This is a long weekend here in Canada. We call it the Victoria Day Weekend as we honor Queen Victoria’s Birthday.
This weekend often falls close to May 24th, so we’ve come to traditionally call this weekend the May 24. It’s not this year, but that’s what we call it. Why? Well, the May 2 4 is usually one of the first long weekends of the year. Certainly it’s often the first long weekend when the weather is nice enough to go up to our cottages or go camping. The 2 4 part comes in because well, we are Canadian after all and Canadians like their beer. A case of beer here contains 24 bottles or cans. Hence the May 2 4 weekend. A time of camping and fun!
Almost all my life I’ve been one of the people who traditionally either go up to the cottage or go camping on this weekend. This year we won’t be doing that, but I’d love to have made plans to go camping as I just love it.
If we were going camping I think we’d have to replace some of our gear, or perhaps rent some gear.
If you enjoy camping but haven’t been for a while because you don’t have a tent, backpacks, sleeping bags, cooking equipment or other camping related gear you can always visit Lowergear.com and check out their camping and GPS rentals. You can rent everything you need from Lowergear.
There’s actually several benefits to renting camping equipment that I can think of. If you don’t go camping very often you might not want to buy a bunch of camping gear and have to store it in the off season only to pull it all out once a year or even less often. This might be especially true if you live in a condo or apartment, or even a small 1920’s house like ours that doesn’t have much storage space.
Camping gear can be really expensive and if you aren’t using it- why buy it when you can rent it. Wouldn’t it be awful to buy say $1000 worth of camping gear, store it in a basement or garage and then when you do need to use it find that it’s been either water damaged or chewed and damaged by mice.
Now, we have most of the camping gear that we’d ever need – including a pop up trailer! However, if we were going in a remote area with tents and backpacks it sure would be nice to have GPS gear or even a satellite phone. That would up the safety factor that much more.
If you are an avid camper and thinking of purchasing a high tech piece of camping equipment, but you aren’t all that sure that it would suit your needs you could rent the gear from Lowergear.com and basically give it a try before you buy.
Check out the Lowergear.com site. You’ll be surprised at just how high tech the gear is, and at the wide selection too.
If you are going camping this weekend – Be Safe!
Good suggestions regarding the camping gears. If we are using it occasionally, there is no meaning of buying these. Well there are a number of 12V appliances like fridges, grill and a lot more. You can also look for these to make camping more comfortable.
I completely agree with renting a tent to “test it out” before committing to a purchase. Great article!
– Tony
A Satellite phone? seems a little extreme just for a camping trip!
This post have been posted years ago but it still contains some nice information. I am planning to buy some camping equipment for next year, but I thought of what you said here. why don’t I rent some camping gear first to try it out and if I loved it then that’s the time I go buy it. Sounds really sensible to me. Thanks for sharing your post. It has helped me a lot.
We’ll what’s your definition of a remote area. I just came back last month from a trip in the Philippines, an island called mindanao. We did spend many nights sleeping with out camping gear- tents, blankets, flashlights and what not. We where in the middle of the jungle.haha, kinda was extreme. I had no phone or nothing, but I did have a machete. Which is great for slashing open coconuts. Lots of centipedes and King Cobras too!!
I’d love to have a satellite phone while on my camping trips but usually I go camping to get away from civilization. It would be handy in case of emergencies but I don’t think I would want to be called up by my office all the time.
I love to go camping whit my family. But is very important to have the right gear, so all the time I go hiking or camping I go and get the best gear I can and I don’t have problems there. And I try to get a good sleeping bed or camping bed so I can have a good sleep and to feel good in the nature. And always I take whit me my fishing gear… I love fishing!
Satellite phone are a really great idea – especially when you are in a really remote area!