We went to an overnight camp last weekend in Lake Ogallala, NE, USA. I specifically mentioned where it was because it was my first-time camping in the US plus, this was a spontaneous trip. Unplanned. LOL. For context, I am not from the US and am more familiar with camping back home where there are a lot of sellers around the campsite so you will not need to go back and forth to the grocery store. Keep reading to know the list of things you need to bring and the lessons I learned.
The things that you will need will depend on what you and your companion/s want to do in your overnight camp. Do you want to do smores, stargaze, kayak, or paddle boarding? I went with one person and our goal was just to kayak, swim, and experience sleeping in a tent. And we learned a lot of things from that camping!
What did we have when we traveled? We brought 1L of drinking water, soda, charcuterie stuff, nuts, a swimsuit, a kayak, sunscreen, a pop-up tent, bedding, a blanket, a pot, plates, bowls, spoons, and forks. This seems to be a lot for an overnight trip, but we missed a lot and had to travel back and forth to the grocery and convenience store thrice which was 19 minutes away. Good thing we left earlier than we planned. The lake was an hour away from our house. We started driving at 9 a.m. We first stopped at a grocery store which was 19 minutes away from the campsite to get beers and before leaving, we realized that we did not have an insect repellant which is important especially when camping. Upon arrival, the kiosk in the campsite issues a parking permit but does not book your campsite so you can either reserve your area online or stop by the visitor center which is a 2-minute drive from the campsite. The good thing about heading straight to the campsite is that if that is your first time there you can see and locate first the location you would like to spend the night while booking online will let you know if there are still available areas. The downside would be you will lose time going back to the visitor center especially if it is not peak season.
Upon arrival, we got our parking permit which is good for both Ogallala and McConaughy Lake. Then we paid for our campsite at the visitor center and got our ticket that you need to clip in front of your area. We started inflating our kayaks and realized that we forgot the paddles and had to try the rentals, but they do not rent paddles alone, so we had to go to the grocery to get cheap ones. Then, we set up our tent. After that, we went kayaking for hours. We got hungry and since we brought charcuterie stuff without a cooler resulting in melted cheese and cooked the salami and prosciutto. LOL. It was not good, so bring a cooler if you are planning to bring those kinds of food and for your beers and soda so you will not drink warm beer and soda. LOL. After eating, we drove to Lake McConaughy to swim. You can bring some towels, toiletries, and bills for tokens when you plan to take a shower after swimming in the lake. They do not allow alcoholic beverages in the lake, so we had to finish the beer that we brought before going to the shore.
We headed back to our campsite because we forgot our towels and toiletries. There are shower rooms in Ogallala Lake that require tokens as well, so remember to have some bills to change to tokens in the changer in front of the shower rooms. Heading back, we realized that we finished our drinking water and we had to go to a convenience store which was a 9-minute drive just to get water so remember to bring drinking water.
Early morning the next day since we were so tired after all our adventure, we found some wood and a lighter and we made some fires to complete the camping experience. Packing up things is the same as preparing – make sure you are not leaving any valuables in your campsite and trash all garbage in the proper trash bins.
Even if you think that you are all prepared you may end up seeing yourself not bringing a thing or two. I am a spontaneous traveler and it allowed me to learn and relearn myself, but at the end of the day, a prepared spontaneous traveler is still better. Despite all the challenges and the things that we forgot, we still had fun and an overall good experience.
larswrites 