Are you getting the familiar urge to hit the road for a trip to the nearest campground? No matter whether you just want to go for a day hike or spend weeks outdoors, you need to plan ahead. The tips below are great for maximizing any camping journey.
Always locate your shelter before dark when you are camping. Once it grows black in the woods, you can have a hard time setting up your tent, preparing food, and getting adequate firewood. This is particularly the case for city slickers who are unaccustomed to darkness. Avoid these circumstances by finding the right shelter while it is still light.
Select the right sleeping bag for the season. Bringing a winter bag camping in summer can cause you to roast all night. Also, during the winter, you should bring a sleeping bag that has down or heavy material. Extremely cold weather can bring about frostbite.
Proper planning and preparation can keep you safe and make your camping experience more enjoyable. Be sure you don’t go camping until you are fully prepared with all the supplies you need. Research the area to learn about the wildlife and the geography and climate.
If you are going camping with children, eat a “jungle breakfast”. Take smaller boxes of cereal, small cups of fruit and juice boxes away from your site and tie them up to treas. Once the children are awake, tell them they need to forage for their meal. This makes the trip even more magical for kids.
Take either a bandanna or handkerchief with you when you go camping. In emergencies, such cloth can turn into a towel, a potholder or a piece of luggage. Its uses are innumerable, so it is smart to always have one available.
Bring oranges not only to eat but also to deter mosquitoes. Keep the peels when you are finished eating them. Rub the peels on your body and mosquitoes will stay away.
Set your campsite, tent and sleeping bags up before it gets dark. If you are traveling in an RV, park it in a well secured area. Find a flat, dry piece of ground if you’re pitching a tent. Doing this during daylight hours will save you hassle and frustration. It will also make it easier to see what you’re doing, saving you a lot of frustration.
Pack plenty of food and make sure it’s the right type. Depending on how long you’re planning to be camping, it’s important to have things that won’t go bad during the trip. Food poisoning is a great way to make a good trip go bad. Learn the right type of food preparations meant for camping before you go.
Before you decide to take off on a camping trip somewhere you’ve never been, you need to do some research on what the area is like and be aware of the local risks and dangers. This involves finding out which spiders are dangerous, whether flash floods are commonplace and whether there are any sheer drops nearby. Every campsite can have its own dangers.
If camping is new for you, start somewhere nearby. You may find that your gear isn’t up to par, or your trip isn’t what you thought it would be. You may come to realize that you should have packed different clothing, or need more food. So many things can go awry for the newbie camper; it’s definitely best to find a campground near to home.
Make sure that you bring items along with you that will make your camping trip more fun. For instance, card games, fishing poles and footballs will help to ensure that you have a fun time in the woods. If you are taking children camping, you might want to bring more activities than you think you are going to need.
Pack enough of the right kinds of food. Food that is resistant to spoiling, or that can be kept cold in your cooler, are the best options to choose. It could end up causing food poisoning and quickly end your trip. Learn the right type of food preparations meant for camping before you go.
It is important to take even greater care storing food if you are planning to travel to an area with active and dangerous wildlife. This means to wrap things up as tight as possible, keeping things away from your shelter and avoiding certain foods altogether. This will reduce your chances of being attacked.
Generally when you camp, you want to live with as little as possible but still be prepared for anything. You need a sleeping bag, but you need to take extra blankets too. This is useful for nights where the temperature gets too cold or as extra padding when sleeping on hard ground.
Duct Tape
Bring some duct tape on your camping trip. It has a myriad of uses for campers, just as it does for homeowners. Duct tape is useful for patching holes in air mattresses. It works well for repairing tears in tent material, sleeping bags or tarps. If you are going on a long hike, you can put it on the sensitive parts of your feet for blister prevention. In a pinch, it can even serve as a bandage for injuries.
Are you a beginning camper and have just purchased your first tent? Before you head off on that initial camping trip, practice pitching your tent. This will help ensure that your trip goes smoothly, for a more enjoyable trip when you understand your tent. You can do this best before it gets dark outside.
Make sure to prepare in advance before you engage in a camping trip. Bring extra blankets along with your sleeping bag. This can help you stay warm if it cools down at night or you may use them for extra padding.
Flashlights, spare batteries and an oil lantern are always handy items to have with you on your trip. You will need a light source to see clearly once the sun sinks in the sky. Without a flashlight, you could easily fall or be surprised by an animal. If you are bringing children on your trip, it’s a good idea to provide each of them with their own light.
Make sure that you choose the right sleeping bag for the conditions on the campsite. Lightweight sleeping bags tend to work better in warmer weather and heavyweight sleeping bags tend to work better in colder weather. If you plan to pitch a tent, make sure your sleeping bag stays snug against your body, as this prevents your body heat from escaping.
Don’t let your children out of your sight. It is easy for children to get lost, and cars often come and go. An accident can occur quickly, so it is important to be vigilant.
It makes sense to keep a totally charged cell phone on hand. Even better, bring extra batteries so you are prepared if there is an emergency. Your phone could be the most important equipment you have in an emergency.
Make sure you always know where your children are. Kids can get lost easily, even in the campsite and they have to be aware of others driving on the camp roads. Therefore, children should always have close supervision.
Bring waterproof matches to make sure you can start a fire while camping. The container should be airtight. You can take ordinary matches and make them waterproof when you dip them into nail polish or paraffin. Your canister for storing them could be a plastic medicine bottle or an old film-roll container.
As silly as it may seem, be sure to pack toilet paper with you on your camping trip. If you go camping at a location with no toilets, you will have to use the bathroom in the woods. Leaves can be dangerous alternatives to toilet paper, so don’t forget it.
A wonderful tip for camping is to take extra utility knives. The versatility of a utility knife makes it priceless when you are out camping. Bring one to slip into your pocket and throw a backup knife into your bag. You never know when your utility knife will come in handy!
After reading this, you should be well prepared for planning your next camping trip. You may have noticed that it takes the same amount of planning whether you are going for a weekend or a week. Get planning today for the trip you plan to take in the very near future, and you will appreciate the research you have done.