Best camping gear is essential for a comfortable hunting trip. From convenient cooking setups to keeping everyone cozy, having the right gear makes all the difference. Here are the top picks from the Editors at Hunt Alaska magazine for the best camping gear.
Best Camping Gear
Arctic Ice Chillin’ Disc
These ingenious hard ice packs are designed to use with a 5-gallon bucket. Put a Chillin’ Disc in the bucket, then add your drinks, then put another Chillin’ Disc on top. Viola! This turns your 5-gallon bucket into a refrigerator of sorts. Says Editor George Krumm, “Arctic Ice ice packs are the best ice substitute I have ever used. They come in 3 different levels of cold, so if I want something to stay frozen or start freezing, I use the purple Tundra series ice packs.
If I want stuff to stay at or just barely below freezing, I use the blue Chillin’ Brew series. If I want stuff to stay cold, but not freeze, I use the green Alaskan series.” George often uses 3 of the large size Alaskan series (the green ones) in the bottom of his Kone Zone kill bag, along with a small bag of ice. The ice will begin to melt, then freeze to the Alaskan blocks, and it stays really cold for many hours.
Helinox Sunset Chair
The Sunset Chair is comfortable, sturdy, and well-designed. Weighing in under 3.5 pounds, packing down to 19”x5”x4.5”, and supporting bodies up to 320 pounds, this thing is a powerhouse in a light package. Longer legs make it easier to get in and out of the chair, and a higher back provides back and neck support. Publisher Marcus Weiner took this chair on a weeklong, river-based moose hunt and says it goes together fast, packs down small, and is comfortable to sit in.
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xlite NXT MAX Ultralight All-Season Sleeping Pad
Therm-a-Rests have come a long ways since the first ones came out in the early 1970s. This one has an R-value of 4.5 making it suitable for 4-season use. It is 3” thick when inflated. We tested the Regular Wide size (25” x 72”). It weighs 19 ounces and packs down to the size of a 1 L water bottle. It is yellow in color. This is a fantastic sleeping pad for most of what we do in Alaska and is available in 2 sizes: Large, and Regular Wide. The sleeping pad comes with a pump sack, stuff sack, and repair kit.
Gerber Around Camp Kit
This camp kit includes a utensil set, Armbar Cork multi-tool, and the neatest little cleaver you will ever see in camp. This set helps you eat, drink, and be merry all in one small package. The cleaver alone will keep you occupied for hours as you try to figure out just how much you can do with it.
Mountain House Meals
There is absolutely nothing that compares to fresh air and exercise to stimulate the appetite.
Lucky for us, Mountain House has been satisfying that appetite since 1969, and good things keep getting better here. Meal options now include gluten free, dairy free, and vegetarian. Among our favorite flavors this year are the Kung Pao Chicken, Chicken Fajita Bowl, and Mexican Style Adobe Rice and Chicken.
VTOMAN Flash Speed 1000
Many of us have lots of electric devices that we use when fishing and hunting. These devices need to be charged, especially on extended adventures. This year we brought the VTOMAN 1000 to base camp and used it for a week to recharge phones, cameras, laptops, flashlights, GPS units, and to power an electric coffee maker. It worked like a champ. You can also use it to jumpstart a vehicle.
It provides 828Wh capacity, and has AC, DC, USB-A and USB-C power outlets. You can recharge the unit using solar panels, through car charging and through a standard 110V plug in; it recharges fastest on the standard 110V and can be fully charged in 70 minutes. The LiFePO4 battery is rated for 3,000 cycles.
Gerber ComplEAT Cutting Board Set
This 6-piece set includes 1 polyethylene and 1 bamboo cutting board, paring knife, chef knife, inner tray, and base tray with locking handles. The whole kit cleans up easily, and nests together with locking handles to keep your knives safely stowed. There is also room enough in the closed tray to store a few other handy camp-kitchen tools—think utensils, spice shakers, or the Around Camp Kit.
Solo Stove Bonfire Cast Iron Griddle Cooking Bundle 2.0
If you love a camp fire but don’t love smoke in your eyes, you definitely need a Solo Stove. Our tester loves Solo Stove’s Bonfire model because it’s that perfect blend of portable and permanent, made with top-quality craftsmanship and materials. It’s easy for setting up base camp for a few days of fishing or hunting. When you’re not out living the Alaska dream, it can be put to use in the backyard. It might require climbing a slight learning curve to make “smokeless” fires, but follow the directions and don’t overload it, and you’ll love the outcome.
Solo Stove also makes high-quality accessories like the cast-iron griddle-top that comes with the cooking bundle, so you can get double duty out of your fire pit and cook over a campfire. The griddle is large and holds plenty of food. You can use it as your primary cooktop or to supplement your portable grill. The Bonfire model has a 19.5-inch diameter and is 14 inches high. It’s the most versatile in our opinion. The Cooking Bundle 2.0 comes with the Bonfire fire pit, carrying case, their new easy to use removable ash pan, the Bonfire stand, Bonfire cast-iron griddle, and the Bonfire hub to raise the cooking surface.
Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Xtherm NXT Ultralight Extreme Conditions Sleeping Pad
Therm-a-Rest claims this sleeping pad has the best warmth-to-weight ratio of any sleeping pad ever made. This sleeping pad is an excellent choice for the coldest conditions with a 7.3 R-value. We tested the Regular Wide size (25” x 72”). It weighs 19 ounces and packs down to about the size of a 1 L water bottle. When inflated, this pad is 3” thick. An interesting feature is the WingLock Valve which delivers fast one-way inflation and rapid deflation without giving up the ability to easily purge air while you lay on it for comfort micro-adjustments—even with gloves on. This sleeping pad comes in 3 sizes—Large, Regular Wide, and Regular—and includes a pump sack, stuff sack, and repair kit.
MSR DromLite Bags
DromLite bags come in 2 L, 4 L, and 6 L sizes. We tested the 4 L one. These collapsible, lightweight water containers pack down to nothing yet hold substantial amounts of water and are quite durable. They are great for backpack hunting. The 4 L size weighs just 5.1 ounces. What’s even better is that the MSR Gravity filter or the MSR MiniWorks EX will connect directly to the bag, making it easy to produce safe drinking water.
MSR AutoFlow XL Gravity Filter
This water-filtration system includes a 10 L bag, and in-line ceramic filter. It filters as fast as 1.75 liters per minute, and up to 1,500 liters before you have to replace the filter element. This unit is great for basecamp or for float trips. It comes with a 10-liter dirty water bag and packs down very small. The filter is easily cleaned in the field for flow recovery if it gets clogged, and no tools are required to do it. The total weight for the system is 12 ounces. It’s a lot more convenient to set this system up to filter water while you set up camp or cook than it is to pump water to filter it.
MSR Titan Long Spoon
We’ve been eating freeze-dried meals for decades and it’s remarkable that someone didn’t come up with something like this sooner—a long, incredibly lightweight, durable spoon for freezedried meals. This is a great one made of titanium, so it is strong and very light. Plus, it’s long enough to reach all the way down to the bottom of a freeze-dried meal bag without getting food on your fingers. Our tester wound some orange duct tape on the handle to make it easier to see in low light, and also to have some extra duct tape in his pack for emergency use.