Tips to Stay Warm When Cold Camping!

Some people would prefer to be cuddled in front of the heater at home rather than camping through winter. Others see the benefits of the quiet sites, seclusion and crisp air, just because it’s cold doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the outdoors.
Personally, I prefer going during the cooler months, no flies or mosquitos, less wildlife on the road and fewer people using sites and facilities. If you’re lucky, you could end up with an entire campground to yourself.

How To Stay Warm

Staying warm during the camping trips starts at home and preparing ahead. The trick is to wear lots of loose layers and to avoid getting wet.

Make sure you pack the following:

• Good quality thermal long pants and long sleeve top
• 10 or better sleeping bag, preferably a mummy type that is tight fitting, check out-out Camping Sleeping Bags page
• Thick socks
• Woollen Beanie
• Thick mittens
• Warm weatherproof jacket
• Warm long pant and long sleeve top pyjamas
• Hot water bottle

The basic principles of staying warm can easily be remembered by thinking of COLD

C- Keep your clothes CLEAN

O- Avoid OVERHEATING

L- Wear lots of LOOSE layers

D- Keep your clothes DRY

Certain materials hold in more heat than others. If you can I would recommend sticking with the list below when it comes to clothing and sleeping bags:

• Wool
• Fleece
• Polypropylene
• Polarguard
• Thinsulate
• Down

The Dreaded Bathroom Run At Night

It always happens, you finally get warm and wouldn’t you know it….you need to go to the toilet. Here are some helpful tips to try and get around this problem:

Try no to drink to many fluids at night, hard to avoid I know. Mind you I don’t think I have ever been able to follow this rule.
DON’T HOLD IT!!! Holding on uses precise energy which would otherwise be used to keep you warm.

If you can, it is recommended you use a bottle. Much easier for males, but I have known females to master the art of using a funnel and bottle. Just make sure that you put the bottle out of reach so that no one mistakes it for drinkable fluid…
If you are REALLY cold, you can use the pee bottle as a hot water bottle.

Tips To Keeping Warm During The Day

Staying warm during the day is a little easier than at night as you can get out and do physical activities such as walking and hiking. Wear lots of loose layers, but make sure that you don’t get too hot as this will cause you to sweat and the sweat will soon get cold. As soon as you start to get hot remove a layer and once you start to feel the cold add a layer.
Having a constant fire will help throughout the days and will also ensure that the fire will be roaring at night time. If you put the clothes that you are planning on wearing during the day at the foot of your sleeping bag during the evening, they will be nice and warm when you put them on. Camping in the rain? Read the following article!

Tips To Keeping Warm During Your Sleep

As you would know, night time is the coldest part of the day, particularly once you have moved away from the campfire. These tips will help you stay warm while you are asleep.

Don’t go to bed cold. Make sure you get warm before hopping into your sleeping bag. It can be done by sitting by the fire or doing some physical activity before bed.

If it can be avoided, don’t sleep on the ground. Try to elevate yourself with a stretcher bed. If this isn’t possible use newspaper or insulation paper under your mattress to keep the cold from the ground reaching you.

Wear a beanie to bed. Most of the heat from your body is lost through your head.

Have a separate pair of socks for sleeping and leave them in your sleeping bag. Never go to bed with wet or damp socks.
Take a small snack to bed with you. If you wake up in the middle of the night due to being cold, your snack will provide enough calories to allow your system to warm you back up.

Don’t put your nose or mouth into your sleeping bag in an attempt to warm them up, instead, use a balaclava. The moisture from your breath can make the sleeping bag damp and cold.

30 minutes before going to bed fill a hot water bottle with hot water and place it in your sleeping bag. When you are ready for bed, refill it will new hot water. Personally, on freezing nights I use two water bottles. 1 for my feet and 1 for my stomach.

Snuggle!!!! If you are with someone else, why not using each other’s bodies to keep warm?

Winter Tents

For winter camping, you need a thick insulated material so that it keeps the heat in and the cold air out. If you can grab yourself all-weather tents that can be used all year round, otherwise the canvas tents are good during the cold weather.
When choosing a tent get the right size. If it’s too big the air that is in the tent will become cold very quickly, the smaller area, the warmer it will stay. Insulate the bottom of your tent with a tarp or a footprint, newspaper, carpet underlay or insulate paper and make sure you are sleeping on something to keep your body off the ground, foam, mattress or stretcher if possible.

