Me and Jim bought the 2-burner propane stove together. I also got me a lighter and two packages of long sturdy camping matches just in case. The stove requires refills, of course, but those were available in many stores along the road, including some general stores. Most campgrounds did not have a special disposal locus for the tanks, but people left them on the ground by the recycling centers.


Plastic Rope
Another great item bought at Cabela was a wonderful $6 50’ plastic rope that I used to tie around trees and cabin beams, On one occasion I even tied it around a gazebo in the middle of a town to dry my laundry and the tent. I kept the rope intact, since sometimes the full length was needed. If just a short stretch was used, I tied the rest in a bundle or let it drag on the ground.
Walking Stick
Poles I owned in the past always had some “issues”. Most required adjusting the height by screwing the sections at different locations along the pole. That often did not work very well. Locking was either not secure enough and the poles would collapse under pressure, or they locked too tightly and I could not unlock them when I needed to. In other words, they were not too female-friendly.
The $30 walking pole with flip locks I got at Cabella, was not a very good solution either. The flip locks often collapsed under pressure. The pole was rendered unreliable when climbing or when I wanted to lean on it going downhill.
In conclusion: I recommend spending extra money on better poles (the price range is wide) and checking them out well before purchase.
The decision how much to invest in a pole is complicated for me since I am a serial loser of them. How much to spend then must be a compromise. When I lost the Cabela pole on a trek in the White Mountains I had to spend precious travelling time looking for another one. Most stores I checked were specialized, and the prices were sky high.
In the end I got a decent pole at L.L. Bean in North Conway, NH. It cost an extra $15 or so and was the last one they had. The lady got out of her way to bring it to from the warehouse and even gave me a discount.
The model is called Rambler, and is actually produced in Austria… It proved much sturdier and more reliable than the Cabela pole. This fliplock was straight and not twisted like the cheaper one, where the locks had some strange angles. The Rambler locked securely and opened easily. The disadvantage was it had only two sections and a wide handle, making it inconvenient to carry when not in use. I do not use a pole when walking is easy; I either hold it behind my shoulders for a backwards stretch, or stack it in my backpack. In either situation the length of that two-section pole plus the handle made it a bit of an encumbrance.
Many people walk with two poles. I use one. I need my second hand and some freedom, but that’s personal. The reason I use a pole in the first place is because it takes pressure off my knees, but it also helps with balancing on rough terrain and on downhills. It is useful in swampy areas to gauge the sponginess of the grass before stepping in. It can even be used in self-defense and to scare away animals (didn’t need to so far, but I assume it could come in handy).
Lighting Gadgets
As can be seen below, I ended up with many different kinds of torches and flashlights, all the way from the keychain one I got at Hertz to the lantern and middle -sized luminators, but nothing really big.
The keychain flashlight proved very handy as the keys were always in my pocket (the extra key was in my purse). I often used it just to find the bigger ones, the same way I use my home phone to find the cellular…
The black flashlight with the reflectors was good when I needed stronger illumination.

At Cabela I also bought:
A small $7 green lantern I picked from a pile of hundreds, stocked in a large cage at the front of the store, the sale item of the day. This small lamp proved extremely useful. It could be stationed on a campground picnic table, giving light while preparing dinner or reading, It could also be hung from the loop attached to the middle of the tent by a hook drawn out of its handle.
The lantern would illuminate the space with a soft white light. It was perfect to leave on when venturing away from the tent at night, so it was easy to locate coming back. It was excellent for reading, changing clothes, and all activities executed in the tent at night. The batteries also last forever with careful use.
A head flashlight, a highly useful item when running around a campground in the dark, or when cooking in the dark and needing free hands. Also useful for walking to the bathroom or around the grounds at night. Problem: it attracts flying insects to your face…


A Camping Mirror
On a whim, I bought at Cabela an unbreakable camping mirror which came in very handy and cost only $4! It has several modes: it can be hung on things, or placed vertically or horizontally on a surface. Can’t neglect one’s womanhood entirely, can we?
Tarps and Mat
From Cabela we headed on to Walmart in Biddeford, where I got two nicely priced blue tarps to place underneath the tent floor for extra protection and insulation. The tarps happened to be just the right size to cover the ground one way, and stretched a bit further the other way. I routinely clipped these edges upwards over the tent walls to prevent leakage. Packing them separately, I tried to keep the upper one as clean as possible. The lower one was naturally in touch with the ground.
I also bought a nice woven small mat to put on the tent’s “porch”. The mat was also a nice thing to have, especially when kneeling at the tent’s entrance or porch, to get things in and out, and sometimes to sit on. I discovered that America, or at least Walmart, doesn’t carry the mat type most common in Israel, the all-purpose “mahtzelet”. Also known as “ethnic mat”, it is ubiquitously used on the beach, for camping and even as land cover in one’s back yard. Walmart did have what we call “Chinese mats”, so I settled for one of those, despite its water absorption.
The advantage with the “ethnic” mahtzelets, most of which are apparently made in Jordan, is that water runs through them, and they dry extremely fast.
Garbage Bags
Black garbage bags were some of the most useful items on the trip. When dismantling the tent under rainy conditions, when it was wet or messy, the fastest way of getting everything out of weather’s way and into the car, was to shove the different parts into separate bags and onto the trunk as fast as possible.
It is better to pack each part individually, so make sure you have several of those bags. I bought mine in a friendly local “general store” in Cape Breton.
Backpack and Waterbag
This adventure consisted of camping and day trips. Therefore I decided to minimize the weight pressing on my back and shoulders. I used my very light red backpack, made of silky material, containing an inner compartment, for a water bag. This North Face little marvel folds into its own pocket to form a 12X18 cm, 270 gram (9.5 oz.) small pack. Unfortunately, the name of the model is not on the pack, and I cannot find the exact thing on the Internet. It would be lamentable if they actually stopped manufacturing it.
I often use this lightweight pack simply to hold my water bag on short walks here in Israel, but during the trip it carried a significant amount of “stuff” in addition. That included weather clothing, food and trinkets, and sometimes my sneakers. I preferred carrying my shoes to wearing them…I still carried them in case the terrain got rough, as on Mt. Cadillac,
The bag has horizontal straps that tie in the front, but I did not find them comfortable unless the pack was, indeed, fully packed, which was rare.
As to the water bag, it was good enough for the cool weather of the northeast summer, but would not suffice for a long day in the Israeli heat. I first found it very hard to open the plastic opening screw but discovered I could let off the pressure using the valve at the bottom. It seemed to solve the problem most of the time…
Sometimes I also carried my small purse across my shoulder for easy access to wallet, cell phone and keys. Mostly I packed those into the small zipper-closed compartment of the pack itself and kept the keys in my pocket.
Phone
We stopped at “Best Buy” in Portland to get me a phone deal. In Israel we now have all-inclusive cheap cellphone packages following the 2012 “Communications Revolution”, and I literally forgot about paying separately for “data”. It seemed anachronistic…
Jim signed me up for the optimal one-month deal with AT&T with an option for extension. It was a complicated affair involving passwords and a multiplicity of forms. He helped me further by paying for that extension while I was on the trip (I reimbursed him later, of course).
The “data” was needed mostly for Google Maps, but for the most part AT&T did not function in Canada, or I did not know how to make it work there. Speaking of cellphones, I am still amazed that people in America (and as I recently found out, even in Sweden) can legally drive with their phones in hand… Regardless, I got me a good magnetic phone holder that stuck to the windshield for easy screen viewing as well as safety.
Car Accessories :
So informative!! Thank you so much for such a detailed write up, its both inspiring and educative.