Gear

Personal Checklist

These are generic lists. Specific trips may have additional requirements/recommendations. Check the weather forecast and select kit appropriately.

On a car camping trip you can practically take the kitchen sink. Packing for a backpack trip on the other hand is an art. You want to be light, have your most needed equipment easily accessible, with like items packed in kits in zippered baggies, and be ready for at least some unexpected weather and emergencies because it's a long walk to the nearest anything. Pack clothing in heavy garbage bags to keep it dry. Of course if you plan to use the clothes as a pillow, the garbage bag must come off.

Standard Daypack Water* Hat Lip balm Sunscreen* Emergency food bars* or trail mix Hand sanitizer: travel size Pocket knife* Personal first-aid kit* Personal meds† Antihistamine† Notepad, pencil Scout handbook Class A/B uniform Emergency cash ($20) Rain jacket/poncho* Tissues Disposal bag (shopping bag) Health A+B forms Activity Consent form Merit Badge cards BSA ID card Admission tickets

+Overnight Light: headlamp* Light: hand-carried Windbreaker/hoodie for evening Long sleeves and trousers for evening (bug protection) Layered clothing for night Mess kit Sleeping bag Sleeping pad 10' nylon cord (1/8") Toilet kit Face towel Change of clothes (esp. socks, jocks)* Sewing repair kit*

+Wilderness Toilet paper (in a baggie) Cathole trowel ($3) Bug repellant Paper towels for mess kit cleanup Tent, ground sheet, rain fly Poles, stakes Map, compass* Matches* in waterproof container and baggie Whistle* 10-50' nylon cord* (¼") Extra straps, bungee Carabiners Emergency blanket*

+Cold/Snow Layered warm clothing Flannel shirts Wool pants Long underwear Beanie Gloves Heavy socks Rubberized winter boots Weather-appropriate sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner and sleeping pad(s) For cold-weather camping, jeans/cotton are not recommended. See Polar Bear section below.

+Options Camera GPS Binoculars Ball Swim suit Musical instrument +Adults Hiking poles

*BSA-recommended “10 Essentials”
†Notify adult

Class A uniforms are required while traveling. Class B T-shirt is typically required during other activities.

Electronics are not permitted on Boy Scout activities. A cell phone may be carried, and used with Scoutmaster's approval.

BSA rules also prohibit candy, pop/soda, energy drinks (e.g. Red Bull, Monster), comic books, sheath/quick-release knives and firearms.

Group Checklist

Adult Leader Health forms Activity Consent forms Emergency contact info Reservation confirmations Admission tickets T36 first-aid kit Maps and compass/GPS Firewood SPL Duty roster

+Cooking Camp stove Fuel Pots and pans Ladle, flipper, whisk 3 tubs for washup (car camping only) Biodegradable dish detergent Bleach (for rinse tub) Dish scrubber Water filter Water purification tablets Flavored drink crystals (mask taste in filtered water) Bear canister

+Camporee Patrol flags Stakes/ropes for construction

+Biking Pump Tool kit

Scout Lists: www.scoutlists.com

Buying Gear

Getting Started: for First-Time Scouts and Parents

Outdoor gear and technique is something on which you will develop your own feel and tastes. To get started, (a) read many viewpoints, (b) go on a few easy outings to find your stride. Eventually you'll set your priorities and fashion your own kits. There are different outing styles: local day hikes, car camping, light backpacking (3 miles each way, overnight), longer backpacking (multiple nights), and activity-based outings such as biking or climbing. Kit requirements differ. For car camping you can take pretty much anything that fits in your vehicle. For backpacking on the other hand, you want minimalist, multi-purpose, lightweight kit, which is usually more expensive, and what's best for one may not be best for another.

If a Scout doesn't have the kit he needs on his first outings, he won't like it and won't go out again. But this shouldn't mean stress for parents either — it shouldn't cost a bomb to get started. So don't feel shy about asking questions of the Scoutmaster, older Scouts and parents. Buy used equipment from them, or Craigslist/eBay, or the thrift store. You should be able to get started for $50-100 per Scout/parent. And improvise. You need a 40°F sleeping bag and the best you have is a 50°F? Wear a warm vest or jacket to bed. (And a beanie, make sure it covers your ears.) Over 2-3 years you can accumulate better, newer, lightweight equipment. And expertise.

