Outskirts Overland Podcast

Windy Wisdom: Survive High-Wind Camping

• Charlie Racinowski

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Charlie from Outskirts Overland shares essential strategies for camping in high winds based on his extensive experience in Missouri's unpredictable Midwest weather. He covers everything from proper tent positioning and cooking techniques to practical tips for managing your campsite when dealing with gusts up to 50-60 mph.

• Position wedge-style rooftop tents with the high wedge facing into the wind
• Wait to set up tents until you're ready to use them to prevent unnecessary strain
• Avoid using awnings in winds over 15 mph regardless of how well they're staked down
• Purchase a foldable wind guard for your camp stove to maintain better temperature control and save fuel
• Double-stake tent guylines by creating V-shaped anchors for better stability
• Secure lightweight items like chairs by flipping them or weighing them down
• Hold trash bags between your legs when filling to prevent them from blowing away
• Exercise extreme caution with campfires in windy conditions or avoid them altogether
• Check weather forecasts before setting up camp to properly prepare for conditions

Check out my upcoming collaboration with Benji at Newfound Overland where we'll be sharing even more camping insights and experiences.


Speaker 1:

The hey guys. It's charlie again with outskirts, overland. It's a day, second day in a row. Um, appreciate anybody that listens. I'm kind of trying to work out some kinks with my car audio situation. It was on Bluetooth yesterday, then I tried to do it today with my CarPlay plugged in. That wasn't working, so now I'm just on the phone. I did upgrade my phone to the 16 Pro, so hopefully that's better. I also cut out yesterday a couple of times and for those of you that didn't listen to that and don't care, sorry I'm covering it, but and I was like I don't like that so much, you guys got the gist of it because I repeated myself. Thankfully I'm taking a different route to work.

Speaker 1:

Today, in hopes of better service, I got to get my mics in the car. My mics are in the truck. For those of you that don't know, I think I've talked about it. For those of you that don't know, I think I've talked about it. I bought a Subaru Forester Wilderness. That's what I'm in today. If I ever podcast on the road, it's typically in my truck. So all my mics are there.

Speaker 1:

So I got to just make that something I make a habit of getting in the vehicle, but I came on today again because I was, like you know, I could do these 10 minute, 15 minute things pretty much every day and I used to be I don't talk about it a lot, but I used to be a personal trainer and nutrition coach for like I don't know a long time 15 years, something like that and I used to do lives for my clients, like every day something about mentality or this or that, and at one point I did it for like 60 days straight, and even today, sometimes I'll show up on my, on like my memories and stuff, and I'll re-listen to them and I'm like man, I had some good thoughts. So I thought, well, maybe I'll, maybe I'll see what I could do with that in the, in this space. Um, so I'm coming in day two, cause I'm often driving to work and I don't listen to drop the kids off and stuff, which I just did and I don't listen to music. So I'm just thinking, you know, it's a time for me to think, and then I have thoughts that probably leave me. I don't remember them again. So, anyways, I was coming in today.

Speaker 1:

The wind's crazy here again in Missouri, it was crazy all weekend and it made me think you know, I don't know that I've ever covered navigate camping in these high, high winds. I'm in Missouri, it's the Midwest, so it's tornado country. We get lots of temperature fluctuations, weather fluctuations. I mean it was 80 on Friday, saturday it was 50. Saturday night it snowed, you know, like stuff like that. Like it's pretty crazy here, and we're back to 66 degrees right now today again. So I just wanted to cover high wind camping because it's going to be relevant to everybody at some point.

Speaker 1:

So first thing I've been hearing everybody talk about you know how to set up your, like if you're in a rooftop tent, how's that work? I have a wedge style rooftop tent and I always point the wedge, the high wedge, to the direction of the wind. I also don't set up my tent until I'm about to get in it, so I don't let my tent just sit there and get jacked around all day long. Also, and I feel like this goes without saying, but before you go on a trip or before you set up camp, you should check the weather and like, although an awning is a really nice thing to block the sun, you will straight wreck an awning, potentially even a rack, or at least some extrusion on your rack putting your awning out in the high winds. Even if you stake it down, it can just be too much for it. So just be like for real, be cautious of the wind in your awning.

