Camping Dictionary

3-season tent: A tent designed to be used in spring, summer, and fall, but not winter. Protects against wind and rain.

4-season tent: A tent designed to be used in spring, summer, fall, and winter. Usually just used in winter. They are really strong and protect from heavy snow buildup and strong winds.

A-frame tent: An old type of tent that looks like the letter A when viewed from front.

Acclimate: The time it takes for your body to adjust to the campground’s different altitude.

Backcountry: A hard-to-reach, remote area.

Backpacking: Travelling while carrying every belonging in a backpack.

Bear locker: Durable food containers that are made to prevent bears and other animals from stealing food from campers.

Billycan: A small cooking pot, usually a metal bucket, used for boiling water.

Bivouac: A camp without tents or any kind of cover.

Car camping: The term used for camping with your car close to you, without the need of carrying all your stuff in your backpack to the desired location.

Cat hole: A hole dug by humans to poop into.

Day pack: The small backpacks usually used by hikers that are just big enough to hold the essential items, like water, food and clothing.

Food drying: Dehydrating food for better preservation.

Freestanding tent: Tents that don’t need any form of supports such as stakes. They can be set up very quickly.

Full-hookup: RV campsites that have every supply needed, namely water, electric and sewer.

Gear loft: A small storage pad made from a small piece of fabric that is attached to the tent’s roof.

Guy line: A rope or a cable that is used to better secure a tent to the ground.

Kindling: The second smallest fuel after tinder that is used to light up a campfire. It catches fire after tinder and sets the bigger firewood on fire.

Leave No Trace: A group of 7 principles which essentially mean keeping the natural area you have visited the way it is, without littering and/or harming it in any way.

NPS: United States National Park Service, an agency of the federal government that manages national parks throughout the country.

Pole sleeves: Small tunnels on a tent to which poles slide in.

Potable water: Water that is safe to drink.

Rain fly: Also known as flysheet and outer tent, a rain fly is the piece of fabric over your tent which stops the rain from reaching inside the tent.

R value: The number which measures a sleeping pad’s ability to insulate you from the ground. The higher the value, the better the insulation.

RV camping: Travelling and camping with a campervan or a motor house.

Self-contained: The term used for the types of RVs that do not need outside sources. They can supply their own water, electric and sewer.

Stake puller: A tool that is used to remove traffics signs, concrete steel pins and tent stakes. Usually used when the tent stakes are stuck deep in hard soil.

Tent pad: A small designated tent area often marked by a row of timbers. They eliminate the need to find a comfortable, level ground for pitching a tent.

Tent poles: A long pole that goes into the pole sleeves on a tent and supports it.

Tinder: The smallest fuel type in a campfire which catches fire very easily.

Understory: An area of plants that are close to the ground.

White gas: The common term for the fuel used in camp stoves and lanterns.