Below are packing lists for various kinds of standard troop trips. Note that these lists might be supplemented with specialty gear for some trips. (No, you don’t need to bring the items pictured above, which come from an 1911 edition of the Boy Scout Handbook.)

Note that most of the following lists should print out onto a single page, so you have no excuse to to be properly packed.

Gearing-Up Notes

Gathering all this specialty camping and outdoors gear can seem daunting for younger and newer Scouts but don’t worry.

You can always ask for advice from the troop, and between us all we can usually scrounge up loaners of just about anything you might need to borrow while you shop around for the right gear for yourselves (or, frankly, wait to see if your tween is serious about all this Scouty stuff before shelling out for a complete Bear Grylls wardrobe and a pack full of camping gadgets).

• Pro tip: You don’t have to mortgage your house to REI to get what you need. You can scour the racks at Marshalls and Goodwill for non-cotton clothes in your size. (A long-sleeved Underarmor shirt for just $6? Yes, please!) Coleman camping gear from WalMart or Target works just fine, if sometimes a bit bulkier and heavier than the fancy brand stuff—but at 1/5 the cost, who cares?

The bare minimum

Here’s what a new Scout really needs to have of their own (aside from some on-cotton clothes). Other specialty gear they can borrow for a while. 

• Hiking boots
• Sleeping bag (a camping one, not a cotton sleepover bag festooned with images of SpongeBob or Dora)
• Sleeping pad (they can borrow for a few trips)
• Compass