There are as many definitions of camping as there are people enjoying it. There isn’t such a thing as "bad camping" as long as the camper is taking a few simple precautions and refrains from making his or her outing a real headache for others. What I am going to mention here, are a few hints that I personally have benefited from in my quest for a relaxing experience in the woods.
Many of us share the dream of drifting to sleep in our tent, snug and warm inside our sleeping bag, listening to those gentle waves of a lake or the light rippling, soothing sound of a brook or a creek. It doesn’t take much to make these dreams a reality with these few hints that I have found to be helpful and I am going to start from the outside and work myself inward:
First, you don’t have to have the absolute latest in camping equipment. While it is important that you have good gear, it doesn’t have to be flashy and come with a logo that you have seen go by on TV commercials. If you, like me, live on the wet west coast, you know how quickly you can get very cold, wet and miserable in a sudden torrential downpour if you’re not prepared. Therefore, a good sturdy tall tent with enough room to stand up in and to store equipment like clothing, books, maps and cameras, etc, away from the rain is important. It’s tempting to choose a small tent based on the size or weight but believe me, it is fantastic to have the necessary room to move around without having to touch the walls or the ceiling. It’s so much easier to change out of your wet clothes while standing up and, with the great camping tent designs you can get these days, even big tents can be quick and easy to assemble.
Besides a tall tent, you need at least 2 tarps, one to go on the ground as a ground sheet for the tent and the other to cover your tent from rain. A ground sheet acts both as an insulating layer between your tent and the damp ground and a layer that prevents the tent bottom getting ripped to shreds by sharp rocks. The secret is to prevent the ground sheet from sticking out outside the tent, otherwise the rainwater will collect on it and flow inwards and make your tent floor wet. Also, for the same reason, try not to pitch your tent in an indentation in the ground, try to find a convex part of the ground that slopes away from the tent’s edges. That will save you much grieve from soaked socks and sleeping bags during downpours.
The 2nd tarp is for covering your tent’s roof from rain and sometimes a baking hot sun. Carry an assortment of nylon ropes, long and short and also 4-6 medium sized bungee cords. (No, not for bungee jumping!) When pitching your tent, try to find a spot nestled in the trees. Place the tarp over your tent and hook the bungee cords in the reinforced holes in each corner of the tarp. Then tie a loop at the end of 4 ropes, each rope long to reach a sturdy tree with sufficient rope to wrap around the tree or around a branch. Hook the loop onto the bungee cord and stretch the rope until you reach the nearest tree then tie it taut. The purpose of using the bungee cords is to protect the grommets on the tarp from ripping. With the ropes taut, if the wind picks up and causes the tarp to billow, the bungee cords will stretch enough to take the strain off of the grommets. It’s also important to have one or two of the ropes tied high enough to create a slope for the tarp, to make the rainwater drip off and not collect into a large bathtub, which could crush the tent or collapse the tarp. It doesn’t have to look cute or "Disneyesque", as long as your tent and camping equipment stay dry.
No comments:
Post a Comment