Camping Hacks Every Backpacker Should Know 

You can use a clear water bottle as a level to check your tent site !

When I know my water will freeze overnight, I pre-fill my cook pot so the water is where it needs to be in the AM for my coffee.

These are great tips. For me, I get up at the crack of dawn, pack up, get my food bag, and eat a coffee gel while I start hiking. Once the sun is bright and warm and I’m ready to de-layer, I stop for breakfast. Then I’m not shivering trying to heat water and I’m never very cold in the morning.

I've been laying on my tent before setting it up since I was a kid. Once, while making sure my sleeping spot was as flat and level as possible, I saw the largest and brightest meteorite that I've ever seen. A huge ball of orange fire with a long, flaming tail, it surely impacted within two miles of my campsite near the Indian Heaven Wilderness in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, back around 2000. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed.

Biggest tip of all - no matter how much experience you have, never close yourself off to new ideas. You never know when someone has a great hack for packing, camping, cooking, eating, hiking, or even first aid. They may be a newbie even, but may have something great to contribute.

I always dig a good cat hole the night before. There’s nothing that sucks more than having to dig a cat hole in the morning. It’s always much harder when you’ve got to go.

When I start hiking on a cold morning. I will put my backpack on and then put my jacket on backwards (back side on my chest and zipper toward the back). I then tuck it in behind my back. This way when I warm up….i don’t have to take my back pack off to take off the jacket. I can just take off the jacket and shove it in a side pocket or have a buddy shove it in the bag itself.

I realized I need to do this after my last hike in the snow: Carry about 6-12 feet of paracord and small toggle somewhere I can access it without taking off my pack. Then if I need to stop for a snack, or a bathroom break, if there's a tree nearby I tie the cord around the tree, take my backpack off, and hang it off the toggle. This way I don't need to put the bag down on the snow just to reach into it to take out one thing.

Dude that tent tip rolling it up with 1 stake is going to make my life a lot easier. Thanks Darwin!

I like the "put the glasses on the zipper pull trick" . Very cool.

On windy days I take my spare carabiner and clip the up wind corner of my ground cloth to my backpack until I get my tent stacked.

Using a small PVC cap,to push stakes into the ground. I drilled a small hole in it and ran a string through it and clip it on a small carabiner

When it's cold, I keep a small absorbent foam towel (cut down kitchen cleaning pad) in the tent for wiping down the condensation on the inside. This is usually first thing in the morning, when I don't want to get rained on while packing up stuff inside my tent (it also speeds up drying), but also if I'm awake in the middle of the night for whatever reason and see the condensation is bad, I'll give the roof a quick wipe and wring it out outside the tent.

That stake idea is genius. I’ll be doing that … if I can remember.

One tip that I can give is to set up your quilt & sleeping pad at home (nice, comfortable environment). Once you have your quilt's straps where you want them, take a permanent marker and put a dot or line or line near the edge of the pad. That way, you know where to put them every time without guessing.

I’ve learned so many things from you and now a couple new ones. Thanks so much!! I love the gossamer gear pad I use it for everything. My tip I use is I take my extra teeshirt and slip it on my pad and tuck my pillow inside it. I never had to hunt for my pillow again

1) I wear earplugs to sleep. Otherwise Im too hyper-alert to the sounds around me. 2) I pack up the inside of my tent before I get out of it in the morning. It just makes that part go faster and feel like less of a chore. 3) When I take breaks in dry weather, even short ones, I take off my socks to let some of the sweat evaporate. It's reduced my blister rate.

As a hammock camper with a hip replacement and back issues, I take two inflatable pillows from Alps gear and put them under my knees in the hammock and I sleep so comfortably, if I don’t use them I can’t get comfortable and my sleep sucks.

I put little dots of silicone on the bottom of my sleeping pad. That keeps it from sliding as well. Great tips once again! Thanks.

Awesome. I’ve picked these up over the years after much trial and error, though I haven’t heard of the last one. One thing I do if I’m using a tent is similar to the glasses trick, but I trap the band of my headlamp between the two zippers at the top of the tent door so it’s right there if I need to get out of the tent in the middle of the night. Also, I try to rehydrate as much as possible as soon as I get to camp so I can empty my bladder before I go to sleep and minimize the chances of a mid-night potty call. Something other old guys can probably appreciate ;-).

