How to Camp

Transcript Hey. I’m Heather and I wrote, “Let’s Get Primitive: The Urban Girl’s Guide to Camping”. I grew up on Staten Island, New York. I had never camped when I was a kid. I didn’t even know anybody that camped, and it wasn’t until college that I first even realized that people like camping. I’m …

Transcript You might encounter snakes when you’re camping and the most important thing that you should know is that sucking the venom from a snake bit is not realistic. It only happens in movies and you should not plan to do that. So, if you happen to get bit by a snake, and a good …

Transcript Brown and black bears are scattered throughout the United States. Grizzly bears are found pretty much from Canada to Wyoming. If you’re going to camp in grizzly bear territory, I think you should really do your research, do your homework, make sure you’re an experienced camper and make sure you know what you need …

Transcript If you’re going to go primitive camping, you’re going to have to get used to the fact that you’re not going to be able to shower or take a bath. I mean, if you’re camping near a river or a lake, then you can jump in and cool off and get clean to some …

Transcript The question always comes up, what did you pack in your first aid kit for camping, and I sort of have two beliefs with first aid kits. First, I trust R E I, and E M S, and Patagonia and Coleman. So if there’s a first aid camping kit, they put out that’s the …

Transcript I think the thing that’s so scary about poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac is that when you get it, when you brush up against it, you didn’t see it coming. That’s sort of what scares people the most. You go into the woods and there’s green everywhere, and it seems like it’s …

Transcript The scariest part of camping for a lot of people, especially beginners, is going to the bathroom. The idea of going to the bathroom without a toilet is so unusual, and I get it. It’s definitely scary. There are some tried and true methods to going to the bathroom in the woods, and once …

Transcript A campfire that looks like it’s out might not be out and could easily reignite with enough air, oxygen or wind. So when you’re putting your campfire out at the end of the night, you want to make sure it’s completely, for sure, 100 percent out. And the way to do that is with …

Transcript Unlike bears and snakes, which you probably won’t encounter on most of your camping trips, you will come across ticks. Ticks are a serious issue. They carry Lyme disease or they can carry Lyme disease so you want to be prepared for if you do get bitten by a tick and you also want …

Transcript When you’re trying to get your fire going in the rain, you might be tempted to light it under a tarp. So you might hang your tarp and think, “Oh, I can light the fire under here.” That’s super-dangerous. First of all, the tarp could end up going up. And also all that smoke …

Transcript I took a bunch of friends camping. They were all beginners and they had never camped before, and one girl ate a ton of bananas before the trip because she thought that would have prevent her from having to go to the bathroom the whole time we were out there, and it didn’t work. …

Transcript There’s a lot of different methods for building a fire. The one that works for me the most, and that I like, and is my favorite is the teepee method. That just refers to the formation of the sticks. This is the fire ring that’s at the campsite that we’re at. So, this is …

Transcript This is actually not something that you would do on your campsite or while you’re camping, but I want to show you guys how to do it and this is why we’re here today. These are fire starters and all you need to make these are cotton balls, Vaseline and something to put them …

Transcript Rainy conditions makes lighting a fire really hard, and sometimes, to tell you the truth, impossible. I know a lot of people feel like camping without a fire isn’t camping, and I’m kind of one of those people. But if it is raining really hard while you are camping, you’re going to have a …

Transcript If you’re going primitive camping, which means that you’re going to be hiking in to your campsite a couple of miles from where you’ve parked your car, then you’re probably not going to have a way to keep your food cold by refrigeration, or a cooler, or ice. The only trick I know, aside …

Transcript There’s three kinds of wood that you are going to need to start a fire. There’s really small, pencil-sized twigs, and this stuff, along with broken up leaves, even paper that you might have lying around from camp, that stuff is all tinder. It’s the stuff that lights really easily and helps to keep …

Transcript I think the thing that camping novices are most scared of, unless they’re from the city, and most of my friends are scared of, crazed psychos that live in the woods. That’s completely not true. Most camping novices are scared of bears, and they really think that bears are a big issue when you’re …

Transcript I definitely don’t want us to suggest that booze is essential for camping, because it certainly isn’t. And if you’re camping in a place like a campground or sometimes a state park where booze isn’t allowed, then you want to abide by those rules. Figuring out your booze menu is a little bit of …

Transcript So, figuring out how you’re going to get fresh, drinkable water when you’re camping is a pretty big concern. If you’re primitive camping, meaning that you’re hiking in a couple of miles from where you parked your car, then you’re probably not going to be able to carry all the water that you need …

