There’s only about a month left until fall starts – which means these camping tips need to be taken advantage of ASAP!
When it comes down to it, there’s nothing like camping out in the great outdoors. Nothing but a tent and Mother Nature around you. Nothing but the starry night sky and the moon to guide your way.
However, although the camping experience is great on its own, there are always things that can make it more enjoyable. These practical tips can help you keep the wilderness experience, while eliminating some of the more annoying (or inconvenient) aspects.
So before it’s too late, grab your tent and duffel bag and take advantage of these…
4+ Surprising Camping Tips That Make Life Easier
Dealing With Bugs: Fire Additives
This is the age-old frustration when it comes to camping. Everyone wants to be in the wilderness, but few are willing to put up with all the annoying insects and accompanying bug bites… at least for long.
Thankfully, there’s a variety of ways you can lessen the annoyance of those infuriating bugs. One of which is by adding fresh sage to your campfire. This uses sage the spice – not sagebrush, which is common around the U.S.
Simply go to the store and buy the cheapest sage you can find off the spice rack. Then light your campfire, and sprinkle some sage onto it every so often. This will help keep bugs away, and will make your campfire smell delicious.
Another helpful fire additive is cow pies (aka manure). Oddly enough, cow pies don’t stink while they’re burning. However, they do a great job of keeping the bugs away. In fact, the early settlers and pioneers were famous for burning buffalo manure when they needed a source of fuel. (Keep in mind droppings from deer, elk, and other animals will also work well).
Although perhaps not conducive to the “traditional” camping experience, citronella torches can also do a great job of keeping the bugs at bay. You can even get creative by burning the citronella oil in a lantern or kerosene lamp (it works just as well). And if you don’t have either of these, you can always add a few drops of citronella oil to the liquid wax on top of your already-burning candle. Easy as that!
Dealing With Bugs: Lean Into The Wind
Finding a windy spot can also work well to keep the bugs at bay. Sure, it’ll make it more difficult to set up a fire. But if you can set up your tent and have what you need, you’ll be much happier (and insect-free).
Packing The Toilet Paper
Toilet paper will be a huge luxury when SHTF. As such, you can’t afford to mess up when it comes to storing this stuff.
One surefire way to keep toiler paper dry is by keeping it in a coffee container (such as a giant plastic Folgers one). You can also store it in one of those bulk-pack CD cases.
Keep in mind that if your TP runs out you can always use natural resources, such as lamb’s ear. (Lamb’s ear also has a lot of other great uses when SHTF – you can read about them in our survival article here).
Want more TP alternatives when camping, hiking, and bugging out? Check out our survival article on it here.
Cooking: What To Avoid
Whether you know it or not, using evergreen for your wood will cause the flames to coat your food with an unappetizing black tar. Worse yet, this tar tastes like turpentine, and makes your food far less palatable.
Thankfully, this is an easy mistake to avoid – just don’t use evergreen wood. However, if you must use evergreen, make sure to cook your food using the radiant heat coming off the fire. Even better, wait until the coals burn down completely to do your survival cooking. Your tastebuds will thank you!
“Weeds” To Remember
One of the most important survival skills is the ability to recognize certain plants. This can really help you in a variety of circumstances.
For instance, if you get poison ivy on you, you can use jewel weed to help clear it up. Simply crush up the jewel weed leaves and rub them onto your skin to help ease poison ivy’s symptoms.
Wild dandelion and chicory root can also make an effective substitute for coffee and tea. To prepare them, clean the weeds, crush them (or finely chop them) and roast them until they’re black. Then brew them to your liking.
Goldenrod leaves also make a delicious, bright green tea that tastes like the ones you’d make at home. This can be another great substitution when you run out of your favorite store-bought tea.
Finally, for those who smoke tobacco… if you run out, you can always use the Kinnikinnick plant to make a fine pipe tobacco.
Remember – there’s just a few weeks left before fall kicks in. Use these camping hacks now to make your wilderness experience far more enjoyable!
