basic camping equipment ?

i really feel one in spirit with you camp loving guys. [previous thread]

i share your camping sentiments, though we are continents and thousands of miles apart
it is as if there is a shared basic instinc in like minded nature lovers and 'bushmen' all around the world that linked us together from way down in the mists of the history of homo sapiens

i'm lucky in the sense that when i'm going camping,then i'm truly alone in the wild nature without any other people near at all
wish i could take some of you with me to experience camping in a different setting--
boy the stories we could swap till late at night around a small campfire with the sound of wild africa in the dark just outside the reach of the campfire light!

camping alone is also a time for reflecting and truly food for the soul!

we all took different camping gear with us

what are the five most basic/important camping items that you pack first and dont leave home without when you go camping alone
 for a few days? [away from other people]

[t's most often some small things also, isn't it?]

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--Old hands never become lost in the bush, thanks not so much to superior bush craft ,
but to their believe that if you don’t mind being where you are, you aren’t  lost!
--“Paying attention to the expected is probably best for everyday existence.
Noticing the unexpected, though, may save your life.'

Boots, sleeping bag, pack, water bottles, tent (maybe)

my top five items
     1 knife 
     2 water bottle 
     3 cordage, 
     4 tarp / poncho 
     5 magnesium fire starter, 
This is as much survival as camping list but the top five for me are always the same.  I consider clothing and boots not on this list as they are already being worn.
 
While we're at it lets go top 10 things also.
     6 blanket / sleeping bag / what the climate calls for

     7 knife sharpener

     8 Water filter / sterilizer

     9 hygene kit (Soap, toothpaste / toothbrush, deoderant, toilet paper and chaptstick are all in this kit together but it could be modified since it's a kit not technically one item).

     10 fishing kit (this is the area I go camping as fishing for small fish to survive is rather easy.  Other areas it might be a trapping kit or hunting implement).

    

"The difference is the woods is the only place I can see a clear path".                                                                   Malcolm Reynalds

Looking at this from a recreational camping perspective rather than a wilderness survival camping perspective...

Five most basic items: 1. Fixed blade large enough for chopping and batoning
2. Lighter or other firestarter
3. Water purifier
4. Water container
5. Food

Five important items:
6. Firearm that can be kept on your person and taken into sleeping bag
7. Bivy sack or other shelter
8. Sleeping bag
9. Folding saw
10. Mess Kit

"Luxury" items:
11. Compass
12. Flashlight
13. Binoculars or telescope
14. Camera
15. Mosquito net

"Verily, thou art not paid for thy methods, but for thy results, by which meaneth thou shalt kill thine enemy by any means available before he killeth you."  ~Richard Marcinko


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Camping...not survival...only five things...
1-Big knife 
2-Sleeping bag
3-Tent
4-Ferrocium rod/Pine resin impregnated kindling/Lighter
5-Flashlight(extra batteries and bulb)
6-food

I couldn't bring it down to five items, as you can see.
I forego the water purification and water bottle for the sake of other gear because I always drink the river water in the mountains untreated, I've done so all my life. I just dunk my face into a river and gulp away. 

Gunstock War Club; Magnum Kukri Machete; Kukri Machete; G-10 series Espada XL; Scimitar folder; 18" Kopis machete; 2 SRKs CarbonV; Recon Scout CarbonV; Ghurka Kukri SK5; 2 Vietnam Tomahawks; Trench Hawk; True Flight Thrower; Bowie Bushman fixed on a oak pole; Roach Belly; 2 Rajah II; TiLite VI; Kudu; OSS CarbonV

"Fighting on the internet is like the Special Olympics, even if you win you're still retarded"

Top 5:

1) Knife or axe
2) Firestarter
3) Sleeping bag
4) Tarp (or tent if I want it to be cushy)
5)Water and food

That would be my "backpack list". On top of that, in pockets or on my belt would be:

1) Map & compass
2) Folding knife, most likely a multitool or SAK
3) Flashlight w/whistle and band for forehead carry
4) A Bible, or a book I'm reading to pass the time
5) Durable rope or paracord on a beltloop w/two carabiners

Miss me? 

 Recreational camping for me equals backpacking, so with that in mind;

Most essential Top Five:
1) Big knife, usually Trail Master, but not always
2) Bio-degradable camping toilet paper (trust me, you want TP with you)
3) 3 full days worth of freeze-dried backpacking food per person plus 3 quarts of water, even if your intent is to fish and hunt your entree's while in the sticks. Emergencies happen.
4) if camping below 7000 feet ASL and wood burning is permitted at the time, fire kit.
    if above 7000 feet ASL (a wood fire can be astonishingly hard to get going at high altitude due to reduced oxygen) a take-down white gas backpacking stove.
5) this is a tie between 2 pair of new, clean spare boot socks and a first aid kit specific to the most common backpacking injuries

Okay, so my top 5 is more safety related than recreation, but safety is how all my planning starts.

Beware the fury of a patient man.
 
"Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers."
Aristotle


"Fighting spirit one must have. Even if a man lacks some of the other qualifications, he can often make up for it in fighting spirit." Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF

I listed five things but, honestly that doesn't cut it for me, i won't go up into the mountains without at least a dozen items in my pack.

Gunstock War Club; Magnum Kukri Machete; Kukri Machete; G-10 series Espada XL; Scimitar folder; 18" Kopis machete; 2 SRKs CarbonV; Recon Scout CarbonV; Ghurka Kukri SK5; 2 Vietnam Tomahawks; Trench Hawk; True Flight Thrower; Bowie Bushman fixed on a oak pole; Roach Belly; 2 Rajah II; TiLite VI; Kudu; OSS CarbonV

"Fighting on the internet is like the Special Olympics, even if you win you're still retarded"

ToolMan
 4) if camping below 7000 feet ASL and wood burning is permitted at the time, fire kit.     if above 7000 feet ASL (a wood fire can be astonishingly hard to get going at high altitude due to reduced oxygen) a take-down white gas backpacking stove.

That's pretty interesting - I had never considered that fire would be harder to make at higher elevations. Where I live the elevation is less than 500' ASL, but further west in the Appalachain Mountains it gets up to about 2200' on some mountain peaks. I'd be interested to hear from some people here about their experiences starting fires at high elevations.

"Verily, thou art not paid for thy methods, but for thy results, by which meaneth thou shalt kill thine enemy by any means available before he killeth you."  ~Richard Marcinko


Newest addition: 2011 Voyager XL Plain Clip
Favorites: Recon Scout SMIII, Recon Tanto Carbon V, SRK Carbon V, Trail Master SMIII, True Flight Thrower


For custom Kydex, DuraCoating and more visit www.MattMannUSA.com!

jsquared


Boots, sleeping bag, pack, water bottles, tent (maybe)

LOL no knife?

Я спецназ

MM60,
     I haven't found the 2000 ft elevation range to be an issue with fires.  Out west in the rockies it can be much more of an issue.

"The difference is the woods is the only place I can see a clear path".                                                                   Malcolm Reynalds

This is my top 6
large knife
swedish steel
billycan
poncho
poncho liner
compass
I can imporvise all other things
  As Rey Mears said knowledge is good survival (in this case outdoors) tool and it weights nothing 

Only the dead have seen the end of the war
Plato

FSS,
     I just don't have much experience in the mountains out west with fires.  I've been all over the east coast and the mountain ranges here.  Never had a problem but I've heard of people having issues in the rockies.  Could be that they were trying bic style lighters and having issues with the lighter, not really sure.  I generally like my magnesium striker with area fuel (east coast that's usually birch).  Have almost always gotten fire eventually.

     If you are saying you're good to go up to 9000' I'd believe it.  Not a white gas stove fan but I may get won over to them yet.

"The difference is the woods is the only place I can see a clear path".                                                                   Malcolm Reynalds

In AZ this time of the year my family goes to ceremony all week long in the Chuska mountains on the Navajo Rez, near Tsaile, and they're up at least 7000ft and no one has any trouble starting wood fires every morning. And everyone in my family, except for me, is straight up a "city person" or a greenhorn, or tender foot, as some would call it. IMO, you have to be well over 10000ft to worry about lack of oxygen for fire starting. If my mom can start a fire at 7000ft + elevation, then anybody could do it.
The picture below shows the region where the ceremony grounds are. The mountain is called Bear Butte, it isn't that hard to see why. Do you see it?
 

 I apologize for consecutive posts but my mobile phone doesn't let me edit messages.