Whether you sleep in a tent, an RV or under the stars, taking a camping trip is a great way to escape the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life. Getting away from it all can be rejuvenating and fun with just a little know-how. Here are a number of tips for enhancing and improving your next camping trip.
Those big, colorful plastic storage bins make excellent places to store and organize all of your camping gear. While at home, keep it in a closet or the garage and right before you leave for your camping trip, pop it in the trunk. It should keep everything air-tight, dry and easily accessible.
Do plenty of research on your camping site and ensure that it offers everything that your group will need. Consider the individual needs of each camper to ensure that everyone is taken care of. This alleviates the need to make supply runs, or worst case, have to end the trip too soon.
Water is very important when camping. When camping at a campground, there should be ample supply of water available, but on the trail, you will have to carry some with you. If you are going long distances, you should probably carry iodine tablets to sanitize any water you find before drinking. Be careful, dysentery can be deadly.
When you decide to go camping you want to make sure that you bring a flashlight with some batteries. You want to be able to see in the middle of the night just in case you have to get up and go to the bathroom, or just to move around.
Use separate coolers for perishables, ice and drinks. While it does not matter if the perishables and drinks go into the same one, make sure to pack your ice separately. This will keep the temperature down so that you will have ice for much longer than you would have otherwise.
Make sure that you avoid any venomous plants. A good way to do this is to stop at the ranger station and ask what kinds of poisonous plants are in the area so you can identify them if you come into contact with them on the trail. Never eat anything while hiking on the trail if you do not know it is edible.
If you are using a tent for camping, put a great deal of thought into buying your tent. Consider the climate. Consider your price range. How often will you be using this tent? You don’t want to buy a tent that won’t be able to stand up to the elements. At the same time, you don’t need to pay a fortune for a tent you plan to only use once.
Bring bug spray. If you forget your bug spray on a camping trip, you will deeply regret it. Try a few different bug sprays ahead of time. Find something that works and doesn’t irritate your skin. You also want to make sure that it isn’t so greasy you’ll be unwilling to sleep in it.
Do not dump any type of food waste on the ground. This is a great way to attract unwanted bugs and animals. The best way to get rid of excess food waste is to dump all of it into the fire pit. It is also not a good idea to bury them.
When preparing for a camping trip, people often fail to bring enough clothes. Remember that there will be no washing facilities, and you also need to think about how the weather can call for certain specific attire as well at times. You always want to be prepared, so pack accordingly.
Camping in the wilderness alone is one of the most dangerous things that you can do. It is essential that you always bring at least one friend with you unless you are incredibly knowledgeable about the wilderness. Additionally, bringing several friends with multiple tents is the ideal situation, but this is not always possible.
The supplies for your next camping excursion should include a couple rolls of duct tape. Its multipurpose properties aren’t only useful at home, they can be used in the wild too. You can use it to repair a hole in an air mattress. You can close up rips and tears, and bundle things together. You can also protect your feet against blisters while hiking long distances by putting duct tape on them. You can even use it to bandage up injuries.
You need to carry water that is clean if you will not have access to a safe spring or to clean tap water when you’re camping. You can either carry your own water in bottles or bring some iodine with you to sanitize nearby water. You can also use a water filter or boil water for around 10 minutes.
For easier food preparation on a camping trip, prepare ingredients at home, and pack them in plastic zipper bags. You might want to chop, and other ingredients can be cooked quickly and easily when the prep work is done ahead of time. Throw a few bags of vegetables and meat into a pot over a fire, and you have soup or stew!
A Frisbee is a great toy to take for entertainment when camping. It is easy to pack and fun. But in addition to its use as a game, it is also a great way to strengthen a paper plate. Just place the plate into the middle of the Frisbee at meal times and the plate will not collapse no matter how big your hamburger.
Make sure you secure all sources of food at night when you go to sleep. There are many animals that can frequent campgrounds at night and scavenge your food, especially when left open and unattended for hours. You don’t want to wake up to your food scattered everywhere, and you left with a shortage.
No matter where you pitch your tent or park your camper, camping should be a relaxing, refreshing way to unwind and take life a little more slowly. Armed with the tips and ideas presented in this article, you can make your next camping trip a successful, stress-free outdoor adventure.
