Do colder climates and destinations known for sub-zero night-time and early morning temperatures keep you from extending your camping adventures into the winter months?
Camping in winter might not be everyone’s (hot) cup of tea, but with some planning and these top tips from the Go Camp family, you can still enjoy camping without freezing to death. What’s more is that you’re likely to find that campsites are less crowded in the winter months, giving you more space and solitude.
1. Hot Coals Under Your Camping Chair
There’s nothing better than relaxing around a campfire to stay warm. While you’re at it you can extend that warmth by placing some of the hot coals into an enamel camping plate, which you can then position on the ground underneath your camping chair.
2. Using a Hot Water Bottle (the right way)
A hot water bottle is one of the best ways to stay warm during your winter camping trips. If you’re using it to keep your body warm and want to get the most amount of heat for as much of your body, it’s better to keep it placed around your belly and core region, rather than at your feet.
If you’re using a hot water bottle to warm up your bed, pop it into your sleeping bag 5 minutes before you go to bed. We advise not falling sleeping with hot water bottles due to the risk of leaking or bursting.
3. Dress to Impress a Snowman!
This means loads of layers and keeping as dry as possible. If it’s been hot in the day, get out of any sweaty clothing as soon as possible and start layering up with thermal underwear, leggings, gloves, thick scarves, gloves, and perhaps the most important of all is a good ol’ beanie to stop any heat from escaping from your head.
4. The Power of a 12 Volt Hair Dryer
As our Cape Town branch manager, Andrew Honneysett, always says, “one should never under-estimate the power of a 12-volt hair dryer when you need to defrost yourself before bedtime”. Get your bed nice and toasty before bedtime using a travel hair dryer to heat up your sleeping bag. If you’re going off-the-grid you can rent one of Go Camp’s battery and power systems to stay charged and powered up (click here).
5. Sleeping ‘Under Cover’
Having loads of warm blankets and a good sleeping bag to keep warm is one thing, but fleece blankets can do wonders if you have the time and patience to place them in your bed properly. Wrap your camping mattress in a fleece blanket and follow that by covering it with a fitted sheet for maximum warmth and padding. You can also stick a fleece blanket inside your duvet to double up the warmth!
Biggestleaf Travel’s Product Manager and Travel Consultant, Joanne Shacks, who spent many years working in mobile camps in Botswana says that canvas bedrolls are the way to go if you want to prevent any dew or frost from getting into your sleeping bag.
What are your top tips for staying warm while camping during the colder months? Submit your suggestions to us here.