Thanks Darwin and Juice! I can’t believe that I’ve never thought to roll up my tent with one stake in the ground 🤯 I feel so dumb now 😂

Some of these hacks are things I figured out after a few thousand miles of backpacking, like laying down on a potential tent spot, ziplocking my filter, etc but the most genius thing you mentioned never would've occurred to me HANGING GLASSES FROM THE ZIPPER PULL WHAT IS THIS MAGIC??!!

I like to use an extra T-shirt, Sun shirt, etc. I have with me to slip over the top of my air mattress so I can slip my pillow underneath it to hold it in place so I doesn’t move around during the night. Also on hot nights, if I’m shirtless then having that T-shirt over the air mattress feels much better than it sticking to my bare skin.

I have followed you since you first started doing videos on RU-vid and love your common sense approach. I have been backpacking since the 60s when your sleeping bag except military was 6+ pounds, your tent was a shelter half that weighed 10 pounds and your backpack weighed 6-10 pounds and that was as close as we got to ultralight. Equipment has evolved, which is a plus as it lets an almost 70 year old the opportunity to continue to do what I love to do and that is hike and camp. Glad to see you back.

An additional benefit of putting a sit pad under your inflatable is it gives you a great space to put wet socks when its cold enough to freeze said socks. Yes they will still be wet, but they won't freeze!

I like putting rain jacket or bug net or extra shirt over my pillow and sleeping pad to hold my pillow in place throughout the night. Also rain jacket over the foot box if it’s going to be real wet

Although a polycro "footprint" and I don't always get along, I do like it when testing out exactly where to put my tent, since it's clear and you can see all the things on the ground that will cause problems.

Hammock camper here...that little stuff bag attached to one side of the hammock, I make sure it's on my offside as I lay diagonally in the hammock (usually my left side) stuff all batteries and water filter in it, and then flip it over between the hammock and underquilt. I'll also hang my waist pack on the ridge line to hold my headlamp and other things I might need at night, my wife puts her glasses there. Heat rising from my body seems to keep everything that close above freezing. I also do a baked potato roll sometimes by wrapping an emergency blanket over the ridgeline and tucking it into the underquilt...makes a cozy space. My tarp stays in the large outside pocket of my backpack (inside a mesh snakeskin) so that I can pop it out for a shelter if needed at any point.

Old trick I got from my pops (He was a Sere instructor), is take a water container and fill it boiling water, then put that in your sleeping bag to help heat it up before you get in.

That’s why you “can’t stop” doing RU-vid videos! Man, it’s such a cool tips, I’ve been backpacking for years and I’ve learned so much with your content. And you know there is a lot of information out there, But you do it in an amazing way! Thank you very much!

Camp hack: Food storage at night, when there's no threat of bears, but there are critters on the ground. (Like desert backpacking etc) I have one of those screw-on baskets for the end of the trekking pole - it has three "spokes?" radiating out, and they curve downwards when the trekking pole is down, but when the trekking pole is up, and holding up my tent (X-Mid) then the basket "spoke" provides a little (very stable) hook inside the vestibule, up at the very top. From this hook, I hang my food bag. It keeps it off the ground and away from order Rodentia, and out of my tent inner so they don't try and chew in. I suppose they could crawl up the mesh to try to get to it, but it's never happened before so I'm inclined to doubt it. I think they mostly go for ground-based options. At first I was hesitant to try this because a full food bag can be pretty heavy, and I was worried about stability of the tent, but I've done it with full bags many many times and in high wind as well, and never had a problem. I don't know if that's due to the X-Mid being such a stable structure, or what, but all I can report is a high success rate.

Re: the glasses thing. That's one of the many things I love about the X-Mid! The little high pockets are so good for glasses storage!

A tip to extend the life of your air pad is to not always fold it exactly the same way every time. My Xtherm development many holes near the end of its life (several hundred nights of use) all along the creases where I repeatedly folded it. Eventually the fabric is just wearing through rather than getting punctured.

Agree with all your uses for the Thinlight pad. I also use it on my camp chair in winter to keep the cold off my backside. Incredible additional warmth when the cold would otherwise come straight through the thin chair material.

