Beyond Books: 10 of My Favorite Camping Items

I take my Kindle Paperwhite everywhere with me. I have a black case that has taking a beating, but still looks pretty good. From camping, hiking, the beach, to my day to day shenanigans my Kindle tags along. The night before I go, I download an absurd amount of books and give it a last minute charge.

I don’t have a screen protector on my Kindle and never have. I have a case that has a magnetic cover and water-safe—the best one to have in my opinion. If you have a case without a cover, get a screen protector as soon as possible.

Check out Kindles on Amazon, prime day is the best time to snag a deal.

Check out my Kindle case here.

I have had my lime green Yeti cup for years. It travels with me from my classroom to the camp grounds. There are many different brands you can buy. They all do the same thing. Nonetheless, my personal favorite brand is Yeti.

I have a little army of lime green Yeti products that I haul around with me during the school year. I do not bring the cups with handles camping, I prefer a water bottle with a screw top. Overall, these lime green beauties are my favorite vessels to keep my coffee/water in.

Check out Yeti cups here.

This yellow day hike pack is my by far my favorite outdoors backpack I own. It is a yellow osprey backpack with a floral design. This is another piece I have had for many years. I am not loyal to any backpack brand, just really like the yellow pattern of this pack. There is a small pouch for a hydration pack. It can hold a laptop and a few other things.

Typically I pack my Kindle, a small water bottle, snacks, first aid kit, and a light jacket.

For longer hikes/trips I use a green REI women’s pack.

Check out Osprey packs here*

I love the sound of nature. If nature is sounding off too much at night, I will pop in earplugs. Last fall, there were elk near our camp ground. They sang their scary mating calls for far too long into the night. It was terrifying.

I bought a jumbo container of ear plugs from Walmart, you can get them on Amazon too.

Check out jumbo supply of earplugs here.

If I think there will be trees in the area, I will bring my hammock. I have had the same ENO hammock for 10 years. There are ways to sleep in the hammock, but I have not tried beyond a short nap.

I have a double nest hammock. It is enough room for two people or one person and two pugs. There are so many brands of hammocks that offer a similar style and function to ENO hammocks. Choose one that is a good fit for you.

Check out ENO hammocks here.

There is nothing worse than being cold in the woods. I have learned that lesson too many times. I bring two blankets. The first is a light puffer blanket I got from Costco. It is a dupe for the Rumpl blanket and is black. I haven’t seen this exactly blanket in a few years, but you can find a similar dupe on Amazon. The second is a tie blanket I made out of fleece fabric.

Check out puffer blankets here.

By no means do you need to bring a board game camping, but I do. I bring three: Point Salad, Scout, and Spots. I love love love love a good board/card game. These are three smaller games that are easy to pack and play. These three games play 2-5 people.

• Check out Spots
• Check out Point Salad
• Check out Scout

There are few outdoors doors adventures that these two pairs of shoes are not apart of. I use Crocs as my “comfy” shoe and Chaocs as my functional sandal. If I do not plan to “rough” hiking, I will only bring these two pairs of shoes.

In my lifetime, I have had two pairs of Chacos. I can’t speak highly enough of their quality and lifespan. I, sadly, do not have a picture of me clearly wearing Chacos.

Last summer, I got a pair of Tevas. I keep them in my car as a quick shoe to change into at all time. So I added them to my comfy shoe list.

Check out Crocs here

Check out Chacos here

I had an amazing portable charger from Outerbox that wireless charged phones. It broke this year and is no longer in production. Until I can decide on a new one, I bought a two pack from Amazon that had good reviews.

I keep one with me when on long hikes or camping trips, mainly for music and GPS. So far, these have held up great.

Check out these portable chargers here

I have two sassy pugs, Wheezy and Mogi, that go on adventures with me. A trip wouldn’t be compete trip without these two.

My pugs do pretty well in the outdoors. If you have a pug, I highly recommend taking them along with you on your next trip.