Establishing an Order of Priorities When Setting up Camp
One of the most overlooked aspects of setting up camp is coming up with an order of priorities. This is an important step that should be planned ahead of time so that you know what needs to be done once you arrive on sight. There are a number of different factors to think about based on your needs and preferences, but unfortunately there are no one-size-fits-all solutions that will work for everyone.
However, there are some general guidelines to consider that can make it easier to develop an approach that works best for you. Let’s take a look at a few things to think about as you arrive on-site and get yourself established.
Timing and Weather
Two of the most important factors that will influence your decision-making process are the time of day and weather conditions. For example, imagine yourself showing up in the late afternoon. It may be a better idea to secure your water source and start foraging for firewood before setting up your tent and living area in order to take advantage of remaining daylight. This will also give you the opportunity to become aware of your surroundings and have a general lay of the land before it gets dark.
On the other hand, if you’re arriving when it’s raining, it may be best to put up your shelter before anything else. However, it’s also important to start thinking about how you will build and maintain a fire so that you can have as much time as possible to let the material dry out. Perhaps you will also need to factor in how you will get out of wet clothes and set up an area where you can allow your gear to dry out.
These examples also illustrate how things can be very fluid in the field, and how it’s important to be able to adapt to the conditions you’re facing. Perhaps you had plan A, but the situation at hand would be better addressed with a plan B. Do you have one? Maybe you can take advantage of the rain in order to collect some water. However, that would involve having to decide whether or not to attend to that before doing something that you would normally take care of first. Maybe you would normally build a starter-fire before anything else, but you notice that you have enough good wood nearby that you can work on another project instead.
How do You Feel
Another important factor to consider is how you’re feeling when you arrive. Are you worried about blisters forming now that you’ve stopped hiking? Are you hungry or fatigued? In some cases it makes more sense to get the hard stuff out of the way first so that you don’t have to deal with that uphill battle once you’ve been resting for a while. On the other hand, you may have everything that you need and can pitch your tent and relax before getting some work done. How you feel will play a big role in what you decide to do, but being prepared ahead of time will help to make adapting much easier.
Stay One Step Ahead
While it’s important to focus on the destination, and it is a goal that often motivates us as we travel, it is also important to think ahead as well. Experience will play a big role in how you adapt and prioritize, but so will conditions that are unique and hard to predict. One thing is for certain: No two sites are ever the same, and there will always be something that catches us off-guard. Whether or not it’s something that presents a big challenge or problem will also depend on the situation at hand.
This is why it’s important to constantly think about what to expect as you approach a site. Doing so will help you to get mentally and physically prepared to perform the tasks that need to be accomplished. The trick is to order them in the most-efficient ways possible in order to make life as easy as possible once you arrive.
