SOLO Car Camping - Car Set Up & How to Stay Safe

[Music] hey there everybody i am rva hiker girl and today i wanted to do a video for you on all things solo car camping and how i stay safe while i'm out here all by myself today for uh this trip i am out in the beautiful blue ridge mountains part of the appalachian mountain range and i am out in southwest virginia and it's just beautiful on this very overcast day it's like 2 30 and it's looking like it's about to get dark anyway if it doesn't rain i'm gonna go over how i set up my car and the things that i bring with me to stay safe out here all right let me turn this camera around and let's go take a look at my setup [Music] so i thought i would do a little spin for you so you could see what this beautiful big area looks like nice big gorgeous meadow hopefully i'm not making you dizzy but this right here is my fire pit and seating area i got a picnic table right here and my gilanox chair has blown over from the wind and that is where my car is parked the sun is setting this way but the mountains that were behind me in the opening the sun is going to be rising in the morning so it should be really beautiful all right this is my setup and i have a larger mattress when it's just me when i have two people i have two 20 inch mattresses but this is an extra large mattress so it's pretty wide it's also a self-inflatable it is a ust gear self-inflatable mattress and because it's going to get cold tonight i've got a lot of layers down so i've got my big agnes sleeping pad i've got another blanket to kind of prop it up and my therm-a-rest and a sleeping blanket because it's a little bit of an angle in my car and i don't like sleeping sloped i have my 20 degree bag and you can see i have some lights up in the car i've got a light hanging from the mirror as well let's go around here so that's what the mattress and my pillows look like and i've got some storage space down here i have a portable restroom that i can pop up if i needed to and right next to me what i keep that i'm gonna need are gloves for when it gets cold a hat some hand warmers i have a knife for protection if i need it or other things i have pepper spray if i needed it i have my phone charger and actually made a reflectix cozy to keep it in because your battery dies in super cold weather when it gets cold i have my black diamond headlamp i have my keys i have a book and i have an extra light and i'll show you what the front of the car looks like all right so the seats have to be pushed forward in order for everything to work because this is a ford escape a 2020 and you can see how this particular mattress i need the seats pushed up quite a bit so this is and i'll show you when i have these put up this is my front window privacy shade that's reflectix and i hand cut all of these pieces of reflectix for all of my windows and i have them labeled right and left and where exactly they go and i'll show you those all put up in a second i have my food bag here i have a cooler extra water and gloves and yeah that's my light up there i have my raincoat over here because it is supposed to rain tonight one of the first things that i purchased for the car that i will use year-round are these blackout screens that go over top of the windows and i use them specifically for my side rear windows because my head sleeps at this end and so by cracking the window just a little bit it lets some air in and also it helps reduce condensation because as you're in the car and everything is all sealed up the condensation will start forming on these windows and if it's cold enough you will have frost on the inside of these windows so the way it works is there's a tag on here and the tag goes to the outside and you can play with it and these are specifically made for my car and for a ford escape and it will stay down if i play with it anyway they work great during the day you can't see in the car and my windows are pretty tinted too but at night i noticed if you were inside and you only have these on you can see through them so what i did is i decided i was going to make some reflectix and just fold the top down and just leave a little bit of crack up there so the breeze will still come in so basically i ordered a huge 10 foot roll i think it was of this stuff and i got it on amazon and i'll show you the listing i think it maybe 15 20 and i did all of the windows in the car even the side window here to help insulate the car so basically i cut them all and i labeled them actually how i cut them is to make it easy i got old wrapping paper that i had around the house or you can get tracing paper or drawing paper and i traced out each window and then i brought those inside and then i took and cut out the reflectix from those anyway all you do is put these in and i tried to make it so there was no light shining through you have to play with them to get them to fit right so basically [Applause] for ventilation i just kind of leave that space there and then put this over top so then the air can circulate through and you can't see in the car so this has worked out really good uh so i have put reflectives on all of the windows i'll take you around and show you the other side and i'll show you the back i'm not going to put the front ones on quite yet because i need the light because it's starting to get dark anyway let's go look at some other stuff this is what it looks like from the outside so you can see this back window that's what the reflectix looks like by itself and this is the screen and the reflectix and they're still you can't really tell there's a