The Camping Buddy

The last time you needed extra stakes or a better headlamp for the Adirondacks you made a mental note to bookmark the mall for camping gear; if you live in this borough there’s no excuse to skip it any longer. Park Avenue’s 15th floor houses a store built around the parts that go missing at four in the morning halfway up Slide Mountain. The Camping Buddy keeps only what fits in a duffel, so you’ll leave with dry socks or a compact stove instead of a dream catcher or a collapsible kayak. Park Avenue rises just east of Grand Central, and at 430 Park Ave 15th Floor New York, NY 10022 you can still call the shop the same afternoon for a last-minute tip or tightened strap. They stock camp shoes that still feel good the second night, small canister stoves that ignite in the wind, and rolling trekking-pole sleeves for the Metro-North ride home on Sunday evening. Need a lunchbox that roller-coasters on your bike rack? Aluminum cookware that nestles flat—you’ll find the angle you didn’t know you’d forgotten. Save the building’s number on a separate screen if you’re hoofing it here by subway late on a weekday. Once you tap “directions,” you’ll see a map cue at https://www.google.com/maps/place?ftid=0x89c259a3cb977e95:0xf2114777a2c7e7fa. That floor carries the one elevator up from the corner café, so the psycho rigging lives on the gear, not on you.