by Originally published on our site travelermaster.com
Whether it’s for an overnight get-away or if you’re traveling around the world, when it comes to camping out in nature, you’ve always got to be prepared!
Luckily for you, we’ve got some expert campers to share some of their best kept secrets to help make your outdoor experience enhanced in ways you never imagined.
From roasting candy to packing away a travel size first aid kit, here are some fun camping hacks to enhance your wilderness experience!
Make-Shift Speakers
One of the expert tricks to master while camping is to make sure that your load is as light as possible, while you’re still fully prepared for anything. Right?
So when it comes to bringing along extra items that are heavy, like your blue tooth speakers, then they might be one of the items to let go of.
But worry not! You can easily create a make-shift speaker by placing your cell phone inside of a cup to amp up the volume and get the nature party going.
On-the-Go Coffee Bags
There’s nothing like waking up to the fresh morning air, and sipping a hot and delicious cup o’ Joe after a good night’s sleep under the stars.
While we know that you can’t bring your special French Press or Nespresso machine out with you to the woods, instead of resorting to the acquired taste of black coffee, we’ve got a better idea!
Create yourself little tea-baglike coffee bags to keep your ground filtered. All you need to do is wrap grounds of coffee into a filter, and tie it up with some dental floss. Voila!
Some Fun for the Kids
There are plenty of fun things to do while you’re camping as an adult—hey, just disconnecting from technology and enjoying the peace and quiet can be satisfying. But when it comes to kiddos, they’re probably looking for something a little more fun than getting-away from the hub-bubs of their hectic lives.
Imagination Tree suggests that a fun way to stay occupied is to create a little fun, adventurous scavenger hunt for them to enjoy, like finding different types of plant life. How cute!
A “Magic” Lamp
This next camping hack is a total game changer!
One of the most important items to pack, whether it’s for a hike or full-on camping trip is a headlamp. But did you know that if you attach it to a jug of water like in the image shown, then it creates a functional lamp to help you around the tent. It’s almost like magic!
There’s no doubt that it’s so much more convenient than using a flashlight or headlamp, since it will illuminate the entire area.
Keep Your Keys from Sinking
One of the most fun parts about hiking and camping is trailing or lounging around those natural brooks, rivers, and lakes. Right? But one of the scariest things about being near water is that you might drop something, and lose it forever. We’ve got a trick to prevent any sinking disasters, though—at least, ones involved with your keys.
According to Instagram user smashleuz, if you attach your key to a cork, then it acts sort of like a life raft key chain, since cork floats in water. How cool!
DIY Bonfire Starter Kit
What’s camping without a glorious bonfire?
Instead of lumping around a big bag of coal, we’ve got the perfect trick to help you start up those glorious flames without question—a bonfire starter kit.
As part of your handy-dandy DIY bonfire starter kit, all you need to do it recycle an egg carton by replacing the eggs in the carton with pieces of coal. It’s not just a convenient way to pack it, but you can actually light up the carton to use as kindling.
DIY Travel Size Toothpaste Tubes
Toiletries are essential for any trip, of course. But as we’ve mentioned before, keeping your load as light as possible is the best when going on a camping trick.
With that said, did you know that you can make yourself a single-use toothpaste kit using basic house items?
That’s right, instead of lugging around that big tube of toothpaste, here’s how you can make yourself little travel sized toothpaste bottles.
All you need is a plastic straw, lighter, and toothpaste. Cut the plastic straw to your desired single-use size, and using the lighter, carefully seal one side by melting it shut. Fill the little tube with toothpaste, and then seal off the other end with the lighter. How cute!
Preppin’ a Breakfast of Champions
Having a nice, warm cup o’ Joe is a treat when you’re camping, but what about a delicious breakfast of champions? And what better way to enjoy the sunrise than with some good ‘ol pancakes?
If you make pancake batter in advanced at home, you can easily bring it along with you in a container and serve it up in the morning. The best container to utilize is an empty, rinsed-out ketchup or mustard bottle, that way you can easily squeeze out the perfect amount of batter on your pan. It’s quick, easy, and mess-free.
DIY Dish Drying Rack
Speaking of whipping up a batch of pancakes as a breakfast of camping champions, what about doing the dishes?
Instead of worrying about bringing extra towels to just get wet and damp, you can easily make yourself a DIY drying rack—all you need are a hook and a belt.
Once you’ve scrubbed all your dishes at the camp site, just tie a belt around a tree trunk, and place your hooks through the holes or on the belt itself. This way you can hang dry your pans and mugs with no worries.
Protecting That Precious TP
Deep down, we all know that there’s a very special, inexplainable experience about using the restroom when you’re out in nature. But that doesn’t mean you need to do it without your creature comforts.