A couple of useful links:

1. Clothing and equipment: article about getting equipped on a budget (text). Although this article is cost-aware and weight-aware, the cost of items can add up. Read this as an intro, but don't assume you need everything they recommend on day one.

2. Heather Menicucci's series on packing and backcountry techniques. Ideal for parents who are squeamish or generally new to camping: about 40 short video clips on everything from cooking to pooing in the wilds.

Basic Gear

Tent

A large, inexpensive family tent ($60, from Big5, etc) is fine for car-camping. For backpacking more than about 4 mi RT, when you have to carry that tent on your back, you'll want a lightweight model ($120+, from REI, etc). For Scouts as well as adults, a 2-person setup is ideal, to split the backpack load with a buddy.

Ground Cloth

Purchase two of these (for car camping where weight isn't an issue). One is needed inside the tent and one is used under the tent to protect against water or moisture entering the tent. Some tents come with heavier material in the base that runs a couple of inches up the sides, that serves as a ground cloth, in which case you might dispense with the separate ground cloth.

Sleeping Bag

An inexpensive 3-season bag with stuff sack. It is not recommended that you purchase an expensive sleeping bag as it will get muddy and sometimes wet during bad weather. Do not buy a down-filled bag; it's light, warm and compact, but when it gets wet (not just by spilling a drink, but by absorbing moisture from the air) it loses effectiveness. The bag should contain synthetic fibers such as Polarguard or Hollowfill II (update 2015: there are new polymerized downs such as DriDown and DownTek, that claim to overcome the traditional down moisture-absorption problems).

For regular 3-season camping, the temperature rating should be 32°F/0°C. For snow camping, 0°F/-20°C. Or for snow camping, you can stick with your 3-season (32°F/0°C) bag and supplement it with a $60-70 sleeping bag liner. The liner adds ½-1 pound to the weight, and 20-30°F/10-15°C of additional temperature tolerance. For temperatures approaching freezing, you want a mummy-style bag with a cord that closes over your head, leaving just your face exposed.

On a cold night, store these in your sleeping bag to keep them warm: (a) dry socks and underwear for the next day, (b) your bottle of water (that doesn't leak), (c) your water filter element, which will get wrecked if it freezes. To store a bottle of drinking water, turn it upside down; the part in contact with air will freeze first, and if the bottle were upright, it would keep the water below from reaching the nozzle.

Sleeping bags lose their fluff and effectiveness if stored tightly crunched up. Ideally they should be draped on a line or folded loosely.

Sleeping Pad

A sleeping pad provides two things: comfort (leveling, softness and protection from stones and twigs) and insulation from the limitless cold of the ground, that draws off body heat steadily overnight. Insulation matters not only while snow-camping, but also in spring/fall or high-altitude camps. In general, check the advertising material for the “R value” of a pad: the higher the R value, the better its insulation effectiveness.

“Closed cell” foam pads (often blue rolls, or Z-folded) offer the best insulation from cold. Heavily textured waffle-like surfaces such as on the Thermarest massage your weary torso during the night.

“Open cell” foam generally refers to inflatable pads: taller off the ground and can be more comfortable, but susceptible to leaks and not nearly as good as closed cell in cold weather. It works like this: if the air warmed by your body can easily circulate with the cold air that's in contact with the ground, then your body heat gets drained. There's air in closed-cell too, the difference is that it doesn't get to circulate. Self-inflating mattresses tend to have built-in closed-cell type insulation combined with some comfort of air.

REI: comparison notes

Rain Poncho

This is required on all packing lists for all camps in case of foul weather. The cheap ones are ok, but bear in mind that the Scouts are active and they may get ripped, so pack a back-up. A garbage bag works.

Flashlight

Each traveler should have two lights.

• One head-mounted light. A $5-10 headlight will cast dim light around a tent and not much more. A $10-20 light, putting out 50-200 LM, is what you want. The ultra-bright 1000-3000 LM models that can blind people around you is not recommended.
• One hand-carried or necklaced light with a wider throw, which you'll need to scan the landscape, e.g. to find the kybo* in the middle of the night. Save the lanyard next time you're at a conference, and attach your son's light to it. At $10-15, the Coast HP1 is a beaut, runs on 1 AA or a 14500 lithium rechargeable and puts out 100-200 LM.
  

