Build Your Camping Tent

Before setting out on your first tent camping trip, you need to know how to build a camping tent. By preparing yourself with the needed knowledge for building a camping tent before you leave for the campgrounds, you will be ready to enjoy your camping vacation and be able to avoid any time consuming mishaps. Learning how to build a camping tent also known as pitching a tent, involves only a few simple steps. Following are some camping tips that will help you successfully learn how to build a camping tent. Keeping these simple pointers in mind will have you well on your way to learning how to build a camping tent.

As your home away from home, it’s important to choose the tent for camping that will serve the needs of you and your family so that you remain safe, comfortable, and can enjoy your camping vacation. One of the most important things to consider when looking at a tent for camping is where you plan to use it.

• Find flat and high ground to build your camping tent on. High ground will help your tent and sleeping bags stay dry in case of rain, and level ground will make building your tent easier and allow you to get more comfortable rest during the night.
• Use a tarp or ground cloth. This piece of supplementary gear for your camping tent is cheap to purchase, as low as ten dollars, and will help keep your tent dry during wet weather. A tarp or ground cloth under your tent will also protect it from rocks and other ground materials that may tear or damage your camping tent.
• Your tent will most likely come with stacks, and it is a good idea to stack your tent to the ground. Simply hammer in the stacks with a heavy rock or hammer on each side to secure your tent. This will prevent the tent from being blown if you experience winds and will also keep it from moving while you are inside of the tent.

If you plan to do winter camping or even cold altitude camping in warmer climates, then you would want to look for a four season tent. If you are alone, then obviously you won’t need as much space as if you need to fit a family of six into your tent for camping. Or, if you prefer, you can still have some privacy for the people in your group while camping under one ‘roof’ by purchasing a tent that has flaps which act as dividers inside the tent in order to create 2 or more interior ‘rooms.

You should also invest in a good ground sheet to reinforce the tent for camping and protect it from rips, tears and wear, as well as to keep the groundwater away from you

Keeping these simple pointers in mind will have you well on your way to learning how to build a camping tent. Also, remember never to build your camping tent within twenty feet of your grill or campfire.

Fun Hiking With Your Children

Hiking with your children can be great experience for all of you, but it can also be miserable if you don't prepare well. Stave off grouchy kids with this checklist:

* Choose the trail carefully. Not all trails are appropriate for all ages, or all kids. A flat three-mile hike may be challenging but fun for your best friend's six-year-old and too much for yours. Guidebooks will often provide some idea of a trail's difficulty level, and park rangers are also a great source of information.
* Bring extra water. Dehydrated children are grouchy children, and dehydration can be dangerous. Kids have a tendency to spill their water bottles, so be sure you have backups and remind them to drink water regularly.
* Bring healthy snacks. Hungry children are also grouchy children, and kids (and adults) may not be able to make it all the way to lunch without food. Healthy snacks like dried fruit, granola bars, apples, little wax-wrapped cheeses and nuts will help keep kids going without complaint until lunchtime.
* Make sure their boots are broken in. Blisters are a major cause of misery and whining on hiking trips. Ideally, your kid's shoes or boots should be broken in before you leave. Tying boot laces either too loosely or too tightly can cause blisters, so ask the clerk at the outdoor store how to tie the laces when you buy the boots.
* Prepare for the weather. Weather can be unpredictable, so bring rain gear, sweaters, hats and sunscreen. You don't want cold or sunburned kids.
* Don't forget the First Aid kit. Despite your best efforts, blisters, scrapes, and bug bites will inevitably happen. A small First Aid kit with items like moleskin, athletic tape, antibacterial ointment, bug bite lotion, band-aids and tweezers will help you deal with most problems.
* Know what to do in an emergency. Find out before you leave: will your cell phone work? How close is the nearest ranger station if you're hiking in a park? What should you do if your child has a severe allergic reaction? Talk to your child's doctor if your child has special medical concerns.

Hiking with your kids can create unforgettable memories for everyone. Make sure those memories are the good kind of "unforgettable" and prepare well.

Tips to Choose A Sliping Bag

So, the thrill of hiking is what you like and you have decided to enjoy the hiking trails that help you in taking you closer to the nature. You have made all the preparation and this is now the time to set out for the hiking trip. However, before you leave the place it will be better to check whether or not you are carrying all the necessary things that you may need during the course of your hiking trip. A very important item in this list is sleeping bags and you cannot do without it.

Choosing A Suitable One For Your Style

Now, the big question is how to find out what kind of sleeping bag is suitable for your style of hiking. As different people enjoy the hiking in different conditions and in diverse ways so to cater to the needs of these people the sleeping bags are also available in a wide variety. A youngster may like to go out for hiking for days. He may prefer camping in winter when the temperature is below 0 degree. On the other hand, there are people who like to drive up to the last possible point and then take out all the stuff out of the vehicle only in either early fall or late spring.

You will need totally different kind of sleeping bags for hiking in these two kinds of hiking conditions. In the later case, you do not need a sleeping bag required for the extreme winter conditions. Neither will you require a lightweight sleeping bag for the hiking because you do not have to carry it for longer distances. So, the factors that you should take into account while making a buying decision are the weather condition, weight of the sleeping bag, importance of compactness and finally the budget you have decided for it.

Fill Material

Then you also have to consider about the fill material, shell material and the design of the bag at the time of selecting a sleeping bag for hiking. For a long time down bags has been the popular choice among the people going for hiking. However, with the advent of the synthetic bags the things have changed and now people prefer synthetic bags because they can work well even in the wet and damp conditions.

Shell material And Design Of The Sleeping Bag

Similarly, tight weave nylon, polyester, micro fiber and Gore dry loft have replaced the Gore Tex that has been popular in the past. When it comes to choosing the design, you have the choice like mummy bags, semi rectangular bags and old-fashioned rectangular bags.

Outdoor Survival Skills

by: Brian Carter


Outdoor survival skills can mean the difference between escape/rescue and tragedy. Fortunately, most survival skills are simple and easy to learn.

Here are the top ten things to do in a survival situation, in order:

1. Don’t panic. Breathe. Relax.

2. Give yourself first aid if needed.

3. Inventory your survival items.

4. Assess any imminent weather dangers.

5. Find an open area where you can be seen from the air.

6. Create appropriate shelter.

7. Drink lots of water.

8. Make fire, but safely! Learn how to build fire in a variety of ways and how not to start a wilderness blaze in your quest for survival.

9. Signal for help.

10. Eat the wildlife, including insects, but nothing with more than 6 legs and no plants you aren’t totally sure of.

Ten Essential Survival Skills & Qualities:

Survival isn’t just about skills, but also attitude and mindset. Desire to survive, determination, persistence, willingness to plan, and learning survival skills ahead of time all increase your chances of survival. The best time to learn survival skills is before you need them.

- Will to survive

- Calm, poise, focus

- Make shelter

- Make fire

- Find and purify water

- Find food, hunt, trip

- Signal for help

- Navigate without map or compass

- Basic first-aid

- Weather prediction

The Most Valuable Survival Items:

We could probably debate this list endlessly, but I guarantee you’d much rather have these items with you than need them and not have them.

- Knife

- Poncho

- String/rope

- First aid kit

- Flint, tinder

- Water purifying tablets

- Whistle, mirror

- Wire saw

- Fishing kit

- Emergency blanket

Once you get into a survival situation, it’s too late to prepare and to learn the skills. Now is the best time to prepare to survive. Get your gear and get into a survival training class! See recommended classes and guides here.