In terms of camping gear, there are equipments that are absolutely essential and then there are equipments which are optional. Essential camping equipments are your tent, lantern, flash light, sleeping bag, self-inflating sleep pad, camp chairs, insect repellents, after-bite cream, and a bear spray (if you are going to a park that has bears). Optional items are water tank, camp stove, camp mugs and the list just goes on! We have included the camping gears we use below.
Camping tent
This is the most important piece of equipment for your camping trip. When selecting a camping tent, have three things in your mind.
Number of people sleeping inside.
Quick to set up, you don't want to spend hours to just set up a tent.
It has a front hood where you can put your footwear/campchairs in case of rain or mist.
It's durable, go for reputable brands like Coleman. We have been using the tent you see below for a few years now, it's really good. This year, we are planning to buy another one as this one has run through it's wear and tear over years. We have in mind the Coleman Instant 4-person tent this time.
Lantern
It gets pretty dark in the night and proper lighting is a must. Lantern we have - Coleman LED Lantern | 600 Lumens Personal Lantern with 4D Battery.
Flash light
An absolute necessity for going to washroom in the night or just moving around. Get a good one, something from Coleman or Ozark trail. We have the Ozark trail 700-lumen LED aluminium flashlight.
Sleeping bag
Get something which is good for 4C to 10C from either Coleman or Ozark trail.
Self-inflating sleep pad
You can either select air mattress or a self-inflating sleep pad, we prefer the later! It's quite handy, just open it and after 30 minutes or so it's inflated. You don't have to do anything. We use Lightspeed Outdoors self-inflating sleep pad.
Camp chairs
This you can select according to your preference. We have used many brands over years and everything just works fine!
Insect repellent and after-bite cream, you can get in any supermarkets.
Tarpaulins (tarp)
You need at least two of them. One beneath your tent itself to protect it from soil moisture and another above your tent to protect the tent from rain or early morning mist. Get the tarp one size bigger than your tent to ensure full coverage. You can buy them in many stores such as Home Depot, Canadian tire, Walmart, Costco etc. We bought ours from Canadian tire.
Rope
Multi-purpose use! Rope is needed to secure your tarp above the tent or to hang wet towels/swim-suits. You can buy them in many departmental stores. We bought ours from Dollaramma.
Bear Spray
We feel it's a good idea to keep bear spray if you are hiking in parks that have bears. You can buy one from Bass Pro.
Optional items!
Camp stove
We prefer a propane double burner stove but it's a personal choice literally. We prefer propane just because the refills are available easily.
Water tank
This comes handy to store water for cooking or washing dishes (please discard dish water according to the park guidelines). They are also available easily in the stores we mentioned above. We bought ours from Canadian tire.
Camping cutlery
Available in the above mentioned stores. We love enamel cutlery! Easy to pack, good with heat and easy to wash.
Also, do check dollar stores for some basic camping items, over the years they have started keeping many camping supplies such as camp mugs, bug protecting face net and so on!