If you’re worried about how you’re gonna lunge around that precious TP while you’re doing your business, fear not! You can easily place a roll of toilet paper inside of a plastic coffee container for convenience and protection. Just make sure to carefully slit the side of it so that you can let some of that TP out without any issues. It’s sort of like a tissue box, but for toilet paper!
Campfire Candy
Roasting marshmallows is a classic camp snack, but have you heard about roasting Starbursts? That’s right, the favorite fruity, chewy candy is apparently a big camp crowd pleaser!
Instagram user ambervirgo shows us the beauty of this trendy new candy treat. The secret is to make sure that you roast it on a metal skewer, and try to keep it closer to the coal and away from the flames, so that it doesn’t slide off the stick.
Who would’ve thought that this would be such a delicious dessert?
Interior Tent Flooring
It’s incredibly cathartic and rejuvenating experience to sleep out in the wild and away from your creature comforts. But that doesn’t mean that it needs to be totally uncomfortable for you to enjoy.
Many people use mats to place on the ground of their tents, but using foam tile blocks as “flooring” inside your tent can make all the difference in the world!
Not only is it a stable, solid, and comfortable base, but you also get a lot more coverage than using a sleeping mat.
A Simpler & Quicker Starch to Cook
Cooking around the campfire is super fun, but one of the big reasons people joyously drag themselves out into the woods in the first place, is to get a taste of simplicity.
Cooking rice might seem like a simple idea for a wholesome side dish for dinner, but it’s actually quite tricky to cook out in the wild and takes quite a while to cook anyway. Right?
A simpler and quicker alternative is cooking couscous!
And since it’s made from durum wheat, the texture of couscous is quite similar to that of rice.
All you need to do is add some hot water to the uncooked couscous, wait about 5 minutes, and voila!
Back-Up Fire Starter Kit
You can’t go camping without building a beautifully roaring campfire. But if you’re trying to keep your load light, then bringing some kindling and extra wood might not be exactly what you were planning—especially if you can just find some at the campsite itself. Right?
But just in case you can’t find any, you can actually burn a bag of Doritos. That’s right, your favorite little snack actually has a hidden dual-purpose of being great for fire kindling, and works as a great back-up kit for your campfire. It looks like Instagram User gus.cook can definitely vouch for this trick!
Travel Size Spices
When it comes to cooking while you’re out camping, keeping things simple is sort of the unwritten law. But what if we told you that we had a secret trick to help you enhance your dining experience in a super convenient way?
Instead of lugging around different bottles of spices, keep things organized with this cute travel sized spice container idea!
Just toss in some of your favorite spices inside empty Tic Tac boxes for the perfect campfire cookout spice selection.
Freeze Your Water to Keep Things Fresh
Remember how earlier we mentioned that you can use a jug of water as an illuminating lamp for your tent? Well, it turns out that having a jug of water can come in handy for other things around the campsite.
Instead of just throwing in some ice in your cooler, just freeze a gallon jug of water and use that for your cooler pack. Not only does it work just as well as ice to keep things cold and fresh, but once it melts, you have additional water for around the campsite!
Travel-Size Laundry Machine
Some camping trips are just overnight, and others can last for over a week! In this case, you need to be prepared and equipped for all sorts of scenarios—including laundry.
As a travel-friendly makeshift laundry machine, all you need is a bucket with a lid, a plunger, water, and some laundry detergent.
To use the portable laundry machine, just throw in your clothes into the bucket with some water and laundry detergent, cover the bucket with the lid (make sure you carefully slit a hole for the plunger beforehand), and start plunging away. How fun!
Dealin’ with Dirty Shoes
It’s all fine and dandy to get muddy and dirty while you’re out in the woods surrounded by nature, but what about when you’re packing up and getting ready to head back home? It’s never fun having to deal with dirty shoes when you’re getting back into your clean car on your way home.
So, as a little tip, you can always just keep a spare pair of comfy shoes in the car for your ride home, and then toss in your muddy hiking boots in a plastic bag or wrap them in a shower cap.
Lighting a Fire With a Lemon
Lemonade isn’t the only thing you can make from lemons! You can actually use lemons to light a fire. All you need is a lemon, copper clips, sink nails, lead wire, and steel wool. Here’s how to do it:
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- Start by softening the lemon in your palms and push the copper clips into the lemon.
- Follow the same step for the sink nails on the other side and make sure they aren’t touching.
- Take your wire and connect it diagonally from the first copper clip to the second nail and repeat until you’ve connected all of the clips and nails.
- Connect the wire to each clip and nail.
- Take the steel wool and put dry tinder on it.
