Who has had experience with camping in the desert? What is the best shelter for that environment? Would a tarp and sleeping bag be sufficient? Also, how could one avoid some of the venemous life? Thanks
In the few times I've actually camped in desert conditions, I hiked at night with a headlamp and slept (or tried to) in the heat of the day. You hear stories of people waking up with rattlesnakes or tarantulas in their sleeping bags but I've never known anyone who actually experienced that. I still used a single wall tent and would again.
I've camped in the desert multiple times, always in a tent, so I don't know if a tarp would be enough from personal experience. I don't see why not, though, so long as you make sure you're not setting up camp over an ant hole or something similar. I imagine lots of different shelters would work fine. I've never had any trouble with poisonous wildlife, and don't know of anyone who has who wasn't messing with them or doing something else stupid. They try to avoid you. Just make sure you bring a snake bite first aid kit with you. It should have a device for sucking out the poison. Doing it with your mouth is really unsanitary and can be dangerous. Also, it does get very cold at night and very hot during the day, so anything you've heard about the temperature is not an exaggeration. The last time I was traveling in the desert I got caught in a dust storm. Depending on what desert you're visiting, this may be a common occurrence. I was visiting a ghost town at the time, and took shelter in one of the buildings, but not before getting dust under my clothes and in everything I had. It was uncomfortable, but livable. Other potential dangers are bears, flash floods, and really big thunderstorms. Again, it really depends on the desert. If you plan on camping in the desert, probably the biggest thing you have to worry about is having enough water.
Ditto to these guys ^ I would definitely advise having a tent at least, especially if you plan on camping in a southwest state - Here in Texas I know for sure you have to watch out for havalinas - wild pigs. Last time I camped in West Tx we had havalinas jumping on our tent half the night!
I live in Arizona and have camped all over the Southwest. Personally, I would never camp without a tent. I have heard stories of the crawling critters getting inside sleeping bags, although it's always about a friend of a friend of a friend ... so who knows how true it is? But I'm not gonna take a chance ... If you're in southern Arizona during the warmer months, you can count on those big old diamondbacks being around, especially at night. They're very cranky, and they don't avoid you. You avoid them. I've seen them many times. Re: the comment about water ... that's the truth. Carry tons of water in your car, and when you hike, figure how much water you think you'll need, and double it. Nothing else matters if you don't have enough water.
I have slept on the desert floor of the mojave desert quite a few times with just a sleeping bag. Always seemed to have a few scorpions underneath the bag in the morning. Never had any try and get inside. But it is a better idea to sleep in a tent.
Carry a tent, but maybe depending on the season and weather outlook, leave the rain fly (usually about 2/5 of the overall weight) at home. Avoiding venomous life isn't so hard, just be aware and don't walk where you can't see- ie, jumping down in front of overhangs, putting your hands on overhangs, etc. I've seen/experienced far more annoyances from cactus spines, which can be nasty.
If you dont want the tent because of the weight, a bivouac (bivy sack) is a good solution. You are closed in like a tent, thus sheltered from weather and creatures... i've camped in the same bivy all four seasons, and my only complaint is the icy build up inside the bivy in the wintertime, due to persperation. And make sure you check your boots for snakes and scorpions before you put them on.
Bivy sacks are great if you aren't claustrophobic. There are plans someplace on the web to build a bivy out of Tyvek and other very cheap, water resistant materials. But I'd offer two warnings: Get a nylon tarp because if it rains very hard water WILL get inside and never use a bivy with a down bag. As coreball said, zipped up in it at night condensation will form on the inside and if your down bag gets wet it's USELESS to keep you warm. A synthetic bag will dry out just from your body heat overnight (unless it's completely soaked) and will still keep you warm even when damp.
Shade is the first thing I find in deserts.. I just can’t handle the full on sun all day. I usually find washes to camp along with some cottonwood trees or at least some scrub tress. Hammocks are nice in deserts if you can find tree big enough to hang them in. Tents are good also like others were saying it is good to keep the venomous insects away they are attracted to things laying on the ground like sleeping bags and such. A lot of times I just sleep on a tarp, in the desert in the US we don’t really have anything that will kill you just things that sting you and maybe make you sick. When you sleep on a tarp most insects will go under the tarp where the ground and condensation is. I usually just turn over some rocks and logs and see how many scorpions or spiders are around and unless they are all over I don’t worry about it much. But you have to be careful in dense brush areas sometime they will hold massive colonies of noxious insects. I camped in Dinosaur Utah once and forgot to close my tent door and woke up with more then 50 brown recluse spiders all over the inside of my tent..
Besides what the previous posters have mentioned, be careful of some of the plants. Depending on what desert you go to, some or many desert plants, especially cacti, can have sharp thorns or spines. Though this should be obvious, its not uncommon for to people to get injured.
in the desert in the US we don’t really have anything that will kill you In southern Arizona we do! be careful of some of the plants For sure. Don't touch anything out there.
I’ve heard some stories about people getting drunk and passing out in Dutura bushes and waking up completely insane for weeks or the rest of their lives. Crazy stuff..
LOL...maybe they found a Peyote Cactus and indulged. Other than that, I agree, if you're not 100 percent sure what it is, leave it alone. That's a rule I've come to live by while foraging wild edibles, if I'm not sure, I'll study that plant and read up on it, then, maybe get back to it. I usually don't mess with plants with poisonous look-a-likes.
