Wild Camping • 2
WHY WILD CAMPING? • LEGALITIES • CHOOSING A CAMP SITE • LEAVING A SUPPLY CACHE • SAFETY • RUCKSACK • TENT • BIVVY BAG • SLEEPING BAG • SLEEPING MAT • CLOTHES • BOOTS • COOKING EQUIPMENT • WATER CONTAINERS • FOOD • NAVIGATION • LIGHTING • UTILITIES • FIRST AID • LUXURIES
A perfect mountain camp
CHOOSING A CAMP SITE
The perfect site would be a level patch of dry ground, reasonably close to a good water supply, and well sheltered from the prevailing wind. Ideally it should be away from the busier paths, and have a good view. There are probably thousands of such spots in any given mountain area, but they're not usually where you need them. So there's often a compromise to be made, with maybe a long walk for water, or with less shelter than you'd like. After a while you learn to recognise a potentially good camp just from reading the map. By comparing features such as contours and vegetation to areas where you've camped before, you can get a good idea of how suitable the terrain will be.
Finding level ground in the hills is usually the main problem - what little there is tends to be boggy, or else may provide little shelter, such as a summit plateau. It's worth remembering that when backpacking along a ridge you're above the water table. Summits and ridges occasionally have pools on them, probably fine if you use a water filter, but I if not then running water is to be preferred. I have camped on summits and either took some water up with me (stopping at the last spring before the summit) or have been prepared to else descend to a spring and then climb back up again, which isn't too much of a problem if you plan with a map. (Water supply is one of the main problems when backpacking the Cuillen ridge on Skye). How much water you'll need is a personal preference. In my case, if I were heading to a spot where there was absolutely no water, then I'd say about 3-4 litres would be needed to get through a night and morning. If I knew there was, say, a pool or tarnlet, then a litre may just about cover cooking and drinking, whilst the pool could provide water for washing myself and cleaning dishes.
When it comes to drinking water, there are all sorts of filters and chemical purifiers on the market, but I've had no problems just taking the water straight from a fast flowing stream, bearing in mind the following points:
- Check the water supply before pitching the tent (this may even be a good idea even if you've used the spot before).
- The closer to the source the better.
- It's often worth checking for dead animals upstream. I've seen dead sheep in streams more than once.
- Check the water in a clear bottle. Usually it looks (and tastes) as good as the best mineral water that you'd buy, but occasionally it may have tiny bits in it (probably OK, but boil it), or be slightly discoloured (best avoided).
- Be particularly cautious in areas close to old mines and quarries.
- The water in the tarns is usually to be avoided because of the human activity, likewise water that is downstream from a tarn is best avoided. Most large tarns will have an inlet stream which is where I take my water from if I'm camping by one.
- If it's not being boiled, try to use freshly drawn water rather than that which may have been stored overnight.
Hard Tarn on Nethermost Pike. This tarn has no inlet so it's
preferable to obtain water from a stream about 100m southLEAVING A SUPPLY CACHE
The best place to hide a cache would be among some boulders or scree, making sure that it was safe from animals, foxes being particularly handy at digging holes. Obviously you have to be able to find the cache yourself so it's a good idea to have it near a prominent (to you) landmark, or maybe leave a small unobtrusive cairn a few yards away and take a compass bearing from it.
SAFETY
I always have a 'Plan B' in case things don't work out the way I intended, whilst formulating a 'Plan C'. I constantly reassess my options as the day progresses, and if I decide, for example, that I won't reach a spot before dark then I can put 'Plan B' into action and 'Plan C' becomes 'Plan B'.
Injuries apart, being caught out in the winter after dark is probably the worse case scenario for a day walker as daylight disappears quite rapidly at this time of year, sometimes by five o'clock. Besides some spare food and a survival bag, carrying a torch is well advised even on a day trip in winter. If you're following a good path down from one of the more popular mountains, then you should be able to get down with a good torch. Of course, benightment is less of a worry when you're backpacking with tent and a sleeping bag, even if you're weren't intending to spend the night out.
It's a good idea to be familiar with how to put your tent up before you use it in the wilds, and again, have a 'Plan B' ready to put into action should it get blown down or flooded during the night. Would you be able to put it up or take it down in a strong wind, heavy rain, the dark? I once had a tent come down in the night when a section of the hoop snapped. Now I always carry a small metal rod which can be used to link two parts of a broken tent hoop together in an emergency, (this will only work with a tubular metal hoop - with a fibreglass hoop a splint or a maybe a metal sleeve would do the same job). "Be Prepared", as the old scout motto goes.
In winter, an ice axe and possibly crampons may be necessary, particularly if camping at high level. Winter conditions can become arctic, particularly in the Scottish Highlands. The maritime nature of the British climate makes our mountains weather far more unstable than the high pressure systems encountered on continental ranges.
WHY WILD CAMPING? • LEGALITIES • CHOOSING A CAMP SITE • LEAVING A SUPPLY CACHE • SAFETY • RUCKSACK • TENT • BIVVY BAG • SLEEPING BAG • SLEEPING MAT • CLOTHES • BOOTS • COOKING EQUIPMENT • WATER CONTAINERS • FOOD • NAVIGATION • LIGHTING • UTILITIES • FIRST AID • LUXURIES
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