This is a collection of the gear I use on my trips. Note that this page contains Amazon and other affiliate links. I don’t always take all of the gear listed here on every trip; I draw gear from this list as needed for the particular trip I’m going on.

If you’re looking for gear to organize your car camping adventures, check out my online store.

If you’d like to buy something through my Amazon affiliate link, click here.

(This page is a work in progress. Last updated October 1, 2021. Click here to see what changes I’ve made recently.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• The Cars
• RAV4 Stuff
• Yukon Stuff
• Highlander Stuff
• Sleeping Stuff
• Cooking and Eating
• Other Camp Gear
• Storage and Organization
• Clothing
• Toiletries
• Emergency Stuff
• Hiking and Backpacking Gear
• Camera Gear
• Computer Stuff
• Other Electronics
• Phone Apps
• Kayaking and Tubing Gear
• Rock Climbing Gear
• Everything Else

The Cars

• 2011 Toyota RAV4 – I have the base model of this RAV4. It has 4WD, which can be turned off and on at speeds under 25 miles per hour (it doesn’t work at speeds above that). It has about 165,000 miles on it. Under normal driving conditions, I get ~31 MPG highway (at 55 or 60 MPH) and ~26 MPG in the city. My average over monthlong trips is 24 or 25 MPG because I spend more time idling and driving slowly on rough roads, and because I have a cargo box, kayak racks, and a solar panel on top. The car itself is not mechanically modified in any way. I have Michelin Defender LTX tires on it. I bought them and had them installed at Costco. I’ve had this car since 2015.
• 2001 GMC Yukon – In the summer of 2021, I bought a Yukon from Suboverland. It’s got a lift and Dick Cepek Trail Country EXP tires, and it has about 170,000 miles on it. We removed the rear (bench) seat and built a sleeping platform in it, which you can see in this video.
• 2002 Toyota Highlander – This is my wife’s car, and we occasionally take it on trips. It has around 100,000 miles on it. We’ve had it since 2019.

RAV4 Stuff

• Floor mats – I use these floor mats that were made specifically for my make and model of RAV4. I have the tan ones because they match the interior of my car.
• Cargo area mat – I have a large clear mat protecting the floor the cargo area between the rear seats and back door. It is similar in material to the clear mats with poky underside that you put under a chair in a home office. Here it is on AutoAnything.
• Steering wheel cover – I use a Wheelskins leather steering wheel cover. This thing was kind of a pain to put on the steering wheel, but I love it, and it hasn’t budged in about 5 years now.
• Ice scraper and brush – I live in Idaho. We get snow and ice here. I use a generic ice scraper with built-in brush that I probably got from Walmart. It’s similar to this one.
• Window deflectors – I use AVS Ventvisor Window Deflectors. This lets me roll the windows down a few inches when I’m sleeping inside without worrying about rain getting in.
• Atlases – I have five Benchmark state atlases for several of the states I frequent. These are essential for finding things to see and finding BLM and national forest lands to camp on. I have a few DeLorme state atlases for states that Benchmark doesn’t cover, and they’re not nearly as good as the Benchmark maps. And then I also use a nationwide road atlas by National Geographic. It’s great for getting an overview of the states, and it also has maps for the most popular national parks.
• Seat covers – I have a couple of durable, waterproof seat covers on both of the front seats. I love these things. They’re great for protecting the seats from sweat, dirt, food crumbs, spills, wet shorts, etc. The one I have is made to protect seats from a dog, but I got them before I had a dog.
• Tire pressure gauge – I use this electronic one.
• Roof-top cargo box – I use a long, skinny, flat-topped, lockable cargo box on the roof of my car to store things and to serve as as a platform for my solar panel to attach to. (You can view it in this video.) I got it used on Craigslist for $100. There is no brand on it, but someone recently sent me a note saying they have a similar one, and it’s by a company called Saris. Apparently they don’t make cargo boxes anymore. Solar panel info is down below.
• Owner’s manual, important documents, etc.

