You can never bring too much water to the desert. Experiment at home with dehydrated recipes. You never know what culinary delight you can come up with for your trips. Always write those good ones down! :H Premeasure as much of your ingredients as possible and put them in extra strong ziplock bags. Premeasuring saves you time and hassle when you're tired and ready to eat. Putting the ingredients in a strong ziplock bag keeps the trash down and you can reuse the ziplock bag for other things, like packing out other trash. Share meals with friends. It saves fuel and brings you all closer together. Everyone appreciates a good meal at the end of a long hike. I used to always bring too much food. One extra snack is good, but more will just weigh you down if you're backpacking.
You can bring ... hard cheese keeps for a couple of days, depending on the weather; milk so long as it's dry/instant milk I don't drink it, I add it to recipes that require milk
I usually camp for a week+, and as to milk, i meant liquid milk. I certainly agree with bring instant milk (I need my cereal).
When in porcupine country don't leave your boots outside of the tent. The porkers will eat them for the salt from your sweat.
Kitchen matches (the kind you can strike anywhere) wrapped in yarn and dipped in parafin or melted candlewax make an excellent, waterproof firestarter and will fire even in the rain. And you can fit 20 of them in an empty film canister if you cut them down a bit first. A food dehydrator and vacuum sealer will cost you about $150 up front (cheaper at the thrift stores and I see them all the time) but you can dehydrate and vacuum pack almost ANYTHING for packing, and if you usually buy the crap at REI it will pay for itself in less than 6 trips. An 8x8 poly blue tarp is invaluable and weighs less than a pound. It makes a great tent fly if you tear yours or can be folded and staked into a tent, an extra ground cloth, a dry area after a storm and is high visibility in case you NEED to be found.
Water, first aid kit, extra socks, hair ties, compass (If u know what ur doing), map of the area (if u get lost easily), bandana (sp?), fem. supplies, matches and a buddy. NEVER go anywhere without that stuff, u'll be so greatful later. ANYTHING can happen! P.S. I'm going camping this weekend and will be sure to apply as much as I can to this trip. GREAT ADVICE EVERYBODY!
When canoeing tie all your gear to the canoe. Everything, everytime. If you capsize you won't be in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a canoe. Also make sure to wear a lifejacket.
Steel and flint are the best saveguard method to start a fire in an emergency. Wet doesn't hurt them.
a small roll of sticky pvc plastic tape can come in handy (electrical tape). can be used to fasten loose stuff, seal leaky stuff up million uses and its cheap.
With fires, MAKE SURE you clear the surrounding area of things you could trip over, but if you wanna risk it, you will no longer be just another pretty face...DEFINETLY not another pretty face . Also, if you don't want lots of smoke coming off your fire, don't put leaves and grass on it! Seems pretty obvious but I just thought I'd add that. I was gonna say Space Blanket but after looking up what Therefore said I realised Mylar blankets are space blankets
if you feel the need for a pillow, bring a pillow case and put the clothes you'll be wearing for the trip in it. It works pretty well, and means a lot less bulk. Don't ever go to sleep with wet socks on. That's just not right. In cold weather - Put the clothes you'll be wearing the next day inside your sleeping bag... they'll be warmer when it comes time to change, which makes mornings infinitly better!
would using a leather jacket be wrong? it gets heavyer when its raining but it's great protection from the rain and sun (though it gets hot but so what) if sun shines it gets dry fast. i dont think the colour suffers much i just cant make my self wear those horrible feeling adidas crappy synthetic materials just bring enough smokes and a sleeping bag
the coolest advice of all: DONT WORRY ABOUT IT TOO MUCH. honestly camping is like the most relaxing thing in the world so really there is no reason in the world to totally freak out. bring bread and water, chapstick, a good tent and sleeping bag, and your free spirit.