GEAR MATTERS
When I first begun my shopping for what gear I needed, I was mainly looking at what was the most cost effective at the time. In turn, I ended up with gear that didn’t keep me warm at night, cooking was sort of miserable due to improvising, and a lot of my gear was just so heavy. I bought cast iron pans, had wooden plates/bowls, tables that were too small; all things that were very inconvenient, heavy and hard to pack. The techniques to packing came through trial and error. Each trip I found out more ways to refine my campsite. Lighter gear, modular gear, and slimming it down to things that I will use every time I camp. I ended up bringing a lot of things that I did not need on my early trips. Now it feels like almost all of my gear has purpose on every trip. Personally I think this is a necessary step to finding out more about what you need. A lot of the gear I had in the beginning, I no longer have. A lot of it has been gifted or passed on to other campers. If you don’t know where to start or don’t know how much you should spend on certain gear, I wouldn’t just start ordering stuff online after reading some reviews and finding deals. What I would do is go see a lot of the gear I was interested in person at REI, Snow Peak, Cabella’s, or other local outdoor stores to test and actually hold/use what I might be buying. This helped me a lot in finding if it’s really something I wanted to add to my gear list. I found myself going back to Snow Peak often because they have so many unique designs that are hard to ignore. Luckily I live in Oregon (where one out of two of their headquarters for the U.S. are) so I had the luxury of walking in often to test out gear and ask questions. When I would go home I’d look at alternatives to whatever I tested, oftentimes I ended up buying from Snow Peak but there were other things on my list that just needed to be to a higher personal standard. For example, Snow Peak only offers tableware in titanium. For me, I don’t like having lightweight tableware. I like having weight to my forks and spoons. It just feels weird having my food be heavier than the utensil I’m using. So I’d go to H-Mart for my tableware and sometimes other wearables like foil or fire starter. (So not everything I have is Snow Peak!!)
The designs here have lots of personality
They also had plenty of things that you would need for camping other than tableware. Plenty of kitchen utensils and even forms of storage.
Over time with more trips under your belt, you will figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. I love a plush, warm night’s rest. I love comfortable chairs and tables at the correct height for me. I love lighting that’s warm. I like my gear to match colors or compliment each other… So I got gear that aligned with what I loved. When I go camping I like to be inspired. My gear is part of that. If I was looking around me and my stuff in such a beautiful setting and it wasn’t up to my standard, I wouldn’t be as inspired to go again because my setup is mediocre. It’s the exact thing that made me dislike camping in the first place. Paper plates, plastic forks, bright LED lighting, thin/uncomfortable chairs, a leaky air mattress, you name it. The western way of camping. To some they accept that that’s how camping is and that’s okay. But like everything I do outside of this, I take pride in what I do and I have a goal to reach with camping with my Roadster and camping in general. So whether it’s comfortability or inspirational purposes, gear matters. While I follow the “measure twice, cut once” approach to things, I still think you should cut a few times to figure out what you really want/need. It’s okay to not get everything right the first time! Just do some trial and error, and plenty of research before you spend your hard earned money.
