How to Choose a Campsite Based on the Wind

Video Transcript

" Hi, this is Bruce Lessels from Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com, talking about choosing and setting up a campsite. So wind could be a double edge source, it could either work for you or against you when you’re camping. Depending on where you are if you’re in a place it’s buggy as I said in one of the last segments it may be a great thing to keep the bugs away but if you’re in a place that’s high up on a ridge or exposed or somewhere where wind can be a real concern it can blow your tents away, it can recavic with all your gear and it can make it a lot colder at night and it’ll be a real cold place to be. So to site best for wind you want to sort of determine whether the wind is going to add to your advantage or disadvantage and then either find a place in the wind or find a place sheltered from the wind. A nice way to be sheltered from the wind is to be in a grove of trees cause the trees will minimize the wind to some extent. You can also often camp behind a bolder or in a more sheltered area up high, if you’re in a more out pine environment or more mountain environment. If you’re looking for the wind to help you out you might be in a place that’s more exposed, you might try to actually seek a place in the forest that’s more open so there is more wind running through it and the bugs are going to be minimized. Either way when you are in a windy place you want to make sure that you stake your tent down well and stake any tarps that you have up down well and also make sure that any camp furniture or any other gear you have lying around is pretty solidly weighted down and its not going to blow away, you don’t want to go for a hike and come back and find that half your camp furniture is a half mile away down wind of your campsite."