The Tent-less Outdoor Sleeping Guide

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

For some people, the definition of “rustic” means simply heading out into the woods – even if you bring a camper with a bathroom, a sink, and a microwave. For others, “rustic” means an experience that at least has some amenities like tents to keep your dry and covered from rain. But for the die-hard campers, there’s only one definition of rustic: tent-less camping, including true under-the-stars sleeping. If you’ve always wanted to do this, here’s your guide.

What to bring: Even if you’re not bringing a tent, you’ll need to bring something in order to keep you warm and separate your back from the hard, rocky ground. Many people bring a simple sleeping bag and sleeping pad, and possibly a camping cot, in order to sleep outdoors.

The good thing about sleeping without a tent is that you can stay warm near – but not too near – a fire. Even so, you’ll want to stay warm for the entire night, including after the fire dies down on its own. Make sure you bring enough to keep you warm and relatively comfortable when you sleep on the ground.

Watch the weather: When you’re thinking about camping in a tent, knowing it’s going to rain is less important knowledge than when you’re sleeping outdoors. You’ll want to be sure that a high-pressure system is moving through the area you intend on sleeping in; these systems keep things clear – and usually provide for better views of the stars anyway. If there’s going to be rain, you probably won’t be able to have a good night’s sleep, so you might want to consider throwing in the towel and simply sleeping under a tarp or simply a tent.

All in all, sleeping outdoors can be a pleasant experience, but it’s not without its risks. You’ll want to be aware of local insects and wildlife before you sleeping without shelter. When in doubt, simply sleep in your tent so that you can stay dry and not worry about everything that comes from sleeping outdoors. You might just be glad you did.

Photo Credits: anoldent

How to Build the Ideal Campfire – Part I

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Any dedicated campers out there know that the campfire is the lifeblood of your campsite. Without it, you can’t boil water, prepare food, or have heat on a cold night. With it, you’ll be able to do all of those things and more – but the trick is, you have to know how to make a good one.

This article is part I of II in a series on building the ideal campfire so that you can have the most thorough information possible. Since part of creating a great campfire is to be thorough in your preparation and your knowledge, this initial research will be an integral part of learning how to create a campfire that lasts, provides plenty of heat, and gives plenty of flame for cooking. Let’s take a look at the steps to accomplishing this.

First, let’s tackle site preparation. You’re not going to just pile up a bunch of wood and set it aflame – that might make a quick fire, especially if you’ve got lighter fluid with you, but it won’t make a great camping fire. The difference begins with the preparation of your campsite.

For your first site preparation step, choose a location for the fire. Typically, this will be lower than all of the other areas – including where you have already set up your tents. You’ll want to create as much space as possible around your fire so that you can bring plenty of chairs up to it when night falls. You’ll also want to avoid low, overhanging branches.

Second, clear this location of debris and any flammable items. Get rid of garbage and other objects that might get in the way.

Third, pick exactly where you fire will be and dig a large but shallow circle, square, or rectangle. Keep the dirt in a nearby pile – dirt can make a good fire extinguisher for later on. This in addition to the bucket of water you have prepared will help you contain the fire should the need arise.

Fourth, gather as many nearby rocks and large stones as you can and make a ring around the area you dug. This will create a barrier between you and the fire, and since rocks aren’t flammable, will help control the fire and keep it contained.

Like building a skyscraper, much of the work into a great structure goes into a solid foundation that will accommodate large additions. In the next article, we’ll use this campfire site as the foundation for a great campfire.

Photo Credits: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/wili/”>wili_hybrid</a>

How to Build the Ideal Campfire – Part II

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

In Part I of this series on how to create the ideal campfire, we spent most of our time looking at site preparation and planting a good foundation for the fire. Up to this stage, you should have a neat, shallow, but large hole in the ground surrounded by rocks, as well as a pile of dirt nearby and a bucket of water for fire extinguishing.

In this article, we’ll finally get down to the fire itself, taking advantage of our well-place foundation to make one spectacular (and practical) campfire.

Keep in mind the tools to have handy: A bucket of water, a shovel, matcher/lighter.

First, you’re going to need to gather wood, but before you even do that, you have to know what kind of wood to look for.

Understand the ideal structure of a fire: a lower layer of tinder, such as dry grass or shredded paper, a middle layer of small sticks, and an upper layer of larger wood that will keep you fire going. When you look for wood, you’re going to have to look for all three different types in order to structure your fire properly.

Once you have plenty of each type of wood (you’ll particularly want plenty of small sticks for the middle layer), it’s time to build the structure itself. A tee pee shape is usually recommended, especially if you have longer sticks that can stretch out for a nice, wide fire. This structure allows you to easily pile tinder low and place sticks over it, allowing the wood to rest on other pieces of wood.

This shape is also ideal because it will allow plenty of air for the fire to consume and a natural progression of tinder to wood that makes for a quick-developing, long-lasting fire.

Once you have plenty of tinder and your structure in place, simply light a match or hit a lighter and get your tinder burning well. The fire from your tinder should be in direct contact with the smaller sticks of the next layer, which in turn should start burning and heating the larger logs.

Before you know it, you’ll have a great campfire that burns high, wide, and long! Set a cooking tripod over it for well-cooked hot dogs or find some more branches for roasting marshmellows, and enjoy.

Photo Credits: independentman

Heading Home: How to “Break Camp”

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Sooner or later, as fun as your camping trip may have been, it will be time to go home. If your camping trip has been a successful one, you may hate to break that bit of news to your family or friends, but as the old adage goes, “all good things must come to an end.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you’re out of the woods yet, friend. You’re going to have to break camp, meaning you’ll have to pack up all of your things, clean up your camping area, and get ready for transport. Here’s a quick guide to doing it as thoroughly and efficiently as possible.

First, don’t procrastinate cleaning up throughout your trip. A lot of the stress of breaking camp will be reduced if you do a little “mini-clean” before going to bed each night. These cleans don’t have to do anything major, but you should at least stop garbage from stockpiling next to your tent. The more prepared you are to break camp, the easier it will be to start it. No one wants to look at a huge pile of garbage and clothes at the end of the week and wonder how to even make the first dent.

Third, work together. As tough as it is to motivate a group of people to clean when they don’t want to clean, having more hands will make things easier for everyone involved. Work together to get a good system going – someone handles garbage disposing, someone handles packing and bags, and someone takes down the tent. If you get all cylinders going at once, you’ll be able to break camp in record time.

Fourth, do a review and final walk around. If you have that nagging feeling that you’ve forgotten to pack something, there’s a pretty good chance you did. Have a mental checklist of the things you’ll absolutely need – like a cell phone, wallet, car keys, etc. If you’ve remembered all of these things, don’t spend too much time looking for something that you can just replace anyway.

A good camping trip is not only relaxing, but it gets your mind to focus on nature, camp site maintenance, and the fun of being in the outdoors – just remember to leave the woods like you found them.

Photo Credits: heymarchetti