What is Solo Camping and How You Can Safely Do It

I know exactly what you’re thinking, solo camping must mean camping alone, SOLO, right? Yeah, that’s correct. It’s something that has gotten more popular over the past few years and I am finally giving in and wanting to try it out myself. I even went out and got some gear for it already! Last summer I had already given you guys lists of places to go camping. They’re still available too! So you can check out my previous lists here and here. But in today’s post I am going to be talking more about what it really takes to successfully camp alone. 

Knowledge

This one might seem kind of obvious, but it is important. You need to make sure you are 100% ready if you are going camping alone. That means you know you have all of the tools you need, you have researched the campground or area you will be camping at and you have even let a friend or family member know where you’ll be staying and when you plan on being home. This is something I would ease into. If you have never gone camping in a group before, I would recommend starting there. When you first learn how to swim you don’t jump right into the deepest part of the pool without practicing in the shallow end, right? I would say camping with friends or family is probably more fun than going alone!

Proper Tools

The next step to being prepared is making sure you have the proper tools for camping. What you need is simple. You should make sure you have:

• A tent, so you have somewhere to sleep
• Food, so you have stuff to eat
• Water, so you don’t die of dehydration
• Fire Starter, so you can stay warm. This is important!!!
• Utensils for cooking
• Enough warm clothes
• Storage for your food to prevent wildlife from getting to it
• Lamp for light. It gets dark when you go camping too!

These are just the basics too. I’m sure seasoned campers will say there’s more you need too! Like a cover for your tent if it rains and stuff like that. But I am just trying to help out beginners because that’s what I am! If you have any other suggestions for what you need for camping, please let me know!! And if you want your own camping checklist, then download one that I made here!

An Adventure Plan!

Now unless your plan is to just sit around camp the entire time you are gone on your camping trip, you need to have some sort of game plan on what you want to do or else you’ll be so bored the entire time you’re gone! This is another reason why it’s important you research where you will be camping before you get there. How else will you know what that area has to offer? The whole point of camping and traveling is to get out and have new adventures and see new places! So plan out some places to check out BEFORE you get to the campground so you have plenty of options to choose from when you get there.

Camping is a great way to get out in nature. And there’s so many ways you can camp these days. You can rent special glamping tents at some places, you can camp by tent, you can rent or buy an RV or trailer to camp out of, or even rent a cabin. You can even rent campsites out of people’s backyards thanks to apps like Hipcamp now. And now with the option to go camping by yourself it adds a whole new element to the game. So get out there and explore!

Written By: Nikki Allen