Teach me to car camp?

[Spryte]

I have no idea how to car camp with a family. At a campground. With restrooms and showers. None. We are leaving in a week, for a trip with extended family. Someone tell me what to pack, how to plan food, and what campground culture looks like?

 

I'm not inexperienced with camping. I've thru hiked, and backpacked all over the SW. Primitive camper here. No campgrounds. My job-before-homeschooling involved long stints in the field, but again, not in a campground.

 

So, please, any tips for car camping? We have gear intended for backpacking, obviously, not huge tents or big air mattresses. But I'm not opposed to shopping for anything to make this experience more comfortable while at a campground. (We won't have to dig holes to use the restroom! Whoa!)

 

There must be tricks and shortcuts to this, please share! :)

[mom2scouts]

If you were a backpacker, car camping will seem so easy! DH and I first car camped when our kids were babies and we joked about how relaxing it was compared to backpacking. You'll probably have a fire ring, picnic table, and (for good or bad) neighbors. You can bring whatever you want because you can just throw it in the back of the car! Bring some games to play, maybe a bigger stove so you don't have to cook everything on a small backpacking stove, pie irons, comfortable chairs, and a bucket or something to carry toiletries to the bathroom, and dishpans for washing dishes or pans. Some people bring bikes to ride around the campground and fishing supplies if there's water nearby. We bring a few daypacks too if we think we might go for a hike. We like to bring a large plastic bin or trunk with all of our food, dishes, pans, and other food prep and we plan and prepare as much as possible in advance. For example,we brown the meat for tacos or cut up chicken, but if you're a backpacker you already know to do as much prep as possible. Oh, and you can bring a cooler!

 

As for campground culture, people are usually friendly and we haven't had to worry much about theft. Some people will want to talk and make new friends and others might give a friendly wave but will otherwise stay in their own space. Some campgrounds have optional social events and those can be fun too.

[regentrude]

We are backpackers, too, and simply take our gear. We have a larger tent for car camping, but you can easily take what you have and just not be quite as comfortable. We find that we bring way less stuff than most other people.

Campgrounds have picnic tables, we don't bring extra chairs

we cook on our backpacking stove because it is much cleaner than cooking on a wood fire.

I am just returning from a camping trip and had showers at the campground for the first time in my life 😊

Were found selecting smaller campgrounds without electric hookups to cut down on Rvs. The more primitive campgrounds tend to be quieter.

Have fun

[Rachel]

You may want earplugs. Car camping feels a lot different than backpacking and if groups are at the campground, they may get a little noisy. If you ask nicely for them to quiet down, most people will though.

 

If you have kids a lot of times they like to ride bikes or scooters around the campground.

[Zinnia]

We like camp chairs for around the fire. I take one for each person.

 

We stayed somewhere last year that had electric and water at each site. I didn't realize that so we didn't take advantage, but if that's the case, a super long extension cord and a hose make that sort of camping darn near like being in your own backyard, minus the mattress and bed of course. ;)

Edited June 26, 2017 by Zinnia

[wathe]

We've used our backpacking stuff and it's fine.   But we have found a few additions make a big difference (especially with kids):

 

A 10 x 10 kitchen/bug shelter: makes a huge difference in buggy or wet weather.  A place to hang out, cook, eat.  A tarp can serve the same purpose, but can be tricky to rig depending on the geography of your site.

A two burner propane stove.  Makes a big difference to be able to have two burners going at once.

dishpan

camp chairs

hammock

actual pillows!

"toys" - bikes, kayaks etc.

Cooler - cooking with fresh food is nice.  Ice is easy to access at most campgrounds.

Definitely ear plugs.  Campgrounds are social places and can get noisy.

 

 

[wathe]

And we avoid electric sites like the plague.  Electricity usually means electric lights, radios, televisions, trailers with air conditioners - generally lots of extra noise and light.  We always choose a non-electric section.  It's usually quieter!

[wathe]

And this will sound ridiculous and obvious but was a change in mind set for me:  you can bring as many shoes as you want!  When car camping, I pack 4 kinds of shoes - crocs or flipflops for the shower and beach/water sports, sandals for daily wear, sneakers for cool or buggy weather, and boots for wet weather.   

[Spryte]

Thank you all!

