Camping tips/tricks/survival hints?
Posted: December 6th, 2010 | Author: Mitch | Filed under: Camping Tips | Tags: alamo, Camping Tips, chihuahuan desert, classmates, comforts of home, field biology, fish, garments, hiking boots, hundreds of miles, itinerary, necessities, rain gear, rio grande, sleeping bag | 10 Comments »I’m an outdoorsy person, but I’m going on a field biology trip next month and we’ll be camping for two weeks in southern Texas. I have all my necessities (sleeping bag, inflatable pad, rain gear, wicking garments, hiking boots, etc) but I’m scared that I’ll be missing the comforts of home after the first day!
ANY camping tips are greatly appreciated, I need some advice for getting through this trip without going bonkers 
I’m an outdoorsy person, but I’m going on a field biology trip next month and we’ll be camping for two weeks in southern Texas. I have all my necessities (sleeping bag, inflatable pad, rain gear, wicking garments, hiking boots, etc) but I’m scared that I’ll be missing the comforts of home after the first day!
ANY camping tips are greatly appreciated, I need some advice for getting through this trip without going bonkers
*I’m going for a college class at the end of December with 7 classmates and our professor. We have to follow his itinerary so we won’t be able to fish or spend much time at the camp sites aside from sleeping. We drive hundreds of miles to different sites and go on hikes, canoe in the rio grande, see the Chihuahuan Desert, and visit the Alamo as well.
Expectations are 99.9% of joy. You are not at home, you are camping–don’t expect to feel like you are home. You know or can easily find out the majority of what you need. You are wise to learn from the experience of other. No sense in repeating the same mistakes. Here’s the most important things I have learned in 40 years of camping/backpacking:
1) You need to sleep well or you will not be happy, especially for a long outing. It will catch up with you night-by-night and ruin your trip. Buy a VERY GOOD QUALITY self-inflating mattress pad, or if you have the room a bit less expensive but good quality, egg-crate, dense foam pad. Take a small pillow–it beats a wadded up jacket 10-to-1. Most of my buddies who made fun of taking a pillow now take a pillow camping!
2) "Take care of your feet!" If your feet ain’t happy–you ain’t happy. That means quality footware, quality socks, and some sticky mole-skin for areas that are getting chaffed. I wear very good quality wool socks (at least 70% wool) over top of polyporpylene sock liners, winter and summer. This combo feels very cool in the summer, and very warm in the winter. It’s almost impossible to chafe. It is more comfortable than any other sock or combo when wet. Poly can’t absorb moisture so it gets passed to wool–wool wicks water and perspiration away from your sock liner, plus wool stays warm even when wet.
You have a choice of two strategies for boots. Highly breathable boots that simply get wet and dry out quickly (with the sock combo above), or waterproof boots.
3) All of the raingear I own is high quality BREATHABLE. Choose Gortex if you can afford it or if bulk is not a problem. I wear rain pants too. Don’t make the mistake of buying non-breathable rain gear if you have to hike or do any activity in it. I don’t care how well ventilated it is, on the back or under the arms, etc. You will more wet from sweat that if you took it off and stood in a drizzle. If you absolutely cannot afford good, breathable rain gear, get a plastic poncho. It will ventilate well enough to keep you from sweating to death.
4) Don’t waste your money on cheap versions of anything above. These are essentials if you want to enjoy your experience, so don’t skimp. I am very frugle when it comes to spending money on myself, but I never once regretted buying good outdoor gear. I have purchased both comfort and something that lasts beyond it’s cost.
5) Learn to play a harmonica! It is a great way for you to pass time around a campfire–your friends will love it. Nothing sounds more natural around a campfire–a million cowboys can’t be wrong!
These are my best tips, passed on to you. Hey, have fun!
if you are with a bunch of people it is always a good idea to have a deck of cards
if by yourself bring a good book
one tip that helps too is after you put up your tent spray the outside of it with bug spray especially by the bottom and doors and if your tent has screen windows spray there too
You don’t say if your going alone or not.
So I will answer as if you are alone.
A pack of cards can keep boredom from setting. ( Patience )
Keep a diary and bring a book or two for reading at night.
Make sue you bring a fishing rod, or just fishing tackle with you, if there are fishing opportunity’s.
Taking a camera can help keeping the mind occupied. Take snap shots of camp-site, and native
animals you encounter.
