When you’re going camping and it’s your first time you will definitely need to know some basics of your new environment and you will need to have some basic camping skills.
So, camping skills for beginners? You’re going to need the following skills in order to have a good camping experience.
Types of fires
Using a compass
Tarp shelters
Camping stoves
How to tie different knots
Sleeping gear
Tents
Using a lantern
Types of fires
There are two types of fires one is called a reflector fire and the second is called a trench fire. Both have their uses just depends on which one your planning on using. You can just create a simple campfire where you and friends can all sit around.
Nowadays you can buy a controlled campfire stove where your campfire is placed in a pot and can easily be put out with that pot.
Reflector Campfire
This is where you build a campfire where you create a simple reflector that reflects the heat from the fire back to you to keep you warm.
If you create a campfire by a large rock that rock will act as a reflector to divert the heat towards you as it will bounce off the rock and head towards you which will keep you warm.
Trench Fire
This type of fire is more common amongst campers, there are two ways you can create the trench campfires.
You can dig a trench like a hole where you can place rocks around the trench that you have dug this creates a fence type surrounding that keeps the fire within the circle of rocks or within that trench.
The second type is a rasing trench, this is where you can place some wood underneath and on top of the wood, you can place the try where you can place the fire splint and some wood to burn to create the fire. Around the edges, you create a fence type surrounding that acts as a wall and on top of the wooden wall you place the metal grill so you can cook your food.
Using A Compass
Nowadays with the age of techonology, most people will say that you won’t need to use a compass anymore, but the truth is that being able to go back to the old way of doing things, such as finding your way around will do you justice.
Learning how to use a compass while your hiking or camping will definitely be beneficial and a skill that you will need to learn and know how to apply incase your technology that your using fails. You can use and download various compass apps that give the feeling of using a compass the simple way with a red needle.
How To Use A Compass
When it comes to using a compass the very basic understanding is knowing that with the compass the red needle will not always point north but near enough, that is because the compass will always point to the direction of the north pole.
So the best way to use the compass is by simply holding the compass as flat and level as possible hold it in front of you with the red needle facing the direction that you wish to travel.
Next you will need to rotate the compass housing to align the pointed end of declination arrow with the red end of the magnetic needle.
Then you simply read the bearing at the index file. It will tell you which direction to take.
Tarp Shelters
When it comes to creating shelters a tarp would certainly make a world of a difference. You can also use a plastic sheet, waterproof poncho or even a tarp.
The real aim of this shelter is to keep you dry and warm and somewhere to sleep. This will certainly keep the rain out. The tarp is usually used as a way of creating an extra shelter where you can sit and talk and hang around or even cooking your food.
How to create a shelter using a tarp, when you’re looking around to put up the shelter search around for some even ground and try and look for an area where it breaks the wind up so that your tarp doesn’t get hit with any heavy winds.
If you can find an area where there some trees would be good but make sure that you keep an eye out for any broken branches, as you don’t want these loose twigs to come crashing on your shelter and causing any holes or tears in your tarp.
If you have any stakes that you may have brought along with you, use them to stake down the tarp to keep the tarp held down. If you don’t have any stakes you can use parts of fallen branches that can act as stakes.
Another option is to use two trees and run a suspended rope between both trees, but run the rope through the tarp. Most tarps will have holes made to run along the edges to help create the shelters.
Run the rope through those holes on one side of the tarp. And tie the rope around the tree. Wrap the rope around the tree once and create a bowline knot that will help keep the rope tied up to the tree and to secure it further use a twig to wrap around the ropes loose end and to make it alot tighter and hold the rope in place.
Once you have done this on both trees you will then have the second side of the tarp which you can use both corners to stake into the ground from both corners. And to keep it in place you can use rocks to lay flat along the edge on the ground to hold the tarp in place.
To create bedding you can use alot of dry grass that helps create a soft bedding, otherwise, a fabric blanket can be used if you have one.
If you happen to have two tarps with you, you can create a double layered shelter the same way, just place one shelter lower and the second shelter higher to create a double layer to keep the rain out and keep you completely dry.
Camping Stoves
When it comes to cooking if you don’t have the basic skills to create a campfire or you just want to cook your food without having to worry about creating your own campfire you can take along with you camping stoves.
