Camping Tips – 7 Top Tips How To Sleep Comfortably Warm When Tent Camping, No Matter How Cold It Is

Camping is not a pure summer adventure. It’s just as great in the colder seasons. Pitching your camp near a lake in fall, or in the snowy mountains... Doesn’t that sound tempting? But to enjoy such a trip, you need to make sure of one thing (amongst others): You need to keep warm during the night. Freezing is certainly uncomfortable, but if you get too cold, you might just freeze to death in your sleep. Now that’s not very tempting.

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Camping tips tell you to invest in a good warm sleeping bag. But you can still freeze. Because a sleeping bag, though essential, is not the whole secret of staying warm. 

Here are 7 great camping tips how to keep you warm during the night:

1. Give your body enough fuel
2. Stay dry
3. Warm up before going to sleep
4. Prepare your sleeping bag
5. Choose clothes wisely
6. Don’t wear too much clothes
7. Have proper insulation underneath

Camping tips #1: Give your body enough fuel

Your body needs energy to generate heat. That means it needs calories. Camping tips for keeping warm include eating properly, consuming more calories than usual, and drinking plenty of water. Eat some high energy food, like sausages, crackers, cheese or chocolate bars, before you go sleep or when you wake up during the night, getting cold. This will help giving you the energy you need to keep yourself warm.

Camping tips #2: Stay dry

Even when it’s cold, your body still perspires during the day. Wearing damp clothes is not only uncomfortable but it also makes you get cold much easier. Make sure you wear dry clothes when you go to sleep. It’s good to keep some clothes just for sleeping. If you get cold whilst changing, do some light exercises to warm up again. You can also change clothes inside your sleeping bag.

Camping tips #3: Warm up before going to sleep

Remember that neither sleeping bags nor clothes generate heat. They simply isolate and prevent you from losing heat. Your body can generate heat, but it won’t once you lie down. Therefore, one of the most important camping tips is to warm up before you go to sleep. Sit near the fire, or do some light exercises, and then straight into your sleeping bag whilst you are still warm.

Camping tips #4: Prepare your sleeping bag

Don’t just take your sleeping bag out of its sack when you go sleep. It needs to be laid out for a while to loft up until it provides maximum heat retention. Best thing to do is laying it out whilst you still got sunlight, and then let it sit in your car until you go sleep. Another great idea is to stuff a heating pad inside your sleeping bag about half an hour before going to sleep. This starts heating your sleeping bag up.

Camping tips #5: Choose clothes wisely

When camping in cold weather, the type of clothes you should never take along is cotton, because it absorbs and holds moisture, making it difficult to keep you dry. Wool is also not recommended. Synthetics are a better option, and an even better material is midweight polypropelyne.

Camping tips #6: Don’t wear too much clothes

When we feel cold, we put on another layer of clothes. But when lying in your sleeping bag, this makes it much more difficult to heat up the air inside the sleeping bag, because your body heat is trapped inside your clothes. Also, too many clothes can press the layers of the sleeping bag together, causing less air in between and resulting in less insulation. The fewer clothes you wear, the more efficient can your body heat the interior of your sleeping bag, and the warmer you will be. Wearing a cap, however, is good, since it prevents you from losing heat via your head.

Camping tips #7: Have proper insulation underneath

You don’t want to lie on the rocks, but insulation is also important because you lose heat through your sleeping bag’s bottom as well. An air mattress “steals” much of your body heat to heat up all the cold air inside it. A better option is a ground pad that also helps to keep you warm. If you do want to use an air mattress, make sure you have good insulated sleeping pad on top of it.

These camping tips should certainly help you to keep warm during the night, even when the temperature outside your tent is really low. We would also like to hear your camping tips how to keep warm. Please share them by leaving a comment.

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Camping Equipment – 10 Top Luxuries That Can Make Your Life In The Camp More Comfortable

Our first thought when we hear camping is often the one of staying in the middle of nowhere without any luxury. But you alone determine how little or much luxury you want to have. Especially family camping is often meant to simply get away from our everyday life and relax, and for that purpose there is all kind of simple to the most amazing camping equipment that can make you feel as comfortable as at home. 

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Think about taking luxury camping equipment like this:

