Useful Camping Tips and Tricks
Tired of the nine to five grind? Are you sick of your usual Saturday evening outing? Looking for a new experience? Maybe you should pack up with the wife and kids, slap a leash on Fido and head for the great outdoors. Here are some tips and tricks that will ensure that you know the ins and outs of the family camping trip.
Image by ilkerender via Flickr
Don’t rely on your ability to start and cook over a fire. Make sure to bring the necessary items needed to make sure you don’t starve. Things to include would be a grill, propane or charcoal, lighter fluid, matches or lighters, cookware, water, dish soap, (a wind break or awning may be needed to keep a grill lit) and of course, food. Although roasting some hotdogs over an open fire under a starry sky seems ideal, Mother Nature may have something else in mind. Stormy or rainy weather may put this option on the back burner. Another option for those with a camper or a fifth wheel would be to cook on a stove that is built in.
Try to set up camp uphill instead of at the bottom of a hill or in a valley. Intense weather can strike anytime anywhere and being in the wrong place can make a big difference in your camping experience. It seems like common sense that rain goes downhill but where that rain gathers, mosquitoes will breed and being uphill will not only keep you dry but keep you from being a mosquitoes lunch. Aside from rain and mosquitoes being a bother, most tornadoes tend to skip hilly terrain so being at the top of a hill may save you from a costly trip to wonder land.
Don’t assume that all berries and mushrooms are edible. It’s a pretty safe bet that you might see a fruit or mold that could kill you or make you very sick if you eat enough of them so stick to what you know is okay. Morel mushrooms are common during the springtime in areas with moist ground and non-acidic rotting wood like sycamore, poplar and apple wood. Common berries you may find in the wild include blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, mull berries and grapes.
If fishing strikes your fancy, you have to know the types of landmarks to look for. Fish prefer cover so if logs or other obstructions are protruding out of the water, there’s a good chance there will be fish living nearby. Points or masses of land that point out into the water are often havens of fish as well.
A common problem that campers face is unexpected cold nights where the tent, sleeping bags and space heaters just don’t get the job done. There are a number of things that can aid you in keeping warm. Hand warmers can be purchased; they are relatively cheap and stay warm for up to six hours. Putting a few of these guys in your sleeping bag can mean the difference between shivering all night and unzipping the sleeping bag because you’re too hot. Stay away from caffeine and alcohol because they restrict blood flow and make the body loose heat. To stay warm, drink soup or other hot liquids that are caffeine free.
Plan an entertainment special with children around. Nothing is more of a buzz kill than listening to children and even adults complain because there is nothing to do. This is especially common in the age where people are more likely to spend a lot of free time on video games or surfing the web. Some fun camping games and activities include finding firewood, building forts, playing flashlight tag at night, and collecting rocks, leaves and other visually interesting objects found in the wild. The best thing to use that we all have is imagination.
Snipe hunting is an activity that can keep young children mystified for years. All you need is a paper bag, a flashlight, a rock and a convincing story about these magical creatures of the night. First, talk up the creature; make up what they look like how they act and where to find them. Start this during the day and have them prepare for the hunt at night by telling them what you will be doing. When the time is right cut or tear a small slit in the bottom of the paper bag (the more torn looking the better but not so big that it is noticeable) and then go out to a grassy area and begin the hunt. First, tell the child or even naive adult that snipes are all around us but only come out at night. Tell them they eat grass and have the child or adult go into tall grass or at least ankle height grass. Then have them run towards you while yelling to ‘scare’ the snipes into the paper bag. Holding the paper bag down by the grass will make this more convincing. The cover of night combined with the child’s imagination will allow you a brief moment to put the rock in the bag wait for the child to get close and pretend that something ran into the bag, shake the bag to make them believe a something is in it. The rock will aid you in this illusion. When the time is right, shaking the rock should fall out of the hole you made secretly earlier. Then when their eyes are full of awe open the bag revealing that the snipe tore out of the bag. Only doing this activity once in a while will help ensure that the child doesn’t catch on to the trick and the magic will live on in their minds. If your story and reactions are convincing, the child may even claim that they saw the snipe and may even be able to tell you what it looked like and that is a wonderful thing called imagination.
November 20th, 2011 at 1:31 am
[...] absolutely fabulous time up in the Utah mountains, but the boys were intent on capitalizing on any tent camping mistakes the girls made. I can’t recall who was in charge of staking the tent down into the ground, but [...]