There are different stoves available for camping knowing which ones to use and how to use it and set them up will make life easier for you.
There are two types of stoves they are:
Propane stoves
White gas stoves
Propane Stoves
When you’re setting up the stove just make sure that the area that you set up the stove is clear of any items that could be flammable. The last thing you want is for any fire to get started.
Make sure the area offers a flat surface to place the stove onto. The flatter the surface the better for the stove to be stable.
With these types of stoves, you can easily use either a small propane canister or you can connect it with an adapter and plug to a larger propane tank if you will be cooking quite often. There are a few different propane tanks that you can use check them out here.
Before you do light the stove make sure that the burner is turned on and that the stove button is turned off. You want to be safe Incase the stove is turned on the gas will be to flow out and you can waste it.
Light the match then slowly turn the burner on until you begin to see the flame ignites.
White gas stoves
The other stove is a white gas stove with this one you need to use fuel to ignite the burner. You don’t really see many campers using this type of stove mainly because a propane gas canister is usually alot better but this is just Incase you done across one and need to know how to use one.
Usually, you will have a funnel that sits with the tank and it’s used specifically to pour the fuel into it. Just make sure when you pour the fuel you only fill up the tank three-quarter of the way.
The one thing I would suggest is never filling the tank up while it is attached to the stove always fill it up separately.
To the end of the fuel tank, there should be a little pump that you use to pump air into the tank to help the fuel circulate through to stove, you might need to pump this anywhere between 15-20 times in order to get the fuel pumped around.
Make sure that the stove has been turned off, once it is off then you can light a match and slowly turn the stove back on until the stove lights up with flames.
You will have to keep an eye out for the flames dimming if this happens you will need to press the pump a few times because as the fuel burns the pressure in the tank will decrease so this will help with keeping the flames still burning at a good temperature.
This is the main reason why a propane gas canister is much more efficient and ideal to use for a stove and you will find it more common.
How to tie different knots
With camping, you’re going to need to know how to tie some basic and simple knots that will certainly help you with tightening up your tent or tightening up any ropes that you are using to hold equipment up or even hold down your food or cooking utensils.
Knots are also used to tie up hammocks if you’re using them to sleep on while your camping. Knots are very effective and basic skills that you will need to know that will certainly help you in a massive way.
The basic knots are the following:
Bowline
Sheetbend
Truckers hitch
Sheepshank
Reef knot
Clove hitch
These are knots that will definitely be of great benefit to you and are commonly used amongst campers.
Bowline
This knot is the most commonly used amongst campers so if you want to remember and learn a knot I would highly recommend knowing how to tie this.
With the bowline knot, it’s simple loop knot that becomes easy to tie tightly and securely and easy to untie it aswell.
The beauty about this knot you can tie it around objects and it won’t jam, but it will tightly secure the item. The size of the loop will not matter whether it is a large loop or a small loop it will tie nice and tight. Even if this knot is tied and placed under pressure you can untie it quite easily.
Sheetbend knot
When it comes to tieing two lines together the sheet bend knot would be ideal because it would be strong enough to hold both lines together. You can use this knot with any kind of sized line and any kind of sized knot. Even if this knot is doubled it still holds strong even if your using a rope made out of nylon and it’s quite slippery.
Truckers hitch
With this knot, its good for having tension within the rope itself. You can easily adjust this knot and the level of tension and when you need to you can untie it quite easily and quickly.
This type of knot is usually used in different situations, such as pitching your tent it will help create a tension in your ropes to tighten your tent to keep it strong and sturdy. You can also use this for tieing your tarp above or over your tent it will help keep the tarp to stay tight and keep the tension on the rope itself.
If your canoeing while your camping it will help keep your canoe tied to the bank as the strength of the knot will keep the tension so that the canoe does not untie easily and float away. If you want to dry your clothes it’s another good knot to have to create your own clothing line with a good amount of tension To hold the wet clothes.
Know how to tie this knot is going to help you out in a major way with alot of activities you will need it for on your camping trip.
Sheepshank knot
The sheepshank knot is simply a knot that is temporary and is used when you need to tie something for a short time. It is used when you have to shorten the rope at both ends and is used to tie the rope at both ends.
