Camping Prep - Close to Home
If you're thinking about going on a week-long or longer camping trip to a remote area, the last thing you want to do is be out in the middle of nowhere without a piece of vital equipment, tool, or food. Creating a list of the things you think you'll need is a must of course. Make sure you read up on the area you're going into and if possible get a camping book of the area, which may already have good item lists for you to copy.
But as we all know, there is no substitute for real life situations. My recommendation is that you set up camp in your own backyard. Try to mimic the conditions you think you'll be faced with. Test out your equipment, old and new. Come up with "what if" situations that could possibly occur. When you place yourself closer to the real thing, you'll have all sorts of thoughts popping into your head.
"I heard a loud noise coming through the brush. Is that a grizzly? Where's my pepper spray?"
"I can't believe I ran out of matches. Where's my fire steel?"
"I tripped over a rock and broke my ankle. Where's the first aid kit? How do I treat this?"
By actually playing these and other scenarios out, you'll be way ahead of the game when it comes to packing for your trip.
One other piece of advice. If you have children, let them camp outside with you. Especially the young ones that don't have as much camping experience. The more times you get these kids in a tent with a good end result, the more they'll want to go camping when it's time to take that big week-long adventure.
Happy and Safe Camping!
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