Once you’ve got your shelter, there’s a basic list of stuff you’ll want to have with you no matter what:

• A refillable water bottle
• Enough non-perishable food for three meals a day + snacks
• A small cooler
• Toilet paper (a roll per day is probably more than enough—you’ve gotta hope!)
• A sleeping bag
• A warm waterproof jacket (even in the summer, it can get pretty cold at night)
• Lightweight reusable plates, bowls, and utensils
• Plastic bags
• Paper towels
• Baby wipes
• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• A small first aid kit
• Comfy shoes with enclosed toes (particularly if you’re straight-up camping, sandals are probably not your jam)
• Lots of thick, comfy socks and undies
• A hat
• Your phone charger! (If you have a car, it’s VERY worth it to bring a car charger as backup)

Bonus round!

• A small, sharp knife for cutting fruit and veggies and stuff
• Biodegradable soap (castile soap is cool ’cause you can wash your bod and dishes with it)
• A cooking pot (something like this usually does the trick)
• An old bath towel (useful if you plan to shower, but also nice to have as a sort of doormat outside your tent’s opening to keep dirty shoes/feet out of the comfort zone)

OK, so food: If you’re at a festival, the food sitch is probably covered by whatever trucks or vendors are on site, but $10 burritos add up real quick. And in any camping scenario, PB&J and GORP can get old fast. If you’re on festival grounds, check the festival’s website before you arrive to see if there are grills on the premises, or if you can bring a portable charcoal or propane grill for heating up corn, potatoes, or chopped veggie skewers, or cooler-friendly food like grilled veggie burgers or cheese and bread. You don’t usually need a portable grill at a campground, which will most often have charcoal grills on site, or fire pits with grills where you can cook (and, like, sit around singing kumbaya!). Some campgrounds make you buy their firewood to use in fire pits, but sometimes you have to bring your own, so check ahead.

If you’re going to be cooking on a charcoal grill, that means you’ll have to BYO charcoal and lighter fluid. Also, charcoal grills can be kind of tricky to start. There are usually directions on the charcoal bag, but stacking the coals in a pyramid, dowsing them with lighter fluid, and then fanning the sparks usually works. Don’t be shy about asking your neighboring campers for help if you need it! People are generally willing to lend a hand, and maybe you’ll make a friend.

V IMPORTANT: Any time there’s a charcoal or wood fire outdoors, someone should be watching it at all times, until it’s properly extinguished.

How do you set up camp?

You made it!!! The sun is shining, and there are trees all around you. You just have to set up your campsite, then you can roam around the wilderness. When scouting out a place to pitch your tent, try to find the highest spot possible. That way, if it rains, the water will run away from your tent rather than into your tent. Look for a patch of land that’s free of large roots, thorns, and brambles wherever you set up, or your sleep will not be sweet. Make sure your tent and gear are a safe distance from any fire source, and if you can, face your tent toward the east—catching rays of early-morning sun is a lovely way to wake up. While you’re out hiking, stash your belongings in sheltered places in case of rain, and keep stuff inside your tent away from its sides (rain will slide off and away from the tent’s nylon walls so long as they aren’t indented by the bulk of sleeping bags and such).

Who are you camping with?

Camping with pals is one of the best summer activities there is. But after a couple days, anyone (typically everyone) can get a little cranky. The crank can intensify at music festivals, where people might be drinking some and doing drugs some and sleeping not much. Ideally, you don’t want to hate all your friends, so MAKE SURE THEY LIKE CAMPING BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO CAMP WITH THEM! This might seem like an obvious precaution, but spending more than 24 hours outdoors with outdoors-hating companions has caused many a Rookie unnecessary friendship/relationship grief in the past.

Open communication is important, especially at festivals where people have (a) different approaches to schedules and (b) different approaches to partying. If everyone makes their plans known from the get-go, the likelihood that there will be anxiousness or anger is hopefully minimized. For some people, camping and festivals are occasions for communing with nature BUT ALSO for communing with alcohol and illegal substances. How do you feel about that? How do the people you’re camping with feel about that? If someone in your crew plans on using the excursion as an opportunity to try out a new psychedelic and someone else objects before the tent has even been packed in the car, maybe those two people aren’t meant to camp together? In any case, it’s something to talk about before anyone’s tripping on a moss-covered log, miles from civilization, while someone else is sober and unwittingly steered into the “safety-friend” role.

Maybe everyone agrees that drugs and/or alcohol are—all right—going to be ingested. Festival people: If anyone you’re with is bringing drugs onto festival grounds, know that they are HIGH (pun not intended) on the list of things security personnel will be looking out for. Campers: Illegal substances are…still illegal, but even if you’re of drinking age, alcohol is prohibited in many national and state parks. Everybody: Keep in mind that the whole group will likely be on a different wavelength and/or completely drained after partying. You’ll have people who are grumpy and hungover in the morning, and others who are ready to dance in the sunshine (rarely the twain shall meet). Make a pact that you’re in this together. Everyone is responsible for making sure everyone else is OK and SAFE SAFE SAFE. At festivals in particular, don’t take anything from strangers, even if it’s free. You’ve got a limited supply of food, water, and (most likely) cell phone service—that’s a potentially scary situation to be in if someone needs help, for whatever reason.

We’ve covered a lot of (camp)ground (HA HA HA), but before you load up your backpack and escape to the woods, we’ll leave you with a grab bag of parting tips:

• Check your shoes before you put them on in the morning, in case any shy slugs or spiders slipped in overnight.
• Wear a bandana to protect your neck from sun, and to pull over your mouth if a trail or festival field gets especially dusty.
• If you’re camping near a car, do not be ashamed to bring an air mattress and fitted sheet to sleep upon in tent-queen style.
• Before you go into the wilderness, talk to your camping companions about how much money each person can spend (when you factor in supply, reservation, and travel costs, camping expenses can add up pretty quickly)

Our last piece of advice is to revel in the dirt and the smells and the way it gets so dark at night when you’re out in the woods or far away from any city or town. One of the best parts of camping is realizing you’ve been wearing the same clothes for what feels like forever and that everything you own is fully steeped in campfire smoke and grime. If you need to get away from your house or your hometown this summer, seek solace in some woody, wide-open space where you can sleep in a pile with your friends and look for shapes in the stars. ♦