I know before I started camping I had a ton of questions. I loved being out in nature, but I hadn’t really slept outside in a tent. I was the type of girl that thought if my hotel room faced the forest that was camping. Now I throw my tent and sleeping bag in the car and just get out of town. I don’t pack a lot of gear, I just go. BUT I have to admit, when I went camping for the first time it could definitely qualify as glamping as I practically brought everything including the kitchen sink. Lolz. The good ol’ days. I’ve created a camping series to help take the fear out of camping and to help people get outside. Here are a few of the camping questions and answers that I’ve been asked.

Disclosure: This post not only shares camping tips, but also has Affiliate Links that I earn commissions from. This is how I make a living and keep this little blog running. Thank you for supporting me! I appreciate it. Much love, Kristi.

This is a list of camping posts that I’ve created that could be helpful to you.

1. What You Need to Know About Solo Camping from Packing Lists to How to Stay Safe
2. What You Need to Know When Camping in Alaska’s Bear Country (or any Bear Country)
3. How to Find Free or Cheap Campsites in Alaska (or any State)
4. 12 Camping Hacks that Actually Work & Make Camping More Fun
5. Campfire Smores That Your Friends Will Fight You For
6. 27 Camping Memes That Will Make You Want To Go Camping Right Now

27 Camping Memes that Will Make You Want to go Camping Right Now

Q: What do you do if it starts raining while you’re camping?

A: Always plan that it is going to rain even if there is no rain in the forecast. Put down the tent footprint or travel hack of a shower curtain on the ground before you set up your tent. Then make sure the rain guard is attached once the tent is up. These two pieces will keep you nice and dry. Put a lightweight rain jacket {I like this one bc it packs up small and I pack it up with my tent for the next trip.} in your tent so you can toss it in on if you have to use the restroom in the middle of the night. In Alaska, I keep my XtraTufs (rain boots) inside the tent so I can slip them on easily. I have one corner of my tent setup with my rain jacket, rain boots, flash light, heat warmers, and knit hat ~ everything I need to handle the rain and if it gets cold all of a sudden.

PS – It is oddly amazing to be in your tent listening the rain drop buckets onto your tent. I’ve been in both gentle rains and torrential downpours. One thing to plan is how you are going to take everything down in the rain. Typically, I pack up everything nice and neat and it goes back into my car in an orderly fashion. During a downpour though, I toss everything in as fast as I can and deal with it later.

Q: Can you have a campfire when you’re camping?

A: For the most part, yes. This changes dramatically if you are in a High Fire Danger area. Each campground will state at the entrance on the information board if campfires are allowed. Some will say that they can only be in established fire rings, in the fire pit, or only in the camping grill. Quite a few campgrounds have one big campfire in the center so all the campers can enjoy it together. Bring a beer for you and one to share, and don’t forget your camping chair, then go enjoy meeting people from all over the world around the campfire.

If there aren’t any fire instructions or restrictions, please use common sense. If it has been dry and your hot shot firefighters have been battling fires all over your state, don’t make a fire. If you do make a fire, make sure it is completely put out before you leave the area.

Q: What are the best tips and tricks to starting a campfire? Should we bring firewood with us?

A: First let’s talk about the firewood. If you live within a couple hours of where you will be camping, you can usually bring your own wood. If not, purchase your firewood from the campground hosts or a nearby store. The reason you don’t want to bring your firewood from other areas is that it can contain wood beetles that can destroy the forest. When in doubt, don’t bring it.

Read the story of getting my first campfire in Denali to finally take off.

Build the fire like a teepee – place 6-10″ sticks in a teepee formation. Then place brush, straw, or newspaper in the center and light it. Continually blow on it until the brush catches fire and so do the sticks. Add more sticks and small branches. Once you get it going, add on larger sticks then small logs. Don’t fret if it takes you 30 minutes to get it going.

Campfire Hacks

If your patience is fried or you just want to get the fire going already. Here are a few fire starting tricks I have up my sleeve. Whatever you do, do not put gasoline on your fire in the middle of the woods! You don’t want to burn the whole place down!

1. Squirt hand sanitizer onto the wood teepee and be amazed just how flammable that stuff really is.
2. If it’s windy, use those trick birthday candles that you love and hate. Those suckers are weatherproof and wind proof. Add them to your initial teepee and then add a few more once you’re at the small branches stage.
3. The next is my personal favorite as I came up with it all by myself. 🙂 Bring a fire log that you use in your fireplace. Make the wood teepee with kindling and small twigs and small firewood. Then place a fire log onto of that, then add your regular sized logs. Now that’s a fire! I do this when I want a hot fire to cook on or last for a few hours.

