Travel Blog

Rafting and camping go hand in hand with people who love to do outdoors activities. Many people will try rafting, going on half day trips or even full day trips. These are fun and exciting and the rafting companies will usually provide all of the gear you need along with a hearty lunch at lunchtime. These trips can be a lot of fun and if you go with close friends or family you will have many memories to enjoy together for years and years. Like the one in this picture which is actually a raft with a tent on it. Everyone gets to their tent by canoe.

Rafting & Camping Tents

Some rafting companies will also offer multi day trips involving rafting down a river trip, then breaking for the day at a suitable campsite to spend the night. Most will also provide all of the equipment you will need including tents, cots and all cooking facilities along with a hot cooked meal at the end of the day. Most people will bring their own sleeping bag that is clean and meets their personal needs. All of your gear will be transported by the company you are rafting with and have it at the site when you arrive for the evening. This is really the way to go and it makes it easy for everyone.

However some more experienced rafters and campers prefer to do it on their own. Transporting their own gear, choosing their own camping site and setting up their own tents, etc. They are well equipped with all of the Rafting & Camping Tents gear they need and have a lot of experience with rafting and camping.

What Tent to Chose for your Trip

One of the selections you must make in preparing for you rafting trip is the type and size of camping tent that you will be taking with you. Most campers will opt for a small tent due to size and weight issues. They want to minimize the size of the gear they carry. Also the weight of the gear particularly of there are portages along the rafting route. Carrying heavy tents is not a fun thing to do along with everything else they need to carry. Back packers know all about this. Since they carry all of their gear on their backs through the bush, climbing mountains and scaling ravines.

Choosing a tent is a very important to the overall success of your trip. Selecting a tent that is too small means that there may be no room to save stow your gear for the night. A tent too large is harder to pitch since you need a larger area to spread out your camp and you have lots of room to spread out inside the tent. A larger tent will be heavier as well to carry during portages.

Storing Your Food

One very important point to remember regardless of how large your tent is, store your food outside up a tree.  If there are animals around they will not hesitate to join you in your tent to get at your food items. Especially if there is meat involved. Bears have even been known to break into cars to get at items they think are food stuffs. A tent would not protect you or your food for even one second if a bear wants to have his supper!

Once you have decided on the size of tent, decide if you want windows, flaps, rain protection. Also a tent that can be set up in minutes vs. taking tens of minutes. This last point can be important if you are already wet and cold, if is raining and you are trying to get your tent set up.  A camping tent that sets up in minutes can make the difference between an enjoyable trip and an excellent trip. If you’re dry you have already won half the battle.

Rafting & Camping Tents – Easy to Fold

Camping tents also must be able to be easily folded down for packing and carrying. Make sure you know how to do it the same way. Pack and fold your tent back to the original size it was shipped in. You will not be able to pack it any smaller than the way it was shipped. But make sure you know how to pack it down to its original size for both carrying and portaging.

There are many items to consider when preparing for an over night rafting trip. We suggest that you go on a few trips with a recognized company first. Pick up all of the tricks of the trade first. Talk to the rafters to learn how they approach the trip. Learn some of the tricks they use to prepare and travel between campsites.

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