Choosing Your Pitch
On a formal campsite, the choice is made for you. On a backcountry or wild pitch, the decision is yours, and it shapes your whole night. Start looking at least an hour before you want to stop. Tired hikers pick poor sites.
A good pitch is
- Legal: a designated site, or land where camping is permitted
- Durable: established sites, gravel, dry grass or rock rather than fragile vegetation
- At least 60 m (about 200 ft) from lakes and streams
- Sheltered from the prevailing wind, but not under dead branches
- Flat, or with a gentle slope your head can sit uphill on
- Out of hollows where cold air and water collect overnight
Pitching Before You Get Cold
Your body cools quickly once you stop walking. Put on your insulated jacket first, then pitch. If you practised at home — and you should have — this takes ten minutes. Lay out the tent with the door facing away from the wind, peg the windward corners first, insert poles, then tension the guy lines. Peg at roughly 45 degrees, angled away from the tent.
Inside, set out your pad and sleeping bag straight away so the down can loft. Change into your dry sleeping layers only when you are ready to settle in; those layers stay dry, no exceptions.
Cooking Safely
Set your stove on a flat, stable surface, a few metres downwind of the tent. Never cook inside a closed tent: stoves can set fabric alight in seconds, and burning fuel produces carbon monoxide, which is odourless and has killed campers in sealed shelters. If the weather forces you to cook under a porch, keep the door fully open and the stove at the very edge.
Simple meals work best for night one: dehydrated meals, couscous, instant noodles with added olive oil and cheese, porridge for breakfast. Boil enough water for a hot drink, too. Warm liquid before bed is one of the cheapest ways to sleep well.
Storing Food
Animals learn quickly where hikers keep food. In bear country, such as much of the Sierra Nevada and parts of the Appalachians, land managers may require approved bear-resistant canisters; follow their rules exactly. Elsewhere, keep food sealed and away from your sleeping area so mice, foxes and birds are not drawn into your tent.
Pack it in, pack it out. Every wrapper, every crumb, every peel.
The Seven Leave No Trace Principles
The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics publishes seven principles that underpin minimum-impact camping around the world:
Leave No Trace
- Plan ahead and prepare
- Travel and camp on durable surfaces
- Dispose of waste properly
- Leave what you find
- Minimize campfire impacts
- Respect wildlife
- Be considerate of other visitors
Toilets in the Backcountry
Where there are no facilities, walk at least 60 m from water, paths and camp. Dig a cat hole 15 to 20 cm deep with a small trowel, use it, then fill and disguise it. Pack out toilet paper and all hygiene products in a sealed bag. Some high-use or fragile areas require you to pack out all human waste; check before you go.
Fires
For a first overnight, skip the campfire. Stoves cook faster, leave no scars, and are permitted in many places where fires are banned. If fires are allowed and you choose to have one, use an existing fire ring, keep it small, burn only dead wood found on the ground, and make sure it is cold to the touch before you leave.
Breaking Camp
Pack everything away, then walk a slow circle around your pitch looking for pegs, wrappers and food scraps. Fluff up flattened grass. The goal is a site that looks unvisited. That last look is the habit that marks out a thoughtful hiker.