It can be a lot of fun to camp outdoors and experience the sights, sounds and smells of nature as you rough it a little bit.
However, your camping experience will only be as pleasant as your level of preparedness and your ability to deal with the unexpected.
There are some things you can do to make your camping trip more pleasant and to ensure that you have fewer problems.
Purify Local Water Sources
You might not have access to clean drinking water at your campsite. While you may have brought water of your own to drink, that can run out quickly as you use the water for not just drinking, but also for cooking, cleaning clothes, washing dishes and brushing your teeth.
It can make things easier on you if you have a way to purify the water nearby. Most people try to set up their campsite near a water source, like a river. You can use water filters, a purification system or make a fire and boil the water in a pot.
Having some way to make the water around you clean enough to use, though, is a great way to be prepared for anything.
Prepare Your Food Ahead of Time
While it can be a lot of fun to make your own food at the campsite from raw ingredients, you may not always feel like preparing everything by hand.
You may be tired after your day of camping and want something quick and easy, which is why we suggest making up some of your food ahead of time. You can bring it frozen or just partially made up so that you have very little to do once you set up your campsite for a meal.
Bring Hand Sanitiser
It can take a lot of water to wash your hands every time you eat, prepare food or go to the bathroom. You’ll run out of water quickly this way, and it’s not a good idea to wash your hands in any nearby ponds.
Instead, where appropriate use hand sanitiser to cleanse your hands with. This kills most germs and conserves resources so that you have less to pack.
Mark Your Trail
If you will be doing some exploring as you camp, be sure to bring some way to mark your trail. We suggest bright orange tape or some other easy-to-spot marking material.
Just place a strip every so often at eye level to mark your way back to the campsite. You can also bring a compass and keep track of what direction you are going to find your way back.
Another way to make it easy to find your campsite is to camp near a landmark of some kind, like a pond, lake or river. You can even camp near a prominent boulder or something else that is easy to spot from a distance. Just figure out a method for you that makes it easy to locate your camp once you hike away from it.