⛺camping checklist (every item here got forgotten once)
Assembled over five years of car camping in the PNW. If it's on this list, I once drove to a trailhead without it.
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1
Headlamp, plus a backup in the glove box
The night I forgot it I cooked by phone flashlight in the rain. The backup lives in the car now, permanently.
2
Lighter AND stormproof matches
3
Camp stove fuel (check the level, not the box)
An empty canister rattles exactly like a full one when you're loading the car at 5am.
4
Cast iron or one real pan
Foil is not a pan. Learned that one at Takhlakh Lake.
5
Sleeping pad, and the pump sack that goes with it
6
Pillow. A real one
The stuff-sack-of-clothes trick is a lie we tell beginners.
7
Rain fly stakes, counted before leaving
8
Tarp + 50 ft of paracord
In the PNW this is not optional, it is the living room.
9
Water jug, even if the site says potable
10
Coffee setup you have tested at home
Instant is fine. Discovering the grinder needs charging at 6am is not.
11
Camp chairs, one per person plus zero extra
12
Trash bags, more than feels reasonable
13
Duct tape wrapped around a water bottle
14
First aid kit with actual moleskin
Blisters end trips. Nothing else in the kit gets used as much.
15
Layers for 40°F nights, even in july
Alpine lakes do not care what the forecast in town said. Start early, pack warm.
16
Cooler: block ice beats cubes
17
Cash for the self-pay envelope
Iron Creek was $24 and card machines do not exist out there.
18
The reservation, printed
No signal at half the ranger stations. Screenshot at minimum.
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