Me and Lyndi love the great outdoors, and Texas' National Forests have always treated us well. Sometimes we get the best sleep of our lives under the stars, especially when we set up our camp right.
First we find a suitable spot. When we choose camping spots, we assume the clouds will be dropping a lake on us everyday, so that when it does rain, we will be dry.
Our campsite....
- is not completly flat, but slopes slightly away so that rain can drain away.
- does not have any holes of divuts to where water can collect.
- is not directly under tree branches, since the can fall after a storm.
- is on high ground, in case of flooding.
- Is in a clearing or at a designated campsite, so that we do not have to trample plants or disturbe the local environment. Always keep in mind that you will not be the last person to see this place.
Then we pitch our tents. Our tent is the Coleman Sundown 7, and has served us well for two seasons going on three. We sealed all the seams before hand with seam sealer, and we always put up our tent bone dry.
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| Moldy Tents get donated to this guy. |
We prefer to lay down a tarp under our tents, to help insulate and keep the tent dry. But we make sure that the tarp does not extend farther than our tent, becuase if rain were to fall on the tarp, it would flow under the tent floor and get us wet. We fold the tarp so that when we lay our tent on top of it, the tarp is completely covered.
We have found its good to face the tent door towards the prevaling winds, so that at night the breeze will help cool us off.
We line the bottom of our tent with sleeping mats, especially the deflatable kind like the Wenzel Roll and Go mat. These mats are light and back down well enough for our non backpacking outings.
During summer, it will be hot and humid during the day and probably warm and humid at night. Mosquitoes will be out in force, so bug repellent is always in our bag. Most tents should have a mesh that keeps air flowing in and bugs out, but if not, try spraying the tent with bug repellent for added protection. Make sure the spray contains DEET for maximum effectiveness.
To keep cool enough to sleep, and to make a little white noise, we have a O2 Cool battery powered fan that we leave on "low" during the night.
This year, we are going to try this DIY air conditioner we made.
1. Cut a 10 inch hole in the lid of a styrofoam ice cooler
2. Cut a hole in near the top of one of the narrow sides of the ice cooler.
3. Fill the ice cooler half way with ice and water. You may as well put drinks or other items that need to stay cool in there too.
4. Cover the hole with the fan, and turn it on. As the air flowing into the ice cooler melts the ice and evaporates the water, the air coming out will be cooler. Keep the tent ventilated to minimize moisture build up
As always, carry lots of water with you, at least a gallon per person per day. If you can't carry that ammount of water, try using portable filters like the Sawyer Mini Filter or the LifeStraw, which allow you to filter water directly for streams or lakes. FNFGT still reccomends that you use every available tool to santatize any water you drink from a stream in addition to those aforementioned products. In other words, if you can choose betweent boiling the water for ten minutes or using a personal water filter, then boil the water first.
