Sleeping, eating and generally living your life out amongst the trees and critters is a wonderful opportunity to connect with nature and your inner self. It’s no less a wonderful experience if you’re out there with friends or family. Even strangers can connect when the beauty and warmth of nature is around them.

In addition to standard camping gear items, there are a few other items that can make your experience easier, more comfortable or better in general. With the inclusion of these items, your camping trip could even be saved from disaster.

Repairs, Refurbs, and Redos

An all-around awesome tool and emergency item, duct tape is one of the greatest gifts to camping. If prehistoric man had duct tape instead of the wheel, he could have had an easier cave life.

Duct tape is perfect for repairing broken camping chairs, fishing rods, small pop-up tent holes that pop up and much more. Twisted lengthwise, it’s a strong emergency rope. It also makes a superb fire starter. It’s easy to carry, durable and versatile enough for many imaginative uses.

Cooking and Cleaning

When combining tin foil with sturdy sticks, you can make disposable plates, pots, pans and even a Dutch Oven for baking. You can wrap potatoes, fish, veggies and more in a tin foil wrap and set directly in the fire.

A scrubber made of wadded tin foil makes an excellent standard pot, pan and dish cleaner. For extra scrubbing power, add sand or dirt. The dirt will easily rinse off after. Tin foil will break down and burn in the fire when you’re done using it.

Some fishermen wrap a tiny piece of foil around their fishing line near the hook, since it reflects sunlight and attracts curious fish.

 

What’s New?

In addition to having something to read, a thick Sunday newspaper makes great emergency kindling or supplemental ground insulation for unexpected cold weather overnight. Ruffled up to soften, it also makes a workable emergency bathroom tissue; not the best, but certainly better than leaves and pine cones. Ouch! Keep it with your standard camping gear.

Shave Yourself From Overexposure

If you’re a person who likes to keep well-groomed even when camping, an unscented pre shave oil will prevent you from attracting mosquitoes. Those blood-sucking nuisances are less likely to attack you with an unscented oil. The Art of Shaving is a great resource for that and other superb shaving accessories.

Clamp for Pin-Ups

Stiff clamps are an invaluable tool in my camping arsenal. They can secure drying clothes, tents and overhead tarps. They can attach anywhere, so they are easy to transport and transfer. Get the hard-to-open kind; hard-to-open means hard-to-come-off, which means super secure.

These few items are, in this writer’s opinion, camping hunting trip staples. Don’t leave home without them.