How to prepare yourself and your stuff for training camp…
PRIOR to training camp:
Get your backpack fitted at REI. I don’t care where you bought it, I don’t care what brand it is, I don’t care how much you know- just go there.
Sleep on your sleeping pad and in your sleeping bag for a week or two. (When you make it your bed at home, it brings home to your tent. Plus, you get use to it so it’s comfier at camp.)
Wear your chacos for a week and in all kinds of weather. Get the “new shoe/breaking in/blister” period done and over with.
Don’t trust tent reviews! The devil is a lie!
Not as much stuff fits in your pack as you expect…
A hoodie, a jacket and a raincoat are unnecessary. Get a comfy raincoat and take it with you EVERYWHERE.
Do not, I repeat, do not worry about clothes. You will have enough.
Chacos are good for everything- showering, rain, dry land, everything. (I also carabined tennis sneakers to my pack for the one time I got to run.) Maybe a pair of nice flip flops…maybe.
Baby wipes. Baby wipes. Georgia dirt: enough said. (Works as toilet paper too!)
Bring what you don’t think you’ll need- for me it was activated charcoal (or conventional tummy meds), lavender (or neosporin), and band aides. I didn’t bring AC or band aides and was very unhappy about it.
Waterproof. Water resistant. Water aware. Whatever, just get it.
Bring your vitamins if you’ll take them. BUT be aware! Softgels will lose their form from all the changes in the weather. Also, vitamins cannot be exposed to sunlight so keep the bottles for sure.
Have a specific pj outfit only for pj-ing! PJ pants/shorts, pj shirt/tank, pj undapants. Yeah! PJ EVERYTHING!
Lip balm. For real.
Carabiners. Carabine everything to everywhere!
Awesome stuff!
Baking soda- good as toothpaste, shampoo, face wash, etc. and you don’t need a lot.
Dr. Bronners Liquid Soap- smells nice and is good for everything. It must be diluted so it lasts forever.
Natural Dry shampoo (Activated charcoal capsule for dark hair)- because showers don’t always happen
Essential Oils- for health, hygiene and general hippie well being (tiny vials of loveliness)
One book- I was glad I brought a book to get a little bit of introvert time (but make sure to be present and focusing on your squad the vast majority of the time!)
Good buys
I ended up buying liquid bandaid (I wanted new skin patches, but oh well), and it works very well for blisters.
Between the Beauty for Ashes retreat and training camp, I bought a Passage 2 Tent. Just wonderful!
Compression bags and compression ziplocs. Squish the life out of everything!
Don’t bring
Soft gels…yuck!
A tiny daypack
Lint roller
Hair crap (i.e. product, anything involving electricity)
Makeup (takes up space, takes up time, and is unnecessary with the awesome people you’re going to be around)
Laptop/Tablet/Nook- there’s not a lot of time and you’ll want to spend any extra time with your squad or showering…showering for sure.
What I learned from living out of a backpack for a week?
Changing your undapants is the best thing in the world. The. Best. Thing.
You need a lot less than what you’re thinking you’ll use.
Take a shower when you have the chance, i.e. you have the time and it’s nice out. (It might be your last chance for a while).
A daypack should definitely include a Bible, journal, pens, water bottle, change of clothes, hygiene products, extra carabiners, and a rain coat through the handle of the pack.
All week I had my raincoat, my daypack and a cross-body bag. It was perfect.
Bring exactly what you use at home. Because #1 You’ll actually use it. #2 Smells. For example, I could have bought a travel tube of conventional toothpaste, but I didn’t. And my Thai tooth powder actually helped because it smelled like normal life. Trick yourself into making forest, well, home.
Be prepared…
To become un-addicted to sweets. And make the necessary preparations to stay that way (it’s healthier for you!)
To be selfless… real quick.
To be wrong.
To hear stories you never expected to hear.
To work hard.
To sit for a long time.
To find Jesus in unexpected ways.
To be emotional, and to be ok with that.
To be yourself. You can be yourself at training camp, don’t worry.
To change.
Treasure your time- every moment- at training camp!
It stinks to go back to the real world. In the real world you have to wear nice clothes, you have to change your clothes everyday, you have to flush toilets… annoying! (But you do get to change your undapants everyday, and that’s a nice feeling.)
