Some people make the mistake of confusing camping and extreme camping. Your 3-year old child will definitely tell you what camping is. Extreme camping, on the other hand, takes the camping concept a notch higher. A similar example would be comparing Jackson Town – Wyoming, to the North Pole, when it comes to the winter experience! As a matter of fact, some people have even gone extra miles to add another term to this beautiful forbearance – primitive camping.
Camping to the extreme involves camping in some isolated backcountry spot without having prepared the campsite. One doesn’t have easy access to water, electricity, cooking facilities and even toilets. You will be forced to practice foraging, which can be fun once you get the hang of it. You’re basically going in the wild brave, running free and staying as wild as possible. You are there to leave nothing but footprints, take nothing with you but pictures and your gear and ultimately waste nothing but time.
This will require you to be duly prepared or else risk suffering the misery of improvising. Trust me, by the end of the trip; you will be forced to improvise something – after all, this is the wild, this is to be expected; unless you’ve been doing this for a thousand and one years.
What to Bring Along
Knife
Unless you plan to do some tough cutting with your teeth, everyone needs a knife out in the wild. Whether you’re injured and want to do some bandaging with a piece of cloth or you’re just starving and need to cut that meat to bits, you won’t lack a use for this tool.
Hydration
If you’re planning to visit Arizona and depend on the Virgin River for water, well and good – that’s also plausible. If that’s not so, you need to consider carrying enough water to last you through your camping experience if possible. However, if you know of a place you can get supplies, you’re in luck.
A Mess Kit
This is basically your kitchenette and cookeries. You won’t be bringing your huge pots and pans in the jungle, will you? Find these in most outdoor shops at the best prices.
A Sleeping Pad
Common sense dictates you have a tent or a sleeping bag assuming you won’t be residing in made-up tree houses. You’ll definitely need a sleeping bag to raise you from the hard ground and give you better nights to face brighter days. Alternatively, you can have a campers mattress, a mat or a cot – if you have the strength to carry this around.
Other Necessities
Your camping gear will be incomplete if you don’t bring certain things – they might not be essentials, but they are a necessary burden.
Do you know your way around your camping destination or will you end up going in circles? A map would provide you so much help as long as you can interpret one. Remember, Google is completely useless at this point; whatever hopes you had on online maps being your saving grace should be kept at bay till you confirm. But you don’t have power, remember!
A headlamp or a flashlight will be your extenuating factor during the dark, cold nights. Since you need fire, you might need to bring a lighter with you or two – don’t depend on your expertise in making a fire the barbaric way! Garbage bags should prevent you from spoiling the very nature you’re going to enjoy. Your clothing should have a bearing on the surrounding weather. Finally, you should never leave your medical kit behind – shit happens, they say.
Extreme camping, just like any other sport, has its own rules. Very simple rules: enjoy nature; sit by the fire – stare at the fire; listen to the birds’ chirp; watch the sunset – rise early and watch it rise; breathe all the freshness. Remember, not all who wander are lost. Therefore, follow the path of the sky and have all the fun you possibly could. This is your best chance to just let go, be lose and commune with Mother Nature – grab every chance you get.