Try to ensure that nothing is touching the sides of your tent, especially your clothes or skin, as the condensation will stick to the walls and will be wet.

What To Eat And Drink To Keep Warm

For winter camping, you want small meals that are high in calories, which in return will keep your energy levels high enough to provide more heat. Try to make things that a quick and easy as the last thing you want to be doing it preparing for ages and getting cold. Soups and stews are perfect for heating you up and are very easy to make. Any hot drinks will help to warm you up, such as tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Much of this is common sense; you are obviously not going to eat ice cream while camping in the snow.

from What Camping Tent http://www.whatcampingtent.com/blog/cold-camping-guide/?&owa_medium=feed&owa_sid=

Things You Need to Know if Camping With Dogs

Personally, camping just isn’t the same if I don’t have my four legged furry friend along for the ride. The fact that she is obedient, well trained and has an excellent temperament helps towards a relaxing holiday.

However, if your dog or a nearby dog is not well behaved, it leads to a very stressful getaway.

Some of my personal experiences with other campers misbehaving dogs include:

Urinating on my tent and car tyres
Eating my dog’s food
Getting into the rubbish bag
Scratching through the zip on the tent
Becoming aggressive towards people, children and other dogs
Hunting and killing native wildlife

One particular incident I always like to talk about. A family decided that it would be a very good idea to bring their pig hunting dogs camping to a mainly family orientated spot.
Not only did they bring hunting dogs but they didn’t put them on leads and in this instance they ran off into the bush and not only tracked down a cat but also caught and killed it. This was very distressing to everyone that was within the area. I could never understand the logic of what these people did and still to this day wonder about common sense.

Things To Consider Before Leaving Home

If you are considering taking your dog camping, make sure that you are confident that your dog will:

• Come when called
• Is friendly around other dogs
• Is child-friendly
• Doesn’t bark at everything that moves
• Can be controlled if something goes wrong
• Will not wonder away from the site

If you have never taken your dog on an adventure before it may be a good idea to try to go somewhere, that is secluded away from other people with minimum wildlife just to see how it goes first. Keep the dog on a lead until you are confident that it will behave, bare in mind that dogs should be trained in the basics before taking it camping.

If you are taking your dog with you, make sure you pack everything it needs, such as:

• Food and water
• Food and water bowls
• Good quality lead or harness
• Somewhere to sleep and something to sleep on
• If you are camping in colder climates a dog jumper of jacket is a very good idea, particularly for short furred dogs
• A tether lead just in case
• Plastic bags
• Any medication needed

It’s always a good idea to have your dog microchipped and have an ID tag attached to their collar with your mobile phone number on it. Before you leave, grab a plastic key tag that allows you to write things of a piece of paper that then goes into the plastic tag.
Once you get to your destination, write on the paper where your site is located. This way, if your dog does wander off onto someone’s site, they know where to return the dog to.

It also pays to drop by your local vet clinic for a quick check up and to make sure that your dog is fully vaccinated. While there talk to your vet about where you are going and if there is anything else that your dog may need, for example, if travelling to hot, remote places they may need tick medication.

Some dogs can act out uncharacteristically in new surroundings so it may be a good idea to take a muzzle just in case, especially if you are going to a well-populated campground or if you are going somewhere that is a fair distance from home.

One must do before you leave the house is to check with the local authorities to ensure that dogs are allowed within your planned destination. Throughout The US, many National Parks do not allow dogs, but most State Forests do. A quick check beforehand will save a lot of hassle in the long run.

Courtesy And Common Sense

Make sure that you are always considerate towards other campers with your dogs. If the people in the campsite next to yours have a dog, pay them a visit. Firstly leave your dog at camp and wander over to say hello and ask if their dog is friendly. Once it’s established that it is, ask if it’s ok to bring your dog over to say hello, not only does this allow you to meet other campers but it allows your dog to socialise too.

Quite often if you are camping with a group of people, there will be more than one dog in the group’s campsite.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind if that is the case.

• Feed the dogs separately and always watch them while they eat. All it takes is for one dog to be a little greedy with food and then you have trouble on your hands.
• Is more than one dog ball enough? Just keep in mind that if more than one dog is a little ball aggressive, it can lead to fights. My dog has been picked up by the back of the neck by another dog and shaken all over a ball.
• Some dogs get very territorial over their camping tents; it’s good manners not to allow your dog to roam other people’s tents.
• Be careful when feeding out treats, as with the first point, some dogs can get very aggressive over food.
• If you are finding that your dog continually wanders away, it may be a good idea to attach it to a tethered lead. That may sound mean, but it’s better than risking a dog fight, snake bite or other accidents. A tether lead is a long rope that attached to the dogs collar or harness at one end and the ground or another solid object at the other end. Another alternative, particularly for smaller dogs, is a free dog inclosure or cage.

