TheCampingGuy.com Blog | Camping Tips

The gorgeous green mountainsides and rushing spring water are great reasons to enjoy camping in springtime. Bugs, however, can dampen your camping spirit depending on where you plan to camp. To overcome these pesky critters, I have some great tips and ideas for keeping your camping trip bug free and it won’t require much time or effort.

Netting
Traditional easy-to-open canopy tents, which are great for shade while living in the outdoors, can double up as a great dining room. For about $100, you can find a great garden tent with convenient screen walls. These are easy to put up, take down and keep the bugs out.

Another way to net your campers is to be sure that the camping tents you choose have netted windows in them. Most tents like Greatland, Eddie Bauer and Coleman come with both netted windows and a zip up solid window.

Products
Spray on bug repellents and lotions are inexpensive, easy to find at your local drug store and work great. They often, however, contain Deet. Deet is a pesticide that has been known to irritate sensitive skin, absorb into the blood stream and its long-term affects are unknown, so be aware.

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Trees, streams and adventure make Mother’s Day camping a popular trend and can help your family save money also. She might even appreciate being whisked away to a private get-away in the woods. Keeping her weekend picture perfect, however, will require some dedication and maybe a few suggestions.

Location
Be sure to choose a campsite, marina or resort that doesn’t require reservations but also has plenty of wide-open space to sprawl around in. Perhaps even going into designated “back woods” areas outside your city would be best. Check your local state or county preserves to find safe, awesome areas and conduct a Google search for more info.

Packing the Goodies
Besides the usual emergency kit and other camping necessities, be sure to pack things that will make Mom’s weekend more pleasurable. Pack her some mosquito repellent, Calamine, pillows, treats, blankets, lotion, face cream, chocolate, books, gifts, nail care, tissues and whatever else your Mom likes.

Sneaky Sneak
Be sure that Mom is unaware of where she’s headed off to and pack the car while she’s distracted or away the day before. You already know she loves the great outdoors but a surprise will definitely liven the atmosphere! And since you are whisking her off in secrecy, be sure to pack her necessities: clothes, boots, tooth care, face cloths, socks, etc. Lastly, make her comfortable on the trip with magazines, water, snacks and her favorite tunes.

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Spring is one of the most beautiful times of the year to camp and hike, but we also know that where there are flowers blooming and birds chirping, there is also pollen, spores and microscopic seeds floating all around us. So, I bring you these allergy fighting tips to use on your next springtime camping trip.

Homeopathic Remedies
Camping out in the wilderness means that you must be alert and on your toes at all times. There are a great many things to discover, enjoy and be aware of. You don’t want to be drowsy on allergy medication while you’re trying to enjoy the great outdoors! So, before you head to the medicine cabinet for something, try out some of these natural ways to fight off allergies.

1. Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids: Boosting your immune system is a great way to fight off allergies and the infections that can sometimes follow them.
2. Vitamin A: Fight the inflammation caused by allergies with vitamin A, even after the onset of symptoms. Subtle but effective, Vitamin A calms allergies and boosts immunity.
3. Vitamin B5: This vitamin will boost your adrenal function, which is a great defense against stress. You may not know it, but your body gets stressed out during an allergic reaction.
4. CoQ10: A natural antihistamine and stress blocker, this is a great vitamin to add to C and B5.
5. Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Found in fish and supplements, take this with A and CoQ10. Within an hour, you should expect relief from the symptoms of your allergies.
   Nelsons Homeopathic Medicine: These neat little pills come in a clikpak that you can carry around with you in a purse or pocket and are made by Nelsons, a homeopathic remedy company that’s been in business for over 100 years. Visit them at www.nelsonshomoeopathy.co.uk.
6. Airborne: Created by a teacher, this supplement is packed with amino acids, antioxidants and vitamins. You can find it in just about any grocery store.
7. Juices, fruit and vegetables: Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables along with drinking orange, grape and cranberry juice before, during and after a camping trip can make a huge difference in how energetic and healthy you feel.

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Saint Valentine was persecuted for marrying young couples against the king’s orders, helping many escape being drafted into war. The rich history behind this beautiful holiday has not been lost and can be shared in celebration of spring and love when you pamper your partner with a Valentine’s camping trip. This Valentine’s Day plan an exciting retreat in the fresh outdoors.

