Adventurous individuals who find it a bore to stay in the comfort of their homes during the cold season may consider camping out in the wilds. For some backpackers, the presence of snow adds to the excitement of their adventure. But for first-timers who want to experience the outdoors this season, there are important things they need to know.
Joyful Winter Camping is All About Safety
Before you pack your tent, cooking set, paracord ropes and other camping gear, make sure you know how to keep yourself and other campers safe while staying in the wilds. While it’s fun to go camping with family or friends this season, you need to understand that you’re at risk of hypothermia, a serious condition when your body temperature drastically drops. To prevent harming yourself while outside, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests placing a plastic underneath your tent to keep it dry.
Apart from wearing layered clothing, it’s also advisable to have enough beddings to keep you warm while inside the tent. Never think of using a heater or gas stove inside the tent, as this will put you at risk of carbon monoxide exposure.
Experienced winter backers suggest looking for a campsite where the sun rises to make your mornings warmer. Consider pitching your tent beside a tree and secure it with a paracord rope to protect it from the cold wind. Backpackers in open campsites use snow to build walls to keep their tent in place.
Enjoy the night with fellow backpackers by eating freshly cooked food reach in carbohydrates. If you’re tempted to consume alcoholic beverages, keep in mind that it will only make your body colder. It will not keep you warm, so you may want to rethink bringing a couple of beers in your winter camping adventure.
Winter camping is worth considering as there are lots of great camping destinations that are often uncrowded. Also, you don’t have to worry about insect bites and potable water at the campsite.
Document Your Winter Camping With These Simple Ideas
Your winter camping will not be complete if you don’t have some proof of your adventure. If you’re also a seasonal shutterbug, you’ll enjoy taking camping pictures.
Lunging a heavy DSLR camera may prevent you from taking more pictures. Consider bringing a compact mirrorless camera with spare batteries. Leave the heavy tripod at home. You can place your camera on top of a camping bag for blurry-free, long exposure shots of sceneries. Other photographers use polarizing filters to reduce unwanted glare significantly.
You may also want to shoot in raw format and experiment with different white balance settings to get better results. Like any other photography tricks, keep your compositions neat and be playful with shutter speeds, apertures, and ISO combinations. Shooting in the winter is challenging, but you and your fellow campers will surely love the pictures you’ll take.
Camping in winter is worth considering if you want to level up your camping experience. First-time winter campers should prioritize safety when out in the wilds for a joyful camping experience. Also, remember to take wonderful pictures of your winter camping. There are easy ways you can do to document your experience.
