How do you plan a good camping trip?

4 comments

1. I usually do it by finding a nice house or hotel.

2. Bring twice as much beer as you think you need.

   Seriously though, tell us more about the trip. Are you doing dispersed camping? Staying at an improved site? Car camping? Tent? Sleeping in the back of a truck? Are there kids? In the mountains? The desert?

   Help us help you.

3. 1. Pick a good location – somewhere you actually want to be during the day.

   2. Keep the guest list short. A bunch of people trying to camp together always turns into a shitshow.

   3. Make a shared spreadsheet so that everyone can know what to bring and what not to bring. Without fail, every single person shows up with “snacks” and now you have 8 bags of chips for 4 people for two days that you need to hide from raccoons.

   4. Have a good time, but don’t overdo it. Camping with a raging hangover sucks.

   5. Have a plan for the day. The time between breakfast and dinner has a tendency to drag, so have all your hikes and fishing planned out before you get there.

   6. Don’t make a big fuss over food and finish cooking and cleaning up before the sun goes down. People bring all sorts of shit to grill and prepare and it just makes a mess that they have to clean up in the dark. Keep it very simple.

   7. Put a tracker on your keys. Little things tend to get misplaced in the shuffle, but your keys are mission critical.

4. 6 months early, when the reservation system opens up. Camping’s super popular these days – hard to find spots in advance, depending on where you are in the country.