Laying out a camp: sleeping, fire, kitchen, toilet, water

Good camp planning separates things that can harm each other. Faeces and drinking water, sparks and tent fabric, food smells and sleeping area – each pair is made safe by distance. Distance is the simplest protection because it costs nothing and cannot break. Once you have set the zones properly, you hardly need to think about them again.

The wind decides where the fire goes. If the fire site is placed so that the wind blows from the tents towards the fire, smoke and sparks move away from the sleeping area. Wind can change in the evening or with a change in the weather, so extra distance helps more than perfect alignment. A stove is not harmless either: it never belongs in the tent, because it can catch fire and produce carbon monoxide.

The terrain plays its part too. At night cold air flows downhill like water and collects in hollows, so dips are often colder and damper than slightly raised, level ground. In rain, water gathers there too. An already used, durable surface also protects the ground, because no new area gets trampled flat.

Take ten minutes when you arrive, before you unpack anything. Walk around once and check the wind direction, the slope, the way to the water and the trees above you. Only then decide where people will sleep, cook and go to the toilet. This short pause saves you rearranging things in the dark later.

The kitchen is at a distance from the tents, and all food and rubbish is kept together in one place. That way the sleeping area does not smell of food, and you always know where everything is. In areas with bears or other animals that raid supplies, stricter rules often apply – for example special containers. These local requirements always take precedence.

For the water point: one fixed collection spot, and nobody washes there. Washing-up water and wash water are scattered far from the bank. The toilet is away from water, paths and camp; a small hole about 15 to 20 centimetres deep is filled in again afterwards. Where required, you carry toilet paper back out.

Dead branches and dead trees above the camp are one of the serious dangers outdoors, because they can fall without warning – especially in wind. So always look up before a tent goes up. Hollows at risk of flooding, stream banks when heavy rain is coming, and avalanche or rockfall slopes are not campsites either.

Fires and stoves are never used inside the tent or right in front of it. Sparks burn holes in synthetic fabric, and in enclosed spaces carbon monoxide can build up, which you can neither see nor smell. Keep water ready for putting out the fire and check before every fire whether a fire ban is in force – local rules come first.

Hygiene is a safety issue. Diarrhoeal illness spreads quickly in groups if toilet, hand washing and kitchen are not properly separated. A place to wash hands at the toilet and at the kitchen is therefore not a luxury. Drinking water from a stream or lake is always treated, even if it looks clear.

A well-thought-out layout pays off above all for camps of several nights, for groups and families, and wherever you cook or light a fire. The more people and the longer the stay, the more important the toilet and kitchen become. For a single night a simplified version is often enough: a safe sleeping spot, the stove at a distance, the toilet far away.

At campsites and designated pitches their rules apply; fire sites and toilets are usually already set there. In areas where camping is prohibited, you do not camp at all. This entry is not legal advice on wild camping – find out beforehand what is permitted at the place, or ask the landowner.

Today's camp planning relies heavily on the Leave No Trace principles, such as camping on durable surfaces, disposing of rubbish and human waste properly and respecting wildlife. Scouting handbooks have described dividing a camp into zones for a long time. The distances given are guidelines, not laws of nature – a narrow valley or rocky slope does not always allow the ideal.

Breaking camp shows how good a camp was. Everything is taken away, the fire is put out completely – pour on water and stir until nothing is warm any more – and the site is left as natural as possible. A good campsite looks after you leave as if you had never been there.