We're getting ready to spend five days, four nights, at Kawartha Highlands Signature Site. I thought it would be interesting to share what I'm planning on packing for our gear. This list doesn't include safety gear, food, or canoeing equipment. Eventually I'll make posts specific to those topics.
Here's the big three - tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag:
So. Much. Stuff. Most of it is very lightweight or packs down small though. There are a couple of things I probably won't take the shower and I'm debating on if I should bring both stoves and both pots or just one of each. I like having a spare stove just in case the first one fails because then you're up the creek without a paddle if there's a fire ban. As for two pots, I like the small one for boiling water for tea/coffee and the bigger one for cooking.
For water filtration we used to use LifeStraws and AquaTabs but it was such an annoyingly tedious process with low flow rate. I just bought the Katadyn BeFree filters which have arguably the best filters available right now in the retail market. The flow rate is fairly quick, you don't have to mess around with any tablets, you can drink instantly, and the filter is really easy to clean.
We're bringing two tarps - one to sit under and one to string up over the tent. Even though the tent has a fly I usually don't like risking not covering the tent. I'm still 50/50 about bringing a tarp for the tent and might leave it out at the last minute. The forecast is calling for 30-40% rain for three days of our trip so I'm undecided.
For some reason my husband brings eight billion kinds of fire starters. We have matches, a flint striker and a lighter. I guess you can never be too careful? For tinder we bought some actual tinder and Chris likes to bring dryer lint too. If there ends up being a fireban we'll leave these behind along with the saw.
I use one microfiber towel for drying dishes and another smaller one for drying off our feet before getting into our tent.
Our food gets stored in the dry bags, put into the larger ditty bag, and then strung up in a tree with the paracord and the d-shackles. I like organizing the food and keeping it in waterproof bags in case it rains.
I use extra large Ziploc bags for various things. For washing undergarments I'll put some water, a couple drops of Dr. Bronner's and the underwear into the Ziploc bag and agitate it like crazy. Don't forget to dispose of the water by digging a cathole and burying it far away from any water source or your campsite. I'll use another Ziploc bag for keeping our garbage into it and I put that in with the food strung up in the tree. This keeps smells at a minimum and doesn't seep out onto anything else. We make very little garbage but whatever garbage we do make goes into that Ziploc bag.
Everything else on my list is pretty self-explanatory but I wanted to give a shoutout to three products. The Luci light is amazing. It's lightweight, charges via solar energy, is really bright, and lasts a long time. It makes reading at night in the tent super easy. The Etekcity stove is super small, resilient, and comes with a piezo lighter - all for $20! The Buck knives are insanely good knives and I highly recommend them.
I'm going to prep our food tomorrow so stay tuned for a post about food, safety gear, and our canoeing gear. I might make a video about packing/unpacking too.
See you later!
Here's the big three - tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag:
- The North Face Homestead Roomy 2 tent and footprint
- Geertop Lightweight Down 10 degree Sleeping Bag in red
- Geertop Lightweight Down 10 degree Sleeping Bag in blue
- Klymit Static V Insulated sleeping pad
- Thermarest Scout sleeping pad
- Eddie Bauer travel pillow
- Teton Sports camping pillow
- Hi Gear sleeping bag liner
- Hi Gear sleeping bag liner
My husband is 6'3" and most tents are only 6' long so for the sake of him getting a good night's sleep and not having to be curled up in a ball we have a tent that takes up a little more room in our bag and weighs a little bit more than most backpacking tents. The tent is all mesh, has a beautiful orange fly, a gear loft, and is wider and longer than most two-man tents.
We have really thick North Face sleeping bags that are meant for cooler weather and that take up a lot of room in our bags, so for longer trips in hot weather we just picked up Geertop sleeping bags. They pack down so small! Last weekend we were car camping and we simply used an Eddie Bauer travel down throw and it worked perfectly so we're hoping these new sleeping bags, which are similar to the throw, will work beautifully. I like to put our sleeping pads into sleeping bag liners in the summer so it's just like sleeping on a bed with a sheet and having a blanket on top. I'm actually really looking forward to testing out these bags.
I'm a front and side sleeper so I need a bit more support from my sleeping pad than if I were a back sleeper. I really like my Klymit Static V - it packs down very small, is very warm, and has good support. My husband is a back sleeper and a bigger guy than average so he likes the Thermarest Scout which we bought in the longer/wider version. Putting the pads into the sleeping bag liners was an idea I got from Youtuber Will Wild's Outdoor Adventures and it was a game changer for me. Because I'm mostly a front sleeper I usually end up with my face mashed into my sleeping pad and putting it into the liner has made my life so much more comfortable when camping.
