If you hadn’t been much of a camping person in the past due to a busy schedule but now you are going for one, the low temperature might be on your head right now.
While you’re preparing for your winter vacations or a hiking trip to a high snowy hilltop or elsewhere, resting in remote areas would be quite frequent. Being a camping naïve you might know that a tent is a necessity but you might be unaware of one major thing i.e. knowing how to stay warm in frosty weather.
Here are some tips and tricks for keeping your body warm while camping.
1. Alternate Heat Sources
So, the first and foremost thing would be to find alternate heat sources. Start carrying a lighter even if you don’t smoke. It’ll greatly help you at times. It’s like a portable fireplace. You never know when you’ll need it.
Fuel sources are scarce in remote areas, your lighter will help you in lighting fires, cooking food, etc.
Last year, when I went with my friends to the Northern side of Pakistan. We were trying to climb a mountain. To my surprise, one of my friends was busy collecting small stones on the way.
He told me that it will help us in staying warm at night. We could heat these stones, wrap it in a cloth and place it inside our sleeping bags. And it worked. Moderately heated stones are another good heat source.
2. Cover your head and limbs
The second most important thing is to wear warmer clothes.
If you’re on a hiking trip, wearing warmer and lighter clothes, a down overcoat is preferable because wearing heavier clothes would make it difficult for you to climb steep places
Wear a thick fur hat to cover your head and ears. It will keep your body warmer and sleep better. Ever wondered why the Russian locals (men and women) wear thick fur hats at freezing temperatures? It’s because they’re amazingly warm.
For the hands and feet, get the gloves with thermal lining and towel socks.
A thick-knit muffler is also really necessary to cover your neck. Covering your body will also protect you from severe diseases. You don’t want to get cold feet or frostbite. It will ruin your whole trip.
3. Reinforce your tent
Get a waterproof tent to stay safe from unpredictable rainfalls. You should insulate your tent by reducing free space. Place your partner’s sleeping bag close to yours.
Body-body warming is super effective in cold-weather conditions and helps in preventing heat loss. Put your gear and other stuff inside the tent’s surroundings. Hence, living in an enclosed space tent is better for you due to the aforementioned reasons.
Don’t forget to remove morning frost from your tent. Water vapor condenses on a tent’s inner wall. Once the ice melts, it will soak your gear. To prevent this from happening, keep your gear covered or inside enclosed bags.
And once you’re out of the tent, invert it and let the sunshine remove the remaining moisture
4. Don’t go out at night
If the temperatures drop lower than 32°F it is advised that you stay inside the tent as long as you can. Try to avoid going out of the camp especially at nighttime.
The cool breeze of winds could be lethal. Forget about the casual strolls in the park, you shouldn’t do that here unless you want to get frostbite or hypothermia.
5. Exercising is key
Staying fit and slim is essential for a healthy life. Being overweight or obese gives birth to several difficulties and problems in life. Even while camping, exercising could prove to be beneficial for you but avoid sweating.
Exercising can help in keeping your body warmer. Physical exercises increase body temperature drastically. If you don’t like exercising much like me then just do a few pushups, before going to sleep. It will greatly help you at night.
6. Proper tent placement
It’s really important to set up your camp properly. We all know that finding the perfect camping spot can be challenging sometimes.
Firstly, make sure your camp is not in the wind’s direction. Next, find a spot that does not have soft snow on the surface. Soft snow melts quickly. If you place your tent on it, your tent’s surface and all of your gear could get wet.
Lastly, flatten the camp’s surface because the uneven surface would have uncomfortable bumps. It would trouble you whilst sleeping.
7. Stay well fed
Although you should always stay well fed in this situation, you should eat excessively. Keep your stomach full. A belly full of food keeps your body warm.
You will need all the carbohydrates and proteins at this time. Even if you’re on a diet try to eat as much fresh food as you can. Eating meat is a delight. It has lots of proteins which would help you do other tasks easily too.
The best part is that meat digests slowly. It will stay in your stomach for a longer period of time.
We tend to drink water lesser in winters because we don’t feel thirsty as much as we do in summers. Drinking adequate amounts of water is really important to stay hydrated
8. Protect your fuel
When I said fuel, I meant both food and heat sources. If your fuel is left outside, poachers could steal it.
That might not happen in most cases but you should always be prepared for the worst. Hide your fuel so that no poachers could steal it. There might be many wild animals out in the wild. Even if you’re safe from them your food isn’t.
Bears and wolves can sniff your food from a long distance. It’s best to store your cooked food in tightly-packed containers. Hide your food far away from your tent otherwise animals could attack you.
So, whenever a wild animal is nearby, you would not have to worry about the food getting stolen.
If you follow all of these tips, you can go on camping and return with many exciting adventure stories to tell. You will be able to enjoy to its fullest. Good luck with your trip!
Let me know how it went after coming back in the comments below.
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