Nature is more accessible today than in any period in history. Campers today are more informed and equipped to go pretty much anywhere they please than even famous explorers of the past.
Now people can access numerous helpful resources, gears, tools, apps, and services to make the camping experience even more fruitful and comfortable. However, not everyone knows how to achieve the desired goal, even when equipped with these privileges.
Here are seven practicable steps to ensure you get the best experience possible on your outings.
1. Plan
Planning is what makes sense out of whatever knowledge or gears you go camping with. Proper planning helps to prevent issues that could ruin your experience. For instance, planning on your budget for travel lets you step up your decision-making to avoid regrets afterward.
Find the actual location of your campsite and the appropriate time to go camping in the proposed area. Know what the usual weather is like, even if you enjoy the adventure of camping in unfavorable weather conditions.
A good part of planning is to travel to the proposed camping location. See what to expect first-hand before inviting others to come along. Take proper measures and precautions to maintain safety for everyone with you.
2. Prepare the Essentials
After getting equipped with the information about your camping site, you want to plan for other essentials. Essentials include all the necessary things to ensure safety and comfort on site. Travel documents, weather protection gears, camp beds, sleeping gear, kitchen materials, security tools, etc., are some essentials.
At night, most solo campers drop their car’s backseat to sleep. But when you are a couple or camping with the family or a group of friends, you have two choices. One choice is to rent an RV, and the other is to invest in a roof top tent.
You can attach the tent to your car or an SUV roof to sleep wherever you park it. The rooftop tent is safer, although more costly. It also means you do not have to worry about crawling insects and other animals.
3. Mind Your Food
Eating in a camp might need more caution if your feeding habit is not already healthy. The best kinds of food to eat while camping, especially for dinner, are light foods that don’t let you bloat or struggle with sleep later. The last thing you want to experience in camp is to leave the tent for the loo in the middle of a cold night.
While camping, fruits, and veggies would be perfect, as they help to hydrate and can save you cooking stress. You are also more likely to take carbs. But eating carb-heavy food is not a problem if you ensure the carb is from whole food sources and balanced with the appropriate protein and fats.
4. Stay Hydrated
Try to stay hydrated by drinking a lot of water daily. According to Health Line, the wellness information website, experts recommend two liters of water a day to meet the hydration needs of an average human.
Getting properly hydrated when camping is crucial to preventing many health issues. From minor ones like fatigue, headache, and muscle cramps to more serious health problems like low blood pressure, abnormal heart rate, and skin issues. The common causes of dehydration include sleeping with too many layers of cloth covering or staying in a closed tent for long.
Eating fruits and reducing dehydration as much as possible is also key to proper hydration. Foods like watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes, spinach, etc., are ideal for hydration.
5. Exercise
Camping can be a great time to continue your workout routine or improve it. But it can also pose a severe threat to your workout and exercise depending on how well you planned your camping location.
Plan the location of your camping properly, so you can check if it helps your exercise routine. For instance, if you usually exercise by running, camping in a place with tall grasses would be a huge problem for your routine. Also, camping in an area with uneven ground will affect workouts like push-ups or weight-related exercises.
6. Stay Organized
Ensuring proper organization during camping may be critical to your experience. Keeping things organized can be helpful for many reasons that include security and convenience, especially during an emergency.
Knowing the exact whereabouts of your tools and gears can be helpful in some situations. For instance, you do not want to find your fire extinguisher at the wrong time or look for your glasses when you need to see with one.
7. Maintain Cleanliness
Keeping your environment clean during camping can be crucial for health and safety. You don’t want food poorly disposed of attracting insects and ants to your camp area. Ensure proper preservation of leftover food to avoid contamination and food poisoning.
Properly clean up dishes or anything that can attract unwanted attention to your camp. Remember that it’s outdoors and your risk of exposure to bacteria is higher than you would have at home.
Conclusion
No matter how well you prepare, the best part of an adventure is that you allow yourself to be unrestricted for comfort’s sake. However, when equipped with these crucial camping hacks, you can almost be sure of a successful and productive outing.