The range of activities that I have been involved with that were referred to as camping are pretty wide ranging. I think the litmus test of whether or not something is camping for me is INDOOR PLUMBING. If you have access to that, then it isn’t really camping.

I think I’ll start from the comfortable end of the spectrum an work my way down.

The pictures of camping trips appearing to go well at Jules’ blog called CampingCoop make me want to go tenting soon. Now that I live farther south, I need to do the tenting before it gets too hot.

There are supplies and know how that can make most of these camping scenarios better. If you don’t have to carry everything on your back, cast iron cookware like the stuff being used in this Camp Stew post by Jules is a great idea. Something I would suggest to coffee lovers is a French press, and of course a pot or kettle to boil water. I did a lot of camping as a teenager and I think I tried just about every product that can be made by adding boiled water…coffee tea, hot chocolate oatmeal, cup-a-soup. I even tried using old brewed tea to make cup-a-soup, not so good.

Flashlights are probably the most important camping accessory. If you have a good flashlight and a video camera and lots of fear, you can make an indie movie. Just please don’t make a sequel.