Your glasses hang is s nice too! I do the same thing when I i camp in a tent. In a tarp or just sleeping under the stars I put my glasses in a hard case and in one of my shoes/boots, that way I can grab my glasses before moving off my pad at night off on the morning. Another tip: batteries do not drain in the cold! Cold temperatures just slows down the chemical reaction that creates a charge and also makes a battery deliver a lower charge than expected. This is an efficiency issue and not simply a lost charge issue. Put a cold battery in your pocket or armpit and the charge magically reappears in minutes with very little charge loss. To store batteries with a charge for a long time, place the batteries in the refrigerator or freezer (inside a plastic container with a dessicant pack under the container lid to absorb any humidity). This storage lowers the charge loss over time, which we experience when batteries are left sitting in a warm place or inside an unused devices that pulls a trickle discharge from the battery.

Dig cathole so it's ready in the morning. I use a tarp and polycryo groundsheet. I fold/roll it all up together so the groundsheet is on the outside then put an elastic band around. No need for a sack. Could do the same with a tent if you use a groundsheet.

So happy you're back and sharing your wisdom gained over the miles! Thank you so much!

I can't believe after all the years I've gone camping that it honestly never occurred to me to lay down in the tent spot I've picked BEFORE setting up. LOL! Thank you!

Good stuff! Practical and common sense! I carry a portable bucket with me to use for a variety of purposes. - when cleaning up the body at the end of the day it’s nice to get a bucket full of water and then find a sunny location to wash up - if you can have a fire it great to get one bucket full of water to douse the coals - at dinner time it’s great to put all your items, water, food, cup, stove, pot, spoon, etc, in to it then just carry one item, the bucket to the kitchen area. Love my bucket!

Great tips! I have a few squares of TP that i keep in my stake bag and quickly wipe off my stakes before putting them away from day to day. Just like to keep things a little cleaner.

A tip for using an Ursack is to tie it to a tree using 2 slip knots and a carabiner. If you do it right, even if a bear pulls on the sack, you can easily get it loose by slipping out the carabiner.

Deflating and storing my pad and pillow while I’m in my quilt on cold mornings! Gotta hold that last bit of warmth. Also sleeping in arms reach of my water.

When i crawl into my tent for the night i take all the stuff out of my pants pockets and put into my hat and will put that at a corner near my head. But i like the glasses zipper pull idea.

As always, great video Darwin! I do a slight variation of the “keep your tent on top” tip. I have a more traditional backpack with a bottom zippered compartment for a sleeping bag. I put my tent in first (at the bottom) so I can access it through the bottom compartment as soon as I get to camp. Then I can still keep my food bag on top so I can easily grab it at lunch or other breaks without having to pull out my tent.

Classic Darwin video glad to have him back

These are all great tips. Lots of new ones for me. I pack for day vs night, meal time, sleep time so i can carry out that specific bag with everything i need to keep it all quickly organized. Really helps vs putting everything in a single bag and either having a whole mess out in camp or having to back to your shelter 100 times.

Maybe it's just because I'm always doing handywork around the house, but I'm surprised I don't see this trick used for finding a level campsite: Install a bubble level app on your phone, then inflate your pad and lay your phone on it and you can see how it lays. I know you said.yoube always done it but PLEASE, do not load all the batteries into a single sock and compress them. Conditions can cause those to violently catch fire and even explode, and this is made exponentially worse with the introduction of water/moisture. I'm an electronics tech and when storing these sorts of batteries we have to take precautions about inductive coupling, potential dielectric failures, and even to mitigate manufacturing or use issues that compromise the integrity of the cases. As long as the sock is dry, and has no conductive properties (you'd be surprised at what will) a better method would be to slip one in, twist, slip another in, twist, then the final one. Folding them over reduces the safety but is still better than all of them tight against each other without an insulating and cushioning layer.

Great video and great comments. My contribution: I can't get myself to leave the rain cover behind, and partly it's because I use it as storage around tent/tarp. When I'm rummaging through the pack trying to find something during a break, or unpacking at camp, the stuff that comes out does not go on the ground, it goes in the raincover that I've placed on the ground. And in the tarp/tent/vestibule it holds all the detritus so nothing is floating around. When I'm packing up, I can pick it up/drag it outside and everything is still in it. It helps me not lose things.

That tent stake idea is genius!!

