How to Break Camp Without Leaving a Mess

If you’ve ever been camping, you know that bringing a lot of your civilized comforts out into the woods can be great, but it can also result in a messy campsite when all is said and done. This can be very frustrating, especially if you’re at a campsite that makes you clean your own mess or camping on your own land, in which case you’ll obviously want to keep your land clear. So how do you break camp without leaving a cartoonish pile of debris in your wake? Follow a few simple tips:

First, it starts with preparation. While you’re camping, make sure you have everything compartmentalized. Leave your living essentials in your tent or car, where they’ll be sealed off from the rest of the world. Make sure the fire pit area is separated from the other areas. Have a designated garbage/recycling bag pair handy at all times so that you don’t have to collect garbage at the end of the trip. If you start preparing for a clean campsite the first day you get there, you’ll make things a lot easier on yourself when it’s time to break camp.

Also, be sure that you re-use materials and places when you can. For example, if you have a lot of wood in your fire pit, try to burn that wood in the next fire; you should have a big pile of ashes in the same place when your camping trip is done with. That’s good! That’s what you want, because you can then simply shovel it into your garbage bag.

While you’re camping, make a mental note of cleaning up everything after yourself, every single time. For example, if you bring out a paper plate to eat a hot dog dinner with, make sure you dispose of all the garbage you have at the end of the meal. If you unpack something, don’t simply leave it out somewhere on the campsite; put it back in its bag if you’re not going to be using it.

If you’re on a campground, there might be a place to dump your greywater. If not, it’s best to use items like biodegradable soap and then dump the greywater away from fresh water sources.

If you’ve followed these instructions, it shouldn’t be very difficult to break camp without a whole lot of work today. Don’t dread the last day of camping – be sure that you’re thinking about your campsite’s “debris mark” throughout the whole trip!

Photo Credits: heymarchetti

This post involves:

biodegradable soap, camping, campsite, debris, fire pit, garbage recycling, greywater, hot dog, living essentials, pit area, rest of the world, shovel, tent, use materials, wood in your fire

... and focuses on:

camping, camping tips

Posted by Hike Camp Fish on December 15, 2009 in camping, camping tips. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.