Once upon a time, I used to consider myself well-versed in camping. I could put up a pup tent in about 2 minutes flat, easily start a cooking fire without lighter fluid, and tie a bunch of cool knots.
Then I took my children camping for the first time, and I learned what real camping is about.
Fifteen years ago, closer to my Girl Scout days, I would have been a lot more prepared for our recent weekend at a state campground in Ocala. But years of camping in cabins and RVs has made me soft.
So I was unprepared when, 30 minutes after putting up our 8-man tent, setting up the sleeping cots and lugging all of our gear inside, it began to pour down rain – inside the tent.
I had put up the tent in the front yard a few days before, mainly to make sure that I had all the parts and could remember how to assemble it. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about adding another layer of waterproofing to the 10-year-old tent, an oversight that I sorely regretted that Friday night.
We had one guaranteed dry spot inside: the bottom bunk of the bunk bed cots the kids were sleeping on. I put a plastic tablecloth over the top bunk and piled the kids on the bottom bunk, along with everything I wanted to stay dry. This was fun for about 10 minutes, and thankfully, this being Florida, that’s about how long the rain lasted.
Then the kids were up and out, playing with the rest of my son’s Cub Scout troop while I pulled out one of our towels and soaked up the inch of water that had collected inside. Thanks to scattered showers, I repeated this routine again Friday night and twice more on Saturday morning.
Thankfully, my family was adopted by our closest camp neighbor, Heather (a self-described “mother hen”) and her kids, so we had a dry place to land when things got too soggy at our place. Heather and the other parents in the troop were veterans at the camping thing, and they had lots of advice (and handouts of dry bedding) for the newbie among them:
Pack at least one more of everything than you think you will need. Thanks to Heather’s abundance, I had a clean air mattress and a dry blanket to use on Friday night after mine got soaked. If I had packed an extra towel, I would have had a clean one to use on Sunday morning instead of one that had been used to dry my tent.
Pack in clear storage bins and organize by task, such as “mealtime” or “campsite setup.” That way packing goes easier, both before the trip and at the campsite as you prepare to head home.
Bring mats for both outside and inside the tent, and follow a strict “no shoes in the tent” policy. This will help keep your bed clean and dry even if it is wet and dirty outside. (Keeping an extra towel just inside the door is a good idea, as well, because if your shoes are wet and dirty, the rest of you probably is, too.)
Bring glow sticks for the kids. They like to wear them and play with them, and that way you can still see where they are after dark.
Bring sunscreen with bug repellant and waterproof sunscreen; reapply often. I forgot we would be outside from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. By 10 a.m., we were desperate for shade and starting to turn pink. The mosquitoes were also up as soon as we were. So keeping covered is vital.
Bring rope. It’s good for all sorts of things: a clothesline for drying clothes and towels, a line for tying inner tubes together on a river float trip, a hanger for your lantern, etc.
Be flexible, but make a plan. Let everyone know when meals and events will be and what part they should expect to play. Even if your family is camping alone, letting the kids know that they should shower before breakfast, or that they must eat breakfast with you before going on a hike, will help keep whining to a minimum. In a group, such communication is vital.
Have a signal or an agreed time to return to the tent. This will help you avoid wandering through the campground shouting your kids’ names. While you are at it, review other safety rules: Don’t go into someone else’s tent, stay with your buddy, let your parents know where you are going and if your plans change, etc.
Waterproof your tent with a spray- or brush-on waterproofing agent. Once you’ve properly waterproofed your tent and rain fly, avoiding touching the tops and sides from inside the tent to preserve the waterproofing.
Leave the area better than you found it. That means packing out all trash and recyclables, and leaving behind anything you didn’t bring with you.
Other tips:
If you have electricity at your site, take advantage of it. I brought a fan to keep our tent cool at night, but our troop leader brought a portable air conditioner to keep it really cool. A power strip or multi-outlet cord allows for extras such as an electric skillet and rice cooker for meals and a coffeemaker in the morning.
Check the weather before you head out and adjust accordingly. If heavy storms are expected, bring extra rain jackets, extra tarps for your tent if your waterproofing fails, and extra stakes to keep gear tied down in high winds.
Remember you are sharing the wilderness with wild creatures, some of whom like marshmallows even more than you do. Don’t store food in your tent, and make sure your cooler locks, or store it under something too heavy for an animal to move, like a picnic bench. I’ve seen raccoons open coolers and make off with whole packages of bacon. They’ll also walk right up to your table and take that bag of marshmallows while you’re distributing roasting sticks.
Two-way radios give your kids the freedom to explore while you relax around the campfire (or in your friend’s air-conditioned tent). Invest in a few.
Bring extra batteries. Most flashlights last through one night of flashlight tag and trips to the restroom and playing around with animal shapes on the tent walls – but they might not make it through night #2, and you don’t want to risk a midnight bathroom run without a good light.
Have a backup meal. Even if it is just peanut butter and bread, have something more than chips on hand in case it is too wet or too hot (or everyone is too tired) to cook a hot breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Bring guidebooks to the trees and wildlife you’ll experience in the great outdoors. Camping trips are often filled with discoveries. Bring a guidebook along so you’ll know when you can touch that or eat that, even if you don’t have a cell phone signal where you are.
