You’ve never camped before? You’re missing out! It is very relaxing to wake up in the fresh air of the outdoors. If you’ve never been camping before and the idea worries you, read on for a few helpful hints and tips.

Camping can be very dangerous or fun depending on whether you’re prepared or not. You must make sure you are completely prepared before you go camping. Especially if you are camping in a new location, take the time to research the wildlife, plants, geography, and climate of the area.

Double-check any medical insurance. If you go camping out of state, you may need to have coverage where you go. This is more crucial if you go camping in another country. Better to be prepared and safe than sorry later.

When camping with children, create special themed breakfasts. Tie up small boxes of juice, cereal and food to a tree. Let younger children wake up and hunt for their breakfast. It’s a fun way to make camping a little more exciting for the children.

Emergency kits are a good thing to have prepared for any camping trip. Always keep the bare basics with you in the kit, and make sure that you have water purification tablets in it as well. You should bring things like a flare and antivenom as well, you never know what might happen.

Don’t forget the duct tape when you pack for a camping trip, to solve just about any dilemma! It is great for patching your tent, repairing your shoes, fixing your insect netting and various other tasks.

Are you a first time camper who has just bought your very first sleeping tent? Long before you set off in the woods for the real thing, get some practice in on setting up the tent. If you have successfully done it at home, pitching it at your campsite will be easier. This will also help you be able to accomplish the task quickly and efficiently once you arrive at your campsite, even if it is near dark.

Be sure to avoid draining your flashlight’s batteries on your camping trip. You don’t want to waste your flashlight battery and not be able to see. Keep the batteries for the flashlight in backwards. If the power switch is touched, the flashlight won’t turn on and you’ll still have full battery power.

Bring trail mix and beef jerky. When you reach the end of a long day, it may not sound appealing to cook, so it helps to have these things to eat when you’re too tired. These items keep for a long time so it won’t be like your wasting food if you don’t use them.

Camping can either be a beautifully relaxing journey, or it can be a virtual nightmare. Whether it goes well or not is usually determined by how prepared you are. If you are able to think ahead about what you might come across, and protect yourself against it, you will have a great time camping.

Everyone knows to make a shelter, but many forget you should do it before dark! It’s very hard to set up your tent when it’s dark outside. You should pack a flashlight or make a fire while it is still light. It will obviously be much easier to pitch your tent if the sun hasn’t gone down yet.

Any survival kit you assemble for camping needs to include waterproof matches. These matches should be kept in a container that’s airtight. Even normal matches can be waterproofed with nail polish or paraffin wax. Easy-to-find 35mm film canisters and plastic medicine bottles make handy cases for matches.

You can start planning your next camping trip with the advice you have just read. Use what you learned and you can become an expert in camping. It does not matter if you stay close to home or travel far away for your camping adventure, you will have the time of your life.