Going on a camping trip is one of the most fun activities you can do with friends and families. It gives you time to relax in nature and bond with your loved ones. However, you can’t just pick up and go on the trip, as you’ll need a lot of planning to make the trip a success. Once you’re done with the planning, you’ll still need to prepare for the trip with the right gear. Here’s a breakdown of the best overlanding gear essentials for truck camping.
Navigation Tools
The first tool you’ll need for your trip is a way to get where you want to go. Navigation tools are a necessity for any trip you want to take and are the only way you can get where you want to go. Additionally, it’s common for people to get slightly lost while camping, so preparing a map or other tools can prevent a lot of issues.
Atlas
A great tool for navigation, an atlas has maps of basically every place in the country, helping you get around no matter where you are in the states. It’s very useful to put one in your truck when going on any trip so you can find your way back, especially if your GPS isn’t working while camping in nature.
GPS
It’s silly to ignore the benefits of a GPS, as it updates and tracks your location in real-time, helping you get exact directions wherever you want to go. A good GPS can get you just about anywhere you want—but don’t overly rely on it, as it can stop working without proper connection and needs electricity to function.
Communication Tools
Camping traditionally includes separating yourself from the rest of the world and only living in the moment. But you should ensure that you have a way to connect with people outside your small camping area. Otherwise, you’ll struggle to call for a rescue or contact people in your camp if they go out wandering.
Two-Way Radio
When you just need to stay in contact with those around you, the two-way radio can help you do just that. While you won’t be able to contact those around the world, you can easily communicate with others in you camp as they go on hikes or wander about. This is a great way to keep people safe while camping or hiking.
Long-Range Radio
Before any trip, you should invest in a long-range radio that can reach out to the nearest town or city so you can call for help in case of emergency. Camping is quite safe, but injuries can happen, and calling the authorities for medical help may be necessary—and a long-range radio is the best tool for that.
Emergency Tools
Before any trip out to nature, you should be sure you bring tools that’ll help you survive if anything goes wrong. At the very least, an emergency kit in your vehicle can help you avoid or treat a wide variety of problems. Look out for standard kits for the area you’re traveling in, so you can stay safe.
Medical and First Aid Supplies
Along with emergency tools, you’ll need medical supplies as a precaution against anything that might happen on a trip. Untreated injuries, even a small scrape, can be very dangerous out in nature. A first aid kit can help treat all these small injuries to keep the trip going and can stabilize someone if they need medical attention.
Vehicle Repair Tools
Trucks are great vehicles for carrying all the things you need while traveling both on and off-road. However, they can still break down and cause all sorts of problems when you drive across the country. Investing in a vehicle repair kit can help you stay on track and driving even if something breaks down on the road.
Camping Gear
Any camping trip needs the gear to actually go camping. From tents to bags to sleeping rolls, you’ll need a variety of gear to lay out under the stars. Some other very important items include tools, a survival knife, lighting, warm and cold weather clothing, water bottles, spare batteries, portable chargers, and whatever else you need to sleep with.
Cooking Gear
The longer you stay outside camping, the more you’ll need cooking gear to feed yourself. There’s a lot of good gear you can bring depending on what you want, but you’ll at least need some pans and utensils to make the food over your campfire. Bring lots of clean water as well, so you can cook and clean without worry. A lot of people like to bring a cooking setup they can put over the fire to make it easier to cook.
Rescue Gear
It’s very rare for a camping trip to go off perfectly, which is why you need so many different pieces of gear to handle any situation in camping. Rescue gear is a great example of this, as this gear is great for pulling you out of bad situations. Rope or traction mats are a great example of items you should bring along for rescue. These things can save you from many bad situations and keep your trip on track.
Organization Tools
Fitting all this gear into your car isn’t easy, as no truck can realistically carry everything for a family. That’s why investing in some truck bed organization tools can really help with storage utilization and organization. One tool that’s great for this is custom truck bed storage, which you can custom-order specifically for overlanding, to fit all your gear as you need without losing any overall space.
Fun Items
The last of the ten essential gear for a good camping trip you should put in your truck is all the fun things you need. Although camping can be fun by itself, you can have a lot more fun by bringing toys and gear for your favorite outdoor activities. Things like bathing suits or balls can be great for everyone on the trip. Even board games to play at night can really make your trip very special.
This is all the gear you should bring with you to have a successful camping trip. This gear will get you there and through the whole trip if you tailor the items to your specific location. You’ll have a great time and can tackle any problem with your family with all this gear on your trip.