Yukon Stuff

• Thule Summit cargo box – This is an older rooftop box that isn’t made anymore. I have a solar panel on it (more info on that below).
• Steering wheel cover – I use a Wheelskins leather steering wheel cover, the same gray one that is in the RAV4.
• More info to come soon.

Highlander Stuff

• Since this is primarily used as my wife’s daily driver, I haven’t done much to it.

Sleeping Stuff

• Sleeping bags – I have and use several sleeping bags. One is a ~20 degree down mummy bag that I bought in Nepal. One is a ~45 degree synthetic quilt-style bag that I made myself. One is a 55-degree summer sleeping bag that I made out of a $20 down throw from Costco. When I’m camping in very cold temperatures (in the 20s and below), I use two sleeping bags together. Unless it’s really cold, I use my sleeping bags draped over me as blankets. I find this to be more comfortable than being cocooned inside them. My wife uses this sleeping bag and likes it. I like it too. A lot. So much so that I often steal it to use myself when I go on trips without her. And it’s an amazing deal at the price.
• Mattress – We have two of these 24″ mattresses that we use as our camp beds (side-by-side in the Yukon and a single one for me in the RAV4). We use this mattress (twin size) when we sleep in the highlander. We used to use 3″ foam mattresses from Home Depot. You can learn more about them in this video (and the purchase link is under the video there). For a long time I used the REI Co-op Camp Bed 3.5 (not currently made/sold, but this one is similar).
• Mattress cover – I bought a $5 flat sheet from Walmart and sewed it into a sleeve that fits over my foam mattress. That’s also covered in the foam mattress video.
• Pillows – I use 4 different pillows: 2 regular pillows and 2 little travel-sized pillows. Why so many? Because I like to lay in bed and have my head propped up when I watch movies and shows on my tablet. During colder nights, it’s also helpful to prop the pillows up alongside me and next to the door to give a bit of insulation.
• Balaclava – When it’s very cold, I sleep with a thin balaclava (ski mask) or Buff knockoff over my head and face. If it’s especially cold, I’ll also sleep with a beanie on over the balaclava.
• Window screens – I use Bug Screeners (which I make and sell, but they’re not currently in stock, so the link doesn’t work) to keep the bugs out.
• Curtains and window coverings – This video shows how I made curtains and the other window coverings that I use. Since that video, I’ve also made and been using Reflectix window coverings.
• Fans – I have two USB-powered fans to keep me cool in warmer weather. I’ve used this battery-powered fan in the past.

Cooking and Eating

Note: A lot of this stuff is shown in my camp kitchen video and my compact camp kitchen video. I don’t always take all of these items on ever trip but pick and choose whatever is most suitable for the trip.