In order to painlessly plan your Valentine’s Day camping trip, be sure to keep three essential elements in mind; location, activity and gift. With these you can create a simple but comfortable environment that will add the intrigue you need to enjoy Mother Nature and make your partner happy.

Location: Be sure to research an area for camping that isn’t too far away from home but still requires a scenic drive into the countryside. Start by searching your state+camping on Google and then check each location’s website for park hours, amenities, restrictions, vegetation information and cost.

Once you’ve chosen your park, plan to adorn your lover with pleasant surroundings. A lush, padded mattress pad topped with satin sheets, loads of fluffy blankets, all complemented with red rose petals, is incredibly welcoming. Snacks and wine are also a must.

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The atmosphere is already set by the beautiful backdrop Mother Nature provides, the smell of the camp fire and whatever pleasurable foods you’ve prepared for the weekend. Want some easy recipes? But now what? The Camping Guy has some ideas for those camping moments when nothing seems to be going on.

The Obvious: Horse Shoes, Volleyball, Badminton, Card Games, Board Games and Croquet. These are all fun and engaging sports that anyone can be a part of. What makes them even better is how easily available and inexpensive they are. You can find them separately and in sets at any sporting goods store or retail location with a sporting goods section. A great selection of popular board games can be found at any toy or department store. The Camping Guy, however, suggests www.boardgames.com for cheap camp games delivered right to your door!

For The Family:
Hollywood Pictionary: With a large pad of paper and a hand full of pencils, each family member takes turns drawing their favorite Hollywood Stars. This is a great game for teams and giving away prizes like Electronic Hand Held Card Games, Portable Checkers, Uno, Game Balls.

Animal Antics: This is animal charades! Write the name of up to 50 animals, especially barnyard, onto small pieces of paper, fold them in half and put them in a bucket. After creating teams, have one person from each team blindly choose a paper and take turns acting out that animal’s behavior without making a sound. The opposing team members must guess which animal they are. The team who guesses the most correctly, wins!

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There are a few key things to keep in mind when planning a campout during a holiday–especially Thanksgiving. First and foremost, you must have atmosphere. Without it, you could find yourself surrounded by bored and listless guests who wish they were warm at home. You also need a great camping list geared especially toward Thanksgiving, and some great camping games to go along. Here are some tips to ensure you have everything you need to complete your Thanksgiving Campout.

Atmosphere: A holiday campsite isn’t a holiday without the tidings of decor. Inexpensive, plastic tablecloths especially made for Thanksgiving are a great start. Add a festive centerpiece and paper place mats (sheets of construction paper with cut out ‘hand-shaped’ turkeys glued to them) and voila! You have a festive table. Hanging cornucopia party lights, when used properly, are also a nice touch of holiday greetings. Place a Thanksgiving welcome mat at the foot of each tent to finish off the look of your site.

A Camping List is, as you know, is essential to any camping trip. For a Turkey-themed trip, here are the things I suggest you take, starting with the obvious: Clothing and toiletries, camping blankets, camping tents, family tents, outdoor cooking grill and utensils, THE TURKEY, sides, breakfasts, sandwich fixin’s for the turkey sandwiches – next day, snacks, hot and cold drinks, lots of water, decor, music, lights, a fire pit, marshmallows, hot dogs and an outdoor heater.

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Taken from a woman’s point of view, my friend April, who camps a lot wrote this piece for you. Enjoy!

Women may be domestic goddesses and they are just as capable of roughing it in the wilderness as men, but who says they want to? There is absolutely no shame in the need for a clean, quiet retreat in the outdoors where there is a choice—fishing or a fish restaurant. Which is why I bring you information on the cleanest, most convenient camping in America.

The most obvious place to visit is Big Bear, California. In Big Bear, The Honey Bear Lodge has an excellent reputation for convenience offering in-room spas, kitchenettes, and every level of cabin comfort at reasonable prices. There are basic rooms, rooms for couples, individual cabins for families and parties and even cabin homes! Honey Bear Lodge is also less than a half mile away from the eclectic shopping that Big Bear is known for and less than 5 miles away from Baldwin Lake Stables where you can take guided tours on horse back.

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I was in the checkout line at my local grocery store when I overhead the guy in front of me talking to the checkout gal about his wife and kids at the local campground and how they got rained on last night. They survived…but got a little soggy. Being “The Camping Guy”, I was about to give him some tips, but the line was growing behind me and I was getting “those stares” from other shoppers. So, instead I’ll give the tips here, so everyone can use them.