little bit of space for me to open the windows and that's what the front window looks like without it one tip with this reflectives is once you cut it and you put it up and you see that kind of you left some corners with some light shining through i took black duct tape and i just kind of went around the edge so here and right here there was some light shining through and i didn't like that so i just went through and put that in those spots and it really works great so that's what that looks like with the duct tape the one for my front windshield i actually didn't make because it was really hard cut so i went ahead and ordered one specifically for the make and model of my car and it's basically the same material but it has an edge all the way around and it fits really good and it helps block out light so i'll put that in and show you what it looks like all right so that's how it looks with all of the reflectix in it really does act as a blackout shade all the way around the car and keeps everything more insulated and warm that is what the back window looks like you can't see in at all and so you can see where the tape is right here where i cut it a little bit short but it kind of blends in with the trim of the car i didn't put this one in very good but you can't see in whatsoever yeah so this has worked out really really well it was starting to drizzle so through the chair in the car and jumped in underneath of my back roof that's open you can see the reflectix up here i need to trim a little bit more to fix it so it's a little bit better but anyway i hope this gave you guys some ideas of what i did to fix up my car so it can be warmer so it could be more private when i am out car camping and also just some ideas to try to keep yourself safe i always wear this neck knife when i'm out hiking or backpacking solo or car camping and basically it stays around my neck the entire time and you can use it for chopping vegetables whatever you would normally use a knife for but i kind of think of having this as a visible thing around my neck as a little bit of a deterrent um from other people if they had any ideas and then as you saw i had my charade knife right next to my head and my pepper spray and an extra light source if i were to need it but some a few of the other things to keep in mind there is no cell service out this way so be prepared to come out with a plan know how to get out and get home i pre-typed up on my phone directions on how to get out of here and also let someone know where you're going to be this is the same if you're hiking or camping by yourself let somebody know where you're going how long you're going to be there for and when they should expect you back and give them a phone call or a text when you arrive safely back home someone always needs to know where you are for your safety but yeah i i really enjoy solo adventures and i might do some hiking tomorrow depending on the weather but so guys if you have any questions about what i've done to this car anything about solo hiking backpacking car camping anything in regards to safety whether you're male or female just ask me in the comments below if you follow me on instagram and you don't want your comments seen in the comments below just send me a message a private message on instagram and ask me privately what question you may have i feel like i want to help you guys any way that i can to make your outdoor experience and your trips as best as they possibly can be if you are someone and you're just not sure uh because you've never done it before and you had questions about maybe getting outside and doing some of the stuff on your own feel free to message me i want to help in any way that i can and i do have a good knowledge base because i do this so much am i an expert by no means but what's that saying you know what you know the more you do it the more things you know and the more people you're around that also do it and you hear new ideas and new suggestions that maybe they have so yeah use me for information if you need it i am happy to help all right guys well the rain's starting to come down a little bit more so let me get my camera put up and i'm going to snuggle up with this good book by gail muller unlost is what i'm reading now and this is about an appalachian trail hiker she's a female and she's from the uk and so far i've read about a quarter um or a third of it and so far it's good so i only bring um these books when i'm going out camping or hiking where i'm not backpacking i'm not going to carry this heavy book so yeah i'm eager to dive back into it because it's so good all right guys thank you very much for joining me on this video and if you liked it hit that thumbs up and subscribe to my channel i put out weekly videos on all things being outdoors kayaking camping backpacking car camping tent camping you name it so if this sounds like something you might be interested in hit that notification bell too all right guys until next week see you then

Channel: RVA Hiker Girl

Views: 203,464

Keywords: Car Camping Alone, Solo Car Camping, Solo Female Car Camping, Female Solo Camping, Winter Car Camping, Solo Camping Safety Tips, Camping Alone, Car Camping Set Up, Ford Escape Car Camping, Ford Car Camping, Sleeping in Your Car, Living in Your Car, Sleeping in your SUV, Stealth Car Camping, Camping alone in the Mountains, Camping Alone in the Forest, Alone in the Woods, Alone Camping, Wild Camping Alone, Female Wild Camping, Solo Wild Camping, Winter Camping

Id: JRXNr5fktjU

Length: 14min 59sec (899 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 08 2021