Camping is fun!  But what about the dangers of handling a campfire and the threat of wild animals?  Here are some great safety tips.

Title: Camping Safety Tips: Part 2 - Camp Fires, Wild Animals,
Dangerous Activities

Author: Mike Foster

Camping provides a great temporary escape from the stresses and dangers of suburban and urban life. However, the camping experience is fraught with its own set of dangers. The wise camper must take these into account and prepare in advance how to make safety in the woods a high priority and counter the inherent risks. Read more

This article provides great camping safety tips!  How important is food safety?  Lets find out.

Title: Camping Safety Tips: Part 1 - Food, Water, Ticks

Author: Mike Foster

Camping out in the woods can be one of the most gratifying experiences available for those who stress over the hustle andbustle of daily life in or near a city. The dangers of contemporary lifestyles and environments can themselves drivepeople to the slow pace of the woods. Crime, careless drivers, pollution, identify theft. Who needs it! Read more

Cooking during a camping trip requires some special skills and special equipment.  Here are some pointers.  

Title: Getting Ready For Camping Cooking

Author: John Morris

Cooking in the great outdoors can be very different from cooking in your kitchen at home. Its a way of exploring your own skills that you may have unconsciously learnt from your mom in the kitchen when you were at home. You should have a propane stove, or if you prefer you can cook over a fire pit. Read more

This article provides helpful tips for building great campfires.

Title: Tips To Make Your Camp Fire Roar

Author: Julio Marice

Following is a short guide with the help of which one can build
great campfires:

If you can build a good fire for your camping trip then besides impressing your friends you can also truly enjoy the  camping. Though many camping equipment these days make the conventional campfire that looks boring and miserable. If one knows how to build an appropriate campfire then it can really make a great difference. Read more

This article provides some great tips for being considerate of other campers.

Title: Leave a Small Foot Print When Camping

Author: John Grimes

Camping is a great way to get away from the rat race and enjoy the peace and beauty of natural habitats. That being said, it is important that you take steps to minimize your impact on the area around you. Read more

The camping chair is a wonderful addition to your camping gear when you are fishing, when you are lazing on the beach, or when you are just trying to drink in the beauty of the nature in a picturesque picnic spot. The camping chair is the icing on cake – which though not compulsory or a necessity, makes a great addition to the comfort scale of any outdoor camp.

You Have Many Types of Camping Chairs to Choose From

As a camping chair enthusiast, I have found that there are a great deal of variations to what we think a camping chair should look like. In my opinion (and generally that of the market), the camping chair is something that is light, extremely strong, and foldable. It is usually made out of aluminum pipes (the body) and covered with very thick (bag material) nylon cloth. Hence, it can be folded and carried along with the sleeping bag and other such camping gears weightlessly and unobtrusively.

You will find, besides the standard foldable camping chair, that there are a number of other types of chairs, such as the inflatable ones which can also double as exceptional pillows, foldable chair-cum-table which can function as both chair and table as per your requirement, molded seat chairs, and even rockers. There is something for everybody out there. However, to get what you really need, you will need to run a proper survey or do research, and see what is available where, and what would be the most comfortable.

The Best Deals Will Come From the Most Unusual Places

When my girls one day came running through the main gate, they were carrying a miniature garden chair with them. This was a splendidly designed camping chair. On finding out from where they got it, I went to check the area out personally. There was a bedroom-sized garage full of clothes and sweaters and camping chairs. I was stunned at their exquisite beauty, and the throw-away price at which they were being sold. I bought them all for the sheer joy of having them.

Similarly, all you have to do is search. You must look in all paces to find whereabouts of these types of chairs. There is of course the internet; just running a geography-specific search will get you the details of all the dealers in the area. When you decide on a type of camping chair, you should keep in mind the exact purpose for which you will use it.

You may like to go fishing and use the chair to be able to stay/sit in running water – for this purpose you will need the waterproof camping chair, maybe modified with longer legs. If you need the chair to be simply your camping companion, then it does not mater about the water proofing – it should rather be small smooth and total foldable.

Make sure that the people whom you gift these chairs to love outdoor camping, otherwise the gift would be a puzzle;  a singly tiny chair received in gift will be a riddle for them. The camping chair makes for some great gift choices, though a bit unusual.  

It is quite unfortunate that with age, most adults do not go out for camping trips anymore. The practice is followed today mostly by people who have children who request to take them out on a camping trip. Hence, the materialization of a wonderful opportunity to get in touch with nature and at the same time spend  some excellent quality time with your children and bond with them.