As within a local suburban street, always pick up after your dog. Take a couple of rolls of dog poo bags and make sure everything gets picked up and taken away with you when you leave.

What I Use For My Dog

What I take for my dog will depend on where I’m going, how long I’m going for and the weather.
The basics that I take at all times are:

• Plastic bags
• Plenty of drinking water
• Food
• Water and food bowl
• Black Dog Lead and Harness
• Tether rope
• Her favourite ball

If it’s going to be cold and we are sleeping in the tent, she has her waterproof jacket which is lined in with wool and extra blankets. In the tent she sleeps on a dog bed on top of a fold out bed base, yes she is a little spoilt. If we are sleeping in the swags, she will hop into the swag with me so there is no need to take her bedding. In the warmer weather, I will always take plenty of extra water to keep her hydrated and cool.

Hope this post will help my dog-loving readers.
Feel free to post a comment to share your experience and tips!

from What Camping Tent http://www.whatcampingtent.com/blog/camping-with-dogs-tips/

10 Lessons Learned From My Camping Mistakes!

Follow These Good Suggestions & Take The Mistakes Out Of Camping.

Camping should be fun and getting back to the simpler things in life. Unfortunately, newbies to camping seem to make mistakes that, if they only knew about, they would never make.

The whole idea of camping is to get with family and/or friends, enjoy the great outdoors, sleep under the stars (via a tent) and connect with mother nature. But, if you are new at this and human, you are going to make mistakes. Some of the leading nightmares are; not enough food, you are either freezing from the cold or roasting from the heat and finally just miserably uncomfortable.

Most mistakes are avoidable by having a list of things you need to bring with you. Bring the right clothing for where you are camping, have a way to prepare food and make sure you have the right food to cook. Here are some very helpful tips to enjoy your camping adventure.

The Size Of Your Tent

People who sell tents are either very knowledgeable or will try to sell you something that is not right for your needs. The size of your tent is critical if you are going to have a pleasant time with mother nature. If you are new at this, you should get with someone who is a seasoned camper to help you out.

First and Most Important Tip: Buy a size that can accommodate 2 to 3 times more people then will be staying in the tent. If you have three people, get a tent that will accommodate 6 to 9 people to get plenty of extra space! You have got to have room to move around, and you certainly do not want to be cramped in, especially if you encounter a rainy day.

About Your Equipment

It’s critical you go over all your gear before you leave. It might sound lame, but trust me, if you get to your campsite and are missing tent pegs, your sleeping bag is torn, or your air mattress has a leak – you are not going to have a good time.

A few days before leaving on your trip, pitch your tent so you can inspect it for any flaws or problems. Once the tent is set up, pour water over the entire tent to make sure you do not have leaks, and it is properly weatherproofed. If your tent has a tear and it rains, you are going to get wet! Pitching the tent will also ensure you have all the posts and pegs needed. Notice I said a “few days” before; when testing your tent it’s going to get wet, and you need time to let it dry out.

After giving the thumbs up on your tent and its gear, go over all other equipment you will be taking with you. That includes bedding, cooking stove, containers for storing small items you want to keep dry, utilities for cooking and eating, plates, pans, pots, etc. Untested or unchecked items could surprise you in a not so pleasant way once you are at the campsite.

Think About Your Comforts

I doubt a lot of you will enjoy playing mountain men! Think about what you will need to ensure a good night’s sleep. If you always sleep with a pillow, better pack it up for the trip. Always consider the natural fact that it could rain on your trip or the evenings might get quite cold. You should always pack enough blankets, boots, and clothing that might be needed if the temperature or weather turns to the worst. If you have never used a sleeping bag, you might want to bring along an air mattress to give you added comfort from the cold, hard ground. With air mattresses in tow, grab an air pump, unless you want to spend your time huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf! If you are a light sleeper, consider bringing along ear plugs, nature can get noisy and so can neighbors.

