2020 has been a crazy year, mostly due to the global pandemic. Although there’s hope of vaccinations and hopefully great safety to be in public spaces, many people still consider travel to be off the menu for a while. However, we at Rocky Mountain Camper Vans believe that a van camping trip is actually one of the safest ways to get your travel fix during these times.
This is for many reasons. For one thing, the great outdoors in national parks and other wilderness areas are one of the least likely places to pick up covid, due to relative lack of crowds or frequently touched surfaces. Next, covid camping in a Rock Mountain Campervan means that you can be mostly self-contained, with a toilet, solar shower, kitchen, and everything you need right there in the van, all sanitized by CDC standards before you pick it up of course.
So, if you’re considering the possibility of van camping this Spring, here are a few tips for taking the safest van camping trip possible.
Remote and Dispersed Van Camping
As you may know, it’s entirely possible to camp in locations where you’re unlikely to run into many people. While it may be easier and comfier and even socially fun to camp in a managed campground such as a KOA, if you’re especially concerned about covid and willing to be a bit more adventurous, dispersed camping may be for you. It also has the benefit of being cheaper.
This doesn’t mean you necessarily need to go into the wild blue yonder, in your own verison of Into the Wild. Sometimes, dispersed camping isn’t even that far from standard campsites, sometimes even right outside. Of course, if you’re wanting to avoid people, you may want to go a little further away from the main grounds, but that doesn’t mean it has to be somewhere you feel unsafe.
Check out the many apps and website for finding dispersed camping, such as Freeroam, Campendium, and others.
Avoiding People at National Parks
While the open air of the great outdoors does greatly reduce the likelihood of exposure, there’s still a possibility of coming into close proximity with people by accident. That’s why it’s important to take precautions, and recreate strategically.
For instance, you might want to stay away from particularly narrow trails that are crowded. The fact of the matter is, if you either come up behind someone, or pass someone going in opposite directions, on a narrow trail like this you’re likely to come within 6 feet of one another. This may not necessarily be the case if the terrain is relatively flat, so that you can walk off the trail for a few seconds to safely pass one another.
These are all things to keep in consideration when you’re deciding on a park and a trail system, during the pandemic.
Preparation
While you always need to do quite a bit of prep for camping, you need to do extra prep during covid. That’s because the less stops or trips to the convenient store or grocery store you make while on the road, the better. You want to have everything with you that you’ll need.
It goes without saying that that will include a mask, and that’s not just for going in the gas station or store, but campground employees and forest rangers may require that you wear a mask while interacting with them, as well. In fact, it’s pretty likely. You may also want to carry things that will prevent any necessary interactions, such as a first aid kit, so you can tend your own wounds.
It goes without saying that preparation for covid camping in a van will also include the usual pandemic items that most of us keep in our pockets or purses these days, like hand sanitizer, a mask, and disinfecting wipes. Presumably you’ll be camping with someone who has also been quarantining and is unlikely to be sick, but of course you shouldn’t have anyone else you meet along the way in your van.
Well, there you go, if you follow these guidelines, you should be able to camp safely in your safe, encapsulated, quarantine friendly camper van!
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