• Fridge – I use the Alpicool C20 fridge. I got it on sale for around $145. I’ve been using it since February 2020, and I haven’t had any problems. It does what you want it to do, and it’s been working well so far. Having a fridge is a big quality of life improvement over the cooler.
• Cooler – Before getting the fridge, I used a Coleman 52 Qt. Extreme Cooler. It was a great cooler. It was $40, and I consider it the poor man’s Yeti. With 2 blocks of ice in it, it’ll keep food cold for 4+ days in my car 90- to 100-degree weather. In cooler temps, it’ll keep food cold for 6+ days. It’s no longer made, but Coleman does still make a larger 62-quart version.
• Cooler rack/tray – I didn’t like how all of my food got wet after being in the cooler for a couple of days, so I took 1/2″ PVC and made a little rack for the food to sit on to keep it up out of the water. You can see it in this video.
• Small fold-up table – This little table is very compact and is great for a side table, a prep table, or a stand-alone table.
• Homemade utensil roll – I like using disposable utensils, and this little tool roll keeps all of them separated from each other.
• 1 pink plastic plate
• Collapsible bowl
• Large (5 quart) frying pan/pot with lid – This thing is awesome. It’s big enough to use a as a frying pan for anything but deep enough to use a as a pot for boiling pasta. It’s big.
• Bungee cord to keep the pan’s lid on
• Strainer/colander – I use a cheap one from Walmart.
• Spice shakers – I have used two of these in the past and currently also use the Kamchatka Gear Spice Wallet (which is currently unavailable, so that link won’t work).
• Funnel – I use a generic red funnel to transfer water from my larger water jugs into smaller water bottles..
• Single-egg mini frying pan
• Silicone pot holder
• Folding wind screen – My stove doesn’t have a good built-in windscreen, so I use this one. I might get a second so that I’d be able to completely encircle the stove.
• Large Utensil Bag – I use this (currently not available, so the link won’t work) to sort my larger utensils.
• Utensils
  • 1 large kitchen knife
  • 2 small kitchen knives
  • Metal spoon, fork, and butter knife
  • Long-handled spoon
  • Spatula
  • Pot scraper
  • Potato/vegetable peeler
  • can opener
• Cutting mat/board – I use one of these thin, flat plastic ones cut in half.
• Small backpacking pot set – This is a small backpacking pot with handle, lid, and two insulated cups. It’s great for just boiling water or heating up a can of soup.
• Pocket backpacking stove – A great little stove if, again, all you’re doing is boiling water or heating up a can of soup. It fits inside of the small pot listed right above this.
• Dual-fuel stove – This thing is awesome. It runs on both butane and propane fuel canisters.
• Fuel canisters – On longer (a week or more) trips, I usually have two propane canisters and a butane fuel canister with me.
• Water jugs and bottles – I use 3 or 4 1-gallon water jugs, several 1-liter bottles, and several smaller bottles to store water on my trips.

Other Camp Gear

• Camp chair – This chair is $15, is very comfortable, and packs up to be super small. What’s not to like? We have two of them.
• Hammock – I got a cheap little nylon hammock at a local outdoors store, but if I were to get one online, I’d probably go for one of these. A hammock is so great for lounging around in warmer weather.
• Hammock straps – To hang the hammock from trees, I use these cam buckle tie downs and a couple of climbing carabiners.
• Awning/tarp – Here is a video I made of my awning/tarp setup. I never really used it very often, however, and I’ve since removed it.
• Headlamp – I’ve used a lot of headlamps over the years, and the one I’ve settled on is the Black Diamond ReVolt (that’s the older version I have; here’s what I’d get today). I love that it can be charged via USB. I don’t know if the newer ones do that.
• Pee bottle – I use a Nalgene bottle when I’m inside my SUV and don’t want to leave to pee because it’s too cold outside.
• Toilet – I’ve gone through many camp toilet iterations throughout the years and have ultimately made what I believe to be the most compact camp toilet out there. You can find out more in this video.
• Bag of toilet stuff – This bag contains hand sanitizer, toilet paper, plastic bags, and a plastic bottle full of kitty litter (to dump on the poop so it doesn’t smell as bad).
• Shower – I’ve used a DIY sprayer shower in the past (similar to this) but didn’t love it. It took up too much space when not in use, and I didn’t like that I had to use one hand to operate it while using the other to wash myself. I used to use this solar shower but now use either just a regular spray bottle (which I also use for brushing my teeth) or this DIY shower.
• Privacy tent – I use this little pop-up tent to shower and poop in when necessary.
• Tent stakes – I have a little bag with ~20 tent stakes in it

Storage and Organization

• Custom cabinet – My friend Joe from the YouTube channel Homesteadonomics built me a gray cabinet that I use in the rear of my SUV to store clothes, toiletries, cooking items, and electronics. You can see it in this video on his channel. It’s also visible as the big ol’ gray cube on the back of the car in the two photos near the top of this page.
• Rear shelf – I used to use a rear shelf for organization. I could put my legs under the shelf when sleeping in the vehicle but still make use of the storage space on top of the shelf. At first I used this, which is made specifically for my RAV4, with a piece of plywood attached to the top. I then made my own shelf out of 1×2 lumber and plastic bins, and you can see it in this video. I now use neither due to the cabinet above.
• Headrest pocket – I use this (currently not available).
• Grab handle pocket – I use this (currently not available).
• Between-the-front-seats pocket – This is a great little thing that I use to hold various items. These days I use it to store a roll of paper towels. I can’t remember where I got mine, but this one from Amazon appears to be the same thing.
• Ceiling cargo net hammock – This one.
• Visor bag – This one (currently not available).
• Door handle pockets – I made little pockets to attach to the vertical door handles on the doors of my RAV4.
• Two small-ish clear plastic bins – I use these to store my food. They fit perfectly when stacked on top of each other on the floor behind the front passenger seat.

