welcome back to the tent we are here outside once again i'm gonna start calling these videos
tent talks because we always seem to end up here chatting but today's video is going to be a list
of some common mistakes that i see new campers making and more importantly what to do about
them how to correct them so let's dive right into the list this first one is something that
i have talked about quite a bit on this channel the mistake is not knowing how to use your gear
prior to your trip so before you head out on a trip you always should be confident in how to use
your gear the tent is a really good example a lot of people buy a new tent put it in their car and
then try to set it up for the first time when they actually get out camping that is not a good habit
to get into so take some time at home whether it's in your living room at a park in your backyard
to set up your gear practice setting it up taking it down learning how to store it properly and take
care of it that way your gear will last you for a long time and then you don't have any of the
stress or frustration that comes with trying to set something up brand new for the first time
the next mistake that i see a lot of new campers make is picking a bad campsite now believe it or
not there's actually a lot that i think about and that i consider when i'm choosing a good campsite
if you are going to a campground there are usually designated areas where you park your car and
where you pitch your tent so you're not really choosing the site but if you're going to spurs
camping which is what i'm doing right now where i'm not at a campground that has specific spots
there are a lot of things that i'm thinking about when i'm choosing where i want to pitch my tent
so i'm going to run through a few of them here the first one is i'm going to look for a spot that
has been previously used and usually you can tell there's a rock ring fire pit and there's usually a
spot where you can tell other people have pitched their tent you know it's kind of cleared off from
any big rocks or sticks it's flat and you can just tell other people have been there so that's a good
indication that that might be a good spot i also want the ground to be somewhat firm i don't want
to be pitching my tent on any sort of wet squishy marshland right so a nice firm dry ground is ideal
i also want to look around and figure out you know if it were to dump rain where is that rain going
to flow where is that rain going to pool this is really crucial as you probably already know
i live in utah and i camp so much in southern utah and that rocky desert landscape does not
absorb water well so that all that rain water will run down to these washes and even create
flash floods so that's really serious stuff that you need to be aware of when you're desert camping
but in general you just don't want to be pitching your tent in washes or drainage areas i also like
to consider sun exposure and how the sun is going to move throughout the day will i have shade when
will the sun hit my tent so in the colder months i want the sun to hit my tent like immediately right
but in the middle of the summer i want my tent to be more shaded so that it stays nice and
cool especially in the morning because once that sun hits a tent in like the hot summer months it
heats up so fast so maybe i want to position my tent in a way that i have a little bit of shade
in those morning hours but like i said in the winter i kind of want the exact opposite
the last thing that i want to mention here is just looking up for any standing dead trees or branches
that could potentially fall on your tent these are sometimes called widow makers you do not want
a tree to fall on your tent while you're trying to just peacefully sleep here at night right so this
is something that's really important to consider and take in when you arrive now these are just a
few things that i'm considering when choosing a good campsite i think i might make an entire
dedicated video to this showing you some good examples so if you want to see that make sure to
comment below with good campsites so that i know you got this far and that you're interested in
that other video honestly a lot of this good campsite stuff can be boiled down
to situational awareness and simply looking around when you arrive situational awareness
is crucial in really any endeavor in life but especially when you're out camping when you arrive
don't pinch your tent right away take a moment to walk around look around you assess the trees and
the wind and the sun and where potential rain will go right you want to take in the landscape and
then use that information to make better decisions so situational awareness is really important here
the next mistake that new campers make is not packing appropriately for the weather
the climate and the elevation of where you're going so of course you want to get a good weather
report but sometimes those are not very accurate especially if you're going somewhere more remote
there might not even be a weather station in that area so you want to be packing for a wide
range of temperatures and always being prepared in case you know doesn't say it's going to rain
but what if it rains right you want to kind of be prepared for that so i have a whole video on car
camping clothing which i will link to below dives deep into all of the different you know categories
of clothing that you want to be considering but in general you want to be packing in layers now
you're likely going to be experiencing quite a range of temperatures between the night
and the day and you want to ask yourself how am i going to be able to adapt if the weather changes
how will i adapt if it's colder than i expect if it's hotter than i expect if it rains and
i'm not expecting it so kind of thinking through not only the expected but the unexpected weather
conditions another thing like i said to consider is the elevation if you're getting weather
reports for down in town but you're actually camping even if it's just a few miles up into
the mountains and you climb a couple thousand feet that's going to be a different weather situation
up there even though it's not that far from town where you might be getting your weather so you
want to be thinking about these things as you're packing and making sure that you can adapt the
last thing i want to mention is do not worry about over packing i know there might be some people out
