The bare essentials: What do you need to camp?

I had a conversation recently with a long distance friend who was thinking about planning for a weekend camping trip.  She had never been camping before and wanted to know what all she needed to have a successful camping weekend.  This was the list we came up with:

Shelter

• You need something to keep you protected from the elements, a tent or a camper.  If you don't have a tent, can you borrow one from someone?  Campers get a bit more tricky to borrow.
• A tarp to go underneath the tent helps protect the bottom of the tent from something sharp and helps to keep any water from seeping in.
• Hammer for tent stakes

Bedding

• Sleeping bag or some bedding from your home.
• Air mattress or one of those foamy mats, you'll want something to keep you off the hard, bumpy ground.  A pool float could work in a pinch
• Pillows

Meals

• Cooler and ice to keep your food cold
• Paper plates & plastic utensils OR enough reusable dishes & utensils for everyone in your camping group
• Cookware - pots & pans, what will you need for the food you're planning?
• How are you cooking your food?  Bringing a small grill with you? Does the campground provide a grill?  Do you need charcoal?
• Stick with easy food for your first time, see what works and doesn't work
• Firewood - may need to be purchased in the campground
• A water container for drinking and/or washing dishes
• Grilling forks if you plan on smores or hot dogs
• Preferred condiments
• Beverages and cups

Other stuff

• First aid kit
• Garbage bags
• Lighter
• Lighter fluid
• Flashlights or lantern
• Towels, even if you're skipping showers until you get home
• Soap & hand sanitizer
• Toilet paper, depending on where and how you're camping
• Paper towel
• Trash bags
• Change of clothing
• Sunscreen
• Bug spray
• Plastic grocery bags for wet clothes or sticky stuff or dog logs or any of a million other purposes

Nice, but not necessary

• Vinyl tablecloth to cover the picnic table
• Small table
• Aluminum foil
• Ziplock type bags for food

Did I miss anything?  What would you add?

A Trip Itinerary

A must for a long trip is a good plan.  With our trip to Gatlinburg, I requested information online to give me ideas on what we might want to do.  Within a few weeks, I'd gotten several large envelopes with brochures for all sorts of tourist traps.

About a month before the trip, I spent time on the website for our campground, trying to get useful information (don't trust GPS in the mountains!).  The website also had tips for directions to help us miss traffic in Gatlinburg.

The whole reason for the trip is to explore Smoky Mountain National Park.  I spent a TON of time on that website.  I got more tips for our visit.  I started figuring out what our family would want to do, what we wouldn't want to do.

In my binder, I have:

• Maps & directions
• Addresses
• Daily itinerary for the activities we'll be doing
• Meals
• Activities that might also interest us
• All my planning notes
• Extra paper

How to be a polite camper

I think we've all had other campers that just annoy us in some way.  There are way to avoid being that camper that makes all the other campers unhappy campers.

• Don't walk through other campsite, even if it's the most direct route to the bathroom/playground/nature trail/friends/whatever.  Sometimes I kinda want to booby trap our site to catch those who cut through repeatedly
• Clean up your dog's logs.  They make handy dandy poop bag carriers, ours is clipped right to the leash, right where it's needed.
• Keep the noise to a minimum, especially during quiet hours.
• On the flip side, if you're going to sleep until 10 am in a tent, expect there to be some noise.
• Smile and say hi when you're out for a walk.
• Don't get rip-roaring drunk.
• When your kids are having an house long screaming party at 6:30 am, do more than just say, "Hey!" once somewhere in the middle... not that I experienced that yesterday morning or anything...

What would you add?