What to Bring: Camping Checklist

Camping season is here, and it’s important you bring absolutely everything you need. As you pack for your trip, think of what you would need to use in all scenarios such as, building a fire, which meals to cook, if you get injured, and what clothes to bring for all types of weather conditions.

Here are some overnight camping essentials for you to check off your list along with some Cutter and Buck gear that is versatile for all types of weather conditions. 

1. The First Aid Kit

This is probably one of the most important, yet sometimes overlooked items to bring to your camping or hiking trip. There are a lot of ways to get injured in the woods and on trails, so it's important you have a properly equipped first aid kit to prepare for any incident.

2. Sleeping Essentials

You want to make sure you make your sleeping arrangements as comfortable as possible. Now, you probably won’t be able to achieve the comfort of your own bed, but getting a big enough tent, a warm sleeping bag, and your pillow from home should be enough to get you through the night. If the forecast shows that it will be a bit chilly throughout the night, consider a Cutter and Buck Performance Hoodie that is comfortable enough to sleep in and keep you warm.

Clique Men's Lift Performance Hoodie Sweatshirt

Highlights:

• 100% polyester interlock
• Eco-friendly
• Interior Cell Phone Pocket

3. Hydration & Nutrition

Now, this may be obvious but triple checking and making sure you bring water, food, and some type of electrolytes is the most important item on this checklist. Especially in hot summer weather, you will get easily dehydrated and tired, so you will need a good amount of hydration and easily accessible food items to ensure you do not run into any complications.

4. Navigation

Luckily we have cell phones nowadays to guide us anywhere in the world, and even gives us a time estimate of how long it will take to get there. Unfortunately, it is not guaranteed that you will get cell service in the woods, so there are a couple ways you can go about this. You can map out the area you will be hiking or camping with your phone maps and have it on paper to bring with you prior to leaving, or you can get yourself an old fashioned map and highlight the area you will be. The last thing you want is to get lost in a place you are not familiar with, with no cell service.

5. Lighting

It can get pretty dark in the woods because there are no buildings, street lights, cars, etc. to light up the area. But, there are a lot of different types of light fixtures you can get such as a head lamp, a lantern, a solar powered lamp, etc. Just make sure to bring extra batteries to be extra prepared.

6. Extra Layers

Even though it's summer time, in certain locations the temperatures can drop once the sun sets, so it's important to make sure you have the appropriate layers to bundle up with for maximum comfort during your trip. Cutter and Buck has a variety of versatile jackets to layer with such as our Recycled Womens Full Zip Jacket.

Adapt Eco Knit Hybrid Recycled Full Zip Jacket

Highlights:

• Shell: 100% Recycled Polyester Woven Fabric
• Lightweight Warmth & Wind Resistant
• Contains an average of 19 recycled plastic bottles

7. UV Protection

There’s nothing like a beautiful sunny day during your camping trip, but before you know it you can be completely sun burnt and having the worst time ever. You want to make sure that you pack enough sunscreen, durable sunglasses, and consider some clothing that offers UV protection made with moisture wicking fabric that we offer at Cutter and Buck.

Drytec Genre Textured Solid Mens Polo

Highlights:

• 100% Polyester
• UPF 45+ UV sun protection
• Moisture-wicking

Drytec Genre Textured Solid Womens Polo

Highlights:

• 100% Polyester
• UPF 45+ UV sun protection
• Moisture-wicking

8. Fire Starting

You’re not only going to want to start a fire for warmth, but there is nothing like a campfire to make s’mores and hotdogs for a classic camping trip. Make sure you pick up some fire starters that make it easy to spark a flame.

9. Tools

You never know what issues you are going to run into when camping, so come prepared with some handheld tools like a pocket knife that has multiple tools on it just in case of an emergency situation.

10. Your Wallet

Finally, double check to make sure you bring your wallet with some cash in it and multiple types of identification. Again, you never know what type of situation you will encounter when you are deep in the woods with no cell service, so anything that you can use to your advantage in an emergency, will benefit you.