Your Campsite Blueprint: How to Set Up Camp

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Setting up a camping area isn’t only about finding a relatively flat space to plop all of your equipment down in. Instead, you should be careful to keep the right sections separate – such as fire and shelter – and understand why you need to design a campsite that will work for you better practically. Here’s how to set up a camp that you probably won’t need to adjust.

Section 1: The Tent Area.

Your tent area should be generally higher than the rest of your campground, since this will allow any water flow that should come in to move away from your tents and not get your gear wet. Try to find a relatively flat area that is higher than surrounding areas for your tent, and try to scout out this part of your location first. A lot of your surrounding tent area should depend on where your tents are so that your campsite isn’t too large.

Section 2: The Fire Area.

Once you’ve set up your tents, take a time to examine the prevailing winds. Moisten your finger or toss some grass in the air if you’re not sure. Why do you want to know the winds? Because when you build your fire, you’re going to want the smoke to blow away from your campsite and not into your tents. Keep your fire at least thirty feet away from the tents, and once you have a fire spot, you can set up a few surrounding metal or plastic chairs.

Section 3: The Bathroom Area.

Of course, a “bathroom” is a loose term when you’re talking about the outdoors, but if you’re going for the rustic experience, you’re going to need a place to, for lack of a better phrase, dump your waste. This should be out of sight and far from the campsite, hopefully behind some trees or a large rock for the sake of privacy. Be sure that the soil will allow for relatively easy burial, and be sure to stick with the same general area – you don’t want to spread this kind of thing out.

Section 4: The Shower and Bath Area.

Of course, a “shower and bath” is a bit of an exaggeration, but if you can, try to set up camp near a clean water source that will allow you to stay clean without straying too far from camp. Having a stream nearby is often better than buying your own water – just make sure that the water is fresh and clean.

Photo Credits: Smoobs