Clothing

The amount of clothing varies from trip to trip. For any trip of a week or more, I’ll pack roughly the following and do laundry in a laundromat once a week:

• 6 t-shirts
• 6 sets of underwear
• 6 pairs of socks
• 4 hiking t-shirts
• 1 pair of jeans
• 2 pairs of hiking pants
• 1 or 2 long-sleeve hiking shirts, depending on the weather – These are cheap synthetic shirts that I get for $10 to $15 at Ross.
• Shorts
• Swimsuit
• Ball caps – I go through a lot of these. I now prefer ones that are 100% synthetic (polyester in most cases) because they don’t get sweat stains like cotton ones do. They also dry out faster. The ones I now use most are by Columbia and can be found here.
• Sun hat
• Warm clothes
  • Warm beanie, balaclava, and/or Buff knockoff
  • Puffy down jacket – It’s a Montbell down jacket, but I’ve had it for several years and don’t remember which model it is.
  • Fleece jacket for around camp
  • Fleece jacket for hiking
  • Wind/rain jacket – I used to use this one, but now I use this.
  • Gloves
  • Warm socks
• Footwear
  • Normal shoes
  • Hiking shoes
  • Flip flops
  • Slip-on shoes
  • Strap-on sandals

Toiletries

• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Earplugs
• Sleep eye mask thing
• Spray bottle – I use this as a water source for brushing my teeth.
• Glasses
• Contact lenses, lens case, saline solution
• Sunglasses – I usually have a few pairs of these. All of them are sub-$10 cheapos from random discount clothing stores.
• Small bottle of shampoo
• Bar soap in plastic soap holder
• Biodegradable soap – I use a small bottle of this stuff in the citrus scent.
• Hair brush
• Mirror – I bought a small mirror and attached a magnet to the back of it so that I can stick it to the side of my car. Useful when shaving.
• Beard trimmer – I use this one. I also use it to cut my hair myself, though I never do that while on trips.
• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• Tick remover
• Hand sanitizer
• Tissues
• Chafe cream
• Tums
• Eye drops
• Mini bottle of Fabreze
• Vitamins

Emergency Stuff

• First aid kit
• Carbon monoxide detector
• Road flares and triangles
• Brightly colored safety vest
• Fix-a-Flat cans
• Heavy duty zip ties
• Tire traction mats – I bought these ones from Amazon because they were cheap and relatively compact. They make me feel a bit better, but I’m not sure how helpful they’d actually be if needed.
• Hatchet – I have this one from Estwing.
• Basic tool kit
  • Hammer
  • Couple different types of pliers
  • Crescent wrench
  • Screwdrivers
  • Rasp/file
• Matches and lighters
• Plastic poncho
• Hand saw
• Bungee cords
• Work gloves
• Small shovel
• Snow shovel – I received one of these as a gift, and it’s similar to this one.
• Small plastic comb – Great for removing cactus balls.
• Emergency blanket
• Jumper cables
• Tire inflator
• Portable jump starter

And then there’s some emergency stuff I want to get but but don’t yet have:

• A glass breaker/seatbelt cutter thing
• This tire plug kit
• A big ol’ ratchet strap
• And I should probably get some kind of tire chains.

Hiking and Backpacking Gear

I’m into ultralight backpacking, and my gear here reflects that.

