Tents Fit for a King and Queen (and the Royal Hounds)
Tents these days are designed to provide as much wriggle-room as a Tokyo capsule hotel. Sure, space and weight economy are all well and good if you need to lug your little home on your back for days on end. If not, though, forget the weight variable and drop the cash for a bit of luxury when you hit the campground.
Tent-maker Eureka! is the forerunner in this category; they sculpt backcountry palaces that would draw looks of admiration at a colonial durbar. Their 102-square-foot Headquarters tent ($295; www.eurekacamping.com) will easily sleep six, and divides into two rooms should you and your significant other long for privacy from the kids or pets. Alternatives in this category include Eureka!'s Equinox 6 ($270) and Coleman's three-room Weathermaster ($225; www.coleman.com), both sturdy shelters that will make for the ideal base-camp command center.
Epic Feasts
Food is the glue that holds us together, so make sure you're equipped to produce when the dinner gong sounds. Backcountry escape artists may well disagree, but the fact is that today's gear manufacturers have pretty much got the car camper covered with everything and the kitchen sink. Short of dismantling your patio grill, look to Coleman for ideas in the pack-heavy, eat-well category, especially when it comes to their wide-load, sirloin-ready stoves. Their two-burner Dual Fuel stove ($79; www.coleman.com) will boil a quart of water within four minutes, while its nearly two-foot length will give you enough space to juggle the dietary requirements of carnivores and vegans alike. To further spiff up your al fresco dining, pluck your pre-dinner Chardonnay and block of Manchego from a handy Picnic at Ascot Deluxe Wine and Cheese Cooler ($48; www.rei.com). Of course, all this presupposes that you have the wherewithal to lug the extra supplies. Short of a five-gauge or reel 'n' rod, you'll probably want to resort to more modern methods of foraging to stock your larder before you hit the backcountry.
The Royal Thrones
Prefer to rest the weary bones on something a touch more comfortable than the lumpy discomfort of your tent canvas? Then add some luxury to your interior setup by packing a Trailhead 72 Camp Chair ($95; www.mountainhardwear.com), a foldout chair that'll have you sitting pretty as you record your exploits or read a book. While weighing in at a hefty four pounds, six ounces, the chair unfolds into a six-foot-long sleeping pad and is replete with two inches of open- and closed-cell foam for added comfort and insulation. As an additional under-the-stars treat, get yourself a Petzl DuoBelt LED 5 ($77; www.petzl.com), a powerful LED/halogen headlamp that will cast light on all your nocturnal fumblings both in and out of the tent.
Shower Power
Admittedly, this is one of the treats that would go the way of a daily stash of clean underwear on an AT through-hike, but just imagine the covetous looks in your campsite as you rig up your very own portable shower: the 5.5-gallon, two-pound Air Power Sunshower from Stearns Outdoors ($40; www.stearnsinc.com) contains enough juice for up to six showers and two blissful minutes of pressurized flow. Even more decadent is the battery-powered Zodi Traveler shower ($140; www.zodi.com), which has something that portable showers or streams don't—hot water! A battery supplies the pressure, a propane canister the heat, and you'll probably have a line of campers willing to pay good money for one of five 20-minute-long soaks. The only weighty drawback is the unit's hefty nine-pound load. But you want to put your best (and cleanest) foot forward in the outdoors, don't you?
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