Camping can be the vacation of your dreams. Or, it can be the stuff of nightmares. When you are getting ready for your camping trip you envision hiking in beautiful natural scenery, eating good food by the campfire and taking quiet naps on your hammock. And when things go well, this is exactly what happens and you come home refreshed and your batteries recharged.
However, camping trips can go horribly wrong. Bad weather, poor planning and even cranky camping partners can derail a camping trip and make it one to forget.
No matter how well you plan it out, you always need a plan B to make sure that you are covered for when things go wrong. You have to imagine things that may have little chance of occurring but take precautions just in case.
In this article, I will go over several of the things you should plan for just in case.
Equipment failures
One of the most common problems that can occur is something happening to your equipment. A tent can tear, a pole can snap and you may have bought something that was faulty from a manufacturing defect.
You’ll need to have a plan for this as it can seriously hamper your ability to camp in comfort and possibly even in safety.
The way to go around this is to have some emergency solutions to have in your back pocket. For example, tears in a tent can happen quite easily. With lots of branches around it is only a matter of time before it can happen. You should have some patching material as well as a kit to sew up any big tears and then seal them with some special tape.
Also, hook and loop straps are a must have as sometimes your velcro doesn’t hold up or, two bits of pieces break apart and you need to be able to get them attached together. They are versatile and take up almost no space so there is no reason to not have some.
You should also have double the amount of essential tools. Your multitool could get lost or break and you need to have a backup. They are small anyway and don’t take up much extra space.
Plan a backup location
What was an idyllic location for last year’s camping trip might be a total no go this year. Storms are frequent and your clearing may be full of knocked over trees this year.
Which means that when you arrive, you will either need to be able to clear the area in time for nightfall, or you move on to your backup site that you already have saved in your GPS.
Have a cluster of spots near to where you plan to camp so that you don’t have to travel far. In fact, during every trip you should do some exploring of the area and pick out other suitable spots, save them to your GPS and then have them ready for the next trip just in case.
Injuries
Slips, falls and bumps on the head can happen very easily when you are out in nature. You need to have a good first aid kit that can handle lots of common injuries.
Prevention is the best medicine, of course, so make sure you plan your trip around the weather. If it looks wet and muddy then chances are good that you could hurt yourself by slipping on some rocks. Also, make sure that you set up camp in an area where you don’t have any risk of rocks sliding off of a cliff onto your tent, or a dead tree coming down in a high wind.
If an injury does happen then you’ll need a kit that can handle cuts, abrasions and even possible broken bones. Plan for an injury and make sure that you have a way to get out safely.
Bring dried food
You should plan to have some nice meals on your trip as that is half the fun of camping anyway. But, things can happen and your fresh food can get eaten by animals or get ruined by the rain.
You should have some non perishable food to take along with you in case this happens. There are lots of dried foods that can be brought along to get you through without going hungry. Dried soups are a great thing to have on hand as all you need is some boiling water.