• Footwear – I use lightweight, non-waterproof trail running shoes as hiking shoes. Specifically, I’m on my fourth or fifth pair of La Sportiva Wildcats. I dislike waterproof shoes for hiking.
• Backpacks and bags – I have several packs and backpacks that I use for different purposes:
  • Large backpack with aluminum frame – While this backpack (Osprey Exos 58) isn’t quite ultralight, it’s relatively lightweight and is the most comfortable backpack I’ve ever used for heavier loads.
  • Homemade backpack – I made my own backpack for shorter (2–3 day) backpacking trips. It is very minimal, has no frame, and is extremely lightweight (6 to 12 ounces, depending on which accessories I have on it).
  • Daypack – This is the backpack I use for all of my one-day hikes. It’s my favorite day pack I’ve ever used. Here is the newer version.
  • Bigger daypack – When the above daypack isn’t big enough, I use the Osprey Talon 33.
• Big Sky Soul 1P – This is a fantastic freestanding 1-person tent.
• Tarptent – I have a Tarptent Contrail. It’s no longer being made; the ProTrail is the updated/current version. I don’t use this as much after getting the above tent.
• Tarp – It’s a 6×9 ultralight sil-nylon tarp that I bought off of eBay. I sometimes use this in conjunction with my bivy sacks. Here is a similar one that is you can buy.
• Bug bivy sack – I made this bivy sack entirely out of no-see-um mosquito netting. It’s awesome and very lightweight.
• Waterproof bivy sack – I made this waterproof/breathable bivy sack. I slip it over the bug bivy when I’m expecting rain/snow or strong winds.
• Sleeping bags – See “Sleeping bags”  under the Sleeping Stuff section near the top of this page. When possible, I like to use my homemade red sleeping bag/quilt on my backpacking adventures because it’s lightweight.
• Sleeping pad – I use the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite sleeping pad. It’s lightweight and comfortable but also loud when you roll around on it and very expensive. Worth it, though.
• Ground sheet – I use this super lightweight plastic as a ground sheet under my bivy sacks.
• Umbrella – Yes, sometimes I use an umbrella while I’m hiking. I hike fast and and a warm-blooded person, so wearing a rain jacket in the rain means that I end up soaked from sweat. Using this umbrella and this technique means that I can use an umbrella without actually having to hold it.
• Trekking poles – I use Black Diamond trekking poles. The ones I have aren’t made anymore (I’ve had them for nearly 10 years now), but these are the closest equivalent that’s still being made.
• Water bottles – I use 1-liter Smart Water bottles from the grocery store (these are basically the same thing). They’re cheap, very light, and slip in and out of my backpacks’ water bottle pockets easily.
• Emergency kit

Camera Gear

• Current cameras – My current (as of writing this in October 2021) camera is the Canon M6 Mark II with the 15–45 mm kit lens. I also have the Sigma 16 mm f/1.4 EF-M lens, which I use in low-light conditions. I don’t use a gimbal. I have a Sony ZV-1 but don’t use it much. It’s basically a backup camera. I like the Canon interface much more.
• Previous cameras
  • Canon M50 (I still own it)
  • Canon PowerShot SX730 HS (Left it on top of a mountain in California)
  • Canon PowerShot SX610 HS (Broke it)
  • Nikon Coolpix S7000 (Broke it)
• Microphones – I primarily use the Rode VideoMicro. I like it. It sounds good. I also have the Saramonic SR-XM1 and EDUTIGE ETM-001 omnidirectional microphones for when I want omnidirectional recording but haven’t used them a ton. I use the Sarmonic as an alternative to the Rode VideoMicro when I want omnidirectional sound and the Edutige as a dedicated GoPro mic.  A video viewer sent me an Amazon gift card for a lapel/lav mic, and I bought this one but haven’t used it a ton, either.
• Phone – When the batteries in my cameras die, or when I’m in a restaurant or other public place and am trying to look inconspicuous, I use the camera on my phone. My main phone is currently a Samsung Galaxy S10e. Before that I had the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Moto G5+. I prefer Android to iOS because of the customizability of Android. I use Straight Talk as my provider, which uses the AT&T network.
• GoPros – I have a GoPro Hero 7 Black and a GoPro Hero 5 Black. I use these for my fishing videos and for my kayaking adventures. I used to use the Akaso EK7000 for first-person footage, but I don’t use it now that I have the above GoPros. It’s not great.
• GoPro accessories – I have various accessories and mounts for the FauxPro, including a head mount, chest mount, clamp mount, waterproof housing, floating handle, spare batteries, etc.
• SD cards – I have a ton of SD cards, and I use this little thing and this little thing to organize them.
• Tripods
  • My primary tripod – This tripod is compact and relatively light for its weight. I’m happy with it. It’s attached to my Canon camera 90% of the time. I replaced the ball head that came with it with this ball head.
  • Big tripod
  • Very small tripod – This usually has a phone adapter/holder attached to it.
• Drone Gear
  • DJI Mavic Air Drone – This is the drone I use, and I think it’s great. The DJI Mavic Air Fly More Bundle has the majority of the items I have and use in it. This video I made shows all of the drone gear I use.
  • Hard-sided drone case
  • 2 extra batteries
  • Spare propellers
  • Extra joysticks
  • Drone neck lanyard thing – This is my favorite drone accessory.
  • Car charging cable