Make sure you bring stuff for making your own bread, that will keep you busy every 2nd day.
Nothing better than camping bread or fresh toast in the mornings with a hot cuppa coffee.
That’s it
Cheers from DOWNUNDER
you can read more below
There’s a similar question posted right now asking: "What’s so fun about camping?" I told them to look for the challenges. The idea of camping and being the "outdoorsy type" is to get away from the comforts of home and see the world in it’s simplest natural form. Every time I go camping, even if it’s car camping in a state park, I find out that the stuff I "can’t live without" is sometimes the very thing that is making my life even more complicated. When you can accomplish something great with only the minimum of tools, it is a sign of true intelligence. Not to mention the affirmation that you are (for lack of a better term) a badass. Not to mention telling your friends how bad it was, and when they say "Oh, that sounds awful!" or "How did you make it through?", you can just say "Eh, it wasn’t so bad. All I had to do was….yada yada yada."
Don’t try to recreate the comforts of home; you can’t do it. Take the situation at face value and make what you have work the best it can. Accept that some things are just going to have to be different for the time being and you’ll appreciate what you have even more when you get back to it.
I try to learn as much as I can from any situation. I think about how other people handle things. Scientists, explorers, soldiers, homeless people.
Good luck!
Not to mention the affirmation that you are (for lack of a better term) a badass
You sound fairly well-prepared with the basics. Look at Wikipedia for a reference to the "Ten Essentials." I never go anywhere without a matchless match, such as StrikeForce. You do not mention whether you are traveling by car. If so, you can get an inverter at OfficeMax for about $70 that will allow you to recharge your cell phone, laptop computer, and rechargeable batteries off the cigarette lighter during your trips among locations. You can buy MiFi at Verizon, allowing you to receive internet service and emergency Yahoo! Answers anywhere there are cell phone towers, which is much easier in Texas than in the mountains of Colorado. You do not mention availability of showers. For personal hygiene, you may want to pack a small container of baking soda, isopropyl alcohol, and/or liquid soap. Empty your boots in the morning to shake-out the scorpions, spiders, and rattlesnakes.
First of all, do NOT spray bug repellent on your tent! That can degrade the fabric.
Some of what you can bring will depend on whether you are backpacking. However, if you are being brought in by vehicle, plane, boat, etc. right to your campsite, you can bring a few comforts. (It’s amazing how small "luxuries" can make a difference in a primitive environment.)
Bring a bathing kit: Towel, bathmat, two bath sponges in different colors (one for soapy water, one for rinse water), a bucket, and spray bottle, plus your preferred brands of soap, shampoo, and toothpaste. You’re going to be working hard all day getting dirty, so it will feel really nice to clean up afterwards.
Find out what kind of food will be available, and ask if you can add some extra items. (Don’t just keep them in your tent, or you may attract unwanted critters.) Some nice extras are marshmallows, good-quality hot cocoa mix (get the just-add-water kind), cookies, and herbal tea.
Even if you won’t have much time in camp, a deck of cards and a good book wouldn’t hurt. In two weeks, there’s bound to be downtime at some point.
Try to have a set of camp clothes, including shoes, that you will only wear at the campsite when it’s not raining and you’re not doing strenuous work. Even if you barely wear them an hour or two a day, they’ll make you feel more comfortable than being grungy all the time.
And have fun! Go into it expecting to enjoy learning new things, sitting by the campfire, and seeing the beauty of the natural world.
Bring extra batteries, coffee and tea.
Bring a SMALL roll of duct tape. Or better yet wrap several rounds around your hiking pole or even a pen. This will be incredibly handy for many, many things, not the least of which is blisters from all the hiking you said you will be doing. As a "hot spot" begins to develop in your boot, simply peel off a small amt of tape and apply it directly to your skin. This will eliminate the rubbing and continued hot spot that inevitably develops into a blister. (Think band-aid on your achilles when you wear pumps).
In addition, you may need tape to stop a rip in your tent/ sleeping bag, mend a broken tent pole or cracked flashlight. You can easily wrap 2 ft around a pen and even 3 ft around a hiking pole
if the world decides to mess with your group, and you find yourself in a bllizzard, dig a cave iin the snow andd sleep in it. seeing as this is highly unllikely in texas, i would say to just be carefull where you step because there are scorpions and spidders and poisonous snakes out there. and stay hydrated.