How to Prepare to Set Up Your Camping Tent

For anyone living the rustic life on a far-off campsite as their yearly vacation, the trick to camping isn’t necessarily living off of the land: it’s living in your tent. If you were prudent, you brought along a tent that you know how to set up, effectively holds out moisture and insects, and provides a comfortable shelter for you and yours on your camping trip. But what if you’ve never tried it before? Here are some brief tips for setting up a tent the next time you go camping.

First, there are two ways to prepare, and you’ll want to try both of them. The first is to make sure you have a good tent in hand. If an old camping tent is available, make sure to take it out before your trip: check for holes, tears, and anything else that might compromise the tent’s functions as a shelter. If you don’t have an old tent lying around, make sure that you do plenty of research in order to find the best and most cost-effective tent available near you.

Once you have a tent in hand, you’ll want to make sure you know to set it up. Nothing is more frustrating than traveling all the way out to your campsite, only to find out that one small part of the instructions doesn’t make any sense and is ruining your experience. By taking out your tent and setting it up in the front yard a week or so before you go camping, you can work out those kinks ahead of time. If you get stuck at any one particular point, you can take the time to figure it out in a situation in which you don’t actually need the shelter.

Setting up a tent usually relies on a few things: stakes, tent poles, and the tent tarp. Most tent structures are established by having you drive a few stakes into the ground. These stakes will typically have something attached to them – such as a loop – that the tent poles can then essentially “plug in” to, allowing the poles to bend and create a dome-like skeleton over your head.

Once this skeleton is complete, you follow the tent instructions and lay the tarp over the skeleton, making sure that it’s properly laid out and attached in every area. Then you’re free to unzip the door and climb in.

Each tent is different, but if you know how to put up a tent, you’ll have a head start the next time you take the family out to the woods. Just make sure you’ve read the directions already!

Photo Credits: candescent

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camping tent, campsite, front yard, holes, insects, kinks, skeleton, tent poles, tent structures, trip check, two ways

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camping, camping tips

Posted by Hike Camp Fish on January 12, 2010 in camping, camping tips. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.