FAQ 05: Is It Safe To Go Camping During a Heat Wave?
I've camped in triple digits.
The first time I went solo camping, I chose to do it at Joshua Tree in the last week of April. It reached a high of 98 degrees that day, and all I had was my tent to protect me from the sun. It was a wonderful experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat ― especially now that I have new ways of staying cool.
I have also dry camped in triple-digit temperatures with the travel trailer. When dry camping, I can’t run my air conditioning unit. To add to it all, I have a four-legged munchkin with medium-length, black fur.
So, yes, you can absolutely camp in higher temperatures. In fact, we have been camping off-grid throughout this week’s heatwave. It was challenging, but nothing we couldn't handle.
How We Stay Cool
You might wonder: how do we manage not to roast ourselves in the RV? It helps that I am from Jamaica and Shadow is from Georgia. We both have high heat tolerance.
Know what your limits are before heading out. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are serious threats to health and safety.
I covered the basics of how we stay cool in this Instagram Reel:
Other Concerns
Beyond the potential for heat exhaustion or heat stroke, heat waves can also contribute to natural disasters. For example, forests are more likely to burn when temperatures are high. And, in the rocky and sandy desert, sand storms can appear from out of nowhere.
Again, always ensure you know what your limits are. Temperatures are not the only concern.
About That Joshua Tree Trip…
Curious to know how the Joshua Tree camping trip panned out? You can watch it here:
What’s Next for Paid Subscribers
If you're a paid subscriber, you'll get a second article explaining how we stay cool in much greater detail. I'll cover these and other topics:
How to leverage passive cooling techniques at camp
How to get water for the swamp cooler
Where the swamp cooler works and doesn't
How much water the swamp cooler uses
How much solar it takes to power the swamp cooler
How to stay cool when we can’t run the swamp cooler (or we don’t have it with us!)
Also, the next YouTube video for paid subscribers is on the way. Unfortunately, T-Mobile shut off my hotspot, and couldn't figure out how it happened. I just got service back on July 22nd, so I’m working on it.
Thanks for your patience!