Looking for tips on wild camping or backpacking tents??!?! You have come to the right place to see advice on camping! I am a solo vagabond/traveler who does some camping across the globe, although by no means a professional or full-time outdoorsman.
Why wild woods camping and which brands? I came up with the idea to cut down on my spending for housing on my world tour and also because i dont mind the outdoors versus a crowded hostel. Previously, I did not own a tent so this is my first time camping as an adult. A few brand choices for the tent that i considered, Big Agnes, Nemo, MSR, REI and Kelty. Some of these brands have some fantastic lightweight bikepacker and backpacker setups, but most these are hella expensive! Kelty is a brand that is a bit less expensive but also a bit too heavy for my requirement. The volume was also a consideration.
What did I choose? Instead of the high end brands, I settled on buying a Naturehike Cloud up 2 person tent from Amazon.com that weighs only 3.6 lbs and is approximately 17 inches by 6 inches in volume, priced at $120. I ordered this while I was staying at a hostel in Valencia, Spain and it arrived in 2 days. The tent is small enough to fit inside the 45L Pacsafe backpack – space is at a premium! It is also budget-oriented so the price is low enough just in case I change my mind and buy a more expensive one! See some more of my story down below…
What is included in the NatureHike 2 person tent setup kit? Tent stakes, a ground cover, the inner tent, the double shelled outer tent or rainfly, some guidelines, two small stuff sacks, and pre-attached tent poles. As I said the total weight is only 3.6 lbs so this is just perfect for a two-person tent (I am solo but needed some extra space for gear). Now the material is a bit on the thinner side, however it is waterproof and does hold upto the wind, strong enough to withstand one month’s straight camping. Setup takes around 7 to 10 minutes time and condensation is minimal. Good luck out there!
Where to camp? Wherever, but make sure its a hidden spot away from too many buildings or roads.
Tenerife seemed like a great place to start camping due to the weather and also the natural areas of the island. It is very warm there. During the month of March the nighttime temp was somewhere between 58F and 65F, so plenty warm enough – I wanted to be comfortable while sleeping outside. I also brought a coat and a hat, and bought a small blanket that weighed 11oz, and all 3 were needed. The NatureHike 2 person cloud up tent setup was just about big enough to fit myself inside of plus my backpack, shoes, and some food. They do offer free spots to do wild camping on Tenerife, but unfortunately these were still closed due to Coronavirus restrictions. Instead I found a wild spot, near to El Medano, Tenerife, Adeje and Tenerife Airport south. Some people do go up to the mountains or near to Mount Teide forest to camp but up there, it is much colder so its necessary to take some winter gear.
The spot I chose was hidden so it was hard for passers by to see the tent. I was a bit concerned for my safety but this is where the security features of the Pacsafe bag came into play. When i was asleep I had the Pacsafe steal cable security to my pants and my wallet and phone locked inside, but the good news here is that I didn’t have anyone bother the tent while I was asleep. The oddest thing that happened was that a woman was calling out to her dog that had wandered away, it was about 4am, and she was speaking a language besides English, so at first i didn’t know what she was saying. Other than this nobody came by the tent at night. It was perfectly safe.
A few tips for wild camping…
Over in south Tenerife, there’s a lot of wind, so I decided to use some extra rocks to weigh down the tent rainfly and straps to keep the windy conditions from blowing it away and if you need even extra wind security, you may buy some extra safety pins to secure my tent for camping. The wind can get pretty bad down there; upto 30 mph. The Naturehike is also really easy to set up and take down. Heres a pic of myself enjoying my hike and camp time near Montana Roja near El Medano, Tenerife… good luck! questions welcome.