Collect moments, not things. 🙌🏼 What’s your life’s motto? This is mine. — #ilovecamping #campinglife #lifemotto #collectmomentsnotthings #camping #camping⛺ #fire #firewood #campfire #justgo #solocamping #getoutside #naturelover #rei1440project

A post shared by Kristi Trimmer (@kristitrimmer) on Jun 4, 2018 at 9:15am PDT

Q: How exactly do you cook food when you’re camping?

A: There are a few options to cooking while camping. You can buy a one-burner stove with propane or get a camp stove. Another simple way is to cook either directly in foil or in a cast iron skillet directly over the campfire. Foil cooking is fairly simple and there a many recipes to help you make every meal from breakfast burritos to campfire salmon. A cast iron pot can be placed directly on the flames or coals or mounted on a tripod. If you’re hungry and don’t have any of those things, go the old fashioned way and make shish kabobs out of a sturdy branch that you have cleaned and whittled a sharp point on. Add your meat and vegetables and grill directly on the stick. Easy!

When I’m camping for just a couple days, I bring my single burner Coleman stove.
 

When camping with friends or for a week, my Coleman camp stove is packed. This is also the one I use if there is a fire restriction at the campground that I’m at. You can roast marshmallows on it! 🙂

Here are a few things that I always have packed when I go camping that don’t need to be cooked.

• A container of mixed nuts
• High protein bars
• Dried fruits – sometimes I have this premixed in with my nuts
• Shot blocks – especially if I’m camping in the summer. Easy way to keep hydration up.
• Beef jerky – I eat uncured meat and usually have elk, bison, moose, or salmon jerky
• A jar of canned salmon (that I caught and canned). I add this to a half block of cream cheese and blend together. I eat it straight or on gluten-free crackers
• Charcuterie plate – in a plastic container I have already cut up bite size pieces of cheese, meats and sausages, a little plastic container of olives, pickles, and honey.

Uncured game meat beef jerky – my favorite! 

Q: How much water should you bring camping?

The rule of thumb on water, is to pack one gallon of water per person for each day of your camping trip. If you are going for more than a few days, don’t worry. Almost every campsite has clean, fresh water. I bring a refillable water bottle and a 5-gallon plastic jug of water. When I go through that, I fill it up from the camp’s water well.

Place your 5-gallon plastic jug of water on the picnic table. Use this to fill up your water bottles, the dog’s water dish, water for cooking, and for cleaning up.

 

Coleman Jug Water Carrier – Get one with a spigot!

Q: Do you shower when camping? Any tips to make it not so weird?

A: This depends… typically I don’t shower when camping in Alaska. When I road tripped across the US though, that was a different story. I relished the time in the shower to clean off the dust from the road. Some campground showers were well cleaned and awesome like those at Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Gold Bluffs Beach in California. Most though… oh my goodness, they are downright terrible. Just know that each one has different water pressure and temperatures and some could be the size of a small closet and others give you room to turn around. None of them were large enough to shave my legs though.

Here is a list of items you want to have with you if you are planning on taking a shower at a campground:

• Flip flops – just trust me on this
• A Shower Bag – a waterproof bag to carry your toiletries and clothes in
• Quarters – quite a few are coin operated. Some of them are free and others you buy a gift card and reload money on it
• Travel Size Toiletries – I like this set as I can add my special products in there and refill as needed

A Shower Bag is vital to keep your clothes dry. Having a separate toiletry bag is ok if you have a lot of stuff. I only brought shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion, toothbrush and toothpaste. I left everything else at home. 

If you want a longer shower or don’t want to wait in line, take a shower during off peak times. This is in the very early morning, after lunch or late at night. Some showers will have electrical plugins, most won’t. Don’t expect to blow dry and style your hair. Remember – if you are in bear country, do not put on perfumes or lotions with a heavy scent!

Want tips on how to store food and not attract wild animals, check out this section in the bear post. 

Q: How do you heat up your tent or keep it cool?

A: To keep my tent cool, I bring my portable camping fan by Ryobi. I received this as a gift when I left Phoenix to solo camp across the US. It was SO awesome camping in warm states! I charged up the battery at home or when I was at the local coffee shop working and it would last a couple hours. For heat, I don’t tend to heat the tent, but add on layers. I sleep with a base wool layer –  (don’t skimp on this one), add a thermal, and then a hoodie. I buy a box of heat warmers and have them in my tent with extras in my car. I use the toe warmers since they have adhesive. My butt always gets cold, which then makes it hard for me to sleep. I usually have 4 warmers on – two on my butt, one of my abdomen, and one on my low back. I do this heat method if it is sometimes to get any colder than 30-40 degrees and I am super toasty and comfortable.

