After a long winter here in the Pacific Northwest, we’re finally thinking about Spring, which means camping! Last year, we broke our long camping drought with a nice 10-day car trip with overnights in Oregon, Nevada, and Utah on the way to Telluride, Colorado to visit friends. We re-visited some old favorites and found some new ones as well.

In planning for that trip, we took a close look at our gear and found that we were in sore need of some updates and upgrades. Here are our favorite car camping gear recommendations, all items we found worked really well for us!

Our Car Camping Kitchen Recommendations

A quality camp kitchen is super important. Without food, we are unhappy campers! That means a stove that is easy to light, an ice chest that keeps items cold in hot weather, and our handy, dandy cast iron skillet (yes, we always bring one car camping because it works so well!). 

Camp Stove

Our old one was a traditional Coleman, two burner, “any liquid fuel” model we probably purchased before the turn of the century. It has cooked hundreds of meals over the years. But the last few times we used it, it was hard to light and pressurize. So, I went looking for something to replace it and found a bunch of options. 

After a good bit of research, I purchased the Camp Chef Everest 2X. It was so much nicer than our old one. Our water boil times went down, we can put bigger pans on the stove at once, and we can use gallon pressurized containers, which made setup easier. Overall, this was a great purchase. Highly recommended. 

Cooler / Ice Chest

We used two small hard-sided coolers and a single soft-sided cooler for our camping needs. Unorganized and inefficient are two words that come to mind. When we lost some food to overheating on one of our trips, it was time for something different.

Once more, I was off to find out what may have improved in coolers over the last ten years. Well, it seemed the “roto-molded” cooler revolution, started by Yeti, had pretty much taken over the high insulation portion of the market. The hallmarks of these are thick walls, heavy weight, and moderate capacity.

After a lot of reading and looking at a couple of different brands in person, I just really wasn’t happy with what I saw.

Then I ran across an article about Rugged Road coolers. They use proprietary insulation and exterior coating to greatly reduce wall thickness while still getting days of ice retention. I knew I’d have to get one when I saw their largest cooler was 20 lbs lighter than a competitor’s equivalent capacity cooler. So, I bit the bullet (they are pricey) and purchased the 85 Version 2.

It provided everything I was looking for and more. Good interior space, light weight, and we were able to keep ice for six days. Super product. Highly recommended.

Bonus Backpack Cooler

I wasn’t looking to replace the soft-sided cooler we use for day trips and picnics, but the team at Icemule asked if we would like to try their Icemule R-Jaunt 20L backpack cooler.

I tested it out (full review here) and was really impressed with the construction and carrying capacity. Not only can it carry a full picnic for two, it also serves as our overflow cooler when we need just a bit more space on the trip. It also takes up a quarter of the space of our old soft-sided cooler with more capacity. Highly recommended upgrade.

5-Gallon Water Jug

We knew we were going to have more than a few nights on the trip in “dry” campgrounds without potable water. While my recommendation here is nothing fancy, the UPWOIGH 5-Gallon Water Jug performed really well. No leaks, a nice narrow shape that fits well in our truck, a wide fill opening, and it came with extra seals and cleaning equipment. More than fit the bill for a good price.

Cast Iron Skillet

We don’t own a camp skillet… we just borrow one of our favorites out of our kitchen. We like the Lodge 15-inch Cast Iron Skillet best because it can hold an entire meal for two with no problems. It is great for all kinds of cooking and is easy to clean.

Our Favorite Camp Home-Away-From-Home Recommendations

Every camper needs a place to sleep (tent), a comfortable bed (used to be a sleeping pad, now its a mattress), and some chairs to hang out in. Here are our favorites!

Tent

Our current tent is an REI Half-Dome 4, which, sadly, is no longer in production. This has been a great, easy-to-set-up tent with plenty of room for us and our gear. It still has a good bit of life left in it, so I wasn’t looking to replace it.

