The basecamp
Stout Bell Tent PRO Series
Hand-sewn from USA-sourced cotton canvas around a single center pole, so there is standing room throughout. The canvas breathes in summer heat, takes a wood stove in winter, and carries a lifetime warranty.
Hiker ID 6 of 6 · Car camper and basecamp host
TheBase Camper
Big tent, real pillow, and a camp kitchen that would embarrass some apartments. You hike out from a comfortable camp and make sure everyone eats well. The car is thirty feet away, and you have made peace with that.
Hiker ID · 6 of 6
No. 0006
TheBase Camper
- Pack weight
- Camp comfort
- Vert appetite
Car camper and basecamp host
hikeid.com
The tells
How to know you are a Base Camper
The Base Camper knows that the point of a weekend outside is the weekend, not the suffering. Your camp is a place people want to come back to: standing room, a fire that is actually used for cooking, a chair that is not a rock. Day hikes leave from the tent door and return to dinner. Weight barely matters, comfort matters a lot, and the guest who shows up with a thin pad and no coffee is quietly taken care of.
- Your tent has standing room and possibly a doormat.
- You bring a real pillow and feel no shame about it.
- Camp coffee is a process, and you own the equipment for it.
- Your friends' kids think camping is easy because they have only camped with you.
Three starter picks
Gear picked for The Base Camper
A canvas bell tent built for decades, the dome tent that has outfitted more first campers than any other, and a wood stove that charges your phone from twigs. The full tent guide on LiveOutside compares eleven shelters; the camping gear guide covers the kitchen.
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The first tent
Coleman Sundome 4-Person Tent
Setup takes under ten minutes, welded floors keep groundwater out, and the price leaves room in the budget for the rest of the kit. The right place to start when outfitting a family.
The fire
BioLite CampStove 2+
A wood-burning stove with a thermoelectric generator, so foraged sticks cook dinner and charge a phone at the same time, with an internal fan for a smokeless burn. At about two pounds it belongs at a car camp, not in a pack.
These three come from LiveOutside's Best Camping Tents guide, where the full lineup is compared side by side.
What to carry
The Base Camper packing list
The car is thirty feet away, so weight is not the question. Comfort is. This list is long because the weekend is.
Tick what you already own. The picks open the same Amazon links as the cards above.
The live list, with links to every pick: hikeid.com/the-base-camper.html
Shelter and sleep
Standing room, a thick mattress, and the pillow from home.
- Our pick: Coleman Sundome 4
- Our pick: TIMBER RIDGE 5 Person SUV Tent
- Our pick: Sea to Summit Aeros Premium
Kitchen
Camp coffee is a process, and the process needs equipment.
- Our pick: BioLite CampStove 2+
- Our pick: Jetboil Flash
- Our pick: Sea to Summit Frontier Cook Set
Camp
A camp people want to come back to.
- Our pick: Black Diamond Spot 400-R
- Our pick: ENO DoubleNest
Which of the six Hiker IDs are you? The 60-second quiz is at HikeID.com.
Go deeper
The full guides for this ID
- Best Camping Tents
Eleven camping tents, including tree tents, canvas bell tents, and car-camping setups.
- More Camping Gear
Camp stoves, water filters, headlamps, and sleeping pads.
- Stout Tent Bell Tents
The full canvas bell tent lineup, with picks for couples, families, and glamping.
The other five
Not quite you?
Every hiker is one of these. Mostly. If this card reads like a cousin rather than a twin, one of the others will fit, or the quiz will settle it in a minute.