Luke Cuenco 06.03.25
Nothing beats a fast weekend escape to the good open air – it’s a part of the rationale I’ve lastly graduated from utilizing a standard tent to a truck-mounted rooftop tent. However whether or not you’re pitching a tent by a lake or firing up a campfire within the woods and excessive and mighty in your overpriced truck tent, a brief tenting journey can recharge your soul so long as you don’t must put in a bunch of additional work. However let’s face it—cramming gear into your automobile, wrestling with a tent, or coping with soggy gear, or impossible-to-manage meals can flip a soothing getaway right into a stress fest. Over numerous weekend jaunts, I’ve picked up a handful of dead-simple tenting hacks that make these journeys smoother, comfier, and far more enjoyable. These tips are excellent for informal campers or households trying to profit from a few days within the wild while not having a PhD in survival expertise. Right here’s my go-to listing of hacks to raise your subsequent weekend getaway.
Tenting Protection on AllOutdoor:
Easy Tenting Hacks for a Higher Weekend Getaway
Packing Effectivity – Much less Waste, Higher Storage
My weekend journeys don’t want a U-Haul’s price of substances. Other than the fundamentals (cooking gear, water, meals), my new truck setup has actually streamlined how I camp. Through the years I’ve additionally developed just a few packing hacks to avoid wasting area and sanity in order that I spend much less time Tetris-ing my gear within the truck and extra time enjoyable within the nice open air.
- Compartments Are Your Good friend: Having your gear in neat, labeled, and stackable containers is a good way to chop down on the time you spend unloading and packing. As a substitute of getting one big tub for all of your cooking, cleansing, gear, and meals provides, take into account breaking these containers down into their very own devoted models based mostly on what’s inside.
- Ziplock Meal Prep: Should you’re not a fan of pricey camp meals from Mountain Home and also you don’t have the abdomen for MREs, your solely different different goes to be surviving on path combine and protein bars, or cooking your individual meals. Cooking doesn’t must be troublesome if you’re tenting although! Earlier than you head out, pack single-meal substances into resealable baggage. Certainly one of my favorites for breakfast is that this nice “Omelette In A Bag” recipe. For dinner, combine instantaneous rice, dried veggies, and a packet of seasoning for a no-fuss aspect. Label every bag and stack them flat in your cooler. This cuts down on having a bunch of cumbersome containers and trash and makes cleanup a breeze. Certainly one of my favorites for breakfast is a pre-made sausage, egg, and cheese combine which could be tossed proper in a sizzling skillet for some good breakfast burritos for a gaggle in below 10 minutes utilizing this trick, and it’s a crowd-pleaser.
Straightforward Campsite Setup: Get Comfortable Quick
Like I mentioned earlier one of many largest creature comforts (tenting hacks)
I’ve added to my tenting setup is a rooftop tent. Nevertheless, even a rooftop tent suffers from a few of the similar setup and takedown struggles that you’ve got with some other tent. Organising camp shouldn’t eat up your treasured weekend time so I’ve adopted just a few of those practices over time to maintain my setup and takedown time right down to a minimal and
- Pre-Tied Guyline Knots: This is applicable to these of you who shall be utilizing extra conventional tents and even bigger canopies and vestibules for different tenting setups. Earlier than your journey, tie adjustable knots (like taut-line hitches) in your tent’s guylines so you possibly can stress them rapidly at camp. It saves twiddling with knots at nighttime or wind. I began pre-rigging my common tent after a gusty evening left me re-staking at 2 a.m. within the rain—now the setup is a five-minute job, even in a rush if I’m utilizing a standard tent and stakes.
- Garments-Stuffed Pillow: Skip the cumbersome camp pillow and blow-up pillows. Camp pillows take up a bunch of pointless additional area, and blow-up pillows are about as snug as having an airbag deployed proper in your face. Use your sleeping bag’s stuff sack or an additional hoodie and fill it with different garments, like one other hoodie or spare socks. It’s simply as comfortable, takes up no additional area, and works like a appeal. I’ve been sleeping on my hoodies and jackets for years, they usually beat inflatable pillows that all the time appear to make issues worse.
