How to Pick a Great Campsite

Start with the ground beneath your feet

Before you drop your pack, take thirty seconds to walk the site. You are looking for ground that is roughly level and firm. A slight slope is fine; a real tilt means you will spend the night sliding toward the tent wall and waking up stiff.

Avoid low spots and depressions, even when the sky is clear. Rain drains toward them fast, and a dry bowl at dinnertime can be a puddle by midnight. Look for compacted soil or duff rather than soft, freshly turned earth, which holds moisture and collapses under tent stakes.

Give kids the job of the heel-toe test: walk the footprint of where the tent will go, rocking heel to toe, and report any lumpy roots or hidden rocks. It takes two minutes and saves an hour of miserable re-pitching in the dark.

Keep the right distance from water

Camping close to a stream or lake feels romantic, and it is — from a reasonable distance. The standard Leave No Trace guidance calls for at least 200 feet, roughly 70 adult paces, between your tent and any water source, including puddles and seasonal drainages.

That distance protects the riparian zone, keeps wildlife corridors clear, and puts you above the cold air that pools along water at night. Shorelines and streambanks are the coldest spots in a valley after sunset, so moving back even slightly makes for a warmer sleep.

Let a child count the paces out loud as the family steps away from the water. It turns a rule into a ritual, and kids who learn it young apply it automatically.

Look up before you lie down

Dead or dying branches hanging over a potential campsite are called widow-makers, and the name is honest. High winds, overnight storms, and dry conditions can bring them down without warning. This is the one check that never gets skipped.

Tilt your head back and scan the canopy directly above the tent footprint. Look for branches that are leafless when surrounding limbs are green, bark that is cracked or hanging, and limbs that appear to lean rather than grow. A dead branch does not have to be enormous to cause real injury.

Make it a family game: everyone scans their own quadrant of the sky and calls out what they see. Kids are genuinely good at this, and it gives them a meaningful role in the group's safety without any framing of fear.

Read the sun and the wind

A site that catches morning sun dries out faster, warms up quicker, and makes the first cup of coffee feel like a reward. In summer, an east-facing opening in the trees gives you gentle light without baking the tent by midday.

Wind direction matters overnight and at breakfast. Natural windbreaks — a boulder, a gentle ridge, a dense stand of trees — are assets. Set the door of your tent so it does not face directly into the prevailing wind, and you will keep more warmth inside and smoke out of your face at the fire.

Ask older kids to wet a finger and hold it up before the site decision is final. Which side feels colder? That is the wind direction. Simple observations like that are the beginning of real outdoor literacy.

How families practice site selection

Turn it into a brief family decision before anyone sets down a bag. Assign roles: one child checks the ground, one scans the canopy, one counts paces from water. A parent reads the sun angle and wind. Everyone reports, and the group makes the call together.

At established campgrounds with designated sites, the choices are narrower but the practice still works. Can you find the flattest part of the pad? Which picnic table position puts the morning sun at your back? Small decisions build the same judgment that pays off on a backcountry trip years from now.

After a few trips, you will notice your kids doing the scan automatically when you arrive somewhere new. That is the whole point. Competence built in the field sticks in a way that no checklist printed at home ever does.

Frequently asked questions