Computer Stuff

• Web hosting – I use a few different web hosts to host my websites, but A2 Hosting is my favorite. All of my websites run on WordPress.
• Laptop – I have a 2011 13″ Macbook Air. It’s by far the best computer I’ve ever owned. While I prefer Android to iOS, I prefer MacOS to Windows. I’ve found MacOS to be much more reliable and less likely to crash or get messed up. I use this laptop with an Apple bluetooth keyboard that I bought in Bangkok and a bluetooth Logitech mouse.
• Laptop case – I’ve had this hard-sided case since I bought my laptop in 2011, and it’s not being made anymore.
• Video editing software – I edit all of my videos with Adobe Premiere Pro. I taught myself how to use it by watching YouTube videos.
• Hard drives – I have many different hard drives and larger-capacity USB sticks to back up the photos and video footage from my camera.
• Other software – Here’s some of the main software I use on my laptop:
  • Microsoft Word – I do all of my non-blog writing in Word.
  • Adobe Photoshop – Photo editing
  • Adobe Illustrator – Vector image creation and editing
  • Adobe InDesign – I use this to create and format books for print and for the PDF format.
  • Dropbox

Other Electronics

• Cigarette lighter multiplier thing – This takes the standard 12-volt car cigarette lighter socket and multiplies it into 3 of the sockets and 4 USB ports. This is always plugged into my car, and I charge my phone and other electronics from it while driving.
• Inverter – This is a great little inverter that served me well for years, but I don’t use it much since getting the above item.
• Extension cord
• USB battery packs – I have about a dozen of these in various sizes.
• Outlet multiplier thing
• USB lightbulb – I’ve used several of these. This is the one I like the most. It goes in and out of stock fairly often. This is the main light I use in my car at night.
• Earbuds
• Chromebook – I have a Lenovo C340 Chromebook that I take with me on trips to take notes, write a daily journal, etc. I love it because it was cheap (sub-$250, I believe) and the battery lasts 12+ hours. It can also be charged with a standard USB C cable, which is convenient.
• Solar panels – I have a Renogy 100-watt solar panel attached to the top of my RAV4’s roof-top cargo box and a Renogy 100-watt compact solar panel attached the the top of my Yukon’s cargo box.
• Jackery Portable Power Stations – I got the Explorer 240, Explorer 500, Explorer 1000, and Explorer 1500 from Jackery to review, and I now use them more than I use my homemade setup. But I do still use my 100-watt Renogy panels to charge up the Jackery things with this cable on the RAV4 and this cable on the Yukon (using MC4 extension cables).
• Wristwatch

Phone Apps, etc.

One of the main questions I get is what app I use for tracking my hikes and giving me stats like elevation gain, distance, etc. That would be Gaia GPS. I’ve been using it for years and years. I pay for the yearly subscription. I don’t use this app to find hikes, only to record them.

I use Google Maps for most navigation and HERE WeGo (iOS | Android) for offline navigation when I don’t have a cell signal. I also use Gaia GPS for some offline navigation (mostly dirt roads).