Make A List Of Food Items & Utensils

Camping essentials

Decide what are good options for food over the period you will be camping. Don’t plan on serving 5-star meals. Keep it simple with a nice variety of choices so you are not eating the same thing every single day. You want to concentrate on non-perishable foods, canned foods and dry foods such as rice and/or pasta. When thinking breakfast, consider bread, jam, and peanut butter and if cereal is a must, not a problem, just make sure you bring along powdered milk. Powdered milk has come a long way, and all you have to do is add water and powder for the amount of milk you will need for one meal.

Next, make a list of all the cooking items that will be needed to prepare food. One good pot and pan should suffice for cooking. A large fork, spoon and spatula will be enough for cooking as well. Decide if you want to wash dishes after each meal or would prefer to buy paper plates, bowls and cups. Always include a liquid soap for cleaning up your cooking items.

Buy a box of plastic bags for cleaning up the campsite each day and throwing out the garbage. Also, make sure you have a good supply of paper towels for cleaning up the site as well as keeping everyone clean. You might want to bring along a large bowl for washing up each day and another for washing dishes and pots.

Purchase a few air-tight containers to keep items dry, such as matches for the fire.

Bring along a first aid kit just in case; it should have calamine, sunburn lotion, an anti-bacterial ointment, etc. Outdoors can have its nasty little moments so be prepared.

Arrive At The Campground In Daylight

Anyone who has tried to pitch a tent in the dark knows how totally futile it is. You will invariably choose the worst site in the entire place or will have un-even ground to work with. Get there when there is still plenty of daylight hours so you can select a really good site that is flat, convenient to toilets, showers (if applicable) and the main sources of water. You might want to stay away from a site that has too many overhanging branches, if it rains you could get a soaked. Become familiar with your site’s surroundings so if you go somewhere for a day, you will know where your campsite is when you get back!

Campfires & Barbecues

As much as everyone loves the notion of cooking out on a campfire or barbecue, over time, it can get really old. Constantly having to make a fire just to boil water is going to take a toll on your supplies as well. Before doing anything, check with the campground and find out if campfires or barbecues are allowed. Some campgrounds have their own pits and/or grills for campers to use. If these items are not allowed, purchase a good camping stove, they are not necessarily expensive and are safe. And Remember: Keep Your Matches Dry!

Would You Really Consider Cooking Inside Your Tent!

Believe it or not, there are people that think cooking inside the tent would be a good idea! One, a camping stove sends off fumes from the gas used to fire it up, two you could set the tent on fire and three you could get seriously injured or even killed! Sadly there have been some very tragic cases of people becoming asphyxiated from their stoves and suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. Even if you had a tent designed with vented vestibules, if you are in bear country, bear smells food – bear comes to food – it’s totally suicidal! Rule of thumb, do not cook inside the tent.

Let There Be Light

Too many times people overlook lanterns for those dark nights. Unless you plan on hitting the sack as soon as it gets dark, plan on having a lantern or two. Flashlights are ideal for finding your way to the toilets or water supply, but they are not good enough for reading or washing dishes. Smart choices are battery-powered or solar-charged lanterns; they are indispensable. Also, make sure you test your lights before leaving home. If you have battery-powered lanterns, you might want additional batteries as backups.

Books & Games

Sorry about this one I could not resist!

Inevitably, you will experience a rain day and will be stuck in your tent for the duration of it. Always pack a few good books and some board games. Especially if you have children, they are going to go nuts if they have nothing to do. For small children, make sure they have some of their toys, pencils, paper and coloring books will keep them entertained for a while. Board games come in different ages as well and are not audio loud, disturbing your neighbors. Keep in mind if you drag along your Kindles or large iPods they can get broken. Just make sure you have entertainment items on your list before leaving home. Should you have more than one day of rain, you’ll have fun stuff to keep you occupied.

Take Your Shoes Off At The Door

You’ve been out in nature all day long, the last thing you want to do is track mud and dirt into your sleeping area. A smelly, dirty tent will definitely ruin your evenings plus you’ll spend half a day cleaning up the mess left behind. Make sure shoes stay out of the tent but also, make sure you can stow them in a safe, dry place in case of bad weather. Get one or two large plastic containers that have lids that snap shut; they’re perfect!

Camping should be an enjoyable experience and will be if you have a checklist, follow up on all testing and checking of equipment, make sure you have included all necessary items and plan on arriving at your home away from home while there’s still a few hours of daylight. Follow safety instructions and use a little common sense, if you do, you will have a really great time!

Additional video so you can avoid any camping pitfalls:

from What Camping Tent http://www.whatcampingtent.com/blog/how-to-avoid-camping-mistakes/