OMG these tips r awesome !! I lay out all my stuff in the same general pattern inside my tent every night so i know where everything is. I put my rain gear under my sleeping pad.

Another great video, I got my hands on one of your Sun shirts here in Melbourne, Australia. OMG! So good, one of our local ultralight hiking stockists has them in stock. Thank you Darwin! My top tip is be consistent with how you pack your pack, knowing where everything is saved masses of faf time!

I come from Czechia in Europe, and I very appreciate your pronunciation and slow talking - you are BEST👍👍👍 Top of my backpack is always food, but second layer will be my shelter for next - great idea...

I love the stake trick and the idea of laying down on your tent to make sure the site is right!

A pre camp tip. I've twice had holes in my Thermarest that I didn't find before the trips. They simply leaked too slow, and I had to lie on it for at least an hour before I noticed the leak. The good news is that reinflating a couple of times each night was enough to get some sleep, but that's not fun on a weeklong winter camping trip. No easy fix for that except spending some time on your air mattress at home.

I put my sitpad beetwen my skin and my first layer to reduce my back sweating while backpaking. Greetings from France

In cold conditions, place the foam pad above the inflated pad to keep the synthetic fabric from radiating cold into your quilt.

This is something my grandparents used to have that our family have implemented in car camping trips. For when you have to go pee in the middle of the night, you don't have to leave your tent. Get a pee pot, usually one of those large, square, wide mouthed plastic containers that usually had chocolates or some snack in them and it comes with a nice screw on lid. Just empty it out every morning and you're good to go!

Thanks for the tip with the glasses. Never thought of that with my duplex!

My best tip is to pee before you poop. A number 1 isn’t always a number 2, but a number 2 is always a number 1. Helps you from pissing all over your shoes while you make a grumpy.

Awesome tips! I use an Amazon pouch for a ton of things, including as a food cozy, sit pad, place to stand while changing, and sack for gear in my quilt at night.

You always have great “hacks.” A couple years back, you demonstrated how to simply roll the inflatable sleeping pad up and “horseshoe” in the pack. Nest other items, like cook pot in the cubby hole. I’ve done this ever since! Awesome!

Carrying an empty, wide mouth Gatorade bottle with you so at night you can pee into it instead of dressing to go out in the dark and elements. Then just empty it out in the morning somewhere appropriate. Just make sure you don’t mix up your bottles! 😂

The tent stake, such a simple thing but never thought of it before. Thanks!

Great tips. I especially like the sock diaper for corralling all those little bits. After waking up on a cold morning to a frozen bottle [once] I began sleeping with my morning water in a soft bladder and its befree filter attached. My batteries would go in my pockets but they aren't the most comfortable thing to sleep with. The sock diaper is a nice trick to keep me comfortable and prevent hard/sharp things from endangering the hammock while I sleep. My favorite labor saver at camp is my tarp snakeskins. It is by far my favorite part of set up and breakdown. Especially in rain. It makes tarp storage and setup simple and fast.

OMG that tent stake idea is amazing! You just never know what you don't know hey?

Nice tips! I’ll try the one-tent-pegs tricks next time.

That tent trick/tip seems legit. Gonna give that a try!

Thinlight pad makes for a nice sound/squeak stopper if you have a pad that squeaks when it rubs against the tent floor. (Helpful if you're a restless sleeper 🖐️)

Finding a flat spot to sleep also begins when you're planning your route. Look on your topo map and try to spot some good flat areas near where you want to finish for the day. We spotted a meadow once that we were planning to sleep in, but when we arrived it was full of avalanche debris from the winter. But since we had planned ahead, we knew there was another potential spot about 1/4 mile up the trail. We checked it out and it was perfect.

Glad I watched this video. I had never thought of the tent stake trick. Definitely something that I'm going to try next time I'm out camping.

That's my main thing. Tent outer can be as wet as it likes, just make sure it's seperate from anything inside the tent. It is easily done, just takes a bit of thought and you learn that quickly if you're serious about multi-day hikes. Glad you're back, regularly, learned a lot off your vids over the years.

This was extremely useful information. These small details make a huge difference and could save a person from a lot of struggling. Thanks Darwin for pressing on with your RU-vid journey. Your content is spectacular.

I did the stake Roll up tip and put the filter in a ziplock and my quilt after seeing this. Thanks for the tips!

