How to Pack Your Car for Car Camping

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Logo, L L Bean. Text, How to pack your car for camping. Hyperlapse video of Mackenzie, Packmaster Supreme, stuffing her car every which way with sleeping bags, coolers, and all the camping gear one can imagine.

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Mackenzie here to go over some quick and easy tips on how to pack your car for camping. Your car is going to be looking like this beauty in no time. But first, we got to start from the beginning. When you're about to pack your car up, it is going to help you later if you pack chronologically. That means anything want ready right when you get to the campsite, you're going to pack last.

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A drawing with two timelines: First use to last use. -- First pack to last pack. An arrow is drawn from First Use to Last Pack.

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For me, that's my tent and all of the cozy-wozy things that go inside of my tent. For other people, that's going to be your kitchen gear and your food because people get really hungry when they show up to a campsite around dinnertime.

Here's a quick list of everything we're going to bring on our camping trip.

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Beginning with an empty trunk and a whole slew of bags ready to be stuffed in the trunk.

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I've written mine out. For the campsite, we're going to need a tent and a footprint, sleeping bag, pad, and pillow, camp furniture, lighting, repair kits, kitchen camp gear, food, coolers, your personal gear, of course, like your clothing, and then camp games, musical instruments, things that you need to entertain yourself in the woods. Are you ready? Let's pack this car up. Come on.

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Mackenzie gets in the trunk to surmise the size and dimensions of the area to be packed.

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Oh, yeah, this will do. OK. So first thing we're going to do is our bag of fun. Fun things go first.

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She plops the bag of fun in the trunk.

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What fun things do I bring on a camping trip? I bring my ukulele. I'm learning how to play much to the annoyance of everybody I camp with.

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Fun bag goes in the back right-side corner.

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Next are my bins.

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Two plastic bins, one large and one small, get hoisted into the trunk.

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OK. So I use plastic bins to keep everything nice and dry. In here, I put all my kitchen gear and little loose items. These generally stay on my kitchen floor for about three days, and I just tell everyone, hey, don't eat those cookies, or, don't eat those chips. Those are for camping. Those are for camping. Get other chips. So be ready to guard those with your life.

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The bins get shoved against the back of the trunk next to the fun bag.

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This looks like a good spot for that.

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Large bag with part of the disassembled table.

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So this is our table.

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Small bag with table component parts.

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Your campsite might not have a table, or you're definitely going to want more tablespace. So here's our camp stove. Really light.

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In the front of the trunk.

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And then our water.

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Big plastic water jug.

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This is a good size from lugging it back and forth. There's much bigger ones, but I like to have a couple of these that are at least small enough for me to carry a couple in my hands.

Your cooler with all your drinks in it.

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Cooler goes on top of the camp stove box.

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You can buy ice when you get closer to the campground to replace the ice you've got in here already.

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Tip: Use space wisely!

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See how these squared hard containers take up a lot of space? There's a lot of empty room that you can shove really soft things in to the sides. For me, that's going to be my daypack.

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The backpack is scrunched on top of larger bags so it can mold into the crevices between them.

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Channel your inner dad. What are the dimensions? I get real jazzed up. So does my dad about doing this stuff. So just channel him.

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Duffel bags get tossed on top of the other bags in the back of the trunk.

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All right. My chairs. Put them right here.

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The bags of disassembled chairs go in the very front of the trunk.

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And the first thing I'm going to open up when I get to my campsite is my tent. So that's what we're going to pack now. It's ready. This is going to be so satisfying. OK.

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Mackenzie gives a good push to the whole assortment of bags, boxes, and containers.

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Oh, look at that.

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Packed neatly in an organized fashion without an inch to spare.

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And the moment of truth. Let's see if I can close this sucker. Ready?

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She closes the trunk lid easily.

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Wow.

Oh, another hot tip. If you don't have room for a big tent and thick bags, a smaller tent, thinner sleeping pads, and a mummy bag will keep you just as comfy.

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Two duffel bags, one large and one small, are tossed to Mackenzie.

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But we're car-camping, so treat yourself.

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She tosses the two duffels over her shoulder.

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Another great tip for you if you need even more space, you can always get a roof rack and a luggage box. I don't have those items, but I do know where you can get them. L.L.Bean. You can get them at L.L.Bean.

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Mackenzie in the car, hands on the steering wheel, with her dog beside her on the passenger seat.

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Click on the link below for a helpful checklist that goes over everything you're going to need camping. And check out our video that goes over that checklist in more detail. All right, Gordy. Let's hit the trail.

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Mackenzie turns the steering wheel back and forth in a hyperlapse, and the car takes off.

A complete camping site is set up in the woods, with tent, picnic table, chairs around a campfire, and supplies galore. Text, For more outdoor tips and inspiration, visit L L Bean dot com slash outside.