Cold Weather Camping Checklist

26 items · Travel · Medium difficulty · 1 hour

For nights near freezing, check your pad's R-value and your bag's comfort rating, pack wool layers, and keep the stove canister and water filter warm.

• Check the forecast low for the campsite itself, not the nearest town

  Higher sites and valley floors can be much colder overnight.

• Check the campground is still open and what has been shut for the season

  Many seasonal campgrounds close in fall, and some that stay open turn off the water.

• Find out whether hunting season is open where you are going

  If it is, wear blaze orange on the trails and put some on your dog.

• Tell someone your route and when you expect to be back
• Plan to reach camp at least an hour before sunset

  Fall days are short, and pitching a tent with cold hands in the dark is slow.

• Compare your sleeping bag's comfort rating with the forecast low

  The lower limit rating is a temperature you get through curled up, not one you sleep well at.

• Check the R-value of your sleeping pad

  For nights near freezing, aim for a combined R-value of about 4 or more. Stack a foam pad under your usual one to get there.

• Pack wool or synthetic base layers, not cotton

  Cotton holds sweat and stops keeping you warm once it is damp.

• Pack an insulated jacket to wear around camp
• Pack a separate dry set of base layers and socks for sleeping
• Pack a warm hat and two pairs of gloves

  One pair will get wet setting up camp.

• Pack lithium batteries for your headlamp

  Alkaline batteries lose power quickly in the cold.

• Check that your stove works in the cold

  Gas canisters lose pressure near freezing. Keep the canister in your jacket before cooking, or bring a liquid fuel stove.

• Pack more fuel than you would in summer

  Cold water takes longer to boil, and you will want more hot drinks.

• Keep your water filter from freezing

  Ice inside a hollow-fiber filter can damage it with no visible sign, and a damaged filter may let germs through. Put it in a bag at the foot of your sleeping bag at night.

• Store water bottles upside down overnight

  Ice forms at the top first, so the lid end stays clear.

• Pitch the tent out of the wind and away from hollows

  Cold air settles in low ground overnight.

• Leave the tent vents partly open at night

  Your breath condenses on the walls and can drip or freeze onto the bag.

• Never run a stove, heater or grill inside the tent

  They give off carbon monoxide, which builds up in a small closed space with no warning.

• Eat a hot meal with some fat in it before bed
• Change into your dry sleep clothes before getting into the bag
• Put a bottle of hot water in your sleeping bag

  Use a hard bottle rated for boiling water, check the lid seals, and wrap it in a sock.

• Keep your phone and spare batteries inside the sleeping bag
• Go to the toilet before you settle in

  Leaving a warm bag at 2 a.m. costs you far more heat than going now.

• Know the signs of hypothermia

  Watch for hard shivering, fumbling hands, slurred speech and confusion. Get the person dry, out of the wind and into warm layers, and get help if they do not improve.

• Dry the tent and sleeping bag fully once you are home

  Gear packed away damp grows mildew.

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