There's a lot of variety and competitive pricing in LED lights. Can the light be dimmed (to save power, and also out of courtesy)? How easy is it to find replacement batteries? How are they charged? There are some pretty bright lights that run on one AA battery.

*Scouting term for an outhouse. Said to stand for “Keep Your Bowels Open”

Backpack

Check with the Scoutmaster about backpacks. It's important to have a backpack symmetrically loaded so that there isn't much more weight on one shoulder than the other. You may not notice it readily, but (particularly for adults) add an asymmetric backpack to a night on hard ground and you'll wake up with a crick in your back. The backpack should be adjusted so that the weight is borne by the hips rather than the shoulders. Packing rules for internal-frame and external-frame backpacks are different: read up on this before a long b/p trip.

Lightening the Load

As your backpacking gets more ambitious, more than 2-3 mi each way, you should aim to get your empty pack, sleeping gear and tent under 3 lb each. A couple of links:

1. How to get things lighter (video)

2. Serious lightweight backpacking (video featuring Santa Barbara expert backpacker Paul Cronshaw)

Polar Bear Camping Secrets from a T36 Old Timer

Clothing

If your feet are cold (not wet): put on your hat! A parka hood is even more effective. Large amounts of body heat are lost through the head and un-mittened hands. Extremities (fingers, toes, nose) are the first to have their body heat rationed. That's why cold hands/feet/nose indicate that your body is losing heat and starting to economize, so it's time to cover your head. In any season other than summer, keep a beanie handy.

Two lighter pairs of wool socks are warmer than one heavier pair. Avoid tight socks and tight fitting shoes, unless you enjoy cold feet!

To avoid sweating in cold weather: Dress lightly in loose clothing while engaged in strenuous activity. Several layers of light clothing are warmer than one heavy garment. Also, pieces can be added or removed as the temperature or activity changes.

Leave your blue jeans at home: Blue jeans are murder for winter camping. Thin tight cotton soaks up water like a sponge and keeps it close to the skin, exactly where you don't want it to be. It offers little protection from penetrating cold or from escape of body heat. What you want as a close layer is merino wool, synthetics or silk, all of which wick moisture away from your skin.

REI on layered clothing

Underwear tips: Thermal or long john underwear are best. Put on a dry suit of underwear to sleep in. Be sure to bring extra underwear, socks, extra mittens or gloves, an extra sweater, jacket, sweatshirt, or what have you.

Lucas's tips on Arctic/winter clothing
Troop 26 winter backpacking handouts

Footwear

Choice of footwear balances comfort, lightness and activity needs. Heavy hiking boots are not pleasant for young first-timers. If you don't expect much in the way of thorns on the trail, runners may be adequate.

But for wooded trails and cold weather, hiking boots are recommended. Nothing will cause more problems or place a Scout in danger of hypothermia than poor footwear. Cold wet feet during winter months can lead to a trip to the hospital. Please consult with your Scoutmaster for detailed information on selecting the proper footwear. Hiking boots that are water resistant are useful for non-winter camps. Select a tread style that is good for rough and smooth surfaces. For winter camping select a rubber type boot that is also insulated and will allow the Scout to wear wool socks. Additional recommendations include the use of polypropylene sock liners with good wool hiking socks to keep the feet dry.

Ground Beds

Remember that sleeping on the frozen ground is no different than sleeping on a cake of ice, just as hard, just as cold, and just as wet when your body heat starts thawing it. So your first concern is to put as much insulation between you and the hard ground as possible. How?

• First layer: Waterproof ground cloth
• Second layer: Foam pad. Alternate materials: pile of quilts or blankets, burlap bags filled with straw or crumpled paper
• Third layer: Your bed: Winter weight sleeping bag (good to 0°F/-20°C). Alternate materials: wool blankets, quilts or combination of above

Here again, more layers are better than one heavy layer. Folded blankets make a good sleeping bag. Hold it together with blanket pins. It will take 4 blankets and you select which layers to sleep between according to the weather.

Before pitching a tent in snow, tamp down the snow. If instead of being a flat surface it melts from your body heat and re-freezes around your contours, it will be an unusually cold and uncomfortable night. Expect trouble finding a way to sink tent stakes into loose snow or frozen ground. ¼" guy ropes will improve your options.

Note: Light-weight summer sleeping bags are not adequate for winter use and must be doubled, or reinforced with liners, blankets or quilts.