Q: What do you sleep on? Do you use a cot, a mattress pad or air mattress, or sleep on the ground?

Once my tent is setup, I make the inside a comfy little haven so I can get a good night’s sleep. I put a blanket down or foam tiles down as my floor. If I am staying more than 1 or 2 nights, I blow up my air mattress. If it is a short trip, I use my mountaineering mattress pad. When I feel out of sorts and need to reconnect with nature, I use the mattress pad as it makes me feel like I’m sleeping on the ground, just a wee bit more comfortable. I’ve never used a cot when camping. I have a small 2-person REI tent that is really only big enough for me and my pup, Porter Storm. I have a single air mattress and a single mattress pad. If I had a larger tent, I would invest in a good double air mattress.

This is the exact Mountaineering Mattress Pad that I have.

When using the air mattress, I make sure to bring fitted flannel sheets. That rubber mattress gets oh so cold in the middle of the night! I personally do not like to be bundled up like a burrito when I’m sleeping. I’m a sprawler. So that means I unzip my sleeping bag and use it as a blanket. Mind you, I’m also sleeping on a blanket.

So it goes something like this for me:

1. Blanket or foam tile for the floor of the tent
2. Air Mattress or Mattress Pad
3. Fitted Sheet or Flat Sheet when using the pad
4. Flannel or wool blanket
5. ME
6. Sleeping bag
7. Blanket on top of that because I like the heavy weight
8. Blissful night’s sleep
9. And yes, I do bring my comfy pillow. I have a small camp pillow too, I use it under my right shoulder (I tore it fishing).

When in doubt, pack another blanket. That has always been my #1 Camp Motto!

Q: What do you do when camping? Are you bored?

A: I am the Queen of Solo Camping and I have yet to get bored when out in nature. I camped over 100+ days and loved every minute of it. The possibilities are endless, just dependent on where you are camping. You can go hiking, take a day backpacking trip, biking, canoe across the lake or on the river, go fishing (my favorite!), swimming, bird watching, horseback riding, skiing, shoeshoeing, or any other activity in the area. Larger campgrounds will have daily activities and ranger programs. Learn about the local floral and fauna, go on a mushroom hunt, learn about the different animal tracks, or even take a class on astronomy!

Kayaking at Kenai Lake in Alaska… my first time and I loved it!

Personally, I go for a nice long walk into the wilderness. I’m usually on the hunt for waterfalls or other water features. I have my backpack with a packed lunch, a cider, and my bullet journal. I find a rock near the waterfall and sit down and enjoy my lunch and write in my journal. It is my personal peaceful serenity. I often will read by the campfire while enjoying a glass of wine. If I’m feeling social, I will go to one of the Ranger classes or to the campground’s center campfire. I’ve met people from Europe, full-time RV families, and occasionally other solo campers. Sharing stories under the stars was one of my favorite ways to enjoy a night out camping.

A beer with a view… — #camping #getoutdoors #justbreathe #cider #alaska #thealaskalife #iloveithere #alaskalife #granitecreek #landscapephotography #travel #traveling #roadtrip #campinglife

A post shared by Kristi Trimmer (@kristitrimmer) on May 28, 2018 at 6:49pm PDT

Q: Where have you gone camping?

A: The list is massive at this point. Back in 2013 I took off and camped for 8 months across the US while I was running in half marathons and interviewing breweries. I camped at all the major national parks, camped my way through California, Oregon, and Washington. Spent a couple months camping in Pennsylvania, New York, and down to Virginia. The only two states that I have not popped my tent up in are Hawaii and North Dakota. 🙂

Now I would do it completely different if I were to do it again. For the most part I was at each campsite 1 or 2 days. I would like to stay a week or more in some. I saw so much in such a short time period that it was an assault on my senses. I’d like to do it again and take it much more slowly. Next time though, I’d like to be in a camper van or an RV!

Q: Did you grow up camping?

A: Nope. At least not in a tent. My dad had a camper shell on his truck and later bought an RV. I still struggle with whether that is camping. In my mind, camping = tent camping. As a family, we went on many adventures and went to Yellowstone and Yosemite. The first time I remember tent camping was in college when we camped near the wineries in Arizona… drank wine all day and cooked over a campfire and shared stories all night. My first solo camping trip was next to the Merced River, outside of Yosemite in 2013.

Q: Do you have a Packing List of essentials to bring?

Cooking Items 

Pick the way you want to cook and just get one of these!