5 Essential Tips for Your Next Camping Trip

When we think about camping and everything we could do to improve the experience, we always consider the important stuff. Things like packing extra clothing and a comfortable sleeping bag are some of the most important ones that you will carry along on these trips.

5 Essential Tips for Your Next Camping Trip
5 Essential Tips for Your Next Camping Trip – Photo Courtesy: David Porter @ Pixabay

However, other things could also improve your camping experience. After many camping trips and days in the wilderness, I have found a few stuff that many people neglect. Below are the top five things people often forget to pay attention to when heading out on a camping trip and enjoying nature.

If you are an avid camper or an outdoor enthusiast, you should know all of the basics by now and this should enable you to have a great camping experience. However, before you go, I recommend you to look over these tips and make your holiday memorable but not terrible one.

1. Picking the Right Sleeping Bag

Camping Trip: Picking the Right Sleeping Bag
Camping Trip: Picking the Right Sleeping Bag – Photo Courtesy: Jake Sloop @ Unsplash

Picking the right sleeping bag might seem like something you do not give much attention to, but if your sleeping bag is not up for the conditions, you might be sleeping cold for the duration of the trip. Sleeping bags fall into 2 categories.

The synthetic sleeping bags are much cheaper, but they will not keep you warm in cold weather conditions. Down sleeping bags are a little more expensive, but they’ll have much better heat retention. These sleeping bags are ideal for cold weather trips like visiting the Arctic.

2. Taking Along Tea Tree Oil

Lots of people are still oblivious to the quality and the great use of tea tree oil. Tea tree oil can be used for almost anything in the wilderness and while you’ll have a medical kit to protect you from possible injuries, the tea tree oil can also be used to help disinfect wounds.

By mixing tea tree oil with some water, you’ll also be able to create an effective spray that should help when it comes to repelling insects and mosquitoes.

3. Pitching Your Tent Upwind

Camping Trip: Pitching Your Tent Upwind
Camping Trip: Pitching Your Tent Upwind – Photo Courtesy: Pexels @ Pixabay

Pitching your tent can be quite a troublesome process if you don’t know exactly how it works, but once you have it all setup, you may find that everything smells like smoke the next day. To avoid this, it should be noted that your tent must be upwind from everyone else’s campfires. This tip can certainly help you avoid walking around and sleeping in a smoke-ridden environment.

When you have no option but pitching the tent downwind, keep it as far as possible from the fire. This should avoid any problems that might be caused if an ember flies off a little farther than you expected or when the wind picks up.

4. Extra Storage Containers

Once your food has been cooked, you might not finish it all in one serving and storage containers seem to be something we always forget. Taking along extra storage containers is the perfect place to put your food once you’re done eating and you want to leave some for the next day. These storage containers can be placed in the portable fridge and even your cooler.

While it might seem tempting to take a long metal storage containers like old coffee cans, these are not the best options and metal does not have such a great effect on food. We recommend using standard plastic containers as you would use at home and these can be frozen as well without damaging the food.

5. Waterproofing the Tent

Camping Trip: Waterproofing the Tent
Camping Trip: Waterproofing the Tent – Photo Courtesy: Free-Photos @ Pixabay

While waterproofing sprays are available all over the place, we often times just forget to use and apply them. This can potentially lead to heavy weather storms causing your tent to leak and since nature has no give, you might need to sleep in the car. Having a camping cot will be ideal for lifting you off the ground, but once the water starts dripping inside, it will not be such a joyous trip.

It’s also worth mentioning that if you use something to waterproof your tent, you’d better check before every trip if the solution should be applied again.

Final Thoughts

With these five tips, you should be fine on any camping trip, given the fact that you already know the basics. We would suggest writing them down and sticking them to your fridge to help you the next time you go on a camping trip.

13 Comments

  1. I really appreciate your tip to try and pack along a lot of extra storage containers. My wife and I have been thinking of going on a camping trip. I will be sure to pack extra storage containers if we go!

  2. OMG, I want everything on this list! There are so many little things that I don’t have. I would love to travel but don’t have enough time to plan properly. This list helped me finish off my list of needed must-haves. Thanks.

  3. Wow! Such awesome tips in regard to camping. I love camping in different places. I remember there were awesome days when I’d first time camping for the fun of it and it was fantastic. I glad to have a blog to accompany me in my quest.

  4. Thank you for mentioning the importance of food containers because the person might not be able to finish their meal during camping, and they need a place to store it in. I will buy a few storage containers when I go out because my brother is joining an overnight camping next month. He is a slow eater, and he gets full easily, so he needs a storage with him in case he fails to finish his dinner.

  5. I really liked what you said about looking into getting a waterproof spray. This is a great idea since you will be working against nature. My sister that is looking for a hybrid off-road camper would love knowing this.

  6. Laura McNab

    I am so grateful I found your post, You’ve really covered up almost all the possible tips that a beginner should follow while camping. My husband and I have been thinking of going on camping soon. Actually, I got a lot of information from your blog which can make our camping trip much more relaxing and enjoyable. Thanks.

  7. All your tips are very good for going camping trip and making it comfortable.
    Thanks for sharing!

  8. Hi Luna, thanks for sharing your useful tips, I thought there should be 50 Essential Tips instead 🙂 Each time when I go for camping with my family, we almost bring the whole house with us, and it’s so tired to unpack everything after the trip. Have you thought about bringing a power bank or a solar-charger for keeping our phones charged?

  9. Arpit Goel

    The camping tips given in this article are helpful for anyone who loves trekking and camping. I read the uses of tea tree oil through your article for the first time and will make sure to carry it for my next camping.

  10. Wow, I never thought about your tip to make sure you pitch a tent either far enough from the fire or upwind so your tent doesn’t fill with smoke. My family is starting to plan a camping trip that they hope will become an annual thing. Camping is not really my strong suit so I will have to make sure to buy the proper equipment so I can cook decent food, keep it clean, and stay warm.

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