- Grab the wires from the lemon. This creates a short circuit, which leads to the steel wool catching fire.
A Natural Way to Keep the Bugs Away
Bringing insect repellant is an absolute must when you’re going to spend some time out in the wilderness. But this next hack is so much more than a simple spray.
Did you know that the herb sage deters mosquitos and other pesky insects? That’s right, if you buy yourself a bundle of sage for your trip and toss it into your bonfire, then it should keep away those insects!
Not just that, but the smell of burning sage can be really pleasant, sort of like incense. In fact, sage is used as a spiritual cleanser in some ancient rituals.
“Floating” Candlesticks
Why not spice things up by adding a little romantic flare to your camping trip?
Before your next trip to the wild, make sure that you make a batch of these easy camping candlesticks to enhance your get-away experience.
The best way is to just drill a small hole at the bottom of a candle, so that you can slide in a wooden dowel into it. This way you can just stick the dowels into the ground, and create a romantic atmosphere with your candlesticks “floating” in the air.
A Good Hiking Hack vs. a Great Hiking Hack
Mother nature is so beautiful and so kind to us. That’s the whole reason why we like to plan get-away camping trips to visit her. So why not return the favor and treat her with kindness?
A good hiking hack is to bring along marking tape while you’re on your hike so that you don’t get lost along your trail. But another great hiking hack is to use biodegradable marking tape, so that you don’t have to or worry about taking it down on your way back to camp. How clever!
A Luxurious Lounge-Around
Camping chairs are a nice addition to your trip, but if you really want to take things to the next level, then a hammock is the way to go! But not just any hammock will do—a portable car hammock truly is a welcomed luxury.
Just check out IG user, dustywildroad! It’s clear that they’re having the time of their lives using their portable car hammock to lounge around the gorgeous views and enjoy their time in the wild.
The Most Important Tool to Pack
Being prepared and fully equipped for absolutely anything when you’re out in the wild, especially emergent scenarios, is the most crucial part of camping and hiking. And this little secret tool should be part of any emergency kit, not just for when you’re camping.
Two words: Duct Tape.
It’s no secret what this magic adhesive roll can do, which is why there’s absolutely no question that you should always have duct tape on hand when you’re camping, no matter how long you’re planning on being out in the wild for.
Hiking-Sized First Aid Kit
Speaking of being prepared for emergencies … what about bringing a first aid kit? The answer is, always bring one along with you!
But this next tip isn’t a reminder to bring a first aid kit with you, it’s a little hack to make a DIY travel size first aid kit if you’re planning on leaving the campsite for a hike and don’t want to lug around the bigger kit.
In an empty prescription pill bottle, you can add in some essentials like matches, band-aids, etc.
DIY Travel-Size Soap
We talked about single-use toothpaste, but what about soap bars?
Instagram user soapify.id suggests making one-time use soap bars from a regular soap of bar by using just one handy-dandy kitchen utensil.
You can create thin strips of bar soap by peeling it with a vegetable peeler. Talk about some innovative ingenuity! This trick truly is an expert level way of enhancing your camping experience, since bars of soap can take up an awkward amount of space—even if they’re tiny in comparison to other items.
Easy-Breezy Eggs
We’ve revealed a hack about preparing a glorious cup of Joe and about preppin’ a breakfast of champions of pancakes. But what about bringing along eggs? Eggs are one of the best ways to get a healthy protein-packed meal in while you’re camping.
But while making them is quite quick and hassle-free, transferring them is another issue. That is, unless you do this expert hack.
Pre-crack all of your eggs into a bottle with a tight seal/lid. After that, you can pour it straight into your pan for an easy-breezy breakfast!
Backpack Protection
Whether it’s from the rain or accidentally falling into a wet puddle, it’s super important to be prepared for any occasion that might get you wet when you’re out in the wild.
It’s not just crucial to make sure you have dry clothes, but keeping your belongings dry is always important. That’s why this next tip is perfect.
Before packing up your bag for your trip, line your bag with a heft plastic bag or garbage bag to keep the contents dry just in case you get rained on.
A Lit Trick for Matches
Some things in life just don’t seem to make much sense. Let’s take matchboxes for example. Why are they made from a cardboard like material that’s anything but waterproof? The last thing you want is to carry around Superman’s powers in a bag made of Kryptonite. Right?
One life-changing camping trick is to put your matches in a water-proof container. But to take things up to the expert level, attach some sandpaper on the top so that you can easily light the matches up!
Wax On, Wax Off
We’re not sure how well this trick actually works, so you might want to try it at home before taking the risk on the field. But apparently, to deal with some zippers that just aren’t having it, you can just rub some candle wax against them, and it’ll instantly start working!
