How do you keep a tent down in the wind?
Camping is great. What a great adventure in nature that is an excellent choice for a vacation with your family or by yourself. Camping can be an exciting and fun way to enjoy nature, but there are a lot of things you have to know. Read this article to get the most from your camping trip.
Take only photos and leave only footprints. That is the rule of thumb when camping. Only use the natural resources that you need and do not leave any traces that you were camping when you leave. Pick up all trash, extinguish and cover any fire pits, bury all human waste, and make the area where you camped look exactly as it did when you found it.
To increase your sleeping experience while camping, bring a pad along that you can place under your sleeping bag. This pad acts as a barrier between you and the hard ground where twigs and tree knots may cause strange sleeping conditions. If a pad isn't handy, bring a few extra blankets that you can fold over on themselves to create some cushion.
A bandanna or a handkerchief can be beneficial to bring on your trip. They can serve many purposes, like potholder, blotter, hand towel or carrying bag. They are quite versatile, so be sure to bring one every time you go on a trip.
Avoid any wildlife you may come into contact with. Bears have become a fairly large problem with campers. In some parks they have been known to rip open the trunk of a car to gain access to food. Raccoons are also a big problem in many campgrounds. Not only are they smart and can gain access to your food supplies easily, but they can carry disease as well.
While camping seems synonymous with a campfire, that campfire doesn't necessarily have to be made from wood. In fact, it might be safer and easier to use a portable campfire unit powered by propane. For the most part, these units are permitted unless there is a fire ban in place. Marshmallows taste just as good from these units as they do over an open, wood-burning fire, too.
Understand how your food will be cooked. You need to consider how you are going to prepare all meals. Will you need charcoal? Perhaps you need a small propane tank. It can be difficult to cook every meal over an open fire; no matter, how much fun it might seem.
If you're going to camp somewhere where dangerous animals reside, you need to make sure you're very careful about your food. You must wrap everything up tight, store it away from your tent and do not take certain types of food with you. This can prevent an attack.
A large number of camping related injuries are due directly to carelessness with fire, so be sure to use fire with caution. First, make sure that fires are permissible in the area of your camp site. Set a ring of stones around the fire to keep it contained. Never leave children unsupervised near an open fire.
Bugs do not like fire at all, so it is a good idea to keep your fire burning all night while you are sleeping. If you find that there is a huge bug problem during the day, it would help to keep a fire burning at that time as well.
For your first trip camping, avoid straying too far from home. This is so you can easily get home if you don't enjoy your camping experience. You might find that you do not have enough clothes or food. A lot of issues can happen for the new camper, so do not go too far for your first camp trip.
You can easily start campfires using dryer lint as a starter material. Start storing your lint in a bag a couple weeks before your trip. Keep a simple plastic or ziplock bag near your dryer to make collecting easier. That way, it will be convenient to just grab it at put it in your car at the last minute.
Let people know where your group is headed. Just in case anything happens to any of you, you want to know that there are people who know where you are at. This is a good precautionary measure to take if something were to happen to your camping group, because help will be on the way soon.
Bugs can be a major problem with camping; they can cause disease, get into your food, and just be a nuisance. Take the proper measures to keep them away. This includes not putting on perfume or cologne, lighting citronella candles, avoiding swamp lands, and covering your skin, so they are not attracted to your scent.
Zip-lock bags can be very handy in a camper's tool chest. Don't worry about hauling mixing bowls in your gear. A gallon size zip-lock bag is great for mixing foods together and is much easier to carry in your pack. Just secure the top of the bag very carefully, then squeeze, knead or shake the ingredients together. Then discard for super-easy cleanup too!
Charge all of your electronic equipment such as your cell phones and gaming equipment for the children to the max before you go to a camping trip. You want to get the most out of their charge when you do decide to use them, so make sure they are charged.
Learn how to pitch your tent ahead of time. First-time tent pitching can take time, and you may get frustrated if your first time is at the actual campsite. If you practice doing this ahead of time, it will be a breeze to do once you get to your destination.
If you feel as though you are an advanced camper and what to add a challenge back into the activity, you can look into wilderness survival. This is quite difficult; however, and should just be undertaken by the most advanced camper. This type of trip means only eating food that you catch or find yourself!
If you are camping in the mountains or higher elevation, be prepared for cold temperatures. Even in the summer, people just assume that mountains are as warm as it is on flat land; this is living in a canvas tent simply not true. Have ample blankets with you and be sure to bring proper clothing.
Since you've looked at this piece, you now know the most important parts of camping. Camping is not intended to be an intense event, but there is a bit of know-how required to make it stress free. Apply what you've just learned, and have a wonderful trip.