Speaker 1:

Freestanding awnings are like super popular right now. I have a freestanding awning. I think I've freestood my awning for a picture one time. I'm always staking that thing down and putting the legs out because I do know the potential for it to just get ripped up shreds. Awnings aren't made to handle anything above like 15 mile per hour winds. I mean I'm talking out my ass, but like I think that's right. So just like awnings man, don't put your awnings out if it's windy. And I mean we had wind like 50, 60 mile an hour wind, like it was pretty gnarly. And then naturally me and my girlfriend went up in the tent early and watched twisters, but you know when in Rome, right, like whatever, um, but anyways. So I always point my wedge at it.

Speaker 1:

If you've got a clamshell tent, you're going to want to point that hard side toward the wind. If you've got a full, soft tent, I would take the profile of the tent and you know it's going to be wide out from your vehicle. I'd get it skinny, like the skinnier part, you know, the peak of the roof and stuff toward the wind as well. It'll still be windy but it's not going to be windy. The whole side of the tent is. Now, if you're a ground tent person I saw some gazelles out there and stuff Just make sure you bring extra guidelines so that you can stake, stake it down a little bit more, maybe even take the same guideline and stake it out in a V, if that makes sense. Where'd you come out with one? I would almost loop that through and do two on every point, just so you got more anchor. I mean you don't wanna be like taking your tent, like crushing it with that, but like again. And then I saw some regular, just regular tents, like backpacking tents, and those individuals are trying to block them with their vehicle. But even so, some stuff gets under your vehicle. That's a good place for like if you're camping with a bunch of people and you're in a regular ground tent to. If anybody's got any boxes or anything, put those under your vehicle and then your tent. You know, you know to block the wind, do the best you can. So I figured I covered that also.

Speaker 1:

Cooking man, cooking is the like bane of my existence when it's windy, um, but luckily I long time ago, because all these camp stoves, like wind really affects how they do everything, and some stoves come with the little wind guards, but I have like singular ones and I just bought a big like sheet metal. It folds up like I don't know six, eight inches by two inch pieces and they all collapse and I fold, I like wrap it around my stove. That's a huge help. Make sure you're looking at that. I think, man, I've had that thing for years and I'm talking like years and years. I think I bought it. I don't know. Amazon will tell me like 21, 2021, probably, maybe, maybe 2020. I don't know.

Speaker 1:

I've had a long time and I got it on Amazon and now I do know inflation's like a thing, but I think I paid like man, I couldn't tell you. I think I paid like I don't know, 10, 15 bucks for it and I use it all the time because it doesn't take a lot of wind 60 mile per hour wind, 50 mile per hour wind, 30 mile per hour wind yeah, that's affecting it, but like even just breeze, I'm like screw it, because what you're doing when it's so windy is, you're cranking those stoves up and then you're burning through fuel I don't, I carry a little extra fuel, but I'm not like a nutcase about it. So I'm really paying attention to how temperature control works. And if you block the wind, you're allowed to have, you know, you're allowed to have a little bit better temperature control. So blocking the wind on your cooking stove is huge, huge because they're all propane or you know whatever, propane, isobutane, whatever, and it's it's very affected by the wind.

Speaker 1:

So look at, look at camp stove I just go on Amazon very affected by the wind. So look at, look at camp stove. I just go on Amazon, amazon. Camp stove, windshield, camp stove, wind guard, something like that. You'll find a whole bunch of them, some that'll fit your application. We even figured out, like one of the tailgater tables, like little tailgater table, things went around my buddies, it fit right around my buddies a little black, 17 inch black stone, because again, again, he's had the same problems. Like this wind is killer on your flame for your cook stove.

Speaker 1:

Um, so yeah, making sure extra stakes, extra guidelines, pointing your tent, the hardest part or the skinniest part of your tent, toward the wind, and using extra stakes is huge, using extra stakes. If you got a tent that's got like a singular eyelet, go in that eyelet, out that eyelet and stake both down at each point. It's going to give you a lot more wind protection, a lot more structural integrity from something that is not very structurally you know, structurally sound. So that's going to help you out. Um, and and I bring that up I mean I think about today is so windy and I'm like man, I don't know that I've ever covered this, but even if I have covered it, you know you guys aren't going back and listening to every single thing I've ever said.