Pillows are a constant struggle for us. At home, my husband likes to have two full sized pillows - one for his head and one that he hugs (the truth is out there, I'm not a cuddler when I sleep). The Eddie Bauer pillow gives him great support for his head but when camping he has to make do without his second pillow or sometimes I'll put up with cuddling. I swear I'm not a monster! I just prefer to sleep on my front in a star fish kind of posture and I run hot when I sleep so I'm not exactly a great cuddler. I'm fine with one pillow but I usually like to have half of my pillow under my head and under my chest. To date, I haven't found a pillow solution I'm entirely happy with but so far the Teton Sports pillow has been the best option I've found.
Here's the rest of our essential gear:
- Toilet paper
- Nalgene 1 liter bottles
- Stanley cook pot
- MSR Alpine Stowaway pot
- 10x10 Hammock Tarp by FOME
- 10x10 Hammock Tarp by W-upBird
- GSI Infinity Backpacker Mugs
- MEC Ultralight Chair
- Ohuhu Camp Stove Windshield
- Grizzly Peak Ultra Lightweight trowel
- Bahco Folding Wood Saw
- Coleman 5 Gallon Solar Shower
- Honest Outfitters Hammock
- GSI Pivot Spatula
- Random half length cooking spoon that came with a rice cooker that's perfect for backpacking
- Sea to Summit Delta Plates
- Silicone collapsible bowls
- GSI Glacier Frying Pan
- Coghlans bungee clothesline
- Ultimate Survival Technologies 325 Paracord, 50-Feet x 2
- Etekcity Backpacking Stove
- Primus Stove
- Katadyn BeFree 1 liter Water Filtration System
- Lixada Titanium Sporks
- Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild Castille Soap
- Dish sponge cut in half
- MSR Alpine Dish brush/scraper
- Primus fuel
- MSR Universal Canister Stand & waterproof matches & flint striker & BIC lighter
- Loksak Map Case & park map
- Buck 119 knife & BuckLite Max knife
- Ziploc extra large bags
- Survive Outdoors Longer Tinder Quik Fire Starters and dryer lint
- Microfiber towels
- Ditty bag and small d-rings
- MEC dry bags
- Luci Light
- Energizer Vision HD+ headlamps
So. Much. Stuff. Most of it is very lightweight or packs down small though. There are a couple of things I probably won't take the shower and I'm debating on if I should bring both stoves and both pots or just one of each. I like having a spare stove just in case the first one fails because then you're up the creek without a paddle if there's a fire ban. As for two pots, I like the small one for boiling water for tea/coffee and the bigger one for cooking.
For water filtration we used to use LifeStraws and AquaTabs but it was such an annoyingly tedious process with low flow rate. I just bought the Katadyn BeFree filters which have arguably the best filters available right now in the retail market. The flow rate is fairly quick, you don't have to mess around with any tablets, you can drink instantly, and the filter is really easy to clean.
We're bringing two tarps - one to sit under and one to string up over the tent. Even though the tent has a fly I usually don't like risking not covering the tent. I'm still 50/50 about bringing a tarp for the tent and might leave it out at the last minute. The forecast is calling for 30-40% rain for three days of our trip so I'm undecided.
For some reason my husband brings eight billion kinds of fire starters. We have matches, a flint striker and a lighter. I guess you can never be too careful? For tinder we bought some actual tinder and Chris likes to bring dryer lint too. If there ends up being a fireban we'll leave these behind along with the saw.
I use one microfiber towel for drying dishes and another smaller one for drying off our feet before getting into our tent.
Our food gets stored in the dry bags, put into the larger ditty bag, and then strung up in a tree with the paracord and the d-shackles. I like organizing the food and keeping it in waterproof bags in case it rains.
I use extra large Ziploc bags for various things. For washing undergarments I'll put some water, a couple drops of Dr. Bronner's and the underwear into the Ziploc bag and agitate it like crazy. Don't forget to dispose of the water by digging a cathole and burying it far away from any water source or your campsite. I'll use another Ziploc bag for keeping our garbage into it and I put that in with the food strung up in the tree. This keeps smells at a minimum and doesn't seep out onto anything else. We make very little garbage but whatever garbage we do make goes into that Ziploc bag.
Everything else on my list is pretty self-explanatory but I wanted to give a shoutout to three products. The Luci light is amazing. It's lightweight, charges via solar energy, is really bright, and lasts a long time. It makes reading at night in the tent super easy. The Etekcity stove is super small, resilient, and comes with a piezo lighter - all for $20! The Buck knives are insanely good knives and I highly recommend them.
I'm going to prep our food tomorrow so stay tuned for a post about food, safety gear, and our canoeing gear. I might make a video about packing/unpacking too.
See you later!
Great post! Very informative! Can't wait to see your pics and videos. Have a great time!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Deletefire !
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