Backcountry Camping Basics

hey y'all Dixie here today I want to talk to you about camping in the backcountry I want to go over selecting a campsite food storage campfires and this is the final video in a two week series so this video and fourteen others should be pretty useful for somebody who's just getting into backpacking so all these videos will be put into a playlist and if you're interested in seeing the other ones then I'll put a link to that playlist in the video description the first thing you should do when you're aiming to go on a backpacking trip is to plan ahead and prepare it's important to do your research on the area that you'll be backpacking and camping in to find out if there are any permits required this is typical in a national park that you would have to have permits for camping you should be prepared for food storage requirements and have a general understanding of the rules and regulations of the area in which you will be camping after a day of backpacking the first step into setting up camp is selecting an appropriate site the general rule for backpacking and camping is that you want to travel and camp on durable surfaces so preferably in a pre-existing campsite you want to check that the area meets your shelter requirements so flat ground if you're planning on tinting and trees obviously if you're planning on hammock camping if you are camping in an area with trees be mindful of limbs overhead that could fall on you especially dead limbs and other hazards a lot of times I go and set up camp and I forget to check above me because I'm so focused on finding a perfect spot for my tent if it's windy there may be some wind breaks around you like bushes or shrubbery or even sometimes the lay of the land just whatever you can use to block the wind coming in your direction riparian areas like lakes and stream thanks should be avoided you should camp at least 200 feet from those areas because they tend to be a little more fragile finally wherever you set up be prepared for rain even if it looks like a beautiful sunny day and there's really no chance of rain in the mountains especially storms can roll in unexpectedly so you want to make sure that you're in a well-drained area you're not in any kind of natural dip where water will collect under your tent I guess if your hammock camping this isn't as big of an issue as far as a well-drained area on the around but it still could affect where you set up and how you set up also avoid setting up in channels a lot of times the ground is nice and soft there but even in a channel where it looks like there is no water flow ever you can get a heavy rain somewhere not even where you are and next thing you know you're getting washed away in that channel just remember as you're selecting a campsite that if you can minimize your impact to any area that you choose to camp then that's the best rule of thumb because more and more people are getting out in nature to enjoy the outdoors and with more people in more traffic definitely comes more impact so being able to reduce that impact in any way possible is best when I get to camp the first thing I do is set up my tent and my air mattress and sleeping bag that way I know I have the best light available and it gives my sleeping bag time to loft before I climb in to go to sleep for the night next I bathe off and freshen up and then change into my sleeping clothes after I'm changed into warmer more comfortable clothes it's time to cook dinner when I'm in bear country I implement the Bermuda Triangle method by having my camping area my food prep / cooking area and my food storage area in three separate locations that kind of form a triangle with one another at least a hundred yards apart of course part of this is protecting yourself from being attacked by bears but also respecting wildlife because once we teach the Wildlife that they can come have free handouts from humans then they start associating humans with food and there have been bears euthanized because of this carelessness after cooking and eating my dinner I washed my food pot a hundred feet from a water source and away from camp if I'm using the bare muted triangle then I'll go ahead and wash my pot in the area where I prepped my food the same thing goes with doing trail laundry or bathing off especially if you're gonna use soap you want to make sure that you're 100 feet away from a water source and you might not want to do those things in camp because the scent of soap and other toiletries may lure in bears mice etc after I'm done with cooking eating and cleaning I usually brush my teeth in that same general vicinity where all of the senate items have been once i have everything cleaned up and I have my cookware and they're scented items like toiletries inside my food bag or other bear-proof container like a bear can or earth sack then it's time to go hang your food the reason I mentioned bear cans or earth sacks depending on where you're camping there will be different requirements if you're in bear country an earth sack is always kind of a convenient thing even if you're not in bear country because it can be rodent proof again food storage is going to tie into your preparing and planning ahead of time before you go on the trip because for your specific area the food requirements might be different and there might even be food storage containers provided like bear boxes or designated bear hangs in the camping areas next let's talk about campfires I love having a campfire at night after a long day of hakkon and sometimes I like to cook on a campfire instead of on my stove also I think that campfire smoke is like a natural deodorant because I usually smell so much better after sitting by a campfire before you have a campfire though you need to know our campfire is allowed in the area that you're backpacking and camping and just because campfires are permitted in the area and there are no fire bans is it good conditions for having a campfire is it a windy evening you just want to think about all of that because having a campfire in that little bit of enjoyment really isn't worth burning down thousands and thousands of acres of land let alone injuring people animals etc if you are going to have a campfire it's a good idea to have it in an already established firing and this may be a requirement for the area that you're in if you're gonna cook on the fire then the fire ring should be located near where your food prep area is if you're in bear country if you are permitted to have fires in your area and it's not required that you have them in an already designated firing then you should learn how to build campfires so that they leave no trace when you're done you should use only downed and