Most of you know that I was born, raised and still reside in the city. My son joined the Cub Scouts recently and this weekend I will be going on my first camp out with him (hubby will be going as well, but doesn't have much experience with camping either). I have never camped in my life - unless you can count staying in a fully equipped motor home when I was a kid. This time it is tents, sleeping bags, campfires, etc.

We purchased a 9 x 9 tent and have a smaller 2-man tent to keep our gear in. I purchased a battery operated flourescent lantern as it is extremely windy here now and I've never had to handle fire, and we also have several flashlights. I also purchased large plastic Rubbermaid containers to keep all of our things in and we will be taking a cooler with extra drinks and water.

We won't have to worry about cooking for ourselves as all of the meals will be prepared by the Pack/Den Leaders for everyone.

I was wondering what else I might need to bring other than the obvious: clothing, shoes, bedding, toiletries, insect repellant, sunscreen, first aid kit and towels.

So wish me luck. With our county being under a medical alert for the West Nile Virus carrying mosquitos, a Tropical Storm that is forcasted to be downpouring on us this weekend and the country being on the highest alert for terrorism this week.......it should make for an adventurous weekend!

Any help is appreciated.

Blessings,

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 30, 2001

Answers

Its nice to have some type of pad under your sleeping bag, even if its just a blanket. First aid kit (always) With sticker/splinter removal equipment. When we go camping, everyone brings their own chair. You might like the folding ones they sell now, directors chair style.

Hope you have a good time. We love our camp-outs, and I bet you will grow to love them too!!

-- Phyllis from the Texas Panhandle (tmbleweed@wtrt.net), October 30, 2001.

Greenthumbelina -- I may be stating the obvious here, but I must say that the most useful (and necessary) item I have been thankful to have brought is a roll of TP. Besides the obvious (which we fail to attribute the appropriate level of importance to until you're without it!), it can be used for tissue for runny noses, as tinder for the fire, etc., etc.

-- Tracy (trimmer31@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

toilet paper, is a BIG gotta,, and bear repellant,, they know wen its your first camping trip,, and will come from other states just to break trigs and such

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 30, 2001.

GT, as a Queen's Guide I would recommend that you make a simple sleeping bag out of a double sheet. Use this inside your sleeping bag. Also have as many layers underneath you as on top. The cold comes up from the ground. Just have lots of layers in everything you do. Another camping tip is wear shorts, if the weather will allow. If you do get wet it is easier to rub your legs dry than try and dry trousers or jeans. Hope this helps. Have a great time.

Alison

-- Alison Homa (alisonhoma@aol.com), October 30, 2001.

Equip all kids with an athletic whistle, if they get lost or seperated or injured, stop and use it. Did any one mention a camera?

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), October 30, 2001.

I never go camping without good rain gear, matches, a sharp knife, and a strong flashlight ( a mini-maglite is sufficient and what I use) for those nighttime trips to the latrine. I would add a good rain fly on the tent is worth its weight in gold. Keep your food sealed up and be neat while eating, cause coons and mice will be glad to move in. Start your trip with a good attitude and enjoy your suurroundings and have a good trip.

-- Walt K. (kraterkrew@lcsys.net), October 30, 2001.

We too are scout parents,don't forget to take a large piece of plastic or tarp for a ground cover before putting up your tent,this barrier should also help with dampness,you might also want to take a camera to remember this outing,as well as I like extra socks a hat and raingear,just in case coats/jackets and we like our insulated coffee mugs we too take folding chairs,it's alot easier than getting up off the ground!! Have a great time!!

-- Julie (nelson3@bright.net), October 30, 2001.

One thing to remember--it's only for the weekend! You should be able to survive just fine, even if you forget a few things. Always have a whistle for each person, and I always have a little "survival kit" in a metal cup (tea bags, matches, power bars, kendall mint cake (sugar mint bar you can find at backpacking places) that never leaves my person, even when you think you're just going on a potty break. People do get lost that way.

One thing I also do is keep a notebook--for each trip there is a page headed "Should have brought" and "Should have left home". Maybe bananas ripened too fast in the pack and got mushy, or the nifty container you packed peanunt butter in wasn't as sturdy as you thought and it leaked.

Hope this helps.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), October 30, 2001.

If you have room, and if the campground is wooded, bring an extra tarp to tie/hang over your tent and/or over your eating area. The latter might not apply, since others will be cooking, but this comes in real handy if you're eating near your site and it's pouring!

-- Christina (introibo2000@yahoo.com), October 30, 2001.

Don't worry...if you are camping with other cubscout parents..there will always be a perfect family who always has absolutly everything..haha (you can borrow) seriously..extra socks...especially if you will be near water a small clothesline (baling twine works) and clothespins to hang wet socks towells and that sort of thing. I like that should have brought list idea....I will do that from now on!! You will have fun!! I have 4 boys..and lots of scout years behind and ahead of us...I love it. I am a cubscout den leader now!!! Good luck!

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 30, 2001.

As stated tarps (and twine) are invaluable. Keep antihistamines in with first aid. Treat yourself to a couple of heat pads for your hands. Also we keep a plastic sheet moat on the entire tent bottom (interior) with our sleeping bags above it. Any water entering our tent (it gets in our Hillary Tent no matter how many times we water proof the seams and the fly) is kept away from us and the bags. Have fun!!!

-- rick K (rick_122@hotmail.com), October 30, 2001.

according to my ex-wife, roughing it is a holiday inn that does not have room service, and the hot tub is broken. lol. go figure

enjoy your trip

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), October 30, 2001.