Take the slack up on the rope, then make an underhand loop and slide it over the bite and pull it tight, once you have done it on one side do it for the other side and that will tighten the rope and the knot will be complete.
Sleeping Gear
When it comes to sleeping bags there are two types of bags they are:
Down bags: These type of bags are alot more expensive but they are the most durable, the only problem is that when they do get wet it does take a long time for them to dry.
Fiber bags: when it comes to sleeping bags a fiber bag is more of an economical way to go. If your planning on taking children with you when your camping makes sure you use sleeping bags that will keep your kids warm.
Ratings: When it comes to sleeping bags, they all tend to have a rating that shows what temperature they can use the sleeping bags. It will usually be marked with a degree rating, this is usually just a guideline but use this as a guide and always take into consideration your body fat to help on deciding on what type of bag to go for.
Storage: When it comes to storing your sleeping bag make sure that you do not roll the bag up and store it away this will just destroy the fibers in the sleeping bag. Always hang your sleeping bag when you’re storing it will help the bag last alot longer.
Groundsheet: This consist of a thin plastic that you can use for your tents while your camping as it stops moisture from below your sleeping bag.
Pillow: If you want a pillow it would be a good idea to pack a pillow case that you can stuff with your own clothes that can then turn into a pillow for you to use.
When it comes to sleeping bags you can check out this post how to make sleeping bags warmer to know more about the differences.
Tents
When it comes to pitching your tent you will need to know what your doing and how to pitch your tent correctly. The best way to know how to pitch your tent is practice in your own back garden/yard, until you know exactly what your doing and how to pitch your tent correctly. It’s the best way to start otherwise you could be struggling when you do go camping and it could get a little messy if it begins to rain.
So here are the skills to learn to pitch your tent:
- Prepare yourself by laying down your tarp on the ground
- Take your tent and lay it out on top of your tarp, your tent will come with instructions on how to begin to pitch your tent follow those instructions step by step.
- With your tent pole, you want to feed it through the outside casing of your tent. If you start from the top of the tent and feed it through diagonally until it hits the other end.
- Take the top of the pole and feed the bottom of the pole into the hole at the bottom of the tent, another person will need to hold the tent pole up while you repeat the process throughout the tent until the tent itself is standing.
- Once the tent is up and standing you will then need to fasten the guy lines to the ground around the tent to hold it sturdy and in place.
Using A Lantern
When your camping your going to need some kind of light, nowadays you can use an LED light that will help you get around when it gets dark. Another way is using a propane lantern or even a white gas lantern.
If you follow the steps below you can make sure that you don’t make any mistakes when you’re using a lantern.
Propane Lantern
- When you get your lantern out make sure that you place the lantern on a flat surface and that it is away from anything flammable. Once the lantern has been lit you can then hang them up.
- The propane bottle that either comes with your lantern or that you might need to buy separately you will need to make sure that you have it turned off.
- Once you have lighted the match you simply insert it through the hole in the bottom of the plate just sits above the propane bottle.
- Slowly turn the fuel on and eventually, the mantle will ignite.
- Once you have lit the lantern make sure that if you’re going to decide to hang if you do it straight away otherwise always use a small towel or item of clothing to hold the wire hanger as it will be hot.
When you have a white gas lantern follow the steps below to be safe:
White Gas Lanterns
- With the gas lanterns, you will need to use fuel for the lantern and use a funnel that will help fill up the lantern. When you do fill it up make sure that your not in an area where your cooking or you will be using the lantern. If you do happen to spill any fuel or gas make sure that you do clean it up. Whatever you do make sure that you wash your hands before you light the lantern.
- Your lantern will need about 15-20 times of pumping to help build up the pressure, make sure that you lock off the valve by placing it in the closed position.
- Make sure that you light the match and place it through the hole and slowly turn up the fuel/gas.
- Again make sure that once you have lit the lantern if your going to hang it up to do it straight away one it is lit up. If you do it afterward make sure that you use a towel or some cloth to help you burn your hand on the hot wire handle.
Hopefully, these basic skills will help you with your experience when your camping and make it alot more enjoyable if you learn these skills it will certainly make a difference.