- Pool Noodle Desk Guard: Received youngsters or clumsy pals? (I’ve received at the very least a kind of) Slice a pool noodle lengthwise and tape it over the sharp edges of your folding camp desk or cooler. Whereas I usually use pool noodles as an affordable window guard for taking pictures out of my truck, it’s additionally an affordable strategy to stop bumps and bruises, particularly when everybody’s scrambling for s’mores and has had just a few drinks. I noticed this at a household campsite and my good friend’s shins wished they’d considered it sooner.
Fireplace and Meals: Fast Wins for Comfortable Campers
A very good fireplace and engaging grub are the center of any tenting journey. These hacks maintain issues easy, so that you’re not caught babysitting coals or washing dishes. All of those ought to work whether or not you utilize a conveyable fuel grill like a jetboil or MSR pocket rocket, otherwise you’re preserving issues old skool and utilizing a extra conventional fireplace pit.
- Lint Fireplace Starters: Don’t chuck that dryer lint—it’s a fire-starting goldmine. Stuff it into an empty Altoids tin and toss it in your cooking gearbox. Like metal wool, it catches a spark nearly immediately, even in damp circumstances, and does a very good job of continuous to burn even with a stiff breeze. I maintain just a few of those stashed in my automobile for each journey; they’ve saved me when soggy kindling was all I might discover. Should you’ve received the money, you may as well buy or make your own fire starters like these I’m engaged on integrating into my mountain climbing gear.
- Espresso Filter Brew: Many might take into account me a espresso snob since I nearly all the time convey a French press to camp with me, however I’ve additionally realized that morning espresso doesn’t must be difficult. Should you’re on the lookout for an affordable and fast manner for a very good morning brew, you possibly can scoop floor espresso right into a filter, tie it with a bit of string (or unflavored dental floss), and steep it in a mug of sizzling water like a tea bag. It’s light-weight, packs flat, and beats most instantaneous espresso by a mile (it’s additionally a lot cheaper). I’ve since graduated to preserving some espresso in a small ziplock bag and utilizing the Wacaco Pipamoka portable coffee brewer which doubles as its personal consuming vessel – can’t get rather more optimized than that!
Consolation and Security: Small Tips, Large Distinction
Whereas I nonetheless often Weekend tenting is about enjoyable, not roughing it. These hacks enhance consolation and maintain you secure with out including complexity.
- Glow-in-the-Darkish Zipper Ties: Fumbling on your tent zipper at nighttime is a rookie transfer. Tie a glow-in-the-dark keychain or a dollar-store glow stick to every zipper pull. They gentle up your tent entrance for hours, making midnight lavatory runs a non-issue and making for a a lot bigger greedy floor if you’re looking for your manner in or out of the tent. My RTT is on prime of a ladder so I’d moderately be certain of what I’m grabbing onto after I’m getting back from a rest room break.
- Herb Fireplace Bug Repellent: Mosquitoes like to crash your campfire occasion and if you happen to’re like me sporting shorts is a requirement and never a clothes choice. Toss a handful of dried sage or rosemary into the flames—the smoke drives bugs away naturally and smells higher than spray in my view. I found this throughout a desert journey after we ran out of bug spray and surprisingly it saved the biters at bay.
Last Ideas
A weekend getaway is simply too quick to waste on gear mishaps, irritating fireplace beginning, difficult meal prep, or different mundane campsite chores. These hacks are my tried-and-true shortcuts to a greater tenting expertise, honed over years of random fast journeys with pals, household, or simply me, my ideas, and a starry Oregonian sky. They’re easy sufficient for newbies however useful for seasoned campers too and it’d be flattering if any of you adopted them as a part of your tenting expertise. If it makes issues any simpler for you and your crew, please let me know within the feedback! So subsequent time you load up for a few days within the wild, give these a shot and see how they rework your journey. Do you may have a go-to hack you suppose would assist me or others on their weekend outside getaways? Share it within the feedback—I’m all the time up for stealing a good suggestion.
Trending Merchandise
