40 Essentials for Car Camping

As I am writing this, Collin and I are driving out to Utah. We are planning on visiting Arches National Park and Canyonland National Park– and we are VERY excited. Our initial plan was the fly out there and only bring the bare camping essentials, but we decided it would be easier to simply drive out there (I was definitely stressing about how we would be bringing sleeping bags and a tent onto a plane with our other things). Perhaps in the future we’ll do that and I’ll have a post about packing when airplane camping. 🙂

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We began putting together our things a few days ago: clothes and toiletries in a laundry basket and kitchen items in a cardboard box. We talked today about how we should really just buy a few rubbermaid-type bins and reuse those every time. Clear ones would be especially helpful to see the contents (thank you, Marie Kondo). Collin picked up a rental car last night, and then we loaded up the car and headed out west from Minneapolis at 4am. We decided to get a rental car because of last year’s car-breakdown-adventure in Glacier. Plus it was cheaper than flying to Utah this time of year.

All of this is fresh so I figured I’d write it all down in an organized list form for anyone else that is planning a camping trip soon. I’ll link to the same or similar items we have. Some of them are affiliate links, which just means I get a small percentage if you end up buying them.

Camping Gear

• Two or four person tent, depending on type of camping and destination. Our two person tent is a backpacking tent, which is fun and compact, but the four-person tent is nice for longer camping adventures. A few years ago we took the backpacking tent on a trip and it rained most of the time, but the tent did not have room for us to sit inside and play a game or anything.
• Sleeping pads – I have this one and Collin has this one.
• Two-person sleeping bag (game changer)
• A few extra quilts to lay down beneath the sleeping pads and for extra warmth if needed– It ended up getting down to 20 degrees one night in Utah, so this was needed.
• Camping saw or small axe for gathering firewood (where permitted). This is one of Collin’s essentials.
• I have this backpack, which is one thing I recommend more than anything else. I don’t just use this for camping, I use it for every single trip I go on.

Kitchen Essenials

• Camping stove and fuel. Typically we build a fire at night and cook over the fire, and then we will use the camping stove in the mornings to boil water for coffee or oatmeal if we aren’t building a fire. It makes for a lot less time and work. On our Glacier trip last year, we were not allowed to have any campfires once we passed into Montana due to the wildfires, so we are thankful for the stove!
• Wash bin, biodegradable dish soap, sponge and dish towels (we just use our old dish towels after they are too stained to use in the kitchen)
• Knife with cover — this one is specifically for cooking, but I do have a pocket knife that I bring along on hikes too just in case.
• Dish ware and utensils– I bought a cute set like this one on Amazon that we use for camping.
• Cutting board
• Spices like salt, pepper, Lowry’s salt, cumin, chili powder, etc.
• French press (I marked mine at the 2, 3, & 4 marks to make coffee-brewing easier)
• Cast iron pan and a 2-quart pot
• Grilling tongs
• Aluminum foil
• Garbage bags, ziplocks, and small grocery bags
• Make sure that if you are camping anywhere out west and plan to be hiking, you bring bear spray. It’s basically just a giant pepper spray. It is also a lot cheaper on Amazon than anywhere you’d find it in person, so this is something to get ahead of time.

Clothing

• Jackets and fleeces— especially in the fall. I live in this one all the time, not just when we are camping.
• Hiking boots— I bought some Vasque’s from a consignment store that lasted me for YEARS (that I passed on to a friend) and just bought a new pair this week. I made sure to wear them around a lot before the trip to break them in. A good pair of hiking boots makes a huge difference. These are the ones I have, but I highly recommend buying in person NOT online. It’s the type of thing you need to try on several pairs to see what works best.
• Merino wool socks (i.e. smart wool socks). Costco was just selling a generic set of six pairs for $18, so Collin and I both got some. They were great, but we do like REI’s brand more, even though they are pricier.
• Leggings and/or athletic pants — Plato’s and other consignment stores are the best place to find these for cheap. There is always a huge variety!
• Cropped T-shirt’s— literally just watched a YouTube video to figure out how to do this myself and it’s great 😂

Thinking of traveling soon and staying in an Airbnb?! Use my link for $40 off your first trip here. 

Miscellaneous

• A few good books (and audiobooks!). On this trip I brought “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Steig Larsson and we are listening to “The Power of Habits” by Charles Duhigg.
• Bananagrams, deck of cards, board game (we brought Dominion this time), etc.
• Sunscreen, bug spray, itch relief, bandaids
• Dry shampoo and other toiletries… This is the dry shampoo I use, otherwise I have also just mixed cornstarch and cocoa powder together for a cheap alternative.
• This is not a physical thing per se, but it is essential that you “download” the map of where you will be on Google maps app on your phone. You may not have cell phone service the whole time, so when the maps of the area are downloaded, then you can use google maps just like normal, even without service. Here are instructions on how to do that.