Top tips for safer camping from a wilderness medicine doctor
Dr. Grant Lipman
Grant S. Lipman, MD, is a clinical assistant professor of surgery in the division of emergency medicine at Stanford University and associate director of the wilderness medicine fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine.
From 2020-2022, the peak of the Covid19 lockdown, the number of first-time campers in America soared. Discovering the mental and physical benefits of getting outside, new and first-timers made up 21% of overall camping trips in 2020. And in 2021, camping accounted for 40% of Americans’ leisure trips. Post-lockdown, campers are experimenting with combining camping trips with hotel or resort stays, glamping, and working remotely while outside.
What is considered camping, how it’s practiced, and who does it, continues to expand. In fact, almost 88 million households identified as “camping households” in 2023, and the number in 2024 is only projected to grow.
Are you ready for your next campout? Dr. Grant Lipman shares his top three practices, tips to prepare, and items to pack for your safest camping trip, whether it’s your first or hundredth adventure.
Consider the conditions
🌦️ Watch the weather: Weather can change quickly so local forecasting is essential. Rain, wind, afternoon sleet or lightning storms are often unique to your area. Not only can unepected weather change a fun experience into an ordeal, it can also bring unique outdoor health challenges.
🏕️ Find the perfect campsite: Pick a site that is flat, away from areas that can flood, with no signs of water runoff. A perfect spot might also be situated away from tall trees, as their flying limbs can become dangerous in high winds.
🐻 Beware of bears: Know if you are in bear country and be aware of bear safety protocols for food preparation, storage, and travel.
If you want to dive deeper, you can check the 16-day weather forecast, learn what to do if you’re caught in a flood, discover how to identify signs of bears, and more, all on the GOES Health app.
Don’t forget these 3 essentials
Packing just right is practically an art form. Overpacking can become cumbersome. The facepalm that happens when you forget something is also annoying. Your packing list will be specific to your trip, destination, and who’s in your party, but here are Dr. Lipman’s three most essential essentials, to start:
🚱 Water: Bring plenty of water! Or, a means to produce safe, drinkable water. Bringing water to a boil is a tried and true way to ensure safe drinking water because it’s hot enough to kill any living organism. You do not need to keep it at a rolling boil for a period of time.
Having drinkable water on hand can help to prevent dehydration, but has other uses like cleaning wounds.
🩹 First aid kit: Your first aid kit can be tailored to fit your excursion, and its contents should be usable in a wide range of situations.
🧴Sun protection: Make sure to pack your sunblock and reapply it as needed. Be aware of higher-risk conditions for sunburn, like high altitude, or surfaces like water or sand.
Remember, it doesn’t matter what you bring if you don’t know how to use it correctly. Make sure you know how to use your supplies before packing it for your adventure.
Top camp safety tips
🦟 Prevent itching and disease: Use insect repellent to avoid insect bites that can cause miserable itching. Check for ticks regularly and know how to remove them.
🪨 Careful where you reach: Don’t reach under rocks, brush, or onto ledges, without knowing what (or who!) is there first. You don’t want to startle a snake, spider, scorpion, or anything else making their home there.
🔥 Practice campfire safety: A crackling campfire can be the cherry on top of any camping trip.* However, an unsafe campfire can go wrong in many ways. Check the GOES app for safer fire management.
*Check local announcements for any fire bans in the area, especially during wildfire season.
Even with the most careful preparation, snake encounters, bug bites, and burns can still happen. That’s why there’s GOES for the unexpected accidents and emergencies.
Happy camping
You’re almost all set! Now, you’re equipped with preparation, packing, and prevention tips – directly from wilderness medicine expert, Dr. Grant Lipman. The last thing you need before heading out is having the GOES Health app on your phone. Go ahead, be wild! We’ve got you.
