Luke Cuenco 06.03.25
Nothing beats a fast weekend escape to the nice outside – it’s a part of the explanation 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 need to put in a bunch of additional work. However let’s face it—cramming gear into your automotive, 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 methods are good for informal campers or households seeking to profit from a few days within the wild with no need 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 drugs. 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 save lots of house and sanity in order that I spend much less time Tetris-ing my gear within the truck and extra time enjoyable within the nice outside.
- Compartments Are Your Pal: 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 items based mostly on what’s inside.
- Ziplock Meal Prep: When you’re not a fan of costly camp meals from Mountain Home and also you don’t have the abdomen for MREs, your solely different various goes to be surviving on path combine and protein bars, or cooking your personal meals. Cooking doesn’t need to be tough if you’re tenting although! Earlier than you head out, pack single-meal components into resealable luggage. One in every of my favorites for breakfast is that this nice “Omelette In A Bag” recipe. For dinner, combine immediate rice, dried veggies, and a packet of seasoning for a no-fuss facet. 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. One in every of my favorites for breakfast is a pre-made sausage, egg, and cheese combine which may be tossed proper in a scorching skillet for some good breakfast burritos for a bunch in below 10 minutes utilizing this trick, and it’s a crowd-pleaser.
Straightforward Campsite Setup: Get Comfortable Quick
Like I stated earlier one of many greatest creature comforts (tenting hacks)
I’ve added to my tenting setup is a rooftop tent. Nonetheless, even a rooftop tent suffers from a number of the similar setup and takedown struggles that you’ve with some other tent. Establishing camp shouldn’t eat up your treasured weekend time so I’ve adopted just a few of those practices through the years 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 might 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 pressure them shortly at camp. It saves twiddling with knots at midnight or wind. I began pre-rigging my common tent after a gusty night time 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 further house, 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 further house, and works like a appeal. I’ve been sleeping on my hoodies and jackets for years, and so they beat inflatable pillows that at all times appear to make issues worse.
- Pool Noodle Desk Guard: Obtained children or clumsy mates? (I’ve bought a minimum of a type 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 inexpensive window guard for capturing out of my truck, it’s additionally an inexpensive approach 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.
Hearth and Meals: Fast Wins for Glad Campers
A very good fireplace and attractive grub are the guts of any tenting journey. These hacks hold 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 retaining issues old style and utilizing a extra conventional fireplace pit.
- Lint Hearth 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 hold just a few of those stashed in my automotive for each journey; they’ve saved me when soggy kindling was all I might discover. When you’ve bought the money, you may also buy or make your personal fireplace starters like these I’m engaged on integrating into my climbing gear.
- Espresso Filter Brew: Many might take into account me a espresso snob since I nearly at all times deliver a French press to camp with me, however I’ve additionally realized that morning espresso doesn’t should be difficult. When you’re on the lookout for an inexpensive and fast manner for a very good morning brew, you possibly can scoop floor espresso right into a filter, tie it with a chunk of string (or unflavored dental floss), and steep it in a mug of scorching water like a tea bag. It’s light-weight, packs flat, and beats most immediate espresso by a mile (it’s additionally a lot cheaper). I’ve since graduated to retaining some espresso in a small ziplock bag and utilizing the Wacaco Pipamoka moveable espresso brewer which doubles as its personal consuming vessel – can’t get far more optimized than that!
Consolation and Security: Small Tips, Huge Distinction
Whereas I nonetheless sometimes Weekend tenting is about enjoyable, not roughing it. These hacks enhance consolation and hold you protected with out including complexity.
- Glow-in-the-Darkish Zipper Ties: Fumbling in your tent zipper at midnight is a rookie transfer. Tie a glow-in-the-dark keychain or a dollar-store glow stick to every zipper pull. They mild 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 high of a ladder so I’d fairly make sure of what I’m grabbing onto after I’m getting back from a toilet break.
- Herb Hearth Bug Repellent: Mosquitoes like to crash your campfire get together and in the event you’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 for my part. I found this throughout a desert journey once we ran out of bug spray and surprisingly it saved the biters at bay.
Ultimate Ideas
A weekend getaway is simply too brief 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 mates, household, or simply me, my ideas, and a starry Oregonian sky. They’re easy sufficient for novices however helpful 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 remodel your journey. Do you will have a go-to hack you assume would assist me or others on their weekend outside getaways? Share it within the feedback—I’m at all times up for stealing a good suggestion.
