Are you planning to brave the wilderness? Yes, we are talking about wild camping, and we know you would be excited about it, but, hey, you need to pay attention to this article—for your own good.
Wild camping is a venturesome form of camping. It is different from other forms of camping because in this you spare all your comforts and venture out into the wilderness where anything can happen without prior notice. It, therefore, becomes important that while remaining in the adventuresome mood, you do not compromise with your safety and basic needs.
Wild camping can be difficult, especially for first-timers. However, one can ease out the difficult part by keeping in mind a few tips regarding the things campers should carry along with themselves. In this article, we are going to talk about exactly that.
Here are five things you should carry while on a wild camp:
1. To handle Nature’s call
Okay, you are surely aware of the lack of certain basic amnesties high on mountains and deep inside forests. One such shortage is that of toilets. There in the mountains or forests, you will only find elevated platforms or bushes behind which you can relieve yourself without anyone noticing you.
In order to handle these situations, you need to have a couple of things in your backpack—wet wipes, a hand sanitizer, paper soaps, and toilet paper. In case you are a female, you can take advantage of a remarkable invention called FUD which stands for Female Urination Devices that greatly help in mountainous and forest areas.
We strongly recommend you make a reminder list for all these things since their importance cannot be overstated. Wild camping tests you, and many people lose out to Nature’s call.
2. Drinking water
You must not be reckless towards your health and hygiene, and therefore you should have clean water with you all the time. But, you cannot carry a whole box of water bottles to wild camping, can you?
Well, we agree on that point—you cannot carry bottled water everywhere, but you can certainly invest a bit in lightweight and effective purifiers.
One of the most common purifiers used in wild camping is Lifestraw. It is easy to carry and does the purification job quite effectively. You just put the straw in water and when you pull, the water goes through the filters attached to the straw and gets purified.
There are brands that provide a UV ray attachment which usually comes on the top of the bottles. All you need to do is switch on UV rays for a couple of minutes and shake the bottle.
If you want a handier alternative, we recommend you to get purification tablets.
3. What about bathing?
We understand the predicament faced when devoid of any place for bathing. Wilderness is not kind to wild campers, but there are ways to cheat on bath and still clean oneself up.
Carry a pack of bath wipes. Whenever you feel like getting a quick bath, you need to get these wipes out of the pack and start rubbing them against your body.
Another option available is chewable toothpaste. These tablets help in cleaning up your mouth. Just chew them up for a couple of minutes and spit them out. With this, you do not need to resort to the regular form of brushing.
4. Packing should be done the right way
The most common camping mistake is unreasonable backpacking. Campers tend to pack up every possible thing in one bag without thinking twice about their utility. Listen, there is a way to properly do the packing!
Before packing up stuff inside your bag, you need to get a plastic bag and put it inside the bag; even out the surface of the plastic against that of the bag. Once you are done with this, you can put inside whatever you wish to.
The idea behind this is simple: to get you a waterproof backpack. Even if water gets inside your bag, your things will be safe.
Plastic bags really help while wild camping. We recommend you keep one or two plastic bags to store dirty laundry or wet clothes.
5. Sports injury tape
There is a high likelihood that you might injure yourself while wild camping—this is especially true if you are on mountains.
While trekking, you can twist your knee or pull a muscle, and in absence of any medical facility nearby, you will be left to bear the pain which could be excruciating. To prevent a situation like that, we suggest you keep a sports injury tape.
A sports injury tape holds the injured part tight, and it is especially useful when you have aching calf muscles or shin splints. You can leave the tape on for three to four days.
