Going solo camping can be a scary but extremely rewarding experience. Once you get the hang of solo camping, you’ll love the ability to pack up and go any time you want, without worrying about anybody else.
It’s an excellent opportunity to experience nature, reflect, and enjoy your own company in a quiet and natural setting. You don’t need to worry about other people’s schedules or “be on” during your trip; it’s one of the most relaxing experiences that you can enjoy alone.
However, there are a number of things to consider when you’ve never been solo camping before, so listed before are some tips and things to remember before your solo camping trip.
Tips For First Time Solo Campers
There are many things you can do to prepare for your first solo camping trip, and it is essential that you prepare and make sure you’re ready. However, don’t let the fear of going solo camping stop you from enjoying the process, do your best and slowly test your solo camping skills.
Build Up To Solo Camping
Solo camping is a great experience, but diving right into a solo camping trip with no previous camping experience can be a mistake. If you’re interested in camping and building up to solo camping, start with going with friends or try booking a camping trip with a company that will take you out the first few times.
It’s important to make sure you understand the basics of camping, test out your gear, and have help close by if there are issues.
Once you’ve got a little experience, you’ll be ready to push forward with a solo camping trip, knowing that you have everything you need and the expertise to deal with any issues.
Learn Camping Skills
Learn the skills you’ll need for solo camping before throwing yourself into a dangerous or uncomfortable situation. Before you head out by yourself, get somebody to teach you or practice camping skills with others around. Once you’ve comfortable, you’re set for a solo camping trip.
You should practice and learn at least the following skills:
- Navigation with a compass
- Pitch your tent or create your sleeping environment
- Build a fire
- Options for creating or finding clean water
- How to set up your campsite.
- How to handle wildlife, including things like bears.
- Learn to read weather forecasts so you don’t go out in storms.
- Take an outdoor first-aid course to address any injuries you might sustain
Talk to guides or friends who go camping to see what else you should know, including information on the local areas in which you plan to solo camp. You might pick up some hints or tips from others.
Document Your Trip
Before you ever go for your first solo camping trip, you need to learn how to document where you’re going and who you should be telling that to. At a minimum, you should be telling family or friends where you’re going, when you’re expected to return and any other information that could help if you don’t come back on time.
You can also document all this information and leave it on the counter at your house; you can also check in with rangers or other workers in the location you will be camping.
Your goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to find you if there is a problem.
Emergency Equipment
You should also be looking for an emergency device that can help rescuers pinpoint your location. This is extremely important if you plan to hike or leave your campsite at all.
Whether you’re an experienced hiker or don’t plan to do much, you never know what will happen or how the weather can change on you. So keep the device on you at all times when you leave your campsite, especially when you go hiking.
A cell phone won’t cut it as the reception could be poor, so a dedicated emergency beacon or satellite phone would be required.
So, ensuring that you document and tell your plans to people and have a way to communicate your location will be essential to keeping you safe if anything happens while you’re solo camping.
Pack Light But Essentially
The key to a fun and comfortable solo camping trip is picking the right gear to keep you safe, comfortable, and happy. You need to consider what is essential and how you can make things lighter for yourself.
You will be hiking all of your equipment to your campsite by yourself and will need to set everything up by yourself. So weight and understanding all of your equipment will be important.
Essential items would be, but aren’t limited to:
Shelter
You have a few options for your shelter; you can pick a tent, live under the stars, or bring a tarp. Your bedding and preferences will determine the best option; however, colder environments would do better with a tent.
The other big factor will be how heavy your shelter is; a tarp is exceptionally light, but you can get 1-2 person tents that are less than 5 lbs and even as light as 2-3 lbs.
Having a tent adds weight but also allows you to feel safer and store all of your items inside the tent. You should make sure that you can set your tent up at home before you go into the wild.
Bedding
Bedding and shelter go hand in hand; if you’re going for a tent, getting a sleeping bag and a mat for comfort would be a good idea. The tent + sleeping bag + mat will be the heaviest option but potentially the most comfortable for your solo camping trip.
Many solo campers opt for a hammock and either sleep under the stars or put a tarp overhead to keep light rain away.
You could also look for bivy sacks, which are essentially sleeping bags with weatherproofing around them. They give you the warmth and comfort of a sleeping bag without needing a tent. It’s minimalistic but an alternative to hammocks.
Cooking
While solo camping, you don’t want to rely only on cold snacks; being able to heat some real food will help keep you warm and a lot happier by having something good in your stomach.
A basic gas cooker with a single pot is all you need; just make sure that you bring enough gas or limit your use.
Lighting
Having a headlamp and some other lighting can be helpful if you need to maneuver around at night or check on anything that you may hear or want to see when it gets darker. Headlamps are great because it keeps your hands free when you’re alone solo camping.
Shovel
Having a shovel or entrenching tool may add some extra weight to your pack, but it’s extremely helpful when you’re digging a bathroom, and the right entrenching tool can even be used as a toilet seat when you’re done.
Now you be all set for a whole load of adventures! Let us know how you get on by using #Wandelen in your posts…