Car camping tips.

[JohnnyEgo]

I go camping once a month because my kid is in scouts. 8 of the 12 are essentially drive-up car camping events, one is bicycle camping, one is canoe camping, and the other two are hike-in backpacking trips. For the eight car camping trips, I usually just throw a couple of dedicated bins in the back. One is for cooking and cleaning gear, one has camp equipment, and the other is food. I found we don't need very much for most two day trips. Some things make life a little more convenient, but at the end of the day, if you are dry, warm, fed, and get some sleep, you don't need much else beyond that.

There is one piece of equipment that I spent a lot of money on, and have never had a moment's regret. That is an Exped Megamat. It's about 4" thick when inflated, and heavily insulated. I find that with a good night's sleep and a couple cups of coffee, I can put up with nearly any shennanigans a group of 10-12 minimally supervised teenagers can throw my way. The Megamat is too big to hike with, so it is car only. The insulation factor makes a tremendous difference in sleeping comfortably from September through March. In my smaller tent, two of them take up the full floor space, so there is nowhere for my kid to roll off. They were something like $300 a piece, and as far as I am concerned, worth every penny.



For the backpacking trips, mostly I am just boiling water to rehydrate meals, so a JetBoil is plenty.


For the car camping trips, we actually cook four hot meals and have to follow the scout dish washing and sanitizing procedures, which involve a lot of boiling water. Two miserable camping trips with high winds above 8000 feet taught me that my Coleman two burner wasn't going to cut it. Hard to stay lit in high wind, and it took forever to boil water. I switched to an Everest camp stove and have been very happy for three years now. The thing puts out 30k btus, will stay lit in a wind storm, and will heat a stock pot full of water to a boil very quickly. Doesn't care if I have to dust off a layer of snow to get it lit. Best thing in the world for preparing hot meals and drinks for a group on snowy mornings.

[Little Dutch]

There is one piece of equipment that I spent a lot of money on, and have never had a moment's regret. That is an Exped Megamat.

Thanks for the tip on the ground mat.
I don't camp nearly as often as I used to and very recently, suddenly, and unexpectedly got too old for the thin self-inflating ground pad I'd used without issue for the previous 20 years. A cot made things better, but my cot needs better padding too.

Unfortunately, general advice on what works is so wildly different between people, seasons, and conditions that I don't think I can help much.
Some of my camping gear is extremely useful while elk hunting. Some of it is worthless for elk hunting but is awesome while car camping on a fishing weekend. Some of it isn't worth taking for a 2 night trip. Some of it isn't worth taking based on location and/or season. Some of what I take changes based on how often I expect to move camp; am I in one spot for 3 days or moving every night?. What I take on any given trip can vary wildly.

With that said, I have lots of opinions on specific pieces of equipment. Many of which are probably going to diverge from others who have used the exact same gear under different conditions. Or completely different gear under similar conditions. If you have any real specific questions though, I can offer up an opinion or option.

With that said:
I like my JetBoil. I sometimes use it to make a super quick cup of coffee using the tea-bag style coffee. I've used it for canned soups and Ramen in a pinch too. It's great for cold camping when I don't want a fire. But I could live without it and not miss it much.
In winter I take two wool blankets. They get used more often than I thought they would. Extra ground insulation and/or extra blanket on extremely cold nights mostly. I've considered abandoning my tent on very cold nights and crawling under them both in my truck before as well...
A Coleman catalytic heater has proven very useful for me when winter camping on several occasions.
Any small grill set-up is sometimes useful. I've often found it's not worth taking on short trips where a cooler of premade sandwiches (or whatever) suffices.
I recently bought the Coleman Battery LED lantern. It's proven useful and is much less fragile than the gas lanterns I prefer. Especially useful for the camp sites on the far side of really punishing roads that cause lanterns to break and soda cans to burst.
https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-20000...80417598&psc=1
I'm old now and taking a pillow with me. The MyPillow pillows are machine washable.