Choosing and setting up a safe backcountry campsite
A good campsite is chosen, not stumbled into. Where you pitch your tent decides how warm you sleep, how dry you stay if it rains, and whether wildlife pays a visit. Spend twenty minutes picking the right spot and you buy yourself a safe, restful night.
The rule of thumb: arrive with daylight to spare, and judge a site for safety and drainage first, comfort second. Setting up in the dark or the rain is where mistakes happen.
Choose the spot
Look for durable, level ground and weigh these factors before you drop your pack:
- Level and dry. A slight rise sheds water; low hollows collect cold air and rain. Avoid dry washes and gullies that can flash-flood.
- Wind and shelter. Trees or terrain that break the wind help, but check overhead first.
- Water access, not water’s edge. Camp at least 200 feet (70 steps) from lakes and streams to protect the water and stay above any overnight rise.
- Durable surface. Pitch on rock, gravel, or existing bare sites — not fragile meadow or plants — to Leave No Trace.
Look up, look around
Scan for “widowmakers” — dead standing trees or hanging branches that can fall in wind — and never camp beneath them. Avoid the very base of cliffs (rockfall), exposed ridgelines (wind and lightning), and low ground near water (cold air and flooding). Two minutes looking up can save your life.
Pitch for the weather
Point the tent’s strongest, lowest end into the prevailing wind, and stake out every guyline — a taut tent sheds wind and rain far better than a slack one. Clear sticks and stones from under the floor, and if rain threatens, make sure your tent’s footprint does not extend past the fly where it could catch runoff. A closed-cell sleeping pad matters as much as your bag for warmth: most heat is lost to the cold ground, not the air.
Set up a safe kitchen
Cook and eat well away from where you sleep — at least 100 feet in bear country — so food smells never linger around your tent. A compact stove is cleaner, faster, and lower-impact than a fire, and is often the only legal option during fire restrictions. If you do build one, keep it small, use an existing ring, and put it dead out before you sleep.
The bear triangle
Pitch your tent, cook your meals, and store your food at three separate points, each about 100 yards apart. Keeping sleeping, cooking, and food smells apart is the single best way to keep animals away from you at night.
Store food and scented items
Everything with a smell — food, trash, toiletries — goes into a hard-sided bear canister, stored downwind and away from your tent. Where canisters are not required, hang it 10–12 feet up and 4 feet out from the trunk. This protects you, and it protects the animals — a bear that learns to raid camps usually ends up destroyed. Our wildlife guide covers encounters in more detail.
Leave No Trace, and leave early-safe
Pack out all trash, including food scraps and micro-litter. Dig catholes for human waste 6–8 inches deep and 200 feet from water and camp. Scatter to disguise your site, and leave it better than you found it. Before you settle in for the night, note your morning route and check the weather so you are not breaking camp into a surprise.
Key Takeaways
Arrive early, pick level, dry, durable ground away from water and out from under dead trees, and pitch taut into the wind. Keep sleeping, cooking, and food storage separate, lock scented items in a canister, and Leave No Trace. A well-chosen camp is the difference between a night’s rest and a long, cold night.
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