What to pack for summer camp?

What do I pack for a summer stay-away camp?

• I've begged my parents to let me go to a stay away camp since I was 6 years old. I'm 14 now, and they finally let me go to a place called Hollymont, in North Carolina. It's an all girls place and is denominated Christian, but I can deal with it. Unlike a lot of other girls my age, I'm also fine with the "no cell phone" policy. I've never been away from home for more than two nights at a friend's house. I live in Florida, but I'm going to be staying 13 days- or two weeks. I don't really know what to expect, I'm normally pretty social after the first 5 minutes of awkwardness so I'll be fine. But what do camp girls like to do? I heard they like card games... And, what do I pack? 13 days of packing sounds absurd, and I hear you should get a giant plastic set of drawers and keep stuff in there! How am I going to get that 800 miles from here, by plane? And what should I do about toiletries? One small thing of shaving cream barely lasts me 3 days. Especially from camping alumni, tell me what you packed! I'm a first timer and totally new to this stuff.

• Answer:

  I hope that you are going to look at more interesting camps as you grow older. Adventure camps offer more excitement than the kind of camp that you are describing. When I was sixteen, I went into the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area for two weeks with a few guys and girls. The experience was wide-open and wild. We canoed at least ten miles a day, portaged more than a mile at a time, prepared our own campfires and food, and swam when we felt like it. I hated the time I spent at a more structured and monitored Boy Scout camp, where it was difficult to experience anything wild or even swim without being tortured with structures like the buddy system. I can give you a list for optimal enjoyment of wild areas, which should be able to fit in a backpack. Airlines know how to handle backpacks for luggage. You may want a small daypack to stash essentials for carry-on. A suitcase and carry-on is for suburbanites who never camp in wild places. You do not need cosmetics when you are camping. You do need quick-drying clothing. You do not need more than a few sets of clothes for any adventure. If you have quick-dry clothing, then you can wash and dry as often as needed. More important than days worth of clothing are layers of clothing that you can add or put away depending on activity and weather changes. Leave cotton at home. Take good outdoor gear made by great names like The North Face, Columbia, GoLite, Patagonia. For a day pack: In my pockets, I always [except through airport security] carry a pocket knife and fire starter, tissues or lint packets, along with several bandages in my wallet. Although reception does not exist in many gulches, I carry a cell phone that usually functions above tree-line. In my daypack, I have compression sacks that hold my down jacket, heat packs, windbreaker, and down mittens or lighter gloves. I carry a second fire starter and two headlamps with extra batteries. I pack trail snacks, such as cheese, nuts, and rice chips. Attached by carabiner, I have at least two water bottles, sunglasses, reading glasses, and global positioning system. On most hikes, I also carry a water filter.