The Summer Cave Carnival will be my first overnite trip with AOC and I have some questions about the logistics of what to bring! I have pretty limited camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, coolers, camp chair) and I'm hoping that all of you camping pros will share your cooking equipment, in fact I'm counting on you guys to impress and amaze us with your collection. Will I be disappointed? Also, I'm guessing I should bring food to share, but how much and what kind? Do you guys coordinate that or does everyone just bring exactly what they want to eat, or do we bring enough to share and hope that we end up with a pretty versatile buffet?

Hello minromega,

Whenever you have questions concerning a trip the best way to get answers is to ask the trip leader. You can email them through the AOC website or sometimes they list their phone number. In this case Tom Collins is one of the trip leaders and I'm pretty sure he's been to the cave festival several times before. I'm sure he can answer all your questions.

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Ben T.
Director at Large

see, told you I was new! I was looking for input from everyone so thought this was the best place to get that. I'll send an email to Tom...

Ben is correct that it varies by event and it's always wise to contact the trip leader for specifics. Generally speaking, unless it is stated otherwise, everyone brings their own food although often something like cheese and crackers will be shared around the campfire. I'll usually bring something extra like to to share...although it isn't expected.

And you are right that it's great to spend time with some of those "camping pros". You can get some valuable tips and recommendations on gear and see how different stoves, water filters, etc operate. It's a fun way for a camping newbie to learn from some of the more experienced aoc'ers out there.