Your first wild camping adventure
Chuck a tent and sleeping bag in your pack, jump in the car and head to the hills for a weekend in nature. Sounds easy and so it should but there’s a lot more to consider when going wild camping than you may first think. Without a little experience and a good plan in place you’ll often find yourself desperately searching for a place to sleep in the dark, winding up pitched near to a road with no view and an angry farmer in the morning… not the peaceful experience you were seeking. But don’t let this put you off, below we will highlight some of the factors to consider when planning your getaway to make the most of the beautiful landscape you hope to explore.
Location
There are restrictions to wild camping in the UK, unlike in some other countries. Your safest bet is to explore Scotland where wild camping is legal and you can essentially pitch up anywhere you like (aim to find a private and discrete location and be aware of the restrictions around Loch Lomond). The other option to consider is at the other end of the UK, Dartmoor National Park. Dartmoor is in a state of debate at the moment so before heading check out the latest on the legalities of camping in the national park. Wild camping in Snowdonia and the Lake District is, in theory, not permitted; however, if you are in open access land, camping high, not lighting fires and staying discrete the parks are extremely tolerant. Check out our other blog to help choose a location for the season.
Route
Whether you are an experienced hill walker or fresh to it, the first step should be to consider a route which is fit for the weather, then the team’s experience and finally your ambitions.
Unless you’re a seasoned wild camper the route you choose should be relatively easy to abandon, so if you find out that your tent leaks or the stove you bought doesn’t actually work in the wind you are never more than an hour or so walk into civilisation, be that a road with a bus service, a village with a local pub or the safety of your car. Having a safety net like this in place is key to really enjoying the mountains and not feeling overwhelmed or too stressed if things don’t initially go as planned. The perfect wild camping weather is, for obvious reasons, dry with little wind. However, this isn’t always the case. Don’t let the weather stop you leaving the house but be prepared to modify your plan slightly, be a little less ambitious and use it as a chance to test your kit and ability to handle the conditions. Check out this blog to find out more on how to plan a route based on the weather.
Where to camp
You’ve planned your dream route but now you’re wondering where you should camp each night… You nor other hill walkers want to see tents 2ft from the side of the footpath so have a few rough ideas of where may be a good place to pitch up… at least on paper. All too often the perfect flat area pinpointed on the map will turn out to be a bog, or worse covered in impenetrable brambles. This is why having multiple ideas is great so when one falls through you can go straight to the next. But what are we looking for when seeking out the best place to camp for the night?
1st and most importantly is a reliable water source. More than anything this means you only have to carry the water you need for the hike and you can fill up for dinner and the following day when you get to your overnight spot. Unfortunately, in a single blog it is very hard to cover all the major points of how to find water in the mountains and with experience you will quickly get a good idea. Firstly, you want the water to be flowing as still, stagnant water is a hub for bacteria and one to avoid at all costs. Secondly, consider what is above and where the water is flowing from. Sometimes you are able to see the source of the river but other times you may need to consult the map to see how far downstream you truly are. Generally, the higher up and closer to the source you are the better. Thirdly, are there any contaminants? In the UK, our major concerns are human waste and animals so if a busy path crosses the stream higher up or you can see grazing livestock be hesitant and look for a better option! Finally, is the stream marked on the map actually going to exist or even be accessible? It may be scorching or freezing conditions in which case the river could have dried up or frozen. On your first camping excursion I would suggest you err on the side of caution and carry a little extra water at the start and a form of water purification so you can ‘get away’ without selecting the perfect water source first time. If you have more experience you can push the boundaries a little, skimp on water and benefit from a massively lighter pack. And throughout the day if you ever cross a good stream for drinking water, top up your bottles and have a drink then, especially if you aren’t sure when/if the next one will appear!
How to find a good spot to camp in
Once you have a water source located you can then hunt out flat ground which in a perfect world would be soft and grassy, not water-logged or boggy… not that we are picky at all! You can try to pre-identify flat spots on the map where the contour lines (which indicate slope steepness) are separated. However, whether it is truly flat is near impossible to know until you have ‘eyes on’. Generally, if it is windy and/or rainy, start your search on the lee side of a hill (the opposite side the wind is coming from). The mountain may provide some protection from the wind and secondly, there is often less rain on the lee of the mountain, this is known as the rain shadow (if you were asking). For obvious reasons, if it is absolutely hammering it down try to find shelter from the rain in the forests or boulders and I don’t think anyone would judge if you kept on running to the nearest BnB for a hot shower and a pint! You wouldn’t be the first, don't worry.