1. Camping furniture – This is one of the most basic forms of luxury camping equipment. A foldable camping table and some camp chairs allow you to sit down “properly” for your meals. Your drink doesn’t need to stand on the floor; you can sit together and play cards or board games without having to sit on the hard ground. Another table can be used for preparing food.
2. Folding cot with mattress – If you don’t feel like sleeping on the ground, and air mattresses never live long, then this is a piece of camping equipment you might love. It’s as close as sleeping in your own bed as you will come in a tent.
3. Camp shower – If you don’t like using the campground facilities, why not bringing your own shower? No queuing, no mess.
4. Camping toilet – Your campsite might be quite far from the restrooms. And especially during the night it’s not fun to stumble half-asleep through half of the facilities. Bring your own.
5. Camping cookware – You can get a variety of camping equipment to prepare almost any kind of meal in the camp. If your campground supplies electricity at each campsite, you can use a 2 plate stove or an electric grill instead of a simple propane camping cooker. With a Dutch oven, you can even bake. If you don’t have to worry about space and weight of your camping equipment, there’s no need for one-pot-meals. Bring a set of pots and pans and other things you need in the kitchen, like some Tupperware to store your food in.
6. Electric cooler – This is certainly a great piece of camping equipment for summer camping. You can keep your meat and other perishable foods in the cooler so that they last longer. This can save you from having to go to the supermarket every day.
7. Canopy – A huge piece of camping equipment, but when your campsite is big enough to set up your camping tent and a canopy, it’s certainly worth it, especially when your tent is not very large. It’s a nice place to sit outside in the shade during the day.
8. Radio & CD player – Just because you go camping doesn’t mean you have to cut yourself off from the world. A radio can be nice to catch the latest news, and listening to some music CDs is relaxing.
9. Bug zapper – This piece of camping equipment kills all kind of nasty insects like mosquitoes, wasps and bugs. It’s odourless and doesn’t affect your skin like heavy bug sprays.
10. Tent heater – This is camping equipment rather for spring or fall camping, unless you are camping in a region where even the summer nights are quite cool. Why should you freeze if you can have it warm?

Luxury camping is just one way of doing things, and it’s just as great an experience as travel or survival camping. However, luxury camping tends to use more camping equipment, which can sum up to quite an amount of money to spend. If you are just starting out, it’s a good idea to buy the most important luxury first, and then add on a few things every time you go.

What other luxury camping equipment do you know of? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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Camping Equipment – What Do You Really Need For Your Camping Trip And What Is Luxury?

If you look at the camping equipment available, it feels like you could perfectly live in your tent and not miss home. There’s anything that you could possibly need, from extreme backpacking equipment to luxury camping accessories. What camping equipment you really need depends to a big extend on the trip you plan and your personal preferences. However, there are some basics that you simply do need. 

Alisha Vargas, cc-by

The 4 things you should not go camping without:

• Tent
• Sleeping bags and pads
• Cooking supplies
• First aid kit

#1: Tent

This is one of the most important parts of your camping equipment. Few people go camping without a tent. Not only does it provide shelter from the weather and insects, but also privacy which we all need at times.

The kind of tent you need depends on the trip you plan. If you go to the campground with the whole family, buy a big family camping tent, maybe a 3-room cabin tent. If you travel, a smaller and lightweight backpacking tent will be much better. If you just start out, you don’t necessarily need the most expensive camping equipment, but still make sure that your tent is of a reasonable quality and suitable for your trip.

Your tent should not be too difficult to set up and provide enough space for you and your stuff. It should come with a rain fly that ideally covers the whole tent and gives extra protection from the rain. A bathtub floor (no ground level seams) helps to keep you dry, air vents insure that you have good ventilation and comfortable climate inside, and netting in doors and windows keeps insects out. 

#2: Sleeping bags and pads

Next thing on your camping equipment list: your bed. A pad on the floor, like an inflatable or closed-cell pad, will allow you to lie more comfortable and soft. You can also use an air mattress, but this is more luxury camping equipment.

No matter which time of year, a sleeping bag should definitely be part of your camping equipment. Nights often tend to be cooler, even in summer, and your tent will not provide much heat. It’s good to have a sleeping bag that you can unzip and use as a blanket when it’s not so cold. For summer camping, most sleeping bags will be fine, but for winter you need to find one that is suitable for the temperature you will travel in.

When the volume of your camping equipment doesn’t matter, you will be fine with most sleeping bags and pads. However, backpacking requires lighter camping equipment with a smaller pack size. Certainly no air mattress.

#3: Cooking supplies

You need to eat, and you need to prepare food. Many campgrounds even provide a grill for each site. Or you can upgrade with a skillet, a number of pots or even a Dutch oven so that you can bake. Even if you eat cold stuff, you still will need basic things like a knife, spoon and fork, a plate and a cup. Depending on how much camping equipment you can take on your trip, you can stick with a small propane stove and one set of cutlery and dishes per person, and a pot or two.

#4: First aid kit

This is an often overlooked but extremely important part of your camping equipment. You get small ones in an outdoor shop, and they will come in very handy when someone gets hurt. Accidents like knife cuts when cooking, the open knees of your wild kids or even something worse won’t stay away just because you camp, so rather be prepared.

A first aid kit for your tent is also a good idea. What if a pole breaks? Or the tent wall gets torn? It’s good to have something to repair your poles, or a spare pole, a patch to close up the hole in the wall, or a bottle of seam sealer if the sealing fails.

Camping equipment can sum up to be quite expensive, especially when you are just starting up but want good quality. It’s a good idea to make a list of what you need some time in advance and buy the items one or a few at a time so that you don’t place too much pressure on your budget. Stick with the basic camping equipment for the beginning, and get some more things later.

What do you consider the most important camping equipment, and what is the most incredible luxury camping equipment you’ve ever seen? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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