Camping Gear

If you follow us on social media, you know how much my husband and I love going camping with our dogs Nova and Shadow. Car camping was my first introduction to sleeping outdoors. In fact, the first time I ever really went camping in my life was with Adam in 2016. Since then, we’ve spent many nights sleeping in tents together and have been able to try out and accumulate a good amount of gear. Based on my past 8 years of experience, Adam many more years than that, I decided to compile a list of our top recommendations.

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Campsite:

Tent- You really have a lot of options here, from large camping tents to light backpacking tents. When we’re tent camping near our car we use the REI Basecamp 6 just so we’re super comfy with the dogs! We also love the REI Half Dome 3 because it is on the affordable side (given that no backpacking tents are cheap) and has great size vs. weight stats. This tent also comes with a footprint. Keep in mind we are two adults, 5’10 and 6’3'“ with two large dogs and this tent works great for us.

Sleeping Bag-I recently upgraded my sleeping bag to the REI Magma 15 and I absolutely love it. It’s lightweight, warm, and so comfortable. To be honest I’ve been sleeping with it every night in our RV just because it’s so cozy! I just unzip it and use it as a quilt if I get too warm.

Sleeping Pad-I can confidently say that I have found the absolute best sleeping pad for side sleepers, and its the Big Agnes Boundary Deluxe Insulated Sleeping Pad. I can sleep on my side without my hip bones ever touching the ground, and ever since I found it I sleep so well outdoors. To add extra insulation and help prevent my inflatable pad from getting punctured, I pair it with a Therm-a-rest pad.

Camping Pillow- Having a comfortable pillow is absolutely a necessity if you ask me and I love this one from Sea to Summit. I leave it slightly deflated and my head fits in the middle so comfortably, especially as a side sleeper.

Camp Chairs-Ok I have two options here depending on your vibe. Right now I’m sitting in my favorite, the REI Flexlite Camp Dreamer Chair. It has a high back which makes it so comfortable! We also love bringing our Kelty Loveseat because its cozy to snuggle with the pups in. The only downside, which isn’t really a downside, just a preference, is that they sit pretty low to the ground and two adults sitting in it together are really close for things like eating.

Camp Table- I have two of the REI Camp Roll Tables and they’re awesome. They’re super sturdy and look great in my opinion.

Lanterns-I’m going to preface this by saying we are a little bit lantern obsessed. We love the ambience they create and they look so cool when the light is low. Some of our favorite camping lanterns are from Barebones, and they include the Railroad Lantern, Forest Lantern, Outpost Lantern, Edison Mini Lantern, and Beacon Hanging Light. They’re all so beautiful. Granted, these are all on the spendy side. If you’re going for more of a minimal style, we like using this Goal Zero Crush Light Lantern for lighting inside of our tent. It’s super light weight, so it’s perfect to hang from the roof of the tent without weighing it down. It also fully collapses to save space. We also love our Biolite Luci Solar String Lights. They create such a fun vibe at camp and power themselves with their power hub.

Hammock-This one is totally optional and only relevant if you’re camping somewhere with sturdy trees, but we love bringing our Eno hammock. It’s just fun and relaxing to hang out in and read a book.

Posing with the girls in our Eno hammock.

Kitchen:

Stove-We have used several camp stoves over the years. The one that we’ve cooked the most with is a classic Coleman Camp Stove like this one.

Pots and Pans- We started using the Gerber ComplEAT CookSet last year and I am completely obsessed with it. Its 16 pieces and comes with a pot and lid, sauté pan and lid, a mixing bowl, 4 plates, 4 bowls, and a hot pad. The quality is amazing and it all nests together to take up minimal space. We also love Gerber’s ComplEAT Griddle for cooking breakfast, grilling sandwiches, etc. This is the only cookware that we have with us while living in our RV!

Dutch Oven-If you plan on cooking over fire, we prefer a traditional cast iron dutch oven. We use our 6 qt. size most often!

Eating and Cooking Utensils- I really like the Gerber ComplEAT Utensil set because it has so many uses. It’s a fork, spoon, spatula, tongs, veggie peeler, bottle opener and I honestly think there’s even more you can do with it but I don’t want to bore you. It’s something else that I use every single day in the RV as well.

Knife and Cutting Board- Not to hit you with another Gerber recommendation, but here we go! The Gerber ComplEAT Cutting Board is awesome because it comes with two cutting boards, a full size chefs knife and pairing knife, and a tray for storage.

Kettle-We use this cute little Barebones kettle to heat water for coffee.

Coffee-We use our insulated Stanley French Press to make coffee outdoors almost always.

Mugs-Depending on the day, we go between insulated mugs and our wooden kuksas from Barebones.

Plates and Bowls-Our first set of camp plates and bowls was a set like this one from GSI. For $75 it includes 4 place settings, including mugs. Now we mostly use these plates and bowls from Barebones.

Cooler-We’ve tested plenty of coolers over the years, mostly because we seem to get quite a few partnership opportunities with cooler companies. Our current favorite is the Coleman Pro 45-Quart Hard Cooler. It’s a lot more sturdy than our old Coleman Steel Belted Cooler without being too big. We love it and have it in use nearly at all times to keep our drinks ice cold.

Camp Sink- We use this Snow Peak Waterproof Unit Gear Bag as our camp sink.

Biodegradable Soap- We always choose Dr. Bronners.

Scraper-Our method of cleaning our cast iron is heating water in the pan over the stove and scraping and debris off with a tool like this. We also bring a regular old sponge for plates, cooking utensils, etc.

Dish Towel-We always bring along one or two microfiber towels to use as dish towels.

Storage-We transport a lot of our non-refrigerated food items in this 45L tote bag from REI. I also use the Trailgate Gear Bin and Cubes to store camp furniture, our tent, sleep system, etc. We use this Kelty Camp Galley to store any miscellaneous kitchen items that we bring along.

Water Storage-All of that dish washing talk reminded me of how much water we usually bring camping. We store it in this 7 gallon AquaTainer and bring along a Yeti Rambler Gallon to keep some drinking water extra cool on hot days. We also drink out of Yeti Rambler water bottles.

Make sure you remember to bring propane for your camp stove!

Cooking camp breakfast!

Health & Hygiene:

Kula Cloth-A Kula Cloth is a great option to use as a pee cloth instead of needing to use toilet paper!

Wipes-Wilderness wipes are a great option to freshen up with.

Bathroom Kit-Up until now we had just used a basic trowel to dig a cat hole for #2 when we weren’t at a campsite with bathrooms. I just ordered us this Lite Bathroom Kit from Pact that includes a trowel that stores a weeks worth of Pact’s dehydrated and compressed wipes and mycelium tabs to help break down excrement. I know it sounds wild and I’m so excited to try it out!

First Aid Kit- We always have this first aid kit on hand. We also have a pet first aid kit with us at all times.

Bug Repellent-During seasons when the mosquitos are out, which feels like all the time in Oregon, we use several methods of bug repellent. When I first moved here I was really on my high horse and against using any chemical bug repellents but I have since been humbled by my environment. It’s a need. So first we treat our tent and staple pieces of clothing like pants, shirts, and jackets with Permethrin spray. We also use a Thermacell unit to protect our camp and that works really well. Lastly, we spray deet on any exposed skin.

Here is a link to a complete camping gear checklist from REI.

Make sure to DM me if you have any questions! I didn’t cover clothing in this post, but if you’d like I can write a post on camp clothes as well!