I use the CalTopo web app for trip planning at home and for checking public land boundaries while on the road. I pay for the $20/year plan, which gives me access to the Google Maps layers. 100% worth it.

Kayaking and Tubing Gear

I’m a recreational kayaker and enjoy taking my kayak onto lakes and slow-moving rivers. This gear listed here is basically the cheapest stuff I could find, but it works great for me. Here’s a video of most of my kayaking gear.

• Kayak – I have a Pelican Trailblazer 100 kayak. I got it on sale for $177 at Dick’s Sporting Goods. It was literally the cheapest kayak I could find. I added a ton of tie-out points to it to make it easier to attach bags to the kayak when kayak camping.
• Paddle – It was the cheapest (~$20) kayak paddle at Walmart. I also take this spare paddle on multi-day trips.
• Life jacket – I keep losing these. The current one I have is this one from Dicks Sporting Goods, but the link doesn’t have much information anymore.
• Pool noodle – I cut a 12″ section from a $1 or $2 Walmart pool noodle and use it to pad the edge of the boat when I carry it on my shoulder.
• Paddle holder – The CASCADE CREEK Yakclip Paddle Clip is great because it’s non-permanent.
• Cockpit cover – I use this one (size 7.0) when I take my kayak with me on multi-day road trips.
• Roof rack kayak holders – These are the cheapest ones I could find, and they work great.
• Ratchet straps – The roof rack kayak holders came with a couple of tie-down straps, but I use ratchet straps to make sure the kayak stays on there really well. They were a few dollars each at Walmart.
• Cable lock – I used to use this lock to lock the kayak to my roof rack, but it died. I wish it were about a foot longer.
• Dry bags – I have a 50-liter dry bag and some smaller 10-  or 20-liter dry bags.
• Tubing stuff
  • Intex River Run I Sport Lounge – This is the tube I use. It’s great. Comfortable and relatively durable. I’ve used the same tube for three summers now and used it on rivers in Utah, California, Idaho, and Arizona. My wife has one too.
  • Electric pump
  • I use one of the same small dry bags and the same PFD that I use when kayaking.

Rock Climbing Gear

I’ve been a rock climber for about 20 years. Though I don’t climb as much these days as I used to (and I have waaaaaay less climbing gear now than I used to), climbing is still a huge part of who I am, and I still love doing it more than just about anything else in the world. At this point I’ve also gotten rid of my winter mountaineering gear and ice climbing gear and my bouldering crash pad. I won’t get into extreme detail of all of my climbing gear here, but here’s an overview:

• Cams – Black Diamond Camalots are the gold standard of camming devices and are my favorite cams. I have about a set and a half of these. I also have some older Wild Country Zeros and Forged Friends and a Metolius Master Cam.
• Nuts – I have about a set and a half of Black Diamond Stoppers.
• Carabiners and quickdraws – I have a wide mix of quickdraws and carabiners that I’ve accumulated over the years. I prefer Black Diamond draws and biners.
• Harness – I have a Black Diamond harness, but I’m not particularly attached to it. I don’t think Black Diamond makes the best softgoods.
• Shoes – I’m a La Sportiva shoe guy. They fit my feet better than any other climbing shoe brand.
• Ropes – These days I get 70m non-dry ropes that are around 10mm in diameter. Ropes are expensive and are not interesting to me, so I buy the cheapest 10mm x 70m rope that I can find online.
• Belay devices – I have a first-gen Grigri (it’s not being sold anymore, but here’s the second generation one). I also use and love a Petzl Reverso for multi-pitch climbing.
• Other stuff – Helmet, slings, chalk bag, etc.

Everything Else

• Binoculars – I bought some cheap ones from Walmart for $10 or $15, and they do the job.
• Various knives – A SOG Seal Pup in the back of the car, a Victorinox Manager on my keychain, and a Victorinox Super Tinker within reach in the front of the car.
• Pens
• Duct tape
• Permanent marker
• Sewing kit
• Lots of metal clips

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