C is for Checklists

I love to camp and hike, so I do it as often as I can -- usually at least once a month, so I'm frequently pulling out the camping gear.  You would think that I would be good at packing -- that I'd have it down by now.  But, alas, I'm not.  I used to pack for camping and backpacking trips by pulling out all of the gear, going through it, setting aside what I'd need, putting back what I wouldn't, replacing batteries, and so on.  If something we needed to take wasn't in the designated "camping bin", hopefully I would remember to grab it and set it out.  Otherwise we'd likely get there without it.  While that's not such a big deal car camping since you can just run into town, when you're carrying all your worldly possessions on your back out into the great unknown, forgetting your headlamp or toilet paper -- or worse, coffee -- could be a disaster.

Then one day, it hit me:  Why not instill the same rigor of checklist discipline that the Air Force uses into packing for a camping or backpacking trip?  So I used Excel to create one checklist for camping and another for backpacking.  I always leave blank spaces at the bottom to write in additional items that may be unique to that trip or to be added in to the next edition of the checklist because I forgot to add those items originally.  In fact, I've had so much success with these checklists that I've taken it one step farther, developing checklists for our stuff to take on family vacations as well.  That's especially important for us since we have a medically complicated child and taking a trip involves so much more than throwing a few clothes in a suitcase.

I've pasted screenshots of my camping and backpacking checklists below to give you a general idea of their format and content.  They're not really suitable for public consumption in that format, however, so if you'd like an electronic copy either message me or Cristi, or post your e-mail address in a comment, and I'll send it to you (I'll be happy to delete your comment afterward if you don't want your e-mail address left posted on a public blog.)

The camping and camp kitchen checklist is the same one we use for each trip.  The backpacking checklist is a generic one I developed that I used to use and have offered to others.  I have recently modified it to be more specific to the particular gear I use, so I encourage you to do the same, whether using my checklists as a starting point or developing your own.