 

I'm reading every single tip, and appreciating the practicality of them all. So many things I would not have thought of, being in the backpack mindset. :)

 

Please, keep it coming!

[shawthorne44]

many pillows are good.  

I always like a hammock.   I won't buy one, but if you have it anyway.  

[regentrude]

The biggest comfort advantage over backpacking to me was a self inflating sleeping pad which makes tent sleep so much better than the light ridge rest pad I carry for backpacking

[Rachel]

We just spent 3 days camping with extended family.

 

I think the biggest difference is there is a lot more hanging around. Available activities will depend a lot on the campground though. We had a day that was in the 50s with 30+ mph winds. We couldn't swim or canoe like we had originally planned. We did a couple short hikes, but the state park we were at didn't have many trails as it was made up of several small lakes. Instead we hung around the campfire. We experimented with a little pie press, making grilled sandwiches, yum! Then we played with a Dutch oven and tried making pies in the campfire. The first was a flop, the second was fantastic! Food is much better car camping.

 

If your campground isn't shady, one of those pop up tents can be really nice. Basically car camping is an opportunity to have all the comforts you can fit in your car. You still get to enjoy camping, it just isn't as rugged.

[matrips]

Okay we bring a lot!

Tents, mats, bedding etc - we use air mattresses over foam pads, and sleeping bags, pillows

Lanterns and extra batteries

Head flashlights

Towels

Clothesline (actually we use bungee cords), and clothespins

White Christmas lights (turned off at bedtime but makes it cheery and easier to see)

Chairs for around fire

Fire pit

Bucket and soap

Cooler, good, drinks, cups, smore ingredients

Coffee maker and mugs

Tarp for under tent

Front door mat/rug and a broom and dustpan

Bicycles, air pump, helmets

Fishing rods

Cards and board games, books

Portable hammock

Sunscreen, bug spray

Tablecloth and clips to hold it on

[ktgrok]

If you will have electricity I bring my coffee pot and I bring an electric skillet. 

[Carol in Cal.]

Do you sleep well on sleeping pads?  If not, get a big air mattress with a battery pump, and maybe even bring some sheets along.  That's what we started to do when DH's back problems made it hard for him to really get rested on the Thermarests we had used previously, and *bonus* then we had an extra blow up bed for guests at home.

 

You can bring a big cooler stuffed with frozen food, which is very convenient.  As it thaws, you cook it. And you buy ice every few days once that's underway.

 

A Coleman camp stove is a tremendous convenience compared with backpackers' stoves.  I strongly recommend this, because waiting to start a fire before you can start to heat water in the morning is a big fat PITA even if you are in a campsite with a barbeque spot.

 

Bring some extra toilet paper.  You never know. 

 

Old army blankets folded in quarters the long way make great picnic bench cushions and can double as extra warmth at night if necessary.

 

It will probably be smokier, noisier, and brighter at night at the campground than in the wild.  The boomboxes can be really annoying.  It is what it is.

[shawthorne44]

I just remembered one.  We have a lantern that we use at the campsite for finding our way back from the bathroom in the wee hours.  This makes your campsite easy to return to without shining flashlights into strangers campsites looking for the numbers.  Sometimes the walk isn't along the road, and therefore you don't have your car to look for.  .  Sometimes we will use a headlight that changes to different colors.  I'll turn it to green and red and point the light along the path to the restroom.  It is on just for when I go

 

[wintermom]

I'd recommend trying to get remote sites at the campgrounds you choose - preferably walk-in. That will really cut down on noise level. Try to avoid RV parks and commercial campgrounds. State parks are usually more rustic and quiet. You may not have much choice about this, though, if you are meeting and camping with others.

 

You can camp with the same equipment you use for backpacking. I wouldn't buy anything new, as this kind of camping may not appeal to you at all.  Just bring some stuff from your own backyard and home.  You really don't need to bring anything extra if you don't want to. That just means more to set up and take down. Some people really go nuts with all the stuff they bring. It gets insane.  You can use this first experience as an information gathering session. Look around and take not of what you'd really like to have with you next time. 

 

I think that the biggest advantage car camping has over backpacking is the food and drinking water you can bring and store. And if you bring a good cooler, you can have a lot more variety of food with you than when you backpack. Then again, if your campground is close to town, and you want to, you can simply go in and buy fresh fruits, veggies, bread and meat.