dead wood and keep your fires small be sure that your fire is out before leaving the area unattended and remember in backpacking it's a big rule pack it in pack it out so you shouldn't be burning your trash on your campfire while you're backpacking and camping is important to dispose of waste properly so that means your human waste and also the waste that you create like food wrappers etc the all of nature may strike while you're backpacking during the day or sometimes at night or in the evenings while you're camping I send to be a morning pooper it really just depends on the schedule of your body regardless wherever you are while you're in the backcountry you want to make sure that you're 200 feet from camp sites the trail and water sources when you decide to dig a cat hole to go number two if I'm in camp I obviously just leaves my campsite set up as I step away of course I make sure to secure any of my food products or toiletries anything that might attract animals in that want this while I step away whether you're in camp or you're on the trail you simply want to step away and make sure that you get to an area where people can't see you I tend to aim for shrubbery or big boulders and I make sure that the trail doesn't wrap around in a way where people are gonna end up behind me even though I think the trail is in front of me some people like to carry their pack with them when they go off trail to go to the restroom personally I usually leave mine sitting by the trail because that way people that I'm backpacking with will pass it and know ok I'm ahead of Dixie now or if I'm not hiking with people then it kind of lets somebody know hey there's probably a hiker off in the woods using the restroom so I'm gonna put my blinders on and look ahead so I don't see something that I don't need to see this is definitely a personal preference and you do want to be careful of this in bear country because an unattended pack with food in it can be a tasty treat for a bear also some people are a little cautious of leaving their pack because they're afraid if they go off trail and get disoriented and can't find the trail again and their pack then they're left with no gear for the night I make sure when I leave my pack that I find something either a tree that looks a little different from the others that I keep my eye on while I'm walking into the woods to go to the bathroom once you get to your perfect hideaway to use the restroom you want to use either a trowel or some other tool like a tent stake a trekking pole I generally like to carry a trekking pole with me anyway to kind of tap the vegetation because when I'm walking off into the brush instead of down a beaten path like the trail I want to make sure that there aren't any rattlesnakes hiding there or any other venomous critters are going to bat my booty or about my ankle as I'm walking off to go to the restroom exactly where you dig your 6-inch hole is going to depend on your pooping preference do you like to hug a tree as you do it do you like to sit on the side of a log and go off the other side of the log or do you just kind of squat and hover over the hole either way you go into the hole and then you cover it up with dirt depending on the area that you're hiking in you may be required to pack out your toilet paper or some areas like on the Appalachian Trail allow you to bury your toilet paper if you're not sure your safest bet is to pack it out that way you don't have an animal uncover your buried treasure and then you have toilet paper floating all over the woods as far as the other trash goes like your food wrappers you definitely want to pack those things out if you pack it in in backpacking you pack it out and after I deal with bathroom Duty then I kind of do everything in the reverse order from the evening before so I get my food cook and then pack up before I leave I like to scan the area one last time to make sure I'm not leaving a trace so any kind of litter or even gear that I actually do want because I have certainly left things before like tent stakes keep in mind in the backcountry that even though at times it feels like you're completely alone there may be other visitors nearby you might be sharing a campsite with other people or they might be in earshot so if you're one of those that goes to bed kind of late or you wake up real early just be mindful that other people might be on a different schedule and try to do things as quietly as possible once it gets dark and you're walking around camp it's nice if you have the red beam option on your headlamp that way you're not blinding other hikers as you walk past them and if you use your headlamp when you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom you're not spotlighting people's tents and finally this kind of ties in to selecting a campsite but also being respectful of other visitors you don't want to hog a campsite unless you know that you've got the whole area rented for the night but if it's kind of an open area where other people could show up later you want to keep some room open for them too and one final tip to remember while leaving camp and during backpacking in general is to leave what you find I know a lot of times in nature you'll find a cool feather or a rock or even some sort of artifact but it's important that we leave things out in nature just like you pack it in you pack it out you leave what you find on the trail again the main thing that you want to be sure of wind backcountry camping is that you're not leaving the area ruined for other people you want to minimize your impact and Leave No Trace I did incorporate the seven Leave No Trace standards into this video I'll put a list of the seven Leave No Trace principles in the video description and I'm also going to include a link so you can learn more about the details of how to incorporate these principles into your backpacking and camping in the backcountry alright y'all well that is all I have for you today on camping in the backcountry while backpacking if you have any questions about the things I talked about today or other questions that you may have about camping please feel free to leave those in the comments below thank y'all so much for being a part of the two-week series on the back to the basics of backpacking I hope you all have enjoyed it learning next week we will be resuming our one video per week on Wednesdays thank y'all so much for watching don't forget to subscribe before you go if you haven't already and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 320,861

Rating: 4.9221506 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic

Id: J5SkxsibslA

Length: 12min 15sec (735 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 20 2019