let you warm yourself. Layering is key. Synthetic "pile" or "fleece" jackets are toasty warm, you just don't want to be near the fire :) Dont forget gloves if its going to be cold and a hat. Oh can't forget wool socks and synthetic liner socks to make sure your feet stay warm & dry. Food: I stay away from the freeze-dried stuff they sell in the camping stores because they are expensive and generally dont taste that good. One can either plan meals ahead of time or carry basic foods and go from there. I highly suggest rebagging your food in ziplocks or heavier plastic bags as they get a lof of abuse. I often make pasta since it is quick and easy, but I love to bake calzones, pizzas and other baked goodies on the trail. People are always amazed at what can be done with a camping stove. Pack foods that are light, not bulky, high in calorie or energy, wont spoil easily, etc. Cous-cous (a Moroccan grain) is fun stuff with stir-fry veggies and cheese. One of the most important things to bring along while camping, imho, are spices they can make or break a meal. So I'll bring stuff like powdered milk, powdered mashed potatos, beans (which you'll want to rehydrate the morning before you cook them), baking goods, margarine, cheese, pasta, fresh veggies etc. Basically, after a day of anything in the outdoors, even the simplest meals will taste stupendous especially if seasoned well. My last comment on food is that I try to make only as much as we will eat and I never throw out uneaten food into the wilderness. Seasoned mashed potatos arent in the food chain of most forest critters and giving them any human food can be deadly in some cases or can familiarize critters with man's food. This is why the Park Service sometimes has to kill bears that acquire a taste for man's food when campers dont properly store food in bear camping areas. Fires: I'm pretty conservative about fires. Aside from the local environmental impact that fires can have, I have never felt it was important to have a fire to sing or cook around. Personally, fires make it harder to see the stars in the sky. Fires can be a devastating force in nature and I just prefer to let nature choose when a fire is needed. I do sometimes make small fires with twigs to bake my breads with, but in all honesty, I just dont make them often. The exceptions to that rule are places where I can hide the sign of a fire easily. For instance near streambeds on mineral soil I might make a small fire with driftwood because I know that after the next flood the remnants of my fire will be washed away. I will never cut down trees for wood or break off branches only what I find on the ground and even then I try to spread out and collect wood from far away. I also make a significant effort to erase all signs of my fire so that the next people along wont be tempted to do the same. Backpacks: here your choice is external or internal frame packs. For those who are light duty campers, probably external frames are cheapest. They arent as comfy to wear but they carry heavy weight better than most internal frame packs. The best name in internal frame packs is McHale & Co. in Seattle who make custom internal frame packs, but names like Dana Design, Gregory, The North Face, Osprey, Mountainsmith all make good internal frame packs that will carry up to 0.5-0.66 of your body weight capably. Sleeping bags: there are two kinds: synthetic and down. For most people's uses, the expensive down bags are not the way to go. Those are designed for the ultimate weight watchers who need to pack a bag into a tiny sac. For most of us, a good three-season synthetic sleeping bag is cheap and durable. Throw em in the wash no prob. Stoves: people love all different kinds, but I really think my MSR Whisperlite is one of the best out there. There are continual debates over these issues but maybe the best thing to do is to learn how to use a few different ones and choose yourself. A sturdy stainless steel pot set is nice because it lasts and is easier to clean. Light: I have always used a headlamp for camping because it frees up both hands to cook or put up tents with at night. The big name in headlamps is Petzl: good stuff, and once you try using a headlamp, you'll forever wonder what took you so long. I roll with the spelunking jokes because once night falls and I can use both my hands, everyone else gets jealous :) Toilet: Going to the bathroom in the woods is always an experience. What you should do depends a lot on the environment you are travelling in. For instance when we were travelling on glaciers we chose a small crevasse and it was kinda weird but effective. For those who are travelling in forested areas, you'll want to bury your business at least 6 inches below the soil so that it wont be found and dug up by other forest critters. Desert travellers have a whole different set of instructions. Needless to say this is serious stuff because the worst thing to find when you go camping is that kind of sign of other campers or a contaminated watersource, etc. Water purification: While for most of us who camp while we are wheelin', water isnt an issue, a truck can carry a lot of water if need be. But for those of us who do worry about water, we can use iodine tablets to purify water or filters. Filters are expensive and tedious to use (other than the gravity fed ones) but the water wont have that iodine taste to it. Follow the directions on the iodine tablet bottle to the tee because Giardiasis is no parasite to joke around with. It'll clean you out for weeks and kills in the most extreme cases. Dont try to skimp by using Clorox, it wont work all the time and is more hazardous than iodine. Misc:One of my favorite backpacking items is called the "crazy creek chair" which is a camping chair which is heavenly to sit in after a long day on the trail, I carry one even when weight is an issue, they're worth it! I may have forgotten something...I dunno Let me say in closing that these are all my personal "rules" and certainly only opinions of mine. I try hard to do the "take only photos, leave only footprints" when I can. Minimizing my impact in the out-of-doors is serious business for me so that others may use the wilds of America as well. There are many ways to mininmize one's impact while in the wilderness and there are a bunch of good books out there.

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