Speaker 1:

If you just picked me up today. So I'm like I just I don't remember saying it, but here we are. Um, but yeah, making sure you're paying attention to that for sure. And then again, when it's real windy, you know, guys, making sure you're paying attention to. You know I wouldn't be doing a fire when it's super windy. I did a fire the next day when it wasn't as windy. But make sure you're paying attention to burn bands and stuff too, because when it's really, really windy, windy, some of those embers can fly. I mean, we had a chair fall over and it burnt the chair up like quick, like I was. I was astonished how quick it put a hole in that chair, like I'm talking like not even fractions of a second. So that was nuts.

Speaker 1:

So just again, something to something to learn. I'm usually sitting in my chair, or I always flip my chair over on itself when it's windy. That didn't happen in this case, but maybe either flip it down on itself so that it's face down, or put a piece of wood in it or something heavy, so that know, so that it doesn't go like that way into the fire, like into it. Those are all things that, like again, I'm not perfect, but everything I'm telling you is learned, you know, and if I can help you guys not have to learn it, that's what I'm here for, you know. Like hopefully you guys can learn from my mistakes that I've made or my friends have made while they're with me, that I like kind of take note of. So just those are. Those are super nice things to think about.

Speaker 1:

Also, another thing I do when it's windy those of you that deal with trash bags or trash if I take the trash bag out there's a picture somewhere, maybe I'll post it today but I put the trash bag like I squeeze the trash bag with my legs. So, um, the trash bag's like secure between my legs because that's the worst of the worst your trash bag, your trash. You take your trash bag out of your trash room or some of my friends hang them on their rear view mirror of their vehicle, but like you take that thing off to put something big in it and that freaking thing takes off. That's a nightmare. Like you can't just let that go, you know. So just make sure you're paying attention. Like I always put it between my legs, grab it, fill it, put it between my legs, like I'll just shuffle around, know, get on myself. Um, that's something to definitely consider and think about. Putting things, putting heavier things on things so they don't blow away that's a huge thing. Like, even like plates I don't even know like all I mean almost everything when it's windy could take off when it's super windy. So just, man, just pay attention to it. Hopefully this stuff helps you out, and I'm going to try. I don't want to commit to anything too crazy. I'm going to try to put out these like way, way, way more often. I think it's a little more digestible than having to sit down and keep a train of thought, while I'm talking for an hour or two hours, I am recording tonight with Benji at Newfound Overland on his podcast and again, those of you that listen to me and him together we touch on some of this stuff.

Speaker 1:

But most of what he touches on his podcast himself and I touch on my podcast myself isn't what we talk about. So we talk about completely different stuff. So that'll be up when it's up. Um, but make sure you're paying attention to his podcast too, because you'll get you. Then you get the power of two. So you're getting me and him and we got different. You know we have some different experiences, so it's nice to get that, to get that, uh, like, oh, this is what you know. Benji and Charlie think you know here they do this or that. It's a little different. So make sure you guys go over there and listen to that. I really like collaborating and just freely talking. Me and him talk really well, so that's also super nice. But I'm doing that tonight and, uh, I'm sure I'll be driving home from that Cause it's about an hour and a half to Benji from me and probably have something to put up again tomorrow based off of, like you know, you kind of have the I don't know what is it after action.

Speaker 1:

You know thoughts like what do we talk about? How'd that go? So I may put some up again yesterday or yesterday, put some up again tomorrow and just be on the lookout. I'll probably try and do these quite a bit more regularly and then, if I have something really big, I'll do a long form. But I will have this figured out with my um yeah, mics, because I left them in the truck again. All right, guys. Well, I'll catch you later. Have a good day. Midweek hump day. Well, I'll catch you later. Have a good day. Midweek hump day, crush it. I'll see you, guys, later.