this week i am writing about our buffalo river canoeing trip along with some of our tips on gear & food prep. i am excited to share some of our favorite camping essentials with you today! below are a handful of items we take on weekend camping & floating trips that perhaps you haven’t added to your packing list just yet:
1. large cooking pot & sturdy cast iron pan. regardless if we are cooking on the fire or a gas stove, we always bring along a cooking pot & cast iron pan. we fry eggs in our cast iron & boil noodles & steam vegetables in our pot. these two will get your cooking job done with little clean up afterward. we find most of our cast iron pieces secondhand for less than $10 each.
2. dryer lint. we have since replaced newspaper & homemade fire starters for lint from the dryer. we simply keep a basket next to the dryer at home & each time we clean out the lint, we place it in our basket for our next camping adventure. we love reusing something that would otherwise be thrown away.
3. reusable plates, utensils & cloth napkins. we love our handy set of blue plates we purchased for only a few bucks from a yard sale when we first married. our set is much better than the plastic & styrofoam throw away plates & utensils we too often see when camping. we keep the plates, along with our utensils & cloth napkins, in a storage container in the garage with the rest of our camping gear. when we are preparing to leave for a weekend trip, we simply bring along the camping container with all of our gear packed & ready to go.
4. a quilt. we love bringing along a well-worn quilt for naps by the river, sitting with a good book & relaxing by the fire. it only takes up a bit of space & makes for a more comfortable trip.
5. simple, natural body care products. we always bring along a small container of dr. bronner’s castile soap, toothpaste, bug spray & sunscreen. a new favorite body care product i will continue to use even when we are not camping is the deodorant cream by happy homestead botanicals.
mandi is such a knowledgeable & gifted friend of mine. when i heard that she was opening up her online shop & selling her deodorant, i had to try it. luke & i have used every kind of natural deodorant with little luck. some needed reapplying after thirty minutes, others left us smelling unfortunately stinky & some creams gave luke a serious rash. the happy homestead deodorant was a very happy success, leaving us smelling like lavender even after several hours of paddling on the river.
mandi is offering a jar of her happy hippy deodorant cream to one natalie creates reader! this cream is perfect for every day living at the office, out with friends, snuggled at home or on a camping trip!
simply leave a comment sharing your favorite camping essential & email address.
i will randomly choose a winner & share the news on friday morning! comments close friday morning at 6:00 am central time. happy winning!
love,
natalie
oh, what a wonderful, relaxing, peaceful trip we had on the buffalo river this past weekend! we packed on wednesday evening & headed out mid afternoon on thursday. we arrived to our primitive camp site just in time for a swim, a beer near the river & to set-up our little home for the night. the trip was roughly around four days with two days of canoeing. we traveled eighteen miles by canoe & kayak with all of our gear, stopping in the evening & setting up camp along the bank. it was pure river bliss!
i thought i would share some of the highlights of our trip- many jumps from the rocks with dear friends, hours of happy thoughts as we paddled, some negative words shared among the married couple (ahem) until we found our rhythm on the water (we still love each other, i promise!), hot dogs roasting near the fire, games, books, naps, warm meals & many more memories made.
we are definitely not camping or canoeing experts, but i thought it might be fun to share some of our camping tips this week on the blog. i am excited to share our favorite meals & gear. i will also host a little giveaway on wednesday so stay tuned! happy summer, friends!
love,
natalie
just stopping by quickly to wish everyone a wonderful 4th of july weekend!
this weekend we are floating a river nearby with dear friends & family. i cannot wait to share with you our little road trip! until then, you can follow along on instagram @nataliecreates.
love,
natalie