Where to Set Up a Tent

Series Summary

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity in which the participants, known as campers, leave civilization behind and enjoy nature while spending one or more nights at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, a primitive structure, or no shelter at all. Camping as a recreational activity became popular in the early 20th century, and many campers frequent national parks, other publicly owned natural areas, and privately owned campgrounds. Camping may be its own activity, but it's commonly done in conjunction with other activities, such as hiking, swimming, and fishing. Camping can involve using a lot of camping gear, particularly if the camper plans on long hikes or primitive camping. One of those most commonly known pieces of camping equipment is the tent, a shelter consisting of fabric and poles. In this free video series, an Eagle Scout will demonstrate how to set up a tent from start to finish. Steps covered will include clearing an area, laying a ground tarp, putting poles together, raising the tent and covering a tent with a rain tarp. With these tips and techniques, any camper will find be able to provide a quick and easy shelter.

Video Transcript

"Hello. My name is John Stewart, and this is how to select an area for setting up a tent. The first thing you want to look for when setting up a tent in the area, is you want to look for flat ground. Flat ground is going to be key to getting a nice solid platform for setting up your tent. You don't want to find low laying areas where there's holes, valleys, anything like that, because water will pull up if it rains, and it can leak into your tent. Third thing is you don't want to find real rooted areas. You don't want to put it in public trails. You want to find clear areas. So that you won't have to move later when setting up the tent. Also you want to look for widow makers. Widow makers are logs, dead trees, anything like that, that could possibly fall on your tent during the night. These could leave you really, really hurt at night if something like this did happen, so you want to try to avoid all these things. And lastly, you want to find an area that is near other people. Near public shelters, and stuff like that just in case of an emergency. And this is John Stewart on how to select an area for setting up a tent."