Camping in the Heat

Tent camping in the heat can be a challenge! Here are our tips for making your adventure successful in hot weather.

Is the weather for your upcoming camping trip looking a little bit… sweltering?

As much as we here at Champagne Tastes love a good camping trip, heat can be hard to deal with, especially when the heat is unrelenting.

We’ve had our fair share of excessively hot camping trips. The most memorably hot include camping near Arches National Park, camping in Zion National Park and camping in Tucson to visit Saguaro National Park.

More recently, we camped in the Smoky Mountains during a heat wave when we visited for the synchronous fireflies. From there, we went on to a backpacking trip in North Carolina. It was one of the hottest and most humid trips I’ve ever been on.

All this to say: I’ve been there. Hot camping is rough. Here are some tips to deal with the heat.

(Maybe) Reschedule or Reconsider Lodging

Some trips just aren’t meant to be. If you have the flexibility to adjust plans, consider rescheduling your trip for another time or a cooler location. This is especially true if there’s an excessive heat watch or warning or if you are very sensitive to heat.

If you’re in the middle of a camping road trip, of course, it’s difficult to reschedule. At times, we’ve adjusted our lodging plans. Things we’ve done to adapt include the following:

• Changed from a primitive campground to a campground with a pool.
• Switched from a tent site to a cabin with a window air-conditioning unit.
• Booked a hotel room. This allowed us to continue doing our planned activities, but gave us a cool place to relax during the hottest part of the day and at night.

Campsite Tips for Dealing with Heat

If you decide to go through with your tent camping plans, have a strategy to deal with the heat!

First things first: try to make your campsite as comfortable as possible. Even if you don’t hang out at your campsite all day, a comfortable campsite will help you get a better night’s sleep.

• Camp in the shade, or add your own shade. You could hang a tarp for shade or use a sun tent for relaxing during the day.
• Disassemble your tent during the day to avoid trapping hot air.
• Check the weather and remove the rain flap from tent if there’s no rain in the forecast. If there is rain coming, open the tent ventilation up as much as possible.

• Create more airflow in your tent. I like to do this with a battery-powered fan that I hang from the top of the tent at night.

• Skip the campfire. No one wants the radiating heat when the nighttime lows are above 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
  
  We usually bring along citronella candles, which make a good faux campfire look if placed in the campfire ring.

Food + Drink When Camping in the Heat

Is it even a camping trip if you don’t have fun food? Maybe, but that’s not a camping trip I’m interested in joining!

Here are some ways to help keep your camping food experience a positive one, even in the heat.

• Freeze water bottles instead of (or in addition to) using cooler ice. As the water bottles thaw, you’ll have cold drinking water.
  However, avoid freezing Gatorade bottles, since they don’t have enough room on top for the liquid to expand.
• Check on your cooler ice regularly, and refill it with fresh ice as needed.
• Stay hydrated. Add electrolytes to your water or bring Gatorade.
• Skip the campfire meals and cook on a camp stove. Some of our favorite camp stove meals include BBQ chicken quesadillas, chickpea curry, refried bean burritos and toasted oats cereal.

• No cooler? Check out these camping recipes that use non-perishable food that you can enjoy even in the heat.

Tips for Activities While Camping in the Heat

Typically when we go camping, we spend a lot of time hiking. However, if you’re camping in the heat, hiking all day long might not be the most desirable.

Here are some ideas for other camping activities.

• We love going kayaking when it’s hot out. A lot of areas with lakes and rivers also have kayaks and paddle boards for rent.
  
  New to kayaking? Here are some of our beginner kayaking tips.

• Visit the campground pool or a public pool.
• Hike an easy trail with water features, such as creeks and (small!) waterfalls. (Safety check: Please make sure the water features on the trail are safe to get in before jumping in; some waterfalls can be quite dangerous, and even normally small creeks can become dangerous after a hard rain.)

• Do a cave tour. Caves typically stay cool year-round, making them feel air-conditioned even when it’s extremely hot outside.
• When all else fails, go somewhere with air conditioning during the day. If it’s especially hot out, to the point that you’re not feeling well, find an air-conditioned space (like a shopping mall, movie theatre, restaurant or coffee shop), and spend the hottest part of the day there.

Whatever strategy you settle on, be safe, and I hope you have a great trip in spite of the heat!