Extra tent pegs, hammer or mallot to pound them in, baby wipes for quick freshening up (unscented is better), duct tape for whatever it's just handy to have around. Maybe a little excavating tool or small shovel to trench around the tent...I know it's not "enviro" anymore to do that but if it's pouring down rain it may keep you from bailing out to the vehicle :) Have a blast!

-- Susan (smtroxel@socket.net), October 30, 2001.

Go to a tire repair shop and ask for a blown innertube. Cut the entire tube into one-inch strips sideways. You may be amazed by the uses your will find for these oversized rubber bands.

Also, take a small container of kerosene for getting uncoopertive fires started.

If you have time, practice first. Have the entire family pretend they are camping in the living room one night, particularly if you have a fireplace. Set up the tents, cook marshmellows, etc.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), October 30, 2001.

Forgot to mention the Boy Scouts had (and I hope they still do) a great book on all things outdoors called the "Fieldbook" that was invaluable to me when I was a scout, and I still check it out every once in a while. If you can get your hands on one of these, it would be worthwhile.

-- Walt K. (kraterkrew@lcsys.net), October 31, 2001.

And don't forget to watch the stars (if it doesn't rain), that is the best part, for me anyway. Watching a nightime sky, away from the city lights always boggles my mind. Wish I had the same view from the town I live in. Enjoy the experience, Greenthumbelina.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), October 31, 2001.

two words, fishingpolesfishingpolesfishingpoles & fishingpoles. nuthin better than a star studded night, campfire goin, & good conversation while waitin for the biggun to hit.reminds me of ole jingle bells , so called cuz he had so many hooks in his mouth that he jingled when he'd jump........had him on my line once......... but that's another story : > ) fred

-- fred in wi (sixuvusmeyers@aol.com), October 31, 2001.

Thank you all for your responses. According to your suggestions, I'm pretty well on the road (or should I say trail?) to my first camp out. Weather has me a bit concerned as the Tropical Storm that is out there is forcasted to really bring some nasty rains and gusty winds our way this weekend. I'm thinking maybe I should make a run to Walmart or someplace and buy us all some decent raingear (raincoats with hoods, and rainpants even). All I have at the moment are light flimsy rain ponchos from Disney World!! I don't think they will cut it in gusting winds and a heavy downpour. ANy ideas where to get decent (and not too expensive) raingear in a hurry? Thank again!!

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 31, 2001.

Thank you all for your responses. According to your suggestions, I'm pretty well on the road (or should I say trail?) to my first camp out. Weather has me a bit concerned as the Tropical Storm that is out there is forcasted to really bring some nasty rains and gusty winds our way this weekend. I'm thinking maybe I should make a run to Walmart or someplace and buy us all some decent raingear (raincoats with hoods, and rainpants even). All I have at the moment are light flimsy rain ponchos from Disney World!! I don't think they will cut it in gusting winds and a heavy downpour. ANy ideas where to get decent (and not too expensive) raingear in a hurry? Thanks again!!

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 31, 2001.

Oops - Sorry I musta hit the submit button twice by accident. Ken, please delete! :o) Thanks!!

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 31, 2001.

Well, out here it's mild a good portion of the year, so we do a lot of camping. If we go to a state park (or equivalent = flush or pit toilets, usually a picnic table and a fire pit), I like to take a plastic picnic tablecloth (red and white checked gingham with clamps to keep it on the table;) a candle or two (in the summer, citonella;) a Coleman lantern; a pocket sized flashlight, etc. (I like light when it's dark. Firelight is nice if you have the option.) We also sometimes take a gazebo-style picnic table shelter (I bought mine for $39.99) as it keeps both the rain and the tree litter off our table. Tarps are good for either tossing over gear or stringing between trees.

I also take a couple of old blankets to stuff under our pads (Thermolite) and bags (we usually roll of our pads in the night somehow.) We have two tents: one for summer which is open on both ends and a four-season one that is dome shaped and looks like an igloo. I have taken our wind-up Baygen radio, if there was a sports event (oh, say, the Mariner's games....) that I really wanted to listen to.

Those items are for the luxury of car camping, though. If backpacking or something else, the only thing I would suggest is a thermos, some way to heat coffee to put in the thermos, a warm sleeping bag (and a plastic garbage sack to sleep in INSIDE your bag if it gets really cold (you will be wet in the a.m., though) and a flashlight. A wool cap, warm jacket, warm socks, gloves, etc., to round out your wardrobe, too. And of course the other things you have already thought of, no doubt.

Have fun! Don't forget the marshmallows (or the Yukon Jack) if you sit around a campfire!

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), October 31, 2001.

Maybe you know this already but...new tents sometimes mist inside if they have never been wet before. We set them up in the yard and spray them down with a hose attached to an adjustable nozle set to mist,and then let them dry. Also if it is raining, and there is anything that touches the tent from the inside, it will leak in that spot. 1st lesson to all of our children...DON'T Touch The Tent When It Is RAINING!! We raised all our kids on summer and winter camping in northern Minnesota and had a blast. Sometimes we would forget something and it became family fun to try and think of ways to improvise. Look at the other campers camps and take note of the ideas they had that you liked. I have been woods camping for the last 50 years and now I've just started re-enactment camping at the forts and rendevous around here and have to collect an entire new breed of gear. Looking at other peoples camps and asking questions of other campers is fun. Most people are more than willing to help out with all the knowledge they have. Have fun and enjoy our beautiful world. Might I add maybe some books or cards if you think it might rain and you will be trapped in a tent trying to entertain younguns. Stoni :>

-- Stoni LeRoy (www.leroywrenshall@msn.com), October 31, 2001.

Keep the toilet paper (and reserves) in plastic bags with twist ties. More than one set.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), November 02, 2001.