Camping · 8 min read
What to pack for a family camping trip
A father-and-son car camp: one bag for sleep, one for each person's clothes, and a firm line around fuel and food.
This is a car-camping list for a father and a teenage son, not a backpacking list. The bag is 27 × 14 × 15 inches. It belongs in a trunk, next to a cooler, not on a trail.
Split the soft gear
- Sleep bag: both sleeping bags, camp pillows, the extra blanket. Zip it before it shares space with a water bottle.
- Son's clothes: layers, extra socks, the hoodie he will say he doesn't need, his swim towel. His name on the tag card.
- Dad's clothes: the same, with the rain shell on top so it comes out first.
- Camp linens: dish towels and a sit pad. Not the food.
Leave these out of the bag
- Stove fuel, the cooler, and anything glass. Use a bin.
- Damp towels and sandy shoes. Shake them out and let them dry. A zipped laminated bag holds moisture in.
- The tent poles if they are a rigid bundle that would spear the sleeping bags. The tent body can roll in if it fits without forcing the zipper.
At camp and on the way home
Once the tent is dressed, empty bags fold to about 10 × 7.1 inches and can sit under a bench. That is the point of a soft bag on a weekend: it does not stay a crumpled tote until next June. Side handles help pull a bag out of the trunk without grabbing the zipper.
The shell is glossy laminated woven PE. A waterproof rating is not published.