The Basics You Need for a Successful Camping Trip

There are a few basics without which no camping trip can be organized or enjoyed. The first and foremost basic is of course, the tent. Without the tent, however beautiful and comfortable the weather is, the camping trip would not feel like one (not to mention that it is not safe to sleep in the open anywhere, least of all in a forest where animals can decide to investigate the newcomers in their area).

The sleeping bags are another must-have during your trip. Please, keep in mind that if you are to continue sleeping in your bag during your trips across Asia or Africa, you should always (without any exception) check your bag thoroughly before sleeping. There have been instances when snakes, scorpions and other such dangerous animals took shelter in the cool and comfortable sleeping bag. They would not want you intrude upon them, and I am sure neither would you.

You will need to have sufficient supplies and then some extra, lest something happens and you lose some of your food. If it gets spoiled, or any such unforeseen problems occur, you should still have plenty of food left.  A word of advice here: do not keep open food close to your tent. Keep the waste (vegetable peels, waste food, etc.) away from the tent,  it may attract dangerous wild animals.

Be very careful with your choice of cooking gear. Be it utensils or the stove, it should complement the rest of the camping trip in terms of usability and washability. It is advised to utilize disposable plates, so these can be thrown out directly instead of making a mess by having to wash it with safe water. Water is one of the most useful and can’t-live-without-it items. Be sure that you have a supply of clean water, or you have a way or purifying the water.

Hence, you should at all times during the day or night keep a close check on the quality of the water before you decide to drink it, since water can be the carrier of many dreadful diseases.

Make your own checklist and see how many of your items match with the list here. Ensure that each of the things that you will pack and carry is there, because the camping trip needs it. Avoid anything redundant, however pretty it is. After a while of trekking in the forest, every extra gram can weigh a ton on your back – and there is no respite from it, because each person has to carry his or her own burden.

Just what goes into a good camping guide, anyway? The first thing that crosses many peoples' minds are locations to camp at in an area they're interested in. While that's a good start, I think there should be more to a camping guide than just campsite locations and how to get to them.

Survival Shelters

A good camping guide will provide you with at least a basic overview of different survival shelters that you can build out of materials found in nature. If you get lost on a hike and need a place to sleep for the night while waiting for rescuers to find you, you're going to need to find yourself a shelter somehow. More often than not natural shelter isn't going to be easily found, so setting up a lean-to out of branches or a poncho and some rope can work just as well.

First Aid

While you should certainly stay up to date on the latest in First Aid, a good camping guide should tell you at least the basics involved in diagnosing and temporarily treating injuries and minor wounds. This information should by no means take the place of professional medical assistance! But if you are out in the wild with no access to professional medical attention, you have to be able to take care of injuries long enough to seek medical aid, and a good camping guide can help you.

Supplies

A camping guide can help make sure you are prepared for your trip by offering lists of things you can bring with you to make your trip more comfortable and/or safer. From lists of food supplies, to camping gear and right down to what you should usually find in your first aid kit, a decent guide can help make sure you don't forget anything important.

Basic Survival

Planning on roughing it for a few days? With a camping guide you can have access to how to catch wild game, in areas where it's allowable, how to cut it so the meat stays fresh and safe, and how to cook it for a healthy meal. A good camping guide can also show you what animals various tracks belong to, how to survive in harsh weather conditions, what to look for in the ideal camping spot, and how to start a campfire with no modern luxuries.

In addition to providing you with information on game hunting and cooking, your camping guide should also make available at least a little information on the local flora so you know what plants are safe to eat in areas where it's allowed to forage off the land, and what plants are poisonous and should be avoided. Most camping guides will even provide information on how to purify small amounts of local water resources, making it safe to drink so you can stay hydrated.

So, while it's a great thing to have a guide that tells you how to get to a certain camp site, how much it will be and what the park hours are, I think the best camping guides are the ones that give you the information you need to survive outside of civilization for more than just a few days. As always, better safe than sorry, right?

Maybe it is never possible to have all the camping gear you will ever need when you find yourself on the site; maybe Murphy’s Law is indeed true on all possible occasions. However, one should indeed strive to always be prepared when going camping outdoors. Read more

Camping is fun any time of the year, but if you plan to go camping in the winter, there are extra cautions that should be taken.  This article discusses the requirements of winter camping.

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