A Quick Guide to Choosing the Best Spot to Pitch Your Tent

As you undoubtedly know, Camping is fun, exciting, and relaxing. And as you might know—let’s hope you don’t have any experience with less-than-stellar camping—pitching your tent in a “bad” area can render an entire trip frustrating and unpleasant.

In other words, location really is everything when it comes to where you pitch your tent.

To help you find an optimal area to pitch your tent and, in turn, have the best possible time on your camping trip, let’s take a look at some simple and useful tips!

Run for the Hills

Alright, you shouldn’t literally run for the hills when you’re pitching your tent. But in all seriousness, there are quite a few reasons to seek high ground when choosing a spot, and besides a bit of extra walking, there are virtually no reasons to not do so.

Higher ground will prove useful for your tent in the instance that rain (or, worse yet, snow!) is encountered. Simply stated, tents placed on lower ground will encounter much more direct precipitation—and potential flooding—in the event of a rainstorm.

Moreover, higher ground, being closer to the sun and out of the range of falling water, will be generally drier—even if you don’t get tagged with rain during your camping trip. This point will make your tent more comfortable, your sleeping more sound, and your overall experience more positive.

The other suggestions featured in this article are tremendous, but seeking high ground is one of the most beneficial things you can do while choosing a spot to pitch your tent.

Be on the Lookout for Trees (and Other Wind Shielding)

Wind, whether mild or severe, will also affect your tent. To minimize the effect of wind on your camping trip, try to select an area that’s surrounded by trees (and/or other wind absorbers) on as many sides as possible.

If you’re forced to choose between a wind-friendly area and a high-up spot, you can safely select the latter; precipitation and moisture will be much more detrimental to your tent and your camping trip than wind will be.

But if you’re able to choose a spot that offers the best of both worlds—wind absorbers and high ground—you shouldn’t think twice about pitching your tent there.

Consider an Area’s Soil

Especially if you’re camping in the Midwest or Southeast, there’s a good chance that you’ll encounter some difficulty while staking your tent down—if you don’t check the area’s soil ahead of time, that is.

Clay deposits, rocks, and similar obstructions are common in certain states and areas, and when you’re hammering stakes, these things can make the process much, much harder—and, in some rare instances, impossible.

That’s not an exaggeration, either; stiff ground can break plastic stakes and halt the progress of metal variations. Thus, before you finalize your campsite’s location, quickly see how one of your stakes works its way into the ground. Check a few different spots in said location, and if difficulties are minimal, go ahead and pitch your tent.

If difficulties aren’t minimal, do yourself a favor and choose a new location. You—and your fellow campers—will be better for it.

Give Yourself Some Peace and Quiet

In popular parks and designated camping destinations, you might be tempted to fall into line and pitch your tent in the same area that other campers have set-up shop. For a couple different reasons, you’d be ill-advised to do so.

The first reason pertains to the “camping IQ” of the average camper. Now, you don’t have to be a genius to enjoy camping—or just about anything else in the world—but experience is generally useful, and the reality is that most campers don’t have the experience (and know-how) required to make the most of the outdoors; their spots probably aren’t ideal.

As such, by camping around these individuals for the sake of doing so, you could very well compromise the quality of your trip.

The second (and more pressing) reason is that camping is all about peace and quiet. It’s about embracing the wonderful possibilities of nature, of escaping the hustle and bustle of contemporary living, and taking it easy.

It’s very difficult to do so when 100 other campers are situated in the same area!

This goes double when you’re camping with your family looking to get some quality alone time.

Think of Resource (and Amenity) Availability

You’d also be smart to think of resource—and amenity—availability when choosing a spot to pitch your tent.

In its most basic form, nature is simply a collection of phenomena. Beautiful animals, breathtaking landscapes, and much, much more coordinate to make the world a fantastic place.

And when you’re zeroing in on a spot to pitch your tent, you should consider resources and amenities that are available nearby. If a body of water is close to your campsite, cooking, drinking, and bathing will be a breeze—and you might even be able to experience the magic of a late-night swim underneath the stars. But if you choose a spot that’s a mile and a half away from the nearest body of water, you’re making things harder for yourself in more ways than one.

Similarly, berry bushes, flatlands (for viewing the stars, playing games, and more), and many other resource collections/amenities should be sought out during the spot-selection process. So long as these things are available—and in one form or another, they’re available most everywhere—why shouldn’t you take advantage of them?

Adapt to the Sun

In quite a few camping climates, you’ll find that the cool nights make blankets a must, and the warm daytime hours make things very, very hot. To get the best of both worlds—that is, to stay comfortable during the day and the night—you should consider making use of some sort of natural canopy, like a tree (or trees).

And if such a natural canopy isn’t available—perhaps the spots around the area are undesirable—you should adapt to the sun. In other words, you can set up a rain fly, and by doing so, you’ll prevent the sun from forcing you up at the crack of dawn. (Incidentally, you’ll also be generally more comfortable throughout the day.) Moreover, a rain fly will of course protect your tent from rain.

Canopy or no canopy, rain fly or no rain fly, be sure to adapt to the location and severity of the sun while camping, and make it a point to factor the sun’s potency into the area-selection process.

This goes the opposite way too. If you’re looking to do some stargazing, you’ll want to avoid trees.

Make a Game Out of It

For as memorable and riveting as camping is, the sole purpose of packing up, heading out, pitching a tent, and passing the days and nights is, in a word, fun. Camping is meant to be an enjoyable, positive time to unwind, exercise, and explore nature.

But because there’re so many ways for a trip to be compromised—most of which concern the spot where a tent is pitched—you might feel the urge to become overly serious and focused while choosing a place to set down. To the detriment of your time and the enjoyment of those you’re camping with, this all-business spot-selection style will take the leisure out of camping and start the trip off on a sour note.

Instead, you should make a game out of the selection process. Bear in mind (and make clear to others) what a good tent site looks like, head out into the possibilities of the day, and find a destination that checks all the aforementioned boxes.

There’s no shortage of seriousness in the world, and camping is, in many ways, intended to be a respite from the frustrations of contemporary living. With this in mind, and while considering the idea that some of the best work derives from fun and excitement, you’d be wise to make a game—not an ordeal—out of picking a tent spot.

Consider the Line

Last but most certainly not least, you should consider the line—that is, the line of walkers and/or traffic—that a camping site will probably bring during popular departure times.

Many of today’s leading campsites and reserves feature one or two main trails, which more or less serve as the only means of leaving the area. Especially in commonly frequented campsites and reserves, these trails can become very, very crowded during the weekend—notably so when campers must check-out with a ranger before departing.

If you’re going to be in a hurry to leave—and particularly if you’re camping at a well-known destination and/or are planning to depart on Sunday—take a few minutes to consider the line. Don’t be afraid to pitch your tent at a spot that’s close to the exit and won’t become congested by traffic until well after you’ve left.

These tips are sure to help you choose an outstanding spot to pitch your tent. Be careful and calm on your camping trip, and remember to have a good time.

Thanks for reading, and here’s to the magic of camping and the outdoors!

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