Camping out in the great outdoors is where you get to experience the full extent of nature’s beauty and to simply bask and relax in its greatness without having to deal with your usual responsibilities, whether it’s at home or at work. Right now, you can just sit on your chair or in your tent, and enjoy nature as it is…
Or, at least that’s what the ideal setting is. But events can and will happen, no matter how prepared you can be that can be detrimental to your trip. Dangerous things might also occur during your camping trip, and many times, these things happen through no fault of your own.
Whether it’s from your own carelessness from wandering around unprepared or just being unlucky that you happened to run into a wild bear on your way back to your campsite after gathering wood, there are multitudes of camping hazards that can range from ‘mild annoyance’ to ‘deadly threat’. That is why making sure you do your ample research on these things is important to ensure that your trip doesn’t end really badly for you. After all, it should just be a wonderful and comfy camping trip.
Here, we will list down camping hazards that you should be aware of when camping, and how dangerous they might be to you or your surroundings.
Wildfires
Whoa, wildfires? But how? Seems a bit drastic for a camping hazard, doesn’t it?
It might seem that way, until you realize one of the more important aspects of camping: fire making.
Fire has a sizeable number of benefits: It gives you vision under the dark night sky and deters most predators and animals from approaching your camp site. And of course, it allows you to cook your evening meals. Having no fire means that you would need to somehow be able to deal with the problems that these situations may bring individually.
But fire is wild. Therefore, it must be tamed. It can’t just be left to burn while you go and do other things. Remember, this is a fire from the outdoors: Unchecked, and undeterred. It’s nothing like the gas stove in your home that can control the heat.
What does this mean? If you are to allow a fire to continue burning without paying proper attention, you may accidentally end up burning more than just the fire pit… like a bush. Or your tent. Or an entire forest.
That’s right, the best-case scenario is that only one or two things nearby can catch fire, and you’re able to douse it out before it spreads any further. But fire loves burning, and spreads like a virus. Before you know it, it has the entire forest engulfed in flames. And all because you weren’t paying attention for 5 minutes to the meat you were cooking early on.
As you already know, wood, and other plant-based materials are very much flammable, and all it takes is a little flame to set the entire thing ablaze, which is why you must always pay proper attention when you’re making and using fire of any form. It may save your life.
Wild animals
Bears, raccoons, deer, nature has many wonderful animals that truly show how beautiful the world untouched by human hands can be.
From a distance, at least. You don’t want any of these creatures near your campsite at all. Bears are outright dangerous and may want to ransack your camp for food. They’re apex predators in their own right and aren’t afraid of using their brute strength to take you down and possibly kill you if they deem you a threat. Raccoons and other tiny animals like rats can come crawling in when you least expect it and nibble on your food, bringing disease with them all the way as well. Meanwhile, you have snakes sneakily wriggling their way into camp, causing a lot of panic to anyone that notices it too late.
There are many animals in the wild that can provide a frightful surprise and potentially be dangerous as well, which is why ample research and preparation for potential wildlife must be done to ensure that you and the people you are with are safe.
Insects
Other than the obvious big animals that you can see in front of you, there are the ones that are tiny, possibly nearly impossible to see. Yes, I’m talking about insects. Mosquitoes plague many people’s lives, and in camping, it might be even worse, especially if you’re near a body of water. Ticks also like to make themselves welcome on an unsuspecting person’s skin, latching on when given the opportunity. This usually happens when a person brushes into tall grass where ticks might be hiding without adequate clothing protection.
Unlike animals, the presence of insects may be even harder to spot because of how tiny and seemingly insignificant they are, until they’ve already gotten their fill of you, at which point it may be already too late. Make sure you don’t forget your insect repellant!
Unidentified plant life
If you’re not completely sure what a plant looks like in the wild, it might be a good idea to not touch it, even if its bright colors look oh so tempting. Some berries from these plants, for instance, may actually be highly toxic. And you probably won’t even need to ingest it to feel it – just touching them can be enough to send the toxins in you.
Unless you’re in a survival situation or you’re absolutely certain that you know what a certain plant is, give them space.