there who like shame you for over packing maybe if you're backpacking and you can't carry your
weight and you put yourself and your group at risk for injuries and just slowing everyone down like
maybe okay we need to talk about how much you're bringing but when you're car camping and you're
new to car camping especially you don't have that experience and so it is completely normal to over
pack and sit there at home be like do i need this do i not like am i gonna need this i'd rather you
over pack if you have room in your car you're driving yourself up to a campsite right i'd
rather you over pack and learn what it is that you do need and don't need and then you're going to
learn through experience so i'm not going to shame you for over packing but i do want you to assess
the climate the elevation and the weather and try your best to make good informed decisions
that will allow you most importantly to adapt to changing weather conditions so that's the key
point here the next mistake that i see quite often is not storing your food properly and that also
includes your trash because your trash has a scent to it you want to make sure that you're always
storing that stuff well even if you're at the campsite so how you store your food will
depend on where you're going you want to make sure before your trip that you're looking up
any of the local food storage regulations for the area that you're camping if you're in bear
country there might be extra precautions that you need to take in order to secure your food
some campgrounds even have little lockers that you put your food in at night that are bear proof
so you want to know all this stuff going into it so that you can make sure you protect your food
and don't give any animals any food rewards i for example am out where i'm not concerned about bears
i am mainly concerned about smaller critters like mice squirrels birds that kind of stuff getting
into my food and so i use these clear plastic bins that i've talked about a bunch that clip shot and
then i lock that in my car at night and that is sufficient for this particular area but again
you have to really check on where you're going and make sure you're aware of the animals in the area
another thing to think about is if you are in a popular camping area whether you're dispersed
camping or at a campground if you're somewhere that sees a lot of campers those animals are not
shy i am constantly shocked at how like aggressive they are at going after food even if i'm
right next to it i think that you should really think about your food storage at home before you
actually head out so that you don't have a million grocery bags like floating around your camp table
right so i have the food bin and then i also have my cooler and that's sort of how i keep things
organized for this particular area and most of the places that i camp here in utah and again check
on those local regulations because things might be different depending on where you're camping oh and
this hopefully goes without saying but you do not ever ever ever ever ever want to be storing food
in your tent okay so there you go there should be no food around your tent you shouldn't be
snacking in your tent eating a little granola bar in there no no no food is eaten away from the tent
and stored away from the tent because again all that stuff has a scent and it can attract animals
so no food in the tent the next mistake is wearing really nice clothing that gets ruined around the
campfire so this really nice fire fit i'm gonna hang out around that tonight cook some dinner
and just relax and sometimes when you have a fire going there's little like sparks or embers that
can kind of pop out and hit your clothing and burn a hole through your clothing especially if you're
wearing down or fleece it'll burn a hole really quickly sometimes if there's some sap in the wood
that will sort of pop as well when it gets hot so you don't want to wear your super nice clothing
like if you have a really nice patagonia jacket or something i wouldn't wear that around the campfire
because that is a quick way to ruin it so i have camp clothes you actually if you watch a bunch of
my videos you're probably like does she have any other clothes because i wear the same stuff all
the time when i go camping because i don't care if it gets ruined and so it's kind of freeing
and really nice but you want to find things that are both functional and also you don't
mind ruining and we are back where we started for the final mistake that new campers make
and this is a very simple one one i talk about all the time but they fail to plan and organize
for their trip so this is a simple one to remedy and it starts with a good plan at home i feel
like a broken record because i talk about this so much on my channel if you take a little bit
of time at home like we've already kind of talked about throughout this video and you plan for your
trip you look up that weather you take the time to practice using your gear and learning how to
store it and all that stuff it will just create such a more enjoyable trip when you're out there
and so i think the mistake is really just buying a bunch of gear because you want to get into it
throwing in the car and then kind of just winging it that generally doesn't work out great so
creating a good plan at home the who what when and where leaving all that information with several
people back at home this is a really important safety habit to get into it's something i talk
about a ton on my channel because it's so dang simple to do a lot of the friction and stress
and discomfort that people sometimes experience when they're camping can be eliminated or reduced
by just some good planning and some organization at the start i have tons of other resources and
videos on this channel for that topic i will link to it in the description below and with
that i will leave you because it is starting to get cold so i gotta go layer up and start cooking
some dinner but i hope you like this video i hope you found it helpful if you've made some of these
mistakes be nice to yourself you're learning we've all made mistakes and so you can learn from it and
then make better decisions and implement better systems and organization next time and you'll have
way more fun if you like this video make sure to give it a like and subscribe to my channel
i got tons of camping and outdoor content for you here so i'd love to see you in another video