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SALT LAKE CITY — Summer is quickly winding down and Utah kids head back to school starting next week.
There is still time to squeeze in a mini-vacation, and camping can be a great way to do that. But the great outdoors can get pricey unless you know how to cut costs.
"You can go pretty bare bones to get started," said Zig Sondelski.
"Be resourceful and take advantage of what you have and what you can borrow," suggested Julie Kilgore.
Kilgore, Sondelski and Robert Turner are directors for the Wasatch Mountain Club. Between them, they have decades of camping experience. We asked them for a few ideas on keeping camping cheap.
Tent options
Their first advice: don't worry about buying that $250 tent. Sleep in your car instead.
"You can throw in an old foam mattress and blankets and not have to buy anything that's specifically camping gear," Sondelski said.
Car camping is not for me. I found a few cheap tents online for under $50.
Double duty on gear
Also, get the most out of camping gear.
"Make things use double duty," Turner said.
I like this idea. Turner covers up his cheap ice chests with sleeping bags and blankets during the day.
"I can get five days cold out of them," he said.
Kilgore gets double duty out of her water bottles.
"I'll freeze water bottles and wrap anything that needs to stay cold around the frozen bottles," she said.
Food
There's a whole industry of pricey freeze-dried camping food offered online and in sporting good stores. But Sondelski said just take and eat the same stuff you eat at home.
"The steak, the pork chops, the potatoes," he said. "It doesn't have to change. It's only when you're trying to backpack and ultralight, you may start to look at the lighter, more expensive foods."
Free camping spots
The Utah State Division of Parks and Recreation manages more than 2,000 campground sites and most of those mean fees.
But there are hundreds of thousands of square miles of free camping.
#poll
"You can camp almost anywhere on forest service property and BLM property," Turner said.
Sondelski said, "You can pull off just about any road on public land and camp there."
And Kilgore added, "As long as you're willing to share your campsite with the cows or whoever else is using that free space."
Another good resource? Friends.
This group recommends camping with buddies, or joining a club.
You'll have more support in meeting challenges and a variety of knowledge.
"If you get enough people involved, the costs start going down where you can share transportation, share your equipment and share some new ideas," Sondelski said.
You can find online searchable databases of free camping websites at the related links on this page.
