About Pitch & Pack
Pitch & Pack is a plain-language camping guide for people planning a first trip to a national park, a national forest or a state park in the United States. The name covers the two jobs of a beginner: pitch the tent, then pack the bag.
Who writes Pitch & Pack
Every page is published by the Pitch & Pack Editorial Team. That is an institutional byline, not a single author. The team picks the topics, writes in one consistent voice and checks each number and rule against an official source before a page goes live.
The site does not use first-person travel stories, invented experts or reader testimonials. When a page states a rule or a number, it traces back to a public source that you can open yourself. The full process is on the Methodology and Sources page, and the standards behind it are on the Editorial Policy page.
Who the site is for
The guides are written for beginners: a family with a first child on a camping trip, a couple planning a weekend away, friends sharing a campsite for the first time. You do not need gear knowledge or a long reading list. You need to know what to decide, what to bring and what to check before you leave home.
What you will find here
- The Planner. A checklist tool. You enter the trip type, the number of nights, the number of people, whether children are coming, the season and how you plan to cook. The Planner builds a packing list with quantities that fit that trip. Read how it works on the Planner page.
- 45 guides in five categories. Camping Basics, Gear and Camp Setup, Camp Cooking and Campfires, Where to Camp, and Safety, Weather and Leave No Trace. Each guide answers one question and ends with a next step. Browse them all in the article library.
Independent by design
Pitch & Pack does not run ads. It has no links that pay a commission, no sponsored content and nothing for sale. Companies cannot pay to be mentioned, ranked or left out.
The guides do not name gear brands and do not show prices. They talk about types of equipment, such as a canister stove or a hard-sided cooler, so the advice stays useful wherever you shop.
What Pitch & Pack is not
Pitch & Pack is not connected with the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or any other government agency. These agencies do not endorse or sponsor the site. We cite their public pages because they are the source of truth for the rules at each place.
The guides are educational. They do not replace local rules, park alerts or the instructions of rangers and staff. They also do not give medical, first aid or survival advice. Rules for fire, wildlife, weather and reservations change by place and by day, so check the official page for your campground before every trip. The Disclaimer explains this in more detail.
Talk to the team
Write to [email protected] or use the contact page if you have a question about a guide, a topic you would like to see covered or a mistake to report. If you find an error, the Corrections page explains what to include and what happens next.
Details about your information and your use of the site are in the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use.