I use a basha (basically an indestructible one-man tarp) to avoid condensation and have more freedom when choosing a spot. I use a marlinspike hitch around the stakes so I can ram them into the ground with my shoe and am still able to pull them out, with the added benefit that they’re clean as soon as I slide the marlinspike hitch off. Elastic cord makes for a more robust shelter setup against tripping (it happens) and heavy wind. Stuff like gloves, neck tube, beanie, and poncho stay accessible in the side pockets of the pants so I don’t even have to get my backpack off for when I’m cold/hot or when it starts to rain.

Love these tips! Thank you!

It makes me happy everytime I see someone talking about Hacks, especially when it comes to camping hacks. I'm still a new camper and always seek out for ideas, best gears, and of course hacks. Keep it up brother. Cheers.

Laying down on top of the tent and keeping the door open wonderful tips! Thanks

Interesting info. Glad to see you back. I love your shirt!

Excellent tips and tricks! Thanks.

Some great ideas, thanks for sharing

I tie a thin strap between the arms of my glasses so I can wear them backwards as a headband, or hanging around my neck when I'm sleeping, so I ALWAYS know where they are. I wrap a second pair of socks around my ankles under the socks I'm wearing. That way I can swap them any time the pair I'm wearing get damp or wet. The damp ones dry out fast. I go to sleep with a trustworthy pee bottle inside my sleeping bag. A plastic 1.6 qt. Simply Orange bottle works really well. Camping out is SO much easier that way, especially up in the trees at -20F. 😊

After I switched from a hooded sleeping bag to a quilt of course I needed something to keep my head warm. A beanie felt to constricting, a down hood less multi-functional and landed on using a shemagh. Works great at keeping my head warm, functions as a pillow case to keep my pillow from getting nasty from hair and face oils, works as a towel, and if I need to move some random items to a another location it works like a looney tunes hobo sack by tying all four corners.

The sock. Brilliant 🎩! And on windy days for setting up/taking down my tent I use my trekking poles to hold the tent down by laying them on top the head and foot end but leaving 1 stake, seems less tedious.

These are some of best tips I've ever heard about improving you camp while on the trail.

Wonderful advice! Thanks!

I can not tell you how much I'm enjoying your new videos. The joy you exude is amazing! Your hiatus did you well!

Thank you so much for these ideas and tips! I will definitely put my tent last in my bag from now on 😊 so happy that you are back !

Love the glasses tip! Thanks!

I really like this type of video, please do more, this was very useful information 👏🏼

Fantastic tips - thank you! 😊

Good to see this video. Kind of bummed when you went on hiatus and we appreciate your hard work. Great video.

Been watching your content for years Darwin. Love your insight. Please keep posting. Also, I purchased The Ranger pack roughly 3 weeks ago. Looking forward to taking it with me on my Thru-hike of the A.T.

Very useful. Thanks, Darwin!

These are some great hacks. I have a pleximid and I always put my glasses in the mesh pocket near the door, but I think that I am going to use the hang from the door zipper method from now on. That's absolutely genius.

As an ex Overland Expedition Leader on Trans Africa and other journeys, One little thing that helps if you cook over open fires is to smear a tiny amount of washing up liquid all around the outside of your cooking pot. This goes black as usual with soot from the fire but when it comes to clean, it just wipes away with a bit of water back to nearly shiny. This REALLY works and I have used this hundreds of times but am always surprised that it doesn't come up on any camp advice videos. Trust me, try it and you will always do it. It saves on scrubbing a pot or leaving it crusted in soot.

Saw lots of videos on this subject and I wasn't expecting it but I actually found 2 / 3 useful ideas in this video. Useful stuff.

I enjoy having you back on RU-vid making content for us fellow hikers. You were so helpful in preparation of my 2018 PCT thru hike and running into you on trail is a cherished memory.

I no longer pack the tent and put it inside the back pack. I roll and bend it over the backpack attached up and in the sides. Just like civil war soldiers used to carry large peaces of gear made with fabric or canvas, but over the backpack insted of over one shoulder. Coz... 1. Saves space into the back pack. 2. Keeps the inside of the rucksack clean, dry and not contaminated. 3. Allows the tent to keep on drying while walking.

I definitely picked up some good tips from you here. Thanks!

Good one Darwin. Thanks for sharing