“Wohooo! We are all set to go on a camping trip to the hills next weekend.” Everyone in our house was super excited a week before about going to the hills for camping and have a lifetime of fun in a few days. I had planned every bit of the stage and also kept some room for impromptu adventures.
Every bit of our journey was fantastically superb and it was a memorable trip for all of us. And especially my younger brother, who had to tackle setting up the camp for the first time in our lives and me. And let me tell you, setting a camp is easier said than done. It took us more than an hour just to know about all the parts that go into setting up a camp. But this was our first time and we had to learn along the way.
Believe when I say that you don’t want to go unprepared on a camping trip with your family. Lest that happens, follow these tips that I have gathered over time and have experienced the lack of knowledge about these instructions. You will have a wonderful trip on the whole.
Tips:
- Practice Makes the Man Perfect:
Apparently, I got to know the real meaning of this phrase on the first day of our camping trip. I thought it was easy to set up a camp, but it’s not. So, what you need to do is practice setting up a camp beforehand. This will help you in a lot of ways, some of which you will realize on the judgment day itself.
You see, there are a lot of small but crucial steps that are required to set up a camp. It is best to go through the whole process of the awning, preparing the beds, inflating, erecting the rods, the knots, zippers, and much more. All of this will help you simplify the process and you will know beforehand; which string goes where and where to keep the beds for best comfort.
If you have an automatic camp set up system then it will be fairly easy to do so, but in case you need to execute the whole process on your own, then it is best to know what you need to do.
Always bring along a guide of setting up the camp on the trip. Even if you have practiced it, having a go-to guide in the middle of the mountains is beneficial. Also, involve your kids or siblings into the process. Delegate the tasks, ask them to inflate the beds, or set up the barbecue, or even get everything organized. This brings me to our next suggestion for a camping trip.
- Get Everything Organized:
Do not even think of leaving this step. You must know each and every small or big component of your tent. And more importantly, you should know where it is stored. Imagine yourself setting up the camp at 6 in the evening and the sun is about to go down. And you are not able to find the wired or the glow light for the zipper (wait, I am coming to this point too).
You have no idea how frustrating it can be. I do. And that is why it is essential to organize all your camp peripherals and components in one place so that you are able to find and use it on the spot.
Going one step ahead, it is also essential to use the limited space of your RV to store everything that you will need to set up a camp. Traveling with a family will take up a lot of space in your RV. So, it is best that you separate the equipment that you need once you reach the spot from all kinds of personal belongings.
There are dual benefits of this step, first, you will not have to take any stress when it comes to set up. And second, there is no scope of any part or component being misplaced.
- Make use of the Compressed Air:
Yes, this is also necessary to carry along on your camping trip. Don’t worry about the space that it will take, just adjust it somewhere and you will see why when you reach there. Even better, you can get is installed on your camper trailer just beneath the chassis.
The thing is that, on the camping site, it is evident that there will be a lot of dust, leaves, and debris. Instead of cleaning it by hand, you can just blow it all away with the compressed air.
Plus, what else can be done with an air tank attached to your camper trailer? Well, you can inflate the air beds, ensure that their enough pressure in the bike tires, if you want to go trekking and or just for a stroll along the mountains.
More than that, when it is time to pack it all up you will need to ensure that, the outer covers of the tent are not wet. With the compressed air, you can easily dislocate the water or moisture content on the tent and pack it up dry.
More than this, you can also remove the cobwebs from the car, clean the air filters and even the dustpans from the utensils and save on water to clean them.
You can also carry some camper trailer parts on your trailer. For example, trailer jack, it can keep the tent more strong.
- Zips with Glow Lights:
I know it is fun to sleep under the stars and gaze upon the night sky. For me, these small moments were the most relaxing and serene moments of the whole trip. It is here that I found yet another important tip for you to follow.
I wanted to go out of the camp at 2 in the night and since the area was congested, I was not able to locate the zipper. I had to look on every side of the tent just to find the tiny zipper so that I can go out. That is when I realized that using glow lights and gluing them to the zippers will make it easy to find them in the night. The glow lights can be very useful for other purposes too, I leave that up to you to improvise their usage.
- Set up the Camp in Daylight:
Before you can even think of setting up the camp, it is essential to do it in daylight. A camp is set up best in the daylight because here you will have easy accessibility to all the nooks and corners of the tent.
So, it is best to reach the campsite in broad daylight and start building it up. Plus, when you are setting it up when the sun is still shining it is easier first to clean the campsite area. In the mountains, there are bound to be some bugs lurking everywhere. That is why I make it a point to reach our camping site on the first day itself before 5 in the evening. Once everything is set up, it is time to lay down and on the nice and cozy bed.
And I know this from experience that, setting up a camp during the day takes lesser time than what it will take in the night. Also, you can make sure that there is enough natural shade in the area where you set it up. All of this not at all possible during the night.
- Colored padlocks:
Source: mhttps://bit.ly/3zmFZckFZck
You will need a few padlocks to carry along on your trip and it is best to carry different colored padlocks just to ensure that you know which key open which lock.
This will save you a lot of time in dabbling with the keys. And if in case, the key goes missing, well, in that case nobody can help you. Most of the times when it seems that the key has been misplaced, it is sunk somewhere in between the whole bunch of other keys. And because you decided to let it be and never sort them out, it will not be possible to get the right one out in a short time.
Contrary to this, imagine in all your padlocks and keys are color-coded. Meaning that for every padlock there is a different colored key, think of how fast you will be able to open the locks to your mystery boxes and get everything set up with ease. But this is provided that you have done the coding yourself and not your wife. This is because, for a woman, there are 5 types of red and men only one red.
- Make a Checklist:
Checklist because there are a lot of components that go into the making of a campsite. And you would not want to miss anything, be it a small pole for the ceiling or the bed sheet cover for kids.
Always make a list of things that you will need once you reach the spot. During packing all the stuff, keep the list in hand and just confirm what all you have kept and what is missing.
- Protection from Rain:
Even though all the other steps and tips for setting up a camp can be learned from someone else. But when it comes to deciding how to best shield yourself from the winds, rain or snow, your experience is what you need to rely on.
A campsite is vulnerable to rains (if you are near to the mountains), wind (near to the beach), or even snow. And in these situations, you can only protect yourself with some measures and tweaks while setting up your camp. For instance, make sure that your tent door is away from the direction of the wind.
This will protect from rain coming inside the tent through the tent door. Also, if the door is in the opposite direction it will be easy to open it up and then close it, without a risk of breaking the zipper.
Even though most of the tents are made from water-resistant materials, it is beneficial to place a rainfly on top of the tents. This will keep the water from penetrating inside the tent and also protect the tent from strong winds.
Conclusion:
Well, this is it. I like to call myself as a seasoned camper and this is what I have known to be of importance when setting up a camp in all these years. More than this, it all depends on you how can you make this task easier and convenient for you.
Because until and unless you do it yourself, you will not come to know about the minutes of setting it up. There are a lot of things that you will learn in the process and from there you can make your own tweaks and DIYs for erect an amazing tent.
Apart from all this, there are two important things that you need to take care of, that is, the safety and security of the campsite. If you are in a bear country, then make sure to adapt all the security measures.
