Top 8 Camping Hacks: Make Your Next Trip A Lot Easier
It doesn’t matter whether it’s your first time camping or your hundredth; it’s always a good idea to look into camping hacks to make your next trip a lot easier. Camping hacks can improve your overall experience while also helping to cut down on the time it requires. That way, you can focus solely on fun and not on logistics!
We’ve compiled a list of the top camping hacks that the team here at Bowlus has found, which anyone can use to literally change their entire camping experience! Let’s get started.
#1. Familiarize Yourself With The “Poisonous” Plants In The Area
Every area has its own variety of “poisonous” plants, mostly those that cause skin irritation (technically, most of these plants aren’t considered poisonous). Being able to recognize them quickly can help you avoid spending your camping trip covered in hives. Here is a short list of which ones you should absolutely avoid and how to identify them:
- Poison oak – Poison oak grows mostly in marshy and wooded areas all over the United States. It is related to ivy, which means that its leaves form in clusters of three. Unlike poison ivy, poison oak is a plant that grows only on the ground. It’s also not as common as its sibling, poison ivy.
- Poison ivy – Another “leaves of three, let it be” plant, poison ivy’s leaves look similar to poison oak except for one crucial difference… poison ivy is a vine that can climb.
- Poison sumac – This “poisonous” plant is by far the largest of the three, as it can grow up to 10 feet tall! While it’s not very common, it causes the worst symptoms. Look for red near the center of the leaf, and avoid boggy areas.
If you do run into any of the above, wash immediately with warm, soapy water. You’ll also want to wash any clothes, shoes, and gear you were wearing when you came into contact with it. Cool compresses, calamine lotion, and antihistamines (like Benadryl) can help you minimize blistering and discomfort until it resolves.
#2. Utilize Your Outdoor Shower!
Taking a shower indoors is the way it’s always done, right?
Not when you travel with certain travel trailers! The best travel trailers, like our Endless Highways Edition, come with a shower head that extends outside. Not only is it fun to take showers outside (swimsuit optional), it can also help if you come back from your hiking trip muddy and don’t want to track it inside. And, with so many benefits to spending time outside, why not spend as much time as possible in nature!
Once you’re done showering, microfiber towels are one of the best ways that you can dry off. They are much more absorbent than regular towels, in addition to being softer and quicker to dry. Smaller microfiber washcloths also make a great way to clean up around the travel trailer.
#3. Invest In A Quality Level And Leveling Blocks
Knowing how to level your travel trailer is absolutely essential to having a safe, comfortable camping trip. However, no matter how many times that you do it, getting outdoors and into nature often means you’ll be dealing with much less even ground than when you’re attempting it in your own driveway.
That’s where a bubble level and leveling blocks come in. Both of these tools are essential for getting your camper level, even on the most unlevel terrain. Not only that, but both are fairly inexpensive to purchase. You’ll wonder how you ever leveled your trailer without them, and you’ll never want to do it again.
Leveling blocks work similarly to giant legos. You just need to build them up to get your travel trailer even, and then verify that it’s even by checking it both front to back and side to side with a bubble level. It will help make the stay far more comfortable and make you much less likely to accidentally roll out of bed in the middle of the night.
#4. Don’t Forget Your Instant Pot!
While our travel trailers come equipped with a two burner Italian cooktop and a microwave, people looking for an even more gourmet experience should remember to pack their Instant Pot for their next camping adventure.
Instead of trying to remember multiple appliances, Instant Pots are essentially seven different kitchen appliances in one compact package. It combines a pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, yogurt maker, saute pan, and warmer. You’ll definitely be amazed by the number of delicious dishes you can make with just one inexpensive portable appliance.
Instant Pots are also relatively small in size, which makes storage a breeze. You will likely not even notice a difference in storage space, especially not when making roast chicken, pot pie, baked potatoes, and more without needing an oven.
#5. Make Friends With Velcro
Everyone wants to make their travel trailer unique and a reflection of who they are as people. That’s part of the fun of having an apartment on wheels, and Bowlus allows you to select bespoke features to your travel trailer so that it fits your personality perfectly.
However, when it comes to additional decor, because many of those decorative aspects are small and breakable (like vases to put fresh flowers in), you may forget to secure them or put them away before taking off to head home.
There aren’t many sights more frustrating than arriving home to unpack only to find all of your things strewn about your travel trailer. All you want to do is relax, and instead, you might find yourself cleaning shards of glass up late into the night.
Luckily, there’s an easy fix! You can buy velcro strips at nearly any grocery store. Pick some up and put them on the bottom of any of your moveable objects. You’ll be able to easily take them down once you’re ready to redecorate or winterize your travel trailer, and they’ll stay put during your long drive home.
#6. Pop-Up Fire Pits Make Campfires Easy
Campfires are an essential part of camping, whether you are tent camping out in the middle of nowhere or staying at a luxury RV resort. Starting a fire can be far more difficult than most people assume it to be, which can lead to plenty of frustration and even bickering with the friends and family that you’re traveling with.
To make it much easier on yourself, purchase a pop-up fire pit! You won’t need to worry about building a fire pit out of nothing or doing any damage to the ground or nearby brush or structures. Just pop up the fire, add charcoal or wood, and then take it down when you’re done. You’ll be able to enjoy all of the s’mores, hot dogs, and steaks you want with far less set up.
If pop-up fire pits aren’t your thing, they also make portable propane fire pits that work similarly. Many people like propane fire pits because other parts of the travel trailer likely use propane to work as well, so they don’t have to pack any additional items for the same result.
#7. Efficient Storage Is Essential
Even our well-designed travel trailer has only limited space to store all the things you’ll likely need for any camping trip, especially an extended one. Making efficient use of that space is absolutely essential to enjoying your time without having to dig through everything you own to find what you’re looking for.
Things that can make this easier include closet organizers, hampers, label makers, under bed storage. Creating a strong organizational system that you can use so that you know where all of your things are at any given time will make sure you have a calm, less frustrating camping trip. It will also make unpacking easy when you arrive home.
#8. Know How To Perform Basic Maintenance
One of the best camping “hacks” out there is just knowing exactly how your travel trailer works and how to perform basic maintenance on it. Learn how to change a tire, know how to empty your toilet cassette system (you don’t even need a registered dump site), and practice leveling the trailer a few times before heading out on the road, etc. This will help you on the road, and you’ll also feel confident and proud of how great of a job you’ve done.
If you still don’t feel sure of yourself, consider making your first few trips to a luxury RV resort. Many of these services are often included in a stay there, and you can even have someone give you some tricks and trips so that you can try it yourself next time.
To Summarize…
Camping is supposed to be fun, a way to get back out into nature and relax. Having a few camping hacks under your belt, to make your time even more stress-free and efficient can take your vacation or weekend getaway to the next level.
Your Bowlus travel trailer was specifically designed to make traveling as comfortable and easy as possible, so get to traveling. Bowlus wants you to have as many adventures as you can. Life is short… camp more.
Sources:
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/guide/understanding-poison-ivy-oak-sumac-basics#1