What's your best tip or hack for camping?
What's your best tip or hack for camping?
Any kind–drive-up camping, backpacking, RV camping, in the woods, at the beach, in a shelter, let's hear it all.
About 2-3 cheap string-lights that run off USB battery packs (EDITed out this:
run off the 2x AA-battery-packs). Mulitple light angles is better than a single light source. Cheery and festive. Get a multicolored string, if camping with kids or you are a fun camper.Also OSMand mapping software, configured with offline maps of your camp area. Install the hillshades and height maps for extra detail. Enable and add an overlay-layer of Satellite data. Then scan your camp area and surrounds while online, so that it will cache the satellite map tiles needed when you are off-grid.
Know where to pitch a tent.
If you are close to a stream, pitch the tent a few meters above the water. If it rains you don't know how quickly it can rise.
In the same wake, if you are pitching on a plain, pitch your tent on a relative rise. If you pitch in a relative depression rain will drench you.
If you pitch on a slope, and there will usually be slight slopes, pitch your tent so, that your head is facing upwards when sleeping.
If a storm is expected you might be inclined to pitch under a tree, but be careful. If a branch breaks off and hits you, that can be very bad.
If you pitch your tent in the open and it is a hot summer, the inside will get very hot very quickly. Make sure to get up and out early, don't get wasted at night and bring reflective covering. People died at festivals when they stayed in their tents when getting wasted and then getting roasted in their tents.
bring extra food for the first timers. they wont bring enough.
Ear plugs. Because that rustling of leaves is just a raccoon and most definitely not a serial killer. I like wax earplugs for sleeping versus foam.
Maintain hygiene regimens to greatest degree possible. Don't skimp on washing face or brushing teeth that you would typically do at home.
Food makes or breaks a trip for me. The weather could be awful, plans could go awry, but as long as everyone is well fed, there's potential.
I'm not a no-tech purist while camping but do try to use trips as a time to reset tech habits. Can you go for 24 hours without an Internet connected device? Kinda similar to the occasional dry week or break from coffee/caffeine: check in and see how you're interacting with tech.
Have a first aid kit and know how to use the stuff in it.
Hammocks are the best tents, especially for solo camping. Some pack up so small I can fit the hammock, tarp and bug net into the pockets of cargo pants.
Thermo-rest is your best friend, even in a hammock. Having a wind pass under your body will make you real cold.
Scout campsites thoroughly for poison ivy, poison oak, anthills, wasp nests, etc.
Pay attention to sleeping bag ratings and remember that a 0°C rating just means you won't die at that temp, not that you'll be comfortable. Sleeping bags are one of the few things with a strong cost/quality correlation.
Always have rope. Bring lots of rope. Know what makes a good rope.
If you're out bike touring, KOAs almost always have spots set aside for cyclists to camp. Both KOAs and state parks are really useful for showers and clothes washing. Was genuinely surprised how many state parks had both when I toured across the U.S.
If you're in Washington state, the state parks are legally required to find room for you to camp if you rolll up on a bike and they're otherwise full.
Tarps are your friends. Obviously get the footprint sized ones for your tent but bring extras. I like to have one in front of my tent for shoes and things to keep it cleaning going in and out. Or I like to use it to change on if my tent is too small. Great to throw over or wrap things to avoid the dew in the morning. Got to bring a tarp
When cooking with a skillet, let the fire die down, gather as many hot coals as possible and set your skillet firm on top your coal pile.
When cooking with a pot, hang it above a low fire, in most cases you wanna make sure the flames aren't licking your pot.
This pic is from my last camping trip, if you wanna know how to build the tripod, there are pleanty of youtube videos on the topic.
You can dispersed camp for free in most national forests and BLM lands. Its pack-in pack-out for the most part but some spots have pit toilets. Freecampsites.net is my go to site for finding free camping
I never really see people doing this, but I've had a great time pitching my tent in the back of my pickup instead of on the ground. You get a perfectly flat surface and some foam or an air mattress make it pretty comfy.
Never piss on your camp fire if it's upwind of your tent. - source, was in the scouts, we did this to another patrol. Man, their tent stank.
If you are on a budget, camp in whatever vehicle you already own. I lived in a small car with my wife and cat for several months as we were moving. Learned a ton from “Cheap RV Living” on YouTube.
We had a solar generator with some panels, we cooked using electric skillet, had a twin bed, fairy lights use almost no power, and we had a 12v fridge. It wasn’t that bad but we eventually found a super cheap RV and live in that now.
If you're car camping or RVing, I started bringing my tree limb shears with me camping to cut up kindling from dead branches. So much faster and easier on the shoulder than a hatchet. If they're small enough, breaking them over my knee is fine, but I sometimes find good thick ones and I can't break that sucker down without a sharp tool.
Bring a bucket. Buckets are useful. I have 2 different collapsible kinds, but I also keep a good ol 5 gal paint bucket from the hardware store. It carries wood, water, is a trashcan, can be a seat, used to wash clothes or dishes, can be used as a toilet in an emergency (ideally with a trash bag liner and some kitty litter)...I love buckets.
Use a pill organizer to bring a variety of cooking spices in a tidy lightweight caddy.
Have a good first aid kit always.
That most camping gear is horrendously expensive and over engineered.
Get old and used gear, repair things, and make your own if you can.
A good bug net and a tarp are going to be just as effective as a modern tent, and breathe better.
For a backpack, those old aluminum a-frame packs are so easy to repair, and you can clip/tie things to the frame.
