Psychedelics and people you trust

Put your shoes in your tent at night so slugs don't crawl in them. Camping in a national Forest is often free. Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints.

Ear plugs. Because that rustling of leaves is just a raccoon and most definitely not a serial killer. I like wax earplugs for sleeping versus foam.

Maintain hygiene regimens to greatest degree possible. Don't skimp on washing face or brushing teeth that you would typically do at home.

Food makes or breaks a trip for me. The weather could be awful, plans could go awry, but as long as everyone is well fed, there's potential.

I'm not a no-tech purist while camping but do try to use trips as a time to reset tech habits. Can you go for 24 hours without an Internet connected device? Kinda similar to the occasional dry week or break from coffee/caffeine: check in and see how you're interacting with tech.

Have a first aid kit and know how to use the stuff in it.

About 2-3 cheap string-lights that run off USB battery packs (EDITed out this: ~~run off the 2x AA-battery-packs~~). Mulitple light angles is better than a single light source. Cheery and festive. Get a multicolored string, if camping with kids or you are a fun camper.

Also OSMand mapping software, configured with offline maps of your camp area. Install the hillshades and height maps for extra detail. Enable and add an overlay-layer of Satellite data. Then scan your camp area and surrounds while online, so that it will cache the satellite map tiles needed when you are off-grid.

Hammock tent. All the advantages of a tent and a hammock.

Don’t have to worry about your tent getting flooded, no need for an air mattress or sleeping pad.

bring extra food for the first timers. they wont bring enough.

Know where to pitch a tent.

If you are close to a stream, pitch the tent a few meters above the water. If it rains you don't know how quickly it can rise.

In the same wake, if you are pitching on a plain, pitch your tent on a relative rise. If you pitch in a relative depression rain will drench you.

If you pitch on a slope, and there will usually be slight slopes, pitch your tent so, that your head is facing upwards when sleeping.

If a storm is expected you might be inclined to pitch under a tree, but be careful. If a branch breaks off and hits you, that can be very bad.

If you pitch your tent in the open and it is a hot summer, the inside will get very hot very quickly. Make sure to get up and out early, don't get wasted at night and bring reflective covering. People died at festivals when they stayed in their tents when getting wasted and then getting roasted in their tents.

If you're out bike touring, KOA's almost always have spots set aside for cyclists to camp. Both KOAs and state parks are really useful for showers and clothes washing. Was genuinely surprised how many state parks had both when I toured across the U.S.

If you're in Washington state, the state parks are legally required to find room for you to camp if you rolll up on a bike and they're otherwise full.

Lay a layer of logs on the ground before making your camp fire on top of it. Ideally larger ones. They'll lift the fire off the damp ground, improve air flow and act as fuel once the fire gets going.

Pack a book. Everything from hammock backpacking to week-long glamping festivals, I've never regretted bringing one along.

• Tiny pop-up tent, easier to carry if you can fit inside
• Headlamps
• Sleeping pad or something to separate you from the cold ass ground
• Don't interact with the cute little bear cubs

If you're in bear country, you want to hang your food high from a tree branch. Not right next to the trunk, bears can climb like squirrels. It's really amazing how fast they can climb a tree.

Also hang toiletries; don't keep toothpaste or anything scented in the tent with you.

You can dispersed camp for free in most national forests and BLM lands. Its pack-in pack-out for the most part but some spots have pit toilets. Freecampsites.net is my go to site for finding free camping

When cooking with a skillet, let the fire die down, gather as many hot coals as possible and set your skillet firm on top your coal pile.

When cooking with a pot, hang it above a low fire, in most cases you wanna make sure the flames aren't licking your pot.

This pic is from my last camping trip, if you wanna know how to build the tripod, there are pleanty of youtube videos on the topic.

For anyone reading this thread, my best advice is to learn to identify the different types of camping in order to identify what will be useful information to you. The bushcrafter has a different objective from the van camper, who has a different objective from the ultralight backpacker.

My friends and I just went camping. Instead of bringing eggs in egg cartons, put them in a Blender Bottle. Shake them up for easy scramble eggs and pour!

Bring bug spray.

Blackout tent so you can sleep late.

I never really see people doing this, but I've had a great time pitching my tent in the back of my pickup instead of on the ground. You get a perfectly flat surface and some foam or an air mattress make it pretty comfy.

If you go for a tent, first don't forget the tent pegs, and then it's always comfortable having a tiny mallet to plant them, rather than using a rock or your bare hands.

For starting a fire, look for bits of birch bark on the ground, it is extremely flammable and is much better tinder than leaves.

good tents are worth the money. The heavy canvas ones are great if not too far from a car, but too heavy to carry far.

Air mattress so you don't regret

Watch some primitive/bushcraft survival videos on YouTube. There's a lot of good tips and tricks, especially for when you aren't exactly prepared for camping (emergency situations) and need shelter, fire, food, water, etc.

Favorite channels:

• Bertram - Craft and Wilderness (off-trail camping videos)
• Coalcracker Bushcraft (lots of good info)
• Donnie Dust's Paleo Tracks (primitive tools)
• Primitive Technology (fire by friction, primitive crafting)
• Survivorman - Les Stroud (survival, cooking, history, etc)
• Woodsbound Outdoors (good info and demo)

Bring a battery powered fan.

The most effective way to start a fire, for me, is to use fire-starting candles that Yankee Candle make.

Never piss on your camp fire if it's upwind of your tent. - source, was in the scouts, we did this to another patrol. Man, their tent stank.