Appendix B
How Much Does Camping Gear Cost?
Budgets and Resources
The three spend levels
Every figure below is a planning band, not a quote; prices drift and sales are real.
Level 1
Borrowed and basic
first season, ~$0–150 beyond fees
Tent, bags, and pads borrowed or rented (outdoor retailers and university programs rent full kits); buy only headlamps, a foam pad if borrowing fails, and the crate's consumables. Campsite fees run roughly $15–45/night at public campgrounds. The point of this level: find out what you like before money forms opinions.
Level 2
The owned starter kit
~$400–800 for a household
The budget-to-mid tent (Chapter 7's $80–150 band, or last year's mid-range on sale), synthetic bags at honest comfort ratings, self-inflating or budget inflatable pads, the two-burner stove and crate build-out, headlamps and lantern, the cooler you own plus technique. This level camps comfortably for a decade with Chapter 13's care.
Level 3
The committed upgrade
add ~$800–2,000 selectively
The mid-range tent with two doors, down bags and R-4+ pads, the backpacking overlay (pack, filter, canister stove), the rotomolded cooler if trips justify it (Chapter 16's test), the power station if the fridge-or-CPAP math says so (Chapter 38's arithmetic), the satellite messenger (this book's most-urged spend in the level). Buy in the order your actual trips complain.
Reservations and land
- Recreation.gov (federal campgrounds and permits)
- your state park system's reservation site
- The Dyrt / Campendium (discovery + reviews)
- Hipcamp (private land)
- iOverlander / FreeRoam (dispersed)
- the land unit's own site for rules, alerts, and fire restrictions (search "[forest/park name] alerts"). Motor Vehicle Use Maps: the forest's site or the free Avenza Maps app
Maps, weather, and navigation
- USGS topo quads (free PDFs at the USGS store)
- CalTopo (planning and custom printing)
- Gaia GPS / onX Backcountry / AllTrails (offline app tier)
- NOAA/NWS point forecasts and forecast discussions (weather.gov)
- avalanche.org (regional avalanche centers, winter)
- the NOAA declination calculator (compass setup, Chapter 41)
Education worth the money
- A CPR/AED course (everyone)
- Wilderness First Aid (the camping household's weekend, ~16 hours, recert 2–3 years; NOLS Wilderness Medicine, SOLO, and WMA are the standard providers)
- Stop the Bleed (free-ish evening)
- avalanche awareness then AIARE 1 (before winter ambitions point uphill)
- paddling instruction (the American Canoe Association's network)
- Leave No Trace's awareness courses (LNT.org)