Group Camping Checklist: Who Brings What (So Nobody Packs Two Tents)

The short version: make two lists, personal and shared, and put a name next to every shared item. Most group camping problems come from the word "someone". Someone was bringing the stove. Someone had the tarp. Someone thought the other someone had the lighter. Nobody did.

Here's the split we use, the checklist by category, and the handful of things worth deciding before anyone opens a car trunk.

First, decide these four things

Do this in the group chat a week or two out. It takes five minutes and saves the whole first evening.

• Who books the site. One person, one reservation, one confirmation email everyone has a copy of. If you are still deciding where to go, our guide on when Ontario Parks reservations open explains the five-month window, and you can browse parks and campgrounds on the explore map.
• Who drives, and how many cars. This decides how much bulky gear you can bring. Two cars means two coolers is fine. One car means the coolers ride on someone's lap.
• How many nights. Two nights and three nights are very different amounts of food and firewood.
• How food money works. Easiest is one person shops for shared meals, everyone e-transfers them their share after. Decide that now, not at the checkout.

Personal gear: everyone brings their own

Nobody shares these. Put it in the chat once and let people handle themselves.

• Sleeping bag rated for the nights you expect (Ontario shoulder seasons get cold fast)
• Sleeping pad or air mattress, plus a pump if it needs one
• Pillow
• Headlamp or flashlight, with spare batteries
• Clothes for cold nights and one rainy day, even if the forecast is clear
• Rain jacket
• Camp shoes and closed-toe shoes for the woods
• Toiletries, towel, medications
• Water bottle
• Sunscreen and bug spray (people forget both, every trip)
• Camp chair
• Phone charger and a power bank

Shared gear: one per group, one name each

This is the list that actually needs managing. One of everything, assigned to a person.

Shelter

• Tents (count sleepers, then decide how many tents you really need)
• Tarp and rope for over the picnic table when it rains
• Ground sheet or footprint for each tent
• Mallet for tent pegs
• Spare pegs

Kitchen

• Camp stove, and the fuel canisters that fit that stove
• Lighter and matches (bring both)
• Pot, pan, kettle
• Cutting board and one good knife
• Spatula, tongs, big spoon
• Plates, bowls, cups, cutlery for everyone
• Dish basin, soap, sponge, tea towel
• Cooler(s) and ice plan
• Dry bin for non-cold food
• Garbage bags and a bag for recycling
• Paper towel
• Coffee setup, whatever your group considers essential

Fire

• Firewood plan (most parks sell it on site; check whether bringing your own is allowed where you are going)
• Fire starter or newspaper
• Hatchet if you need to split kindling
• Bucket for water near the fire

Sleep and comfort

• Extra blanket
• Lantern for the picnic table
• String lights if your group is that group

Food (see the three-day group meal plan for the actual shopping list)

• Shared meals, assigned to a person per meal
• Snacks
• Drinking water or a way to fill up at the park tap

First aid and safety

• First aid kit with bandages, blister care, antihistamine, painkillers
• Tick remover
• Any allergy medication the group needs, and everyone knows where it is

Kids

• Their own headlamp
• Bikes or scooters if the campground has loops to ride
• Something to do in the tent on a rainy afternoon

Dogs

• Leash (parks require it), food, bowl, bags
• A tie-out for the site
• Their own towel

Day before

• Charge everything
• Freeze water bottles to use as ice
• Print or screenshot the reservation
• Confirm who is picking up firewood and ice on the way in

How to split it across people and cars

Here is the trick: assign gear by car, not just by person. The tent rides with whoever is driving the bigger car. The coolers ride with whoever is stopping at the grocery store on the way. The stove goes with the person who owns the stove and knows how it lights.

A simple pattern for a two-car, five-person trip:

• Car A (the one with the roof box): tents, tarp, chairs, firewood if bringing it
• Car B (the one stopping at the store): coolers, dry bin, stove, kitchen kit

Then each person gets a short list of shared items that ride with them. Three or four items per person is normal. If one person has twelve items and another has zero, rebalance.

Two rules that prevent most disasters:

1. One person owns the stove and the fuel together. Stove in one car and fuel in another is how you end up eating cold beans.
2. Whoever owns the tent brings the pegs and mallet. Don't let those travel separately.

Where the list lives

A note in the group chat works until someone scrolls past it. A shared doc works until nobody updates it. What you want is one list everyone can see, where a person can claim an item and it stops showing up as unclaimed.

That is what the checklist in PitchPeek does: you make one trip, send an invite link to your crew, and the gear list is shared. Anyone can claim an item, and you can see what's still unclaimed the night before instead of finding out at the campsite. It also does a day-by-day meal plan per trip and reminds you before you leave.

Free · plan the trip with your crew · rate the site when you get home

Step by step

1. Decide the basics before anyone packs: who is booking the site, who is driving, how many nights, and how food money gets split.
2. Split the gear into two lists: personal (everyone brings their own) and shared (one per group).
3. Assign every shared item to one named person. Not 'someone', a name.
4. Match heavy shared gear to the car it will actually ride in, and check trunk space before the morning of.
5. Do a day-before check: fuel canisters, batteries, ice, firewood plan, and the reservation confirmation.
6. Keep the list where everyone can see it, and have people tick items off as they load the car.