Ten camping mistakes that can be avoided
CAMPING
BY DAVE FOLEY
In summers, I work part-time at three camps teaching wilderness skills to kids and staff as they prepare for their outings into the back country. From my own trips, and what I hear from these folks, I have a good idea of what often goes wrong on first forays into the wild. Although this piece focuses on canoe trips, hikers will find most of these ideas will be applicable to them as well. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order, on how to avoid rookie mistakes.
Test your gear at home
At least a week before the trip begins, pull out your camp equipment, clothes and fishing gear. A week gives you time to make purchases and repairs. Start up your stove, pitch your tent and blow up your Therm-a-Rest and check to see if anything is missing or broken. Stove and tent checks are critical. It’s better to discover a broken zipper or deal with a balky stove in your yard, rather than at your first campsite. Even if your tent is new, learn how to pitch it at home. Invariably, it takes a while to figure out how to put up the first time.
Make a checklist
Since Fed-Ex doesn’t deliver in the wild, what you forget to bring, you won’t have. Make a comprehensive list of everything you take. For me, a checklist is more reliable than my brain. When I return each year, I make “additions” or “subtractions” to the list. Printing a copy of the list is my step one in trip preparation.
Know where you are
Whenever we’re on the move, a map is within view, and I’m following our route. I’m constantly looking out at landmarks and affirming their place on the map. My canoe partner also has a map. If land features don’t correspond to what we see on the map, we find it’s easiest to retrace our strokes back to the last known point. It’s a good idea to supply every canoe with at least one map.
Make sure everyone knows the plan
Unless you’re traveling solo, trip plans have to be shared. At the end of each portage, communicate where you are heading. Keep boats together, especially if it’s rough, since strong winds or sudden shifts in weather may necessitate a change in plans. When portaging, if the path forks or becomes indistinct, leave a trail marking or wait for the rest of your group so no one strays off the wrong path. “Lost” should be remembered as the premise of a TV show, not a personal camping memory.
Eat and drink all day
This sounds like a typical Saturday at a fraternity house, but it is sage advice for travelers. In my early years, I liked to eat breakfast, push on for three hours, snack at lunch and move on looking toward a big dinner. This was a big mistake. By mid-morning, I was tired and feeling weak. I attributed this to the hard work I was doing – wrong. I was literally running out of fuel. What I needed was something to eat and to be drinking: a granola bar, a handful of trail mix or just about any high-calorie food will do. You need it about every hour that you are on the move … especially when portaging, you have to eat often.
When it’s raining wear your rain gear
This is one of those “duh” statements, that you hardly think worth mentioning until you watch your group of campers continue to paddle in their t-shirts as it begins to rain. Once you’re wet, rain gear is of little value. Have it within reach as you paddle, lying by your tent door at the campsite and on you as the first drops fall.
Pack like it’s never going to stop raining
Using dry bags, Ziplocs and plastic garbage bags, I make sure that clothing, food and anything else that does poorly when wet has a sealed waterproof covering. If you are away from the campsite, make sure everything is protected from rain, and when traveling through rough water, ask yourself, “If the canoe swamped, what would get soaked?”
Don’t participate in the gear exchange
I’ve paddled back to campsites to pick up fishing rods, re-walked portages to recover paddles, and on long ago trips, lost sunglasses, a cup and a swimsuit. And I’ve found sunglasses, a paddle, a pocket knife and a personal flotation device. All of this could have been prevented by making one last check of the campsite or the portage. To stay out of the gear exchange, keep your stuff in the central areas of the campsite and portage landings. When equipment gets placed out of sight, it is liable to be overlooked.
Canoeing is not an extreme sport
Unless you are absolutely 100 percent sure you won’t swamp, don’t be out paddling in rough water. When the lake begins to kick up, stay near the shore, so if the weather gets worse, you can escape. Being forced to land is always preferable to having to deal with the aftermath of canoe mishap in a wind-whipped lake.
You are the surgeon and chief mechanic
Most people are neither of those. Yet, on a trip, if someone gets hurt or camp gear is compromised, you have to deal with that – be pro-active. Minimize the chances of injury by cautioning group members to watch their footing on rain-soaked portage trails, being careful around stove heating liquids and exercising care in loading gear into canoes. If tent zippers are eased up and down, paddles stored in bushes off the ground, fragile gear placed in bubble wrap and canoes secured well away from the water at night, these irreplaceable items will remain functional and available.
As a coach for many years, I was once asked: “What was the best advice I could give a new runner?”
“Double knot your shoes,” I answered.
It’s the simple things that can trip you up. Whether on a track team or in the bush, a small mistake can make a big difference.