If you have any beginner questions, feel free to ask them here.
Check out the /r/Camping Wiki and the /r/CampingandHiking Wiki for common questions. 'getting started', 'gear' and other pages are valuable for anyone looking for more information.
Previous Beginner Question Threads
I am the type of person that is perfectly content sitting in front of a campfire and getting lit. But I will be going camping with people who aren’t very good at doing nothing. (One of them is a gamer who will probably be going through Xbox withdrawals.)
We will be near a national park, so we plan to spend at least one day checking that out. What do you do during downtime?
Edit: Holy cow. Thank you all for the suggestions. I’m not able to reply to everyone, but I am trying to at least upvote everyone. ❤️
We are newbie family campers who just finished our first night camping. The overall experience was great except that come bedtime, neither of us slept more than about 2 hours (our kiddo slept just fine, thankfully).
We were a bit overzealous when planning this summer and have a few more trips planned. Now, I am not looking forward to them as much for fear we wont sleep.
Our setup consisted of a Big Agnes Hinman 4” pad on top of a moving blanket. We let it self-infalte and forgot to top it off before our kiddo was asleep. So it probably was not at 100%, but overall it was still pretty supportive.
We each slept in individual mummy sleeping bags. The mummy bags felt restrictive to both of us and neither of us had a good pillow setup.
There was a chance for rain so we had the rain fly on which made the tent a tad stuffy, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. We definitely wished we had a fan.
We were at a state park so there was noise but nothing obnoxious or disruptive. White noise still would have helped.
Things I feel like we needed:
-white noise (fan sleeper all my life) -moving air (fan) -sleep aids (i take melatonin at home and forget to bring it) -allergy meds (also forgot- nose got stuffy in tent)
My hope is addressing the things above to mimic our at home sleep routine will help. We only stayed one night so maybe night two would have been better, too.
Any thoughts? I feel like we will end up having so much stuff just for sleep it seems like overkill but the lack of sleep definitely put a damper on the second day.
EDIT: whoever is going through and downvoting everyone’s comments, get a life.
Thanks!
I’m going to be traveling cross country in my tiny little teardrop camper this year and NEED some meal recommendations for 2 months on the road. I have a propane stove and will have access to a safe space to start a campfire most nights, and will be staying in the woods so I’ll have more than enough time for intricate meals; though I have a smaller cooler so the less ingredients the better!
Trying my best to stay safe with cooking on my campsite this summer. How do you dispose of your grease from cooking, and do any of you store food (covered, ofc) in the backs of your cars? Looking for as much advice as I can get!
Hi everyone,
I work as a teacher and we're taking the kids on awesome trip to Finland! Some of this will be camping and I need to write a risk assessment for it.
Due to the nature of our setting the children need to be monitored closely. At the home there are alarms on the doors at night for staff to check they don't go into other rooms.
I need some alarms that would prevent the tent door from opening but allow for nearby adults to be alerted when a tent door has been opened.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Does anybody have a favorite tent waterproofing spray (or other way) to keep their tents waterproof? Even with a tarp there'll be a lot of moisture build-up. I've got a couple trips coming up where it gets pretty cool at night, so want to try to be more prepared this year. Thanks!
The official camp sites I've looked at around my area need either age 18+ or 21+. I'm also not sure what the official age requirement is in Illinois. We're relatively experienced campers that can cook outdoors and whatnot, and I'm sure we're all capable of respecting the area as much as the next guy. Are there any places that don't check ID? If it helps, one of us turns 18 in July.
What's that one piece of gear you have that you swear by. Yet everyone else thinks it is pointless, or just shit.
I'll go first, the collapsible baffle (sorry bellows) stick. It makes starting and maintaining a fire stupid easy.
Have a young family with 2 under 3s. After a tent that will last us but not too expensive i.e. under £600. Like the look of the bell tents but not sure if the best fit. Would appreciate any gear advice? Thanks
Hello fellow campers! We're a group of adults about to go on a lake camping trip. We have things to do, but are there any fun things to bring?!
Like glow sticks... speakers... funny glasses... etc.
Thank you in advance!
Hey campers, what's everyones favorite sleeping bag that is both lightweight (< 5-6 lbs) and rated for ~20F temperatures?
I am hella strict when it comes to food smelling things in or near my tent, I even make sure to not use shampoo that has a fruit smell to it. Now books.... I would never bring my book into my tent in fear of food smell since I always read while I eat and it's right on the table when I'm cooking, so I always lock it in the car at night, am I bring silly (I've been chided for this) or is it okay to bring that book into the tent or the food smell doesn't cling to a paperback? Currently camping in a high warning for black bear county. *I feel so dumb asking this
Edit: Thank you everyone, this gave me peace of mind, bringing the book in the tent for continued reading!
hello! This weekend I went camping with some friends, we saw some ticks there but I used a lot of repellent and I thought it was enough. Back home I found 2, a small one and a big one on me, now I feel phantom bites on my head, I already have been checked out and at least the adult ticks can't be seen (the most obvious ones), but the babies are very small, I don't know if y’all know any remedy or shampoo to wash your head, just in case.
PS: I already took like 2 baths and I’m washing rn all my stuff that I brought to the trip.
I'm heading to Colorado for four weeks on June 1st. Cripple creek area for a few days, estes park for a couple weeks, then after that I have moffat booked but I might change it because I just bought an ATV which can really up my game by giving me access to areas I didn't have before.
I had a 22 ft travel trailer I took to Colorado for 3 weeks last year (from Texas), but this year I opted to sell it and go back to tents. The weather up there is pretty great and we mostly use the camp kitchen and exclusively use the camp restroom/shower. So it seems like I have more space and the same amenities with a couple tents. I even got a trifold mattress for the tent, 6 inches thick memory foam.
What are y'all up to this summer?
I’m trying to buy a 3 person tent but I’m stuck between the stormbreak 3p tent or the trail lite 3 tent. Which one should I choose? Or should I not go for the north face at all and choose Big Agnes:Blacktail hotel 3 tent? Thank you!
