We all love spring and summer camping, but the fall season is no reason to retire your tent for the year. Get ready for gorgeous falling leaves and no more insects, but also chillier breezes. Here are a few tips for staying warm in a tent this fall.
How to Guide: Staying Warm in a Tent
The Right Gear Matters
Many experienced fall campers use emergency blankets liberally when the temperature drops. The blankets are extremely compact, and the heat-reflective material can cast your own body heat back to you if it’s duct-taped to the ceiling of your tent. As opposed to your body heat rising and leaving the tent, now it’s trapped by the space blanket, keeping your living quarters nice and toasty.
Location Matters
Choose a spot that’s not only protected, but also well-ventilated. This sounds counter-intuitive, but the heat from your body and even your breath can cause condensation to build up inside your tent, and make everything slightly damp. By choosing a breezy site that’s surrounded by trees, you can avoid some of that biting cold that’s common to mountainous campsites.
Combine Sleeping Gear
Sleeping on an air mattress sounds like the perfect idea, however, these become filled with cold air on even the warmest nights, making it more difficult to maintain comfortable temperatures. Use an insulated pad between you and the ground for more insulation, so even if you use an air mattress, an insulated pad can help guarantee a great night’s sleep without sacrificing warmth.
Get Creative With Small Items
Use small, warm objects to heat up the colder spots in your tent. Use whatever you have on hand, whether it means filling a water bottle with hot water and placing it in your sleeping bag near your toes, or using disposable heat packs or hand warmers. Just before heading into your tent for the night, you could even gather some warm rocks from around the campfire. Place them in old socks, and use them to turn the inner rim of your tent into a protective barrier against the cold.
Midnight Snacking Is Okay!
This tip goes against what most of us are taught growing up, but when you’re camping in a cold climate, consider midnight snacking. Digestion naturally jolts your metabolic rate, creating bodily heat. If you wake up cold in the middle of the night, consider a high-calorie food such as chocolate, cheese or nuts, and strap in as your food digests and warms you up.
Pack A Sleeping Suit
Most campers pack a sleeping bag, but you can go the extra mile to stay warm by wearing these dry, loose-fitting underwear. You can also wear a winter hat to prevent losing heat through your head. Keeping your hands and feet warm is huge when facing a cold climate because these body parts can suffer the most internal damage if exposed to low temperatures for too long. Wear gloves, multiple socks, and Longjohns under your pants to avoid cold limbs.
We want you to go out there and have amazing camping trips despite the cold. So use these tips to keep toasty in your tents, sleep well, and get the most out of each day. We hope you enjoyed these tips for staying warm in a tent this fall.
