-
Heading Home: How to “Break Camp”
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.
Second, plan ahead one day. The day before you break camp, ask yourself what will need to be done. How will you get dirt out of your clothes – can you wash a load and pack them up a day ahead of time? What kind of equipment can you pack the day before that you won’t need to use before breaking camp? Avoiding procrastination goes hand in hand with preparation.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
