Some things in life I love. Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. Camping on the water. Sunrises. Easy floats down the river. There are some things I just do not care for. Rock Crawling. Having to call a tow truck after rock crawling. Sleepless nights. Bad water…and being cold. I used to be heavy (as far as my body goes), but now that I have lost a little weight, I am cold (all the time). I sit in my office with my jacket on constantly, because I cannot seem to get warm. I told a teacher at my school today…I have always had a fan in my office due to being hot all the time. This year, I have not turned my fan on once, but I am definitely considering getting a heater to keep under my desk.

The problem with not liking the cold is that I am an outdoors person. I love being outdoors. In fact, I am probably outdoors more than indoors when I have free time. It is just where I love to be. What comes with being in the outdoors is the inability to control the temperature. There will always be periods of cold. There will be places you go when it will be colder than others. Your mind will go back to that spot in your home where the Thermostat is located and you long for the ability to regulate your place to make it more comfortable.

When camping you cannot always find a warm spot. There are just those places where even the middle of the day you are looking for a rig to climb in or some place to escape the cold. This past summer, while camping at 11,000 feet, Porker and I were climbing in the tents around 5 p.m. each afternoon to spend 12–15 hours trying to stay warm. The 30-degree temperatures coupled with 20–30 mph winds were just too much for us to bear in the evenings and throughout the night. Extreme temperatures are bearable sometimes, but not fun, so in order to keep ourselves as comfortable and happy as possible, we do what we can to find that happy medium.

In order to combat extreme temperatures, several gear items we have acquired helpful in keeping us warm. They are listed in no apparent order, as order is not my thing, nor is it … well you know. Here we go.

Top 10

10. Base Layers with Puffy Coat

LINK — Base Layer, Puffy Coat

I cannot make a list without mentioning some form of clothing. I mean, you cannot stay warm if you are outside and naked, so it just makes perfect sense to put some clothes on fool! A good base layer under your regular clothing cannot be stated often and enough. They will help keep your normal body heat in and help regulate you from your core. They pack down small and are very nice to sleep in so you do not have to mess with rolling over in your bed in regular clothes. I also never leave home without a puffy or puffer coat. They pack down so small and do an amazing job of adding that extra protection of warmth. Puffy Coats are so light you can throw them in any backpack or box where you pack your clothes and you will not even notice the space they take up or the weight added. You will not regret, NOT forgetting these items if you are planning to get out in colder weather.

9. Kovea Heater

LINK — Kovea Heater

I love this little heater! This heater is more horizontal than vertical and has a leg that will assure you that it will not fall over. It has its own ignitor and runs off butane. This heater will run on low for around 4–5 hours before the fuel will need to be replaced. Be warned, though, as if you travel to some far-reaching places, as the butane bottles are not as easily found as the green propane bottles used for the Buddy and other heaters. One warning I will give out about these is that they will not shut off if they are turned over, but you can use this to your advantage as I have turned it facing up and boiled water off it when I ran out of propane on one cold adventure when I was sorely unprepared. This little heater packs down small and works very well in small spaces. Since it is so small and compact, I always carry it with me just in case that extra warmth is needed.

8. Tent Annex

Example — Tent Annex

Another piece of gear that we love during winter camping is our tent annex. Zipping this annex onto the bottom of the Tent, we have all the privacy that we need, along with a place where we can get up, stretch, put our clothes on and get ready for the day inside the warmth of an enclosed shelter. It is a large bundle to haul inside the vehicle, but when winter camping it is well worth it. When you have a rooftop tent, you are not able to stand up or bend the way you are supposed to bend (at my age anyways) to get dressed and undressed or do whatever you need to do to get ready for bed or ready for your day. This gives you that needed space to be able to move around in the warmth (we sit our heater on the ground outside the annex, run the hose inside as the heat rises and perfectly warms the annex and tent) and not exposed to the winter elements outside. The annex is one of the items we never leave home without when camping in winter. For privacy and warm shelter, it is our best option outside of the tent.

7. Propane Fire Pit

LINK — Propane Fire Pit

If you ever travel out west, you will know that almost every summer there will be a burn ban somewhere. Forest fires and the fear of forest fires are very prevalent in hot dry climates. This will prevent you from having wood or charcoal in which to cook and start fires. Therefore, we always carry a propane fire pit while traveling in order to have a place to sit around when it gets dark. The downside to these is that they are usually bulky, heavy, use tons of propane very quickly and do not put off a lot of heat. However, the upside will be that you have a place to sit around, keep a semblance of warmth, and have a great area to tell your dad jokes and made up stories to impress the ladies.

6. Rumple or Wool Blanket

LINK — Rumpl or Wool Blanket

There is a new blanket out called a Rumpl blanket. They are a little pricey at around $100 (or around $125 if you get a National Parks or special print), but they compress very small and are very light. If you want to keep a blanket inside your tent when it is folded up this is the perfect one as it will compress to almost nothing. If you want to take it out and use it to cover up while traveling down the road, it is perfect for that as well. They are so light and versatile and will do a great job at keeping you warm as an extra layer on top of covers or on top/inside of your sleeping bag.

I also like to use a Wool Blanket underneath my sleeping bag. This will provide an extra layer underneath where cold air might try to get in to your tent. Whether in our rooftop tent or ground tent on a cot, that extra layer of warmth will make a huge difference. Sometimes I move this blanket on top of me as I like the weight. The Swiss Link Blankets are good and found some that are soft from Poland at our local Army Surplus store.

5. Awning Walls

Example — Awning Walls

Awning walls are another way we have found to stay warm while winter camping. The zippered walls on our Howling Moon awning come together to form an enclosed area where we can set up our propane fire pit and warm our area where we sit, hang out, cook and just generally get out of the weather while still experiencing the outdoors. If the nights are cold and the days are warm (as it usually is here in Arkansas), you are able to open up the windows and see outