There’s a lot of different ways to go camping these days, apart from the traditional tent camping, many more people are camping in cars, vans, RV’s and even in their hammocks. Yes that’s right, you can camp in a hammock with the correct equipment, but enough about that.
I’m here to show you exactly how to camp without a tent and why you should try it. Let’s begin!
Why Would Someone Want To Camp Without A Tent?
There’s a wide range of reasons why someone wants to try this. Including:
- Testing their skills
- Want to learn more about surviving
- Practice just in case they get lost in the wilderness
As you can see, this is just a few common reasons why someone wants to camp with materials made from sweet Mother Nature. Personally for me, I have done it a few times and I would definitely do it again.
It’s a great way to test your survivability out in the wild especially because you’ll be spending most of your time creating your shelter and warming it up to keep your area well insulated the entire night.
Let’s Get Started – How To Camp Without A Tent
Step 1: First and foremost you will have to make a shelter out of natural materials. Choose what sort of shelter you want to make. I’d prefer you take a look at this first and get an idea of what you want to create, I recommend something that’s simple yet effective.
Note: Work with Mother Nature because she will help you. Use trees and rocks to your advantage by establishing your shelter against them.
Step 2: When you’re building your shelter keep something in mind – how will you keep warm? The ground is very COLD. The easiest way to combat this and stay warm is to create a raised bed and of course because you don’t want to be sleeping with critters walking all over you.
Note: When creating your shelter – if you can see light, then wind and rain CAN get in. Cover every light source. Your hut is your sleeping bag, so if it is made correctly, can keep you very, very warm.
Step 3: Firstly make sure your raised bed is stable, now jam a lot of leaves and loose forest duff underneath, the more dense it is under your bedding, the less heat that will be lost, and giving you more of a chance to stay warm the whole night.
Step 4: Now that your raised bed and shelter is created, it’s time to make a campfire inside your room.
Only make a campfire inside your shelter if it is big enough. The last thing you want to happen is to burn your shelter down as you dose off, lol.
- A high roof shelter – This will handle smoke much better
- A low roof shelter – A low roof is easier to heat your shelter up
Check out these awesome, well-insulated shelters on Google images
The best way to learn how to create a warm shelter is to get out there and practice.
You will learn what works and what doesn’t from experience only, especially if you decide to sleep in it to see if you can build a well-established and well-insulated hut made from natural materials.
Building And Sleeping In A Natural Shelter
Pros
- Amazing skill to have for the outdoors
- If made correctly, can be warmer than a tent
- Don’t need as much items in your backpack
- Build one big enough and you can have a campfire in it
- Fairly easy to set a decent one up even if you’re a newbie
Cons
- Can be very cold if not made correctly
- Time consuming without enough practice
Would I Try It?
Yes, and I have done it many times.
Would I do this again? Definitely.
Actually me and 2 of my closest friends have already planned to embark on one of these journeys in about 6 weeks. We will be taking minimal items, 1 backpack each with spare clothes, food, knife and other survival items. No tent, no tarp. If you need a great, razor-sharp survival knife ==> definitely take a look at this.
In fact, I recommend you use a tarp as your flooring or roof, or both, UNTIL you know how to make a survival shelter more efficiently, then try it without the tarp.
Conclusion
Camping without a tent is not for the faint hearted but if you want to try it out then it’s definitely something to consider. I didn’t really want to do it until I looked at many images and YouTube videos that got me ‘hyped’ and excited so I decided to try it out.
And I loved it, I didn’t sleep in it straight away though. I created multiple shelters before I slept in one, and BTW – it’s a lot different than sleeping in a tent.
I’ll let you find out the rest though haha.
Thanks for reading this post, if you enjoyed it please leave me a comment below 🙂
Not sure I would want to do this with smaller children, but I love the idea of “roughing” it, and so does my husband. Might have to show him this post. Sounds like fun – blessings!
Roughing it is really GREAT. You’re absolutely right though, I wouldn’t go down this route with children, especially when you’re exposed to a lot of spiders and things like that – and for the simple fact that you may experience a freezing night if you build your shelter wrong, lol.
Thanks for the comment Claudia!
I’ve been pondering the idea for some time and when I read this I said to myself it’s time I do this. I love camping and the outdoors so I can’t wait to experiment with my own shelter. Thanks for the great idea.
Hey Kayla, if you enjoyed this article then I KNOW you’ll love an article I’ll be posting in around 1-2 weeks. It’s all about camping alone – this one is with a tent though, but definitely something worth checking out if you lack the motivation 🙂
Thanks for the comment.
Hey Brandon! Great info here. I love camping but I have never considered trying to create my own shelter. I’m going to definitely put that on my bucket list….I think it would be a great experience. I really like the idea of making it big enough to stick a campfire inside. Now that would be lovely during the cool fall evenings… speaking of fall… it’s my favorite time to be outside… Can’t wait for this 100 degree weather to be over! 🙂
Have a great week! I’ll be back! 🙂
Halee
Well you’re very lucky. It’s currently Winter here in New Zealand and I’m totally sick of the coldness, so would you please bring some heat over my way haha.
Cheers,
Brandon
I have certainly had my experiences “roughing it”. However I have never built my own tent, it sounds like quite an experience. I am sure like you said it would be very time consuming and knowing my luck would probably collapse on me. LOL A great article, thank you. Dave
Lol, Dave – It takes a great deal of practice to make a shelter that’s sleepable, however don’t fret too much because you won’t be sleeping in it just yet. Concentrate on different styles first and then when you’re comfortable enough that you can create a good/stable shelter then you can consider sleeping in it. Thanks for the comment
Thank you so much for such of great information about camping. I have no clue on how people get prepare for camping. This is a great niche, you helping people to avoid danger from camping. Your post is helpful for me .You did a great job very nice.
sophie64
Hi Sophie, thank you for stopping by! Much appreciated. Yes, there’s a lot more to camping and hiking than just going out there and roughing it. You have to know how to stay safe and how to survive. Fortunately I have got all of this covered on my blog 🙂 Cheers.
This post opens my eyes to camping ideas I never thought of. I like the idea of the survival aspect. Thanks for the post.
Survival has always been apart of my life, just in case I ever have to try and survive out in the wilderness alone. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Brandon. Wow! This is a lot of information for survival in the out-of-doors. I am not much of a camper, but I am curious to try to build a shelter in my backyard. Reading this has sparked an interest and belief that I should be prepared even driving in the cold, snow months. You never know what bad situation, you may end up in. Thanks for the info!
You’re absolutely correct, and definitely on the right track. In fact I have a great article for an extreme survival situation and recommend you check it out. Learn more here
Thanks for the comment and hopefully you stop by more often to learn more about the outdoors 🙂