Four Gear Tips for Family and Group Camping

Are you headed out this long weekend to enjoy an outdoor adventure with your household or social pod? Here’s a few gear tips from WTA’s Outdoor Leadership Training program staff to make things a bit easier, and maybe even help to reduce the environmental and social impact of your group’s outing.

Large Poly Tarp

Blue tarps are ubiquitous in outdoor settings for good reason, so consider adding a large poly tarp (usually 10’ x 12’) to your list of weekend supplies. The tarp’s metal grommets allow it to be suspended above your campsite to shelter your group from the elements, but there are a multitude of other uses. We recommend laying down the tarp next to camp as you’re unloading your supplies, which provides a central place for everyone to keep personal bags and camping equipment consolidated while you’re getting organized. And if it rains before your group’s set up, you can fold half of the tarp over itself to keep everything dry. Tarps can also be used in the camp kitchen to collect crumbs under smaller kid’s snack time or to drape over the picnic table so that your meal prep and eating space can be easily cleaned and disinfected.

Photo by Andrew Pringle 

Dish Washing Bins

After a delicious outdoor camp meal, you might be left scratching your head about the best way to get everything cleaned up. We suggest bringing four plastic dish bins and a small wire strainer to create your own dishwashing station. Start heating up some water while you serve and eat your meal, then you’ll be ready to start dishes before everyone scatters! In a four bin system, mix the hot water into the first two bins — making sure it’s not going to scald bare hands. The first bin gets just a few drops of soap to cut grease and make scrubbing easier, and the next two bins allow you to ensure you rinse off any soap residue, which can cause mild stomach aches. The last bin holds cold water and a cap-full of bleach — your dishes need to be submerged in this bin for 30 seconds (sing them Happy Birthday!) and then left out to air dry on a table or in mesh bags, allowing the bleach to fully do its job. The strainer is then used to catch food particles as you drain the soapy water into an appropriate sink or drain. And lastly, cascade the bleach solution back through the first three bins to disinfect them — voila!

Photo by Erika Haugen-Goodman

High-Capacity Gravity Water Filter

If you’re heading out backpacking this weekend, or camping in a spot where you’ll need to filter your own water, we recommend that groups try a high-capacity water filter that uses gravity to do the work — no more pumping for endless minutes! As a solution for group filtering needs, the convenience and capacity of these modern systems make them a no-brainer. And the Platypus GravityWorks systems that we stock in our free gear lending library for schools and organizations are relatively compact and lightweight, even in the four- and six-liter sizes. If silty water slows down the filter, it’s easy to backflush the system to speed things up again, and once you dial in the steps, it’s like having a faucet in your remote camp. Plus, if you need to access your water source at an environmentally fragile stream or lakeshore, fewer trips and less time hovering precariously over the water will make mean less impact on the shoreline in the long run!

Photo by Erika Haugen-Goodman

Animal-Resistant Food Containers

Most backpackers tend to loathe “bear cans” because they can be a pain to make room for, not to mention the added weight. In more and more heavily visited areas, land managers are making their use mandatory. But if your group is still learning the ins and outs of backpacking, you’ll end up finding the ease of storing your food in these specially designed containers more than makes up for their bulk. There’s no need to spend the waning minutes of daylight trying to set up an appropriate hang cord to keep critters out of your food, and if someone in your group later wants to grab something from their snacks or toiletries, it’s not suspended in the air. So keep an open mind about these containers and know that they’ll do an even better job at keeping your hard-earned meals away from animals big and small. Plus, they make a great camp seat!

Photo by Rachel Wendling