Watch some primitive/bushcraft survival videos on YouTube. There's a lot of good tips and tricks, especially for when you aren't exactly prepared for camping (emergency situations) and need shelter, fire, food, water, etc.
Favorite channels:
- Bertram - Craft and Wilderness (off-trail camping videos)
- Coalcracker Bushcraft (lots of good info)
- Donnie Dust's Paleo Tracks (primitive tools)
- Primitive Technology (fire by friction, primitive crafting)
- Survivorman - Les Stroud (survival, cooking, history, etc)
- Woodsbound Outdoors (good info and demo)
Pee bottle and fairy lights.
Pool Noodles - Place them like this in your canopy so they add tension to the roof. This will prevent rain water from collecting near the edge and weighing down the roof.
I always place the entrance to my tent under a canopy. This allows me to to stay dry when entering the tent. It also protects me from the sun. And I can put a rug down in front of my tent to wipe my feet.
If you are using multiple canopies, considering some canopy gutters. They are basically 1 foot by 10 feet strips of tent material that you attach between two canopies. This way you don't have to avoid the drip-strip under two canopies.
Outdoor rugs can help to prevent the ground from becoming a muddy mess. They sell large, lightweight plastic rugs that work very well for this. They can be folded down to a portable size and are very light. They allow water to pass through, so they don't soak it up and become heavy.
I've learned to not put a tarp under my tent, that just traps water between the tent and the tarp. Put a tarp down inside your tent and then put a rug (or towels) on top of that. Nice dry comfy rug in your tent.
Apparently it rains every time I go camping...
Get some sort of 5 gallon jug that has an on off valve for water. Helps if you want to wash hands or balls
good tents are worth the money. The heavy canvas ones are great if not too far from a car, but too heavy to carry far.
- Don't go to bed with the same clothes you wore during the day. The perspiration will make you really cold at night
- Even though it's warm during the day, don't assume it'll be warm at night. The temp differences can be quite drastic
- pack your clothes for the next day in your sleeping bag so they're warm in the morning. I usually either roll them up and use them as a pillow, or put them deep inside my sleeping bag by my feet.
Air mattress so you don't regret
Minivans and specifically the no longer made grand caravan (the ruined the design a bit with the pacifica). For two people you can do no prep camping. Throw whatever you think you might want in the back. Get to site and backup to the firepit. Throw all the stuff you brought in the driver and passenger seat and open the back. If its raining you can sit on the rear seat facing backwards and the rear door gives you shelter. At night you can just sleep in the back of the van since everything you brought is now in the front seats. Because you can flip seats up and down and such you can sit as you like and easily get the sleeping room. Done some very low prep camping this way. On another note the minivan has about as good a mileage as you get from a non car.
- It's not about the destination, its about the journey
2.Things will go wrong but don't let that ruin your trip, see #1
Birch bark torn into strips and layers makes good kindling. Sticks with little strips cut out and frayed to the side makes good tinder. Cotton balls covered in vaseline are my firestarters of choice. Drier lint is also good. If you're using charcoal, the bag is great for that as well.
Wool socks. And for the love of all that is holy bring some seasonings. Salt and Pepper are great, but they even sell little seasoning bottles for backpacking that screw together. Trust me.
For starting a fire, look for bits of birch bark on the ground, it is extremely flammable and is much better tinder than leaves.
No matter what, don't go in the winter.
As someone who hates the cold with a passion, there's nothing worse than waking up cold in the morning because you either didn't have on enough to keep you warm during a cold winter night in a sleeping bag or had on too much and wake up cold from sweating throughout the night.
Winter campouts are the only camps I absolutely do not miss at all from my time at scouts. The cold mornings are enough for me to not suggest it, despite it not actually being that bad after you've warmed up.
Though, on a more serious note, one of the things I do remember being taught but never followed through with for various reasons is to put your clothes for the next day under your sleeping bag so that way the next day they should be warm or at least warmer so you aren't putting on freezing cold clothes. Especially good for things like jeans because there's nothing worse than putting on jeans with frigid cold metal buttons if your hands are already trembling a little from the cold winter morning in general.
Bring a battery powered fan.
Put on some John Waters movies and load the karaoke machine with lots of Cher and Elton John.
For most outdoors-people the terms camping and binge drinking are interchangeable so a couple of luxuries are needed for the next morning.
First up to take care of is the morning AGB (After Grog Bog) so a camping dunny and a toilet/shower tent is a must. Don't fool yourself into thinking a shovel and hole in the ground is good enough, you are not a cat.
Second is some wet bum wipes for cleaning the dags off your turd cutter after dropping off your AGB.
Third is an Aeropress (and a set of scales!) for making yourself a good coffee. This easy to use hardware is well known and the internet is full of peoples favourite recipe for creating the perfect coffee:
- 18g of coffee
- 90g of water
- 90 second brew time
- flip over and press into mug (should take about 10 seconds to press down)
- add more hot water and/or a little bit of milk to your personal preference
An old Tesla bought in Norway has free charging the rest of it's (the cars) lifetime. It should work in all (or most) of Europe.
Tin foil is excellent for cooking. It works more as an oven and just add water and it is a steamer.
If it's really rainy protect your fire by having two people hold a plane up.
I know some swear by the travel bidet (not for everyone), but for the masses, a pack of biodegradable “flushable” wipes are a great addition to your toiletry kit. Just one or 2 after you’re done with all of your other business leaves you nice and fresh for the day and can bury them if you’re backpacking.