A Secret Way to Stay Warm During the Night
Let’s be honest for a moment. Sleeping under the stars is amazing, but depending where you’re camping out at, it can be absolutely freezing! We’ve got a nifty little trick to help you out with that problem though.
It’s always a good idea to pack the proper clothing for all weather-related scenarios, but when it comes to warming you up, a water bottle can be your best friend.
The same way you can use a heat-pack to warm up in the microwave to keep you warm, you can just toss in some hot water into a water bottle and keep it inside your sleeping bag. The way water can contain heat does wonders.
The Ingenuity of a Freshmen in College
This next trick might be super “freshmen in college”, but it’s a great trick that some of the best travelers use!
The beauty of being a camping expert, is knowing that pretty much any item that you bring along has a dual-purpose. In fact, sometimes they even have more than one purpose!
Instead of packing up extra plates, you can just use frisbees.
We know it sounds a little far-fetched, but they’re actually a great way to keep your food in place (sort of like a bowl), they don’t break easily (since they’re made from plastic), and have a double-purpose as a fun sporting game.
Keeping Things “Dry”
So, you know how when you open a certain package, there’s those silica gel packs tossed in there with the “THROW AWAY DO NOT EAT” message written on it?
Well, it turns out that those little packets actually absorb humidity! And even though you’re supposed to “throw them away immediately”, technically you could save them and use them on your camping trip! Just stick a couple of those bad boys inside your pot once you’ve washed it, and hopefully it’ll prevent any rusting.
Natural Tick Remover
Something that’s not part of most first aid kits that should be is a way to get rid of ticks. Nobody likes to talk about it, but it’s something that does need to be addressed.
If you’re ever in a situation with a tick—yuck and yikes—then one secret way to get it off you is by drowning a cotton ball in liquid soap, and then placing it on the tick that’s snug on your skin. This will help you remove the tick, and safely return you to your nature get-away.
If You Don’t Have Clothing Hooks, Then Use This
So, we’ve talked about the importance of keeping your items dry, but what happens when they do get wet?
Let’s say you didn’t pack yourselves some clothing hooks to hang up and dry your clothes, more likely than not, you’ve probably packed yourself a loaf or two of bread. Right?
And if so, then you’re in luck, because those bread tags that you use to keep your bread tightly sealed and fresh, can actually be used as the perfect clothing hook to dry out your clothes.
Desperate Times, Call for Desperate Spoons
Sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures. And this is the perfect trick if you’ve forgotten to pack yourself some cutlery, or for some reason, just ended up needing an extra set.
Should you end up in the position where you need another spoon, but do have a plastic bottle and a pocket knife, then have no fear, a spoon is near!
Bring Along a Wind Barrier
One of the things about the wilderness that we sometimes tend to forget, is the fact that we need to deal with all of the elements that are involved with Mother Nature—earth, wind, fire, and water. So far we’ve addressed a couple of ways to deal with fire and water, and even a little bit about earth but what about the wind?
In order to prevent the wind getting a win from your campsite, we’ve got the perfect solution!
Instead of leaving your beautiful cutlery and plastic or paperware out in the open , run down to the dollar store ahead of time and bring along a cake carrier. This will prevent anything from flying away when it’s under it. Talk about the ultimate wind-barrier!
Keepin’ the Creepy Crawlers Away
Okay, even we’re going to admit that this next hack is a bit far-fetched and odd, but it does seem to work!
If you’re nervous about little critters coming around your campsite, then this little trick is the perfect thing to keep them away.
If you attach a glowstick to a mousetrap, then it’s most likely you’ll either scare away little unwanted critters creeping and crawling around the site, or you’ll at least be able to trap it.
We can’t say that this is the friendliest manner to confront wildlife, but it does seem to get the job done.
Pool Noodles Save the Day
We know that this next trick is absolutely absurd, but it actually works!
So, you know how setting up those big tents can sometimes be a little bit tricky? Well, if you actually pop on over to your nearest dollar store before your camping trip and buy a pool noodle or two, then you’ve got yourself an easy way to handle those troubles.
Using an Acorn as an S.O.S.
Desperate times call for desperate measures and if you’re in a situation where the most desperate of times call for the most desperate of measures, then use this S.O.S. tip! Should you ever be lost and you’re in need of a way to reach out for help, just look for an acorn.
Once you’ve found an acorn, grab the cap with the top rim of the acorn, making a “V” with your thumbs. Next, place your top lip on your thumb nails, and your bottom lip right below your thumbs’ knuckles. Then you can blow as if it’s a whistle, adjusting your fingers so that it will work.
Good luck!