Transcript I love cooking. It’s my hobby. It’s a thing I do when I’m not working and sleeping, or eating. So camp cooking is challenging. First, probably the first thing you’ll realize once you’re cooking around the campfire is that there’s nowhere to really do it. There’s nowhere to prep your food. So what you …

Transcript Beach camping is one of my favorite types of camping. The thing about beach camping is that you’re getting, for probably free, a beautiful beach, almost entirely to yourself, that most people are paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to experience, to have a beach all to themselves. I’ve done beach camping on Fire …

Transcript I love cooking, and although when I’m camping I don’t have access to things like lamb shoulder, duck, or bacon, all that good stuff that requires refrigeration, it’s still super fun to cook when you’re camping. These are just some easy recipes that’ll make you feel like you’re a good campfire chef and really …

Transcript What you eat when you are camping is going to be as individual as what you eat when you are home, for the most part. If you are primitive camping, and what I mean by that is, that you are hiking into a campsite a couple of miles in from the road, then you …

Transcript Vegetables are really great for camping, for primitive camping because they’re light, they don’t need to be refrigerated, and they make meals fun. Milk is a problem if you like milk in your coffee and if you like coffee, so I just bring dehydrated milk and mix it up with some water. That works …

Transcript So this is my camping stove. It’s just three parts. It’s a base, a propane tank that fits in there, and the burner, and it’s really easy. It’s kind of awesome. The burner screws right into the tank and there you go. Then you just get the gas going and there you go. There …

Transcript Deserts are really magical places and they’re awesome for camping. Just like beach camping, deserts are a place where you have a little bit more to worry about than you normally would in the forest. With deserts, the biggest thing to keep in mind is that it may be really hot during the day, …

Transcript One of my favorite parts of camping is picking the campsite. It’s like apartment hunting, but it’s free. It’s super fun. If you’re camping in a campground, then you have to camp where the sites are designated. If you’re primitive camping, there’s just some basic rules you should follow. First, you should really try …

Transcript Camping poses a lot of challenges. It’s not like you can go into your kitchen and turn on the stove and boil some water, so everything takes a little bit longer, everything’s a little bit more inconvenient, but it’s super fun. One of the fun things about camping is figuring out crafty solutions to …

Transcript I can rattle off a list of all the stuff that I think is super-important to pack when you’re camping, other than the obvious like your tent, and I will do that, but the thing I want to point out with your camping supply list is two things. First, it will evolve. The more …

Transcript The thing about car camping is that it’s easy. Car camping you don’t need really to be as concerned about what you pack and what you bring because A, you can absolutely over pack because you’ve got a car bringing all that stuff to the campsite. And if you forget anything, it’s also not …

Transcript With sleeping bags you can pretty much get as crazy as you want to get and spend as much as you want to spend. Sleeping bags can range from $75.00 to $375.00 and there’s probably ones you can get for even less and ones you can get for more. The two big things about …

Transcript My philosophy on camping is you need some basic essentials, and beyond that, it’s all about improv. You should be able to have fun with it and not feel stressed out that you need the fanciest camping gear or you need to wear Gortex, or anything that’s really hardcore like that. I wrote my …

Transcript So there’s some stuff you could keep in mind when you’re going to be sleeping in a tent for the first time or pitching a tent for the first time. First, you want to make sure that you’re pitching your tent on dry ground and you really want to look at all the ground …

Transcript Tents are the thing, I think, that you should probably plan to spend the most money on and invest in something pretty good. When I say good, I mean something that is durable and lightweight. You can expect to spend between $100 and $500, roughly. And what you’re looking for is something that suits …

Transcript You’re definitely going to need bug spray. If you’re anything like me and you hate bugs, but you still camp. You should probably bring sunscreen as well as a little first aid kit. I’m not one of those campers that thinks that I can fix some sort of crazy, scary snake bite in the …

Transcript If you’re camping somewhere like Alaska during the cold season, or your camping in the winter, that’s really the stuff for an experienced camper, and it’s definitely a trip you want to make sure you do your research and homework before you go. But for the average camper, for a beginner camper, it’s pretty …

Transcript I think a lot of people are intimidated by camping because they think that they need a lot of stuff, a lot of gear, or they think they have to spend a lot of money to get that stuff. I started camping with the comforter from my bed as the sleeping bag. I just …

Transcript I wrote my book for women and also men who were reluctant campers, people who are born in cities, who never saw anybody camping. Like me. I didn’t know anybody who camped as a kid and I just was never exposed to it and the whole idea of it seemed scary and gross and …

Transcript Camping is one of those things that you will get really good at as time goes on, and you’ll sort of become an expert and you will pick up all the tips and tricks that you like, and that work for you. A couple of things that I have learned that I think are …