If I were, the REI Half-Dome 3 is very similar to ours except for 3 versus 4 people. It looks like a great three-season option, if you don’t need the extra space. If you do need that extra room, the REI Basecamp 4 has space to spare.

What our tent did need was a refresh to the waterproofing on the rainfly. The seam seal was flaking off so badly the last time we used it that it looked like it had snowed in the tent. Of course, it rained one night, only proving that the waterproofing was completely shot by dripping rainwater right onto my face.

So when we returned home, it was back to research on how to fix the waterproofing. I used Nikwax Tent & Gear Care on both the inside and outside of the rainfly and Gear Aid Seam Grip WP on all the interior seams. While time-consuming, the process worked well and we haven’t had any problems since the re-treatment.

Mattress / Sleeping Pad Extraordinaire

I don’t like sleeping on the ground. That’s always been the case and, as I’ve matured, the issues with my back have only gotten worse. After experimenting for many years with various roll-up sleeping pads, I’ve found something that finally gives me a good night’s sleep in our tent, the Lost Horizon Air & Foam Camping Mattress. This is absolutely an upgrade from a standard sleeping pad. For one thing, it’s four inches thick! While that may sound like overkill, I can tell you it’s definitely worth the space it takes in the truck and in the tent. The rechargeable pump makes set-up and take-down quick and easy. I don’t have any second thoughts about this purchase and highly recommend it for a comfortable tent camping experience.

Camp Chairs

Our camp chair game had peaked in about 2005. We have a set of big, heavy, fold-up canvas chairs that you can see at any youth soccer game. After 20 years, they were more than a little worse for wear, and they took up a more space than necessary (we needed the room for the mattress). So, I did a bit of research on our options and bought these NEMO Moonlite Reclining Camp Chairs. They are unlike anything we had used before; tiny, light, and they recline! There is a bit of a learning curve to setting them up. 

But after a time or two, it’s now a couple of minutes’ work. Highly recommended bit of gear that doesn’t take up a bunch of space. If you have a little more money in your budget, Angie suggests looking into the Stargaze Reclining Camp Chair. Also, you can sometimes find NEMO chairs on sale at REI.

Our Favorite Camp Accessories

And to wrap up this article, here are a couple of items that make camping a little easier.

Quick Dry Camping Towel

We’ve always used our beach towels when we camp and had to deal with slow drying and mustiness. Well, no more. The team at Laek asked if we wanted to try their Adventure Towel, and I’m glad we did. They have great designs. The towel is full size, so no worrying about coverage. The fabric feels a little like suede and works best by sliding over your skin versus dabbing. This is a great product; fast drying, super easy to pack, and doesn’t get musty! Highly recommended.

Headlamp

When the headlamp I’d picked up while in Afghanistan in 2009 finally stopped working, I researched a replacement. I have to admit to being surprised about how much the market had changed. I had a difficult time finding a simple headlamp with both white and red lights. The ones I did find disappointed me with their short life and poor construction.

So after a couple of misfires, I upgraded to the Black Diamond Cosmo 350-R. On the con side, it’s bigger and has a more complex user interface than I wanted. On the pro side, its rechargeable battery has a great lifespan, the red and white lights are variable intensity, and it’s built to take abuse. Overall, this is a worthy upgrade. Recommended.

Hammock Straps

After living in Ecuador and learning to enjoy time in the hammock, we wanted to find a way to use ours more often. The answer? The simple ENO Atlast XL Suspension System, aka a tree strap. While a little heavy for backpacking (in our opinion), these are great for car camping. 

They hold our Ecuadorian hammocks plus us with no problems! The only requirement, which can be tough in the desert Southwest, is a pair of trees far enough apart to place a hammock between. But they are perfect for the Oregon coast. Recommended.

Happy Camping

So I hope these car camping upgrades are as useful to you as they have been for us. Let us know in the comments if you have other recommendations or if one of our suggestions stands out.