Camping Health and Safety Tips and Packing Checklist
Camping is a fun way to get family and friends together to enjoy the outdoors. Follow these tips and use the packing checklist to help ensure your camping trip is safe and healthy.
Camping Tips
Get vaccinated.
Campers may get injured or sick because of the activities they do and the close living conditions at camp. Vaccinations can help protect against certain diseases and conditions. Be sure your vaccinations and your family’s vaccinations are up-to-date. Ask your doctor or nurse what vaccinations are recommended. He or she may recommend tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), meningitis, and/or hepatitis A, depending on your medical history, destination, and other factors.
Prepare healthy and safe food.
Bring healthy snacks along on your camping trip, including 100% juice boxes, water, dried fruit (e.g. raisins, apples, or dates), trail mix, fresh whole fruit, baked veggie chips, no-added sugar applesauce in individual containers. Follow these steps to keep your food safe:
- Pack foods in tight, waterproof bags or containers. Keep them in an insulated cooler.
- Wash hands and surfaces often.
- Separate raw foods from cooked foods.
- Cook foods to proper temperatures (i.e. ground beef should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees).
- Chill foods promptly.
Fight Bac: Safe Food Handling (PFSE)
Packing Them Off to Camp (Lunch in the Wild) (PFSE)
Practice fire safety.
If you build a campfire, do it safely. Use a campfire pit away from overhanging tree branches. Make sure it has a metal fire ring or is encircled with rocks. Keep a bucket of water and shovel nearby. Never leave a campfire unattended. Use fireproof cooking equipment. Before you leave, be sure you put out your campfire completely.
Have a Safe and Healthy Camping and Hiking Experience
Include safe physical activities.
Camping is a great opportunity to get some physical activity. Do things to keep you active during your camping trip, such as walking, hiking, biking, or swimming. Be sure to bring protective gear, such as helmets, sturdy shoes, and life jackets. Avoid poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac. Know your limits, and take steps to avoid injury during activities. Never hike or swim alone. Watch kids closely. Adults should get 30 minutes and children and adolescents should get 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most days of the week.
Physical Activity for Everyone
Protect against carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless and can cause illness or death in people and pets. Never use fuel-burning equipment such as gas stoves, heaters, lanterns, and charcoal grills inside a tent, camper, or other enclosed shelter. It can cause dangerous levels of carbon monoxide to build up. When using fuel-burning devices outdoors, do not vent the exhaust into enclosed shelters. Rather than relying on fuel-burning appliances to supply heat, campers should bring adequate bedding and clothing and should consume extra calories and fluids during the outing to prevent hypothermia (a dangerous loss of body warmth that can cause death).
Avoid wild animals, and protect family pets.
Some wild animals carry diseases that are dangerous to people, including rabies, hantavirus, Giardia infection, and more. Avoid touching, feeding, and getting near wild animals. Enjoy watching them from a safe distance in their natural surroundings. Keep foods stored in sealed containers and out of the reach of animals. Make sure your family pets are vaccinated. Watch them closely. Check for ticks, and remove them promptly. Make sure pets have plenty of water, food, and shelter.
Questions and Answers about Rabies, Bats, and Summer Camps
Fight the bug bite.
Mosquitoes, ticks, and other insects can cause certain diseases. For example, mosquitoes can cause West Nile Virus, and ticks can cause Lyme disease. To help fight the bite, apply insect repellent containing DEET to clothes and exposed skin. Apply the insect repellent permethrin to clothes to help keep ticks from attaching to them. Be sure to follow directions on the package. Check for ticks daily, and remove them promptly. Wear long sleeves, pants, and other light-colored clothing to help prevent and spot ticks more easily.
Avoid Mosquito Bites to Avoid West Nile Virus Infection
Simple Measures to Prevent Tick Bites and Lyme Disease
Prevent temperature-related illness.
To help prevent hypothermia during cool nights, bring adequate bedding and clothing to stay warm. Use a plastic ground cloth under your tent to help keep you dry. To help prevent heat-related illness during hot days, drink plenty of alcohol-free and sugar-free fluids. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink. Wear layers of light-weight, light-colored, and loose-fitting clothing. Rest often in shady areas. Protect yourself from the sun.
Tips for Preventing Heat-Related Illness
Protect yourself from the sun.
Ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun can cause skin cancer, premature aging, skin cancer, and cataracts, even on cloudy days. Use a broad-spectrum (against UVA and UVB rays) sunscreen and lipscreen with at least SPF 15. Seek shade, particularly between 10:00am-4:00pm, when the sun’s rays are strongest. Cover up with clothing, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses.
Avoid water-related illness and injury.
Camping often includes playing in and around the water. To help protect yourself and your fellow campers from illness, don’t swim if you have diarrhea, and don’t swallow the water you swim in. Take a shower before and after swimming. Never swim alone. If you plan to ride in a boat, canoe, or other water vehicle, be sure to wear a life jacket. Avoid alcohol.
Be prepared.
Always be prepared for the unexpected. Before you leave, check the weather report, learn about security at your camp location, and tell family and friends what your plans are. Know what to do when toilets are not available. Be sure to bring along a supply kit that includes a first aid kit, compass or GPS, map, flashlight, blankets, and batteries, food, clothes, and medications. Know who to contact at the camp to report issues that may come up. When you return home, check for ticks, poison ivy, diarrhea, and other problems.
Packing Checklist
Remember to pack:
- Adequate bedding/sleeping bag and extra blankets
- Light-weight, light-colored clothing, including long sleeves and pants
- Tent and plastic ground cloth
- Insect repellent containing DEET for skin
- Permethrin insect repellent for clothing
- Broad-spectrum sunscreen and lipscreen with SPF 15 or higher
- Wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses
- Healthy on-the-go snacks and other food
- Water and other alcohol-free and sugar-free fluids
- Insulated cooler
- Life jacket, helmet, and other protective gear
- First-aid kit
- Compass or GPS
- Map
- Flashlights
- Extra batteries
- Sturdy shoes
- Extra set of clothes
- Medical record, including vaccinations; insect, food, plant, and other allergies; diseases and conditions; medicines, dosing schedules, and storage instructions; emergency contacts; and activities your doctor or nurse says to avoid
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Page last modified: June 10, 2008
Page last reviewed: June 10, 2008