Essential Camping Tips to Ensure a Better Trip

The first time I went camping, I was very scared. I thought I was going to be bit by bugs, eaten by a bear, or, at the very least, get too cold . But it turns out that camping is as easy as 1-2-3. If you need a break away from your regular life, it’s always nice to get out into nature for awhile.

Essential Camping Tips:

1. Starting a Campfire

Campfires are essential to camping, you don’t want to be stuck in a situation where you lose your matches and can’t start a campfire. So here is a good tip to know how to get a fire started without any matches.

First, you want to cut a v-shaped notch into a fire board, then make a small depression adjacent to it with a rock or knife tip. Set a piece of bark underneath the notch to catch the ember. Then you want to place a spindle (which should be 2 feet long) into the depression and, maintaining pressure, roll it between the palms of your hands, running them quickly down the spindle in bursts of speed. Repeat this until the spindle tip glows red and an ember has formed. Lastly, you want to tap the fire board to deposit the ember onto the bark; then transfer it to a tinder bundle and blow on it to catch flame. This is a good skill to learn when you’re camping. It can come in handy for many situations.

2. Avoiding Hypothermia

When you are camping in a cold area, you don’t want to get hypothermia keeping warm is essential. If you ever get caught in a snowstorm or if you didn’t pack enough clothing, then knowing some ways to prevent hypothermia will doubtlessly come in handy. One simple and effective way is to sleep naked in your sleeping bag. When you sleep naked in your sleeping bag, the casing of your sleeping bag will reflect your body heat right back at you. I have found this very helpful when a snowstorm occurred during one of my camping trips. Drink a lot of water. This will help keep your complete system (including your brain) functioning well; it will also help ensure an adequate blood flow to cold-prone extremities. Carbohydrates, especially, are easy for your metabolism to turn into heat. Eat plenty of food – small amounts frequently rather than large amounts infrequently.

3. Avoiding Insects While Camping

Bugs can be every annoying and sometimes even dangerous. You can wipe exposed skin with the inside of a orange peel and insects will stay farther away from you. This technique is very simple and effective. Ants are pesky but are very easy to keep away. You can sprinkle baby powder, cinnamon or cayenne pepper around your campsite. For some reason, the ants will not cross over these ingredients. Mosquito bites are very itchy and can sometimes hurt, but they, too, are easy to prevent. You can use mint to repel mosquitoes. Place a few leaves of fresh mint around your campsite or in your tent. Catnip plants are also a great natural mosquito repellent. Orange and lemon peels and garlic are also a great natural choice to repel not only mosquitoes, but ants and flies too. There is also a plant which is called a Mosquito Plant that does a great job of repelling mosquitoes. Just use one of the previous natural repellents and rub them on your exposed skin to allow the smell to absorb in your skin.

4. Avoiding Bears While Camping

Bears are scary to almost anyone. But there are ways to prevent bears. Keep all edible food in a cooler with a lockable lid. Then wrap the cooler with rope a couple of times, just for added protection. Then hang the cooler at least 7 feet off the ground. Or, if there is a bear box on the campground that is your best bet to keeping your food safe. Never bring any food into your tent at any time, this includes candy, gum or toothpaste. Bears go nuts over the smell of mint or peppermint, which is why park wardens always tell people to keep their toothpaste with their food. I did mention that mosquitoes are repelled by mint. So, I suppose you’ll have to decide which pests you are more concerned about: bears (who are attracted to mint) or mosquitoes (who are repelled by mint). Any food left over from dinner should be either burned or put back into your cooler. Always wash your pots, pans and dishes before and after you use them. If you follow these simple rules while camping you will not have to worry about bears.

Camping may seem scary, but it really isn’t. If you follow these essential camping tips and come prepared, I guarantee you’ll have a great time.

Author: Courtney Cook

Edited By: CampTrip.com