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Winter can get tiring, but have you ever tried summer camping in a properly hot place? I can assure you, I prefer the cold.
Endless sweating, bugs, and dust – it can get miserable.
However, there are ways to improve the experience. Let’s explore a few summer camping tips to make this season’s adventures much more pleasurable!
Table of Contents
- Why Summer Camping Can Get Uncomfortable
- Find Tree Cover
- Set Your Tent Up at Dusk
- Small Tent Fan
- Use Orange Lighting
- Keep Your Fridge Full
- Take Plenty of Water
- Prepare for Cold Northern Nights
- Final Thoughts
- Other Recommended Camping Gear
Why Summer Camping Can Get Uncomfortable
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Good weather when camping is great. However, once temperatures start getting beyond 85 degrees, things start to get sweaty.
Also, warm weather usually means bugs that make the whole experience even more frustrating.
The tips mentioned below will improve your warm-weather camping experience regardless of temperature.
However, if you want to truly enjoy a beach camp or summer month camp in general, the best thing to do is travel north, where the temperatures during summer are perfect.
Anyhow, let’s get to the tips!
Summer Camping Tips – Find Tree Cover
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Waking up at 6 am full of sweat because the sun is hitting straight onto your tent is no fun.
To avoid this, try to determine where the sun will be at sunrise and set up your tent in a way that you are protected under some trees.
If there are no trees around, you can use an awning with a sidewall, or worst case, camp right next to your truck and use that as protection.
Summer Camping Tips – Set Your Tent Up at Dusk
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Setting up your tent at dusk is a good way to keep it as cool as possible. If you set it up at lunchtime, it will soak up the heat of the day, and until bedtime comes around, it will become a sauna.
Just make sure you set it up before you have too many beers!
Summer Camping Tips – Small Tent Fan
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The key to staying cool during warm nights is airflow. A small tent fan that you can hang on the roof is a great way to keep you cool even during the warmest of nights.
The Reenuo fan shown above will provide 40 hours of battery life thanks to its rechargeable batteries. Therefore, you can easily enjoy a cool and long night’s sleep.
Summer Camping Tips – Use Orange Lighting
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Next on the summer camping tips list is to use orange lighting instead of white lighting. This should help keep the bugs away from your camp as orange light is less attractive than white light.
If the bugs persist, it may be a good idea to use some bug spray directly onto the lights.
Summer Camping Tips – Keep Your Fridge Full
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This may sound counterintuitive, but keeping a fridge full helps it work less to stay cool.
This happens because every item in it is cold; therefore, it helps keep the overall temperature down.
So, every time you take a beer out of the fridge, put one back in.
Before you leave home, it is also a good idea to put items that are already cold in the fridge. This helps save it from all the work needed to cool down all the warm drinks.
Summer Camping Tips – Take Plenty of Water
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I know it sounds obvious, but this being the end of winter, we tend to forget how much more water we need during summer.
So, just to be safe, take plenty of water with you and use sunscreen. Getting sunburned and then trying to sleep through a warm night is pure misery!
Summer Camping Tips – Prepare for Cold Northern Nights
If you live down south, chances are you will be sweating and not shivering at night.
However, summer nights can still get cold – especially in the mountains.
Just like in winter, it may be worth taking a diesel heater with you in case you need it.
Our unit of choice is the Planar 4kw portable diesel heater.
This is a self-contained heater that comes in a crushproof and rain-resistant case. It can run on diesel or kerosene and 12v DC.
Fuel consumption is about 3-4 liters for 8 hours, and it can operate efficiently at altitudes of up to 8200ft. So, even if you’re in the high country, you can still have simple, reliable, dry heat for your tent, camper, RV, and so forth. And with a wired remote, you don’t even have to get out of bed to adjust the heat output!
This may be a weird item to add to a list of summer camping tips, but trust me, it can get cold in some areas even during summer.
With Planar being one of the best manufacturers of diesel heaters, you can be reassured that your sleeping setup will be warm and safe at night-time.
Since the unit sits outside the tent, there’s less of a concern about carbon monoxide poisoning. And since it’s equipped with a silencer, it offers quieter operation so you can sleep better at night.
Summer Camping Tips – Final Thoughts
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Extreme weather – both hot and cold – can be miserable for camping. However, with the correct equipment and preparation, you can drastically improve the experience.
For any further summer camping tips or any other off-road or overland questions, head over to the forum section of our page.
Other Recommended Camping Gear
- First Aid Kit
- Camp Grill
- GMRS Radio
- Camp Chair
- Camping Lantern
- Waterproof Tarp
- Camping Table
- Small Ax
- Solar Shower
- Camping Cookset