Eureka - Copper Canyon LX 12

We have 5 kids and camp a lot. Thoughts: -100% get a big tent. We have a 12 person Eureka. It’s great. - bring several empty stacking bus bins or clean litter boxes. I leave two outside the tent for shoes, hiking shoes and water shoes. Bring in at night. Extra bins can be used as bus bins or to carry toys etc. Also use one to put everyone’s water bottle in the tent at night. - baby wipes. Pack extra. Those things are your friends. Hello smores. - we serve smores inside ice cream cones with chocolate chips. Much less mess. - zero playing in the tent. But we do bring a picnic shelter style tent as a “play tent” - pack their clothes strategically with bright colors!! Nothing worse than a 2 year old in a gray shirt and camo pants. - ugh. Learned from experience this last time to get everyone their own toothbrush bag. Just bought mesh colored pencil bags. We all got noro virus on the trip and the only kid that didn’t wasn’t sharing our communal ditty bag. - just submit to using paper plates and compostable silver. We have the stainless stuff. That’s for when they’re older and you don’t have toddlers wandering off in the woods. - camp cooking is fun. However. It’s decidedly less fun when the kids suddenly need more attention. Strategically plan some no cook meals: pasta salad, baked tofu wraps, smoked salmon and cream cheese on bagels, etc. - if you do cook, it’s really easy to make just-add-water quick oats and pancake/waffle mix with powdered milk. Just google. - we have a crappy double umbrella stroller just for camping. Love that thing. This is where naps happen. Tent gets too hot in the day. - kids love their own wind up flashlight - don’t mess around with sunburns. Ugh. We love the kids sun hats from the brand Sunday afternoon. - we have small shoe sized plastic bins labeled: camp set up, high traffic, just in case, and kids. Keeps things way more manageable. - however you do laundry at home, keep that system with mesh laundry bags at camp. For us that means everyone has a duffle bag and their own mesh laundry bag. Once home, their mesh bag gets dumped in their dirty clothes hamper and we just resume laundry as normal. - bring two swim suits for the kids. They never dry all the way and get pretty gnarly. - buy some battery operated fairy lights for inside and outside the tent. Makes navigating to your tent at dusk easier. Makes the inside of the tent bright enough to see but calm enough to wind down. A bright flashlight dangling from the middle of the tent is not going to help them start to get sleepy. - walkie talkies are great tools. Don’t open Pandora’s box and let them become toys. Omg. The little beep boop bop sounds. Your camp neighbors will not love you for this. - a simple nylon hammock has provided hours of entertainment. Bring extra rope and carabiners in case you need to make a longer stretch. - bring lots of extra zip lock bags in different sizes. Left overs? Pooped on outfit? Cool plant specimen to study? Yay for plastic zip bags! Extra garbage bags too. - make sure the kids understand that the fire is still HOT even after it’s “out”. Had a friends kid get messed up by some coals. - we like kinder eggs as camping treats because then they treasure and play with the silly plastic toys and it’s not a big deal if one gets lost. Similarly I keep a small bin of fast food toys from the rare times we get those for camping. - the oxo travel potty is one of our favorite pieces of kit. We make the older ones trek to the bathroom at night. But if a toddler is sleepy and you can do a quick half awake bedtime pee then back to bed, all the better. I’m sure there’s more but that’s what I got right now. Enjoy!

Check online resellers. I bought a Eureka Copper Canyon LX in May from [The Last Hunt](https://thelasthunt.com) They’ve only got the 6 person Space Camp Tent right now but they’re worth keeping an eye on.

For a tent, I want something I can stand up in and move around a bit to change clothes, store gear and not trip over anything while I do it. We have a Eureka Copper Canyon that has lasted us awhile. For sleeping, I typically lean towards a hammock if I'm by myself. When I'm with the wife, we use 24" tall inflatable twin mattresses. No sharing of air mattresses. The height makes it a bit easier to get in and out of bed. Our cookware is still mostly stuff used for boiling water and a carbon steel skillet for cooking. I think the pot we use for boiling water is made by Stanley, but it's very old. Carbon steel skillets are expensive, but lightweight and very versatile. Think of a lighter version of cast iron. We keep a French press for coffee. A Yeti cooler seems to handle several days for keeping food cold if it starts out frozen. Fresh veggies are the first items we cook and we keep a few dehydrated meals for the end of the week or in case something spoils. I like to freeze a couple gallon jugs of spring water beforehand to use for cooling food, but also drinking as it thaws. This is all of course for car camping. We don't need much to be comfortable, so there are no large batteries or generators. The point is to separate yourself from civilization, so no tablets, internet devices outside of maybe a Kindle and cell phone that is kept in the car.

Check out Eureka’s line of larger tents. Might be something there. I have a copper canyon for car camping and it’s huge. I’m 6’3 and can stand up.

I love our White Duck 10x10 Pro Rata tent. Can stand easily plenty of room for queen mattress, dog beds, duffles, etc. It can be a pain to stake down on hard grounds. I got a Eureka Copper Canyon for short trips, or ones that I don’t worry about weather https://preview.redd.it/6rwit5ts9j4f1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ebcb14cb5fa89b8891244458c437c204c8eda12