i can't believe we didn't buy this years ago car camping items you didn't no you needed welcome to
camp i'm gonna take you around and show you some of these things that i bring on my camping trips
that i love that you might not think to pack our journey begins in the tent and my first item is an
eye mask now i'm someone that's pretty sensitive to light so i wear eye mask a lot even when i'm at
home but consider the full moon if you have ever camped when it is a full moon it is so bright
like you can get up at night and walk around your campsite no headlamp needed so this is great for
those full moon nights when you're out camping where it's actually pretty bright another thing
to consider is sometimes especially in the summer months the sun rises really early and if you
want to sleep in then having an eye mask might be really nice to block out that early morning light
so even if this is not something that you use at home you really might want it for camping
for me it is essential i basically put it on at night and i just wear it all night
long every night next up is a handkerchief i bet you were not expecting this one on my list
now i've been using handkerchiefs for years now i don't use tissues really because i always have
a handkerchief with me i have a stack of these at home and then i'll take a few of them camping
keep one in my tent keep one in my jacket and just kind of have them stashed everywhere
and then just use this throughout the day nick has them as well and we both love them
now handkerchiefs are so much nicer on your nose for one and they're just easily reusable you just
throw them in the wash at home when you're out camping sometimes it can just be a little bit
dusty and i find that i blow my nose a lot more and if you're camping when it's a little bit
colder your nose might start to run and it's just really nice to have a handkerchief in your pocket
instead of creating so much garbage and constantly trying to find tissues the handkerchief really is
the way to go now i know what you're thinking ew gross you like blow your nose in here and
then you stick it in your pocket it's not gross it dries out and it just creates so much less garbage
which is really one of the reasons that i love it and like i said it's so much easier on your nose
so if you are blowing your nose a lot as you're outside and if it's cold or dusty or whatever
it's just softer and nicer on your nose so there you go handkerchief don't knock it till you try it
next is the gaia gps app on your phone this is really cool because as you're planning your
camping trip at home you can go into this app and create areas and download maps for offline use so
when you actually come out camping you can have all different map overlays that work even when
you don't have cell service this is especially helpful if you're dispersed camping like we are
as we were coming to this area someone could have already been in this spot and so then we
might need to like change slightly where we want to camp and being able to access
the maps on the go see where where we are look at satellite views can help us kind of adjust
and find other spots as needed and it's always a good idea just to have some maps hard copies
and even the digital copies so the gaia gps app is great for that i think one of the key features
that i love the most is that you can use public and private land overlays on the app to make sure
that you're not on private land because sometimes private land is not marked so as you're traveling
about in the national forest you can easily see those lines between public and private
next we have a shovel somewhat of a decent sized shovel this is awesome if you gotta go wander into
the woods and do number two digging a hole with this thing is a lot easier and faster than doing
it with one of those small backpacking shovels that i use for backpacking you also could use the
shovel to sort of dig out your fire pit a little bit if there's some debris in there some ashes
that you kind of just want to move to the side having a nice shovel for that is nice and handy
you also could use this to help put your fire out so putting a ton of water on your fire pit and
then using the shovel to sort of mix it all around and make a good soupy ashy mix in your fire pit
to just ensure that it's out so there's a lot of really good uses for a shovel this is a great size
it's not massive but it's perfect for a lot of these tasks for around your campsite and for poop
next we have a blanket that you don't mind getting ruined or dirty so this is just kind of always in
my car and it's a great blanket that i can just throw out on the ground i'm not worried about it
getting ripped it's not like i'm taking my nice down sleeping bag and putting that on the ground
i wouldn't do that but it's nice to have just a blanket that you can lay out on if you want
to read a book or just have something different to sort of sit on and hang out with around the
of my videos that organization really i think is key and so this is my camping cook bin where
i have all of my cook gear and then below i have my pantry bin where is a lot of food i have done a
deep dive into my camping organization in another video so i'll link to that here really utilizing
bins to help you stay organized i think creates just a lot less stress when you're at camp so
you don't have your gear scattered all over the place wondering where things are it's not fun
organize things utilize bins next is a jump starter power bank this i think is one of the more
probable things that you're going to run into on a camping trip if someone
leaves a light on all day in the car all night in the car and you go to start your car
and the battery's dead this is awesome because you do not need another car to jump your car
comes with a power bank and the cables to get the job done without any other car so
this and then it has the power bank here it's incredibly easy to use and a great thing i think
for any camper to have any road tripper to have to be able to help yourself in a situation where
your battery is dead nick and i actually made a video last year which went into some of the
skills and tools that every car camper should have when it comes to their vehicle so i will link to
that here because it's stuff that's not talked about enough when it comes to car camping but
these are the situations that you want to think about and be prepared and this is such a simple
cheap easy to use small item that really can save you when you're out somewhere
where you don't have cell service and there are not a lot of other people coming around that
could possibly help you so this is a great one to have here we have a little key box with a magnet
and i just took this out from underneath the car let me see if i can open it for
you it's kind of useless if you can't open it there we go okay now this
is where i store a backup key to open my car in case i lock the keys in there which
has happened so nick locked us out of the car we have this little thing we've had to
use this like several times although now if you guys see my car out please don't steal my car
so put the key in here close this up and then this i will just stick to kind of underneath my car and
i was kind of hesitant when i first bought this because i was like is this really going to stay on
there even like going off-road and on dirty muddy roads and this has been on there for years has
never fallen off obviously because it's still here honestly think about it like if you're out camping
we're just dispersed camping as i've said and there are no other cars around here it is a long
long hike to get somewhere where we could possibly get some help so locking your keys
in your car i think is something that's that could definitely happen and being able to get
in there and having some sort of backup system in place is really smart to be thinking about and so
this is just how i do it and i love it and it just pops right under here next we have a very standard
tarp and this is just another thing that sort of always lives in my car there are so many uses for
this when you're out camping even just last night actually it rained and i quickly grabbed this and
i just put this over my firewood so the firewood would stay dry i've used this to quickly cover up
gear i've also used this with a little bit of cord because it has these little rings and some trees
to create a bit of a shelter from the rain it's a good thing to just always have on hand in the
car i actually need to let it dry out a little bit but yeah tarp my next item is binoculars
i love having binoculars when i'm out camping this is such an incredible beautiful camping
spot and being able to come out here sometimes i have a tripod it's a lot easier to actually use
these with a tripod but being able to scan these mountainsides and look for animals and just see
so many more of the details of the landscape is a lot of fun birds are another thing that are
really cool to look at through the binoculars we've seen mountain goats through these when
we're out camping deer elk owls like all sorts of animals and it just really gives you a different
perspective of the landscape and they're just a lot of fun to have lastly we have a
pocket bellows i know this looks like a little car antenna or something this is something that
nick found and we bought them and after he used it for the first time he was like i can't believe
we didn't buy this years ago so this is nice because it's obviously super small and compact
you extend it and then you can blow air into your fire in a very concentrated stream and it
just really helps you get that fire going so this thing is a lot of fun to use and it's super small
lightweight and really does work to help you get your fire going and maintain your fire throughout
the night and with that that rounds out my list of car camping items you didn't know you needed
i hope you got some good ideas in this video make sure to hit that subscribe button before you go i
have new videos just about every single week all about camping hiking and the beautiful outdoors