Packing List
What to pack for every trip we take
What to pack for every trip we take
Below are packing lists for various kinds of standard troop trips.
Note that these lists might be supplemented with specialty gear for some trips.
(No, you don’t need to bring the items pictured above — they’re from a 1911 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook.)
All clothing on camping trips should be polyester or wool.
Once cotton gets wet — from rain, water sports, or even just sweating — it pulls heat away from the body. This can lead to hypothermia and other life-threatening conditions.
Most of the following lists should print onto a single page, so there’s no excuse not to be properly packed.
Gathering all this specialty camping and outdoors gear can seem daunting for younger and newer Scouts — but don’t worry.
You can always ask for advice from the troop, and between us all we can usually scrounge up loaners of just about anything you might need while you shop around for the right gear (or wait to see if your tween is serious about all this Scouty stuff before buying a full Bear Grylls wardrobe and a pack full of gadgets).
Pro tip: You don’t have to mortgage your house to REI. Marshalls and Goodwill often have excellent non-cotton layers for cheap. Coleman gear from Walmart or Target works perfectly well — maybe a bit bulkier, but at 1/5 the cost, who cares?
Here’s what a new Scout really needs to have of their own (aside from non-cotton clothes). Other specialty gear can be borrowed for a while.