Food
The food you pack on a multi-day adventure is not only fuel but also a morale booster. The major thing to consider when packing your food is the weight:benefit ratio. To outline this simply:
Excellent - a dehydrated meal of 1000kcals and weighing only 200g
Good - a packet of fruit and nuts - 400kcals weighing 100g
Poor - a slice of watermelon - 50kcals weighing 250g
Hopefully here you can see what I am getting at, the longer you are away for the more critical you need to be when it comes to your packing. That being said it is important that the food you pack is palatable and enjoyable to eat because a kilo of food you can’t face eating provides no calories and is worse still than that watermelon!
A heavy pack is never fun. Walking into an expedition with a heavy pack in Chamonix, Chris Jackson.
It is easy to burn well over 3000-4000 kcals a day in the mountains so when packing your provisions do keep a tab on the calories you are cramming into your bag. I am not going to tell you how to suck eggs or exactly what to take but a key tip I would suggest is to lay it all out in meals from the trips start to finish, including snacks. This way you can bulk out any meals which look deficient but also it is a great way to see if you have massively overpacked when you’re only out for 2 nights!
For a 3 day/2night expedition of general hiking I tend to pack:
Day 1
Lunch - Wraps, banana, fruit and nuts
Dinner - Dehydrated 1000kcal meal and powdered custard? (if it’s cold/raining) and hot chocolate
Snacks - fruit and nut, cereal bars, chocolate bar
Day 2
Breakfast - Porridge, dried fruit and coffee/tea (whilst the stove is going)
Lunch - Wraps, fruit and nut
Dinner - Dehydrated 1000kcal meal and powdered custard? (if it’s cold/raining) and hot chocolate
Snacks - fruit and nut, cereal bars, chocolate bar
Day 3
Breakfast - Porridge, dried fruit and coffee/tea (whilst the stove is going)
Lunch - Wraps, fruit and nut
Snacks - fruit and nut, cereal bars, chocolate bar
Dinner - NOT NEEDED as you are going to be down in the warmth enjoying a pub meal (hopefully)
Extras
Always carry a handful of additional supplies (bag of nuts, bars, chocolate, sweets). You never know, your stove may pack in, run out of gas or you might end up being out a little longer than originally planned. Having a little in reserve can get you out of a few sticky situations.
Stoves available vary massively but you can’t go wrong with a jet boil style. These use gas (often butane/propane) and aggressively boil water. This is a benefit as it not only boils water fast and reduces the amount of gas you need but also boiling water for ~5 minutes is key to killing any nasties which may originate in the stream you collected the water from.
Kit
What you pack will depend largely on the weather, your plan and the time of year. There is a hell of a lot to remember, some things more important than others. However, having a packing list to tick through before you step out of the car is a great first step to avoid the inevitable “Ohh SH*T, I forgot the…”. Below is a list comprising some of the key items of kit you need to consider before heading out of the door.
What about when the time comes?
Unbelievably when you mention wild camping most people’s mind rushes straight to the toilet situation. As with what all animals do we have to use nature but there are a few things to consider to make this a more pleasant experience for you and everyone else! Try to be discrete, find a sheltered area, dig a hole ~6inches and cover it back in once you have finished. Please do not litter the landscape with used paper, carefully put this in a plastic bag and into the rubbish bag you are taking down with you. When you choose a place the key things to remember are to be over 50m away from a water source (river, lake etc) and downhill from where you are camping (for obvious reasons) 😳. Finally and more importantly than anything is that once you have finished thoroughly clean your hands with sanitiser as not only can you make yourself ill but everyone in camp can go down easily with illness when hygiene is neglected.
Combining the above with our intro to hill walking you have a good starting point to plan out your first wild camping adventure in the mountains and we would love to hear about how you got on. Get out there, explore and enjoy all the UK has to offer :)
If you would rather try out wildcamping with us and a group of an amazing people first, why not join our trip in May to the Lake District.
Leave a comment below with your favourite wildcamping places or stories!