The Last-Minute Camping Kit: Keep It Packed, and Just Go
The best trips are often the spur-of-the-moment ones. The only thing between you and a Friday-night getaway is usually the hour it takes to gather your gear. So do not gather it. Keep one bin packed and ready, and when a site opens up, you are already out the door.
Here is the whole trick. Buy a sturdy bin, fill it once with the six things below, and leave it by the door. Everything in it stays in it. When a window opens, you grab the bin, add food and clothes, and drive. The trips you never take are almost always the ones that needed too much setup. This removes the setup.
What stays in the bin
A packable chair you can leave in the bin. The one thing you always wish you had brought. A basic $40 chair works fine to start.
View on Amazon →
A tiny canister stove and a spare fuel can, left in the bin. Hot coffee at a first-come site is a genuine morale event.
View on Amazon →
One per person, batteries fresh. Setting up a tent in the dark with a phone in your teeth is a rite of passage you only need once.
View on Amazon →
The difference between sleeping and lying awake on the ground. A self-inflating pad rolls small and lives in the bin.
View on Amazon →
A YETI Roadie keeps ice for days, which matters on a trip you did not shop for. A budget cooler is a fine starting point.
View on Amazon →
A collapsible water container. Many first-come sites have no potable water, and this is the easiest thing to forget in a hurry.
View on Amazon →The five-minute add-ons
Grab these from home on your way out: a sleeping bag, layers for the temperature drop, and whatever food sounds good. That is the entire difference between the bin and a real trip.
A packed bin turns maybe-next-month into let's-go-tonight.
Now find the site
Let Wylara find you a spot tonight
The bin is ready. Open Wylara, set tonight and tomorrow, and see every campground with an open site near you right now. Start with our free and first-come camping guide, or read how to land a hard-to-book site.
Planning a camping trip shouldn't feel like a second job.
Try Wylara Free