My all time favorite is Seam Sealer. I written about this a few times and even have a quiz on my blog around this idea. The bottom line is - always check your tent seams. It’s just a good habit to get into whenever you set up your tent. Sometimes it can crack or peel, exposing the stitches where water can get through. A $5 bottle of seam sealer can make the difference between a soggy campout and a dry one!

#2 Ground sheet. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen ground sheets under a tent floor that are sticking out past the tent. Imagine, as the water rolls off the tent roof and down the walls…it puddles on the ground sheet and rolls back under the floor of the tent! Yikes! So, please make sure you fold the edges of the ground sheet under the edges of the tent floor. This way, water will drain off the roof and tent walls and around the edges of the tent and soak into the surrounding ground, not roll back under the tent. (Note to self – make a video on how to properly position the ground sheet under the tent)

#3 Keep your gear away from the walls of the tent! Make sure your sleeping bags, packs, and other gear are not resting up against the walls of the tent. Remember, a tent is designed to deflect the water off the tent and onto the ground. A bump in the tent wall will cause the water to stop, pool and soak through.

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Care for your tent and it will take care of you.

I wrote about how to choose the right tent in the last two postings, so I thought it only right to tell about how to take care of your tent.

Here are some TIPS on how to make your tent last many seasons:

• Use a ground cloth under your tent. This will protect the floor from rocks and twigs and keep moisture from seeping through. HOT TIP: Always tuck the edges of your ground cloth beneath the floor of your tent so that rainwater will not collect on the ground cloth and run under the tent.

• Take off boots or shoes when entering the tent.

• Keep the inside clean by sweeping or tipping it up and shaking out debris.

• Never store a wet or damp tent. This will cause mildew - yuck! When you get home from a wet campout put the tent over a clothesline, fence or patio chairs to dry it out. If the weather won’t permit this, hang the tent on a couple of nails in the garage. But, make sure you dry it out.

• Seal the seams of your tent. When I buy a new tent I also purchase some sealer. I setup the tent in the backyard and seal the seams. This also allows me to become familiar with the setup and take down of my new tent!

• NEVER store food in your tent. Critters will tear a hole in your tent to get that food. Store food in your car.

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4. Shape - The “popular” shapes of tents include A-frame, Dome and Walled tents. I go into this subject in more detail in a Report called: Essential Camping Gear for Beginner Campers, on my website. Go all the way to the bottom of the page for your free Report. From my experience I have chosen a dome tent for a number of reasons:

• More spacious with lots of headroom.
• Some have multiple rooms and vestibules! Separate rooms give you privacy or an area to store gear.
• Dome shape offers good stability, even in strong winds.
• Easy to clean and dry. You can pull the stakes out of a dome tent and flip it upside down in the morning to dry the bottom of the tent floor!

In addition to the four important areas mentioned above, here’s a few more that will broaden your knowledge. Remember: Knowledge is Power!

Most tents these days have a rain fly that fits over the top of the tent for rain protection. If you notice the picture on the left without the rain fly, the top of the tent is screened to allow for proper ventilation while you are sleeping. Hot air from sleeping bodies rises and goes out the top of the tent. During inclement weather the rain fly protects the screened top from water while still allowing ventilation.

Make sure the rain fly goes over the whole top of the tent and at least half way down the side of the tent and has guy lines to firmly attach it to the tent. The one I have goes about halfway down the wall of the tent and has elastic cords with hooks on the end to attach it to a hook sewn into the seam of the tent walls.

Most modern tents have what’s called a tub floor. This is a seamless, heavy-duty waterproof material that lines the floor of the tent and goes up the wall about 4-6 inches before it is sewn into the wall. It gets its name because it looks like a bathtub. But, its purpose is to keep any side seams away from the ground so that leaks can’t occur.

Make sure the tent you pick has a tub of heavy-duty polyurethane coated nylon to provide maximum water protection. Protect this flooring by sweeping up any dirt and debris that gets on it and by using a ground cloth under it. A simple throw rug or carpet remnant put inside the front door of the tent can serve as a doormat for everyone’s boots and shoes when they enter. That way you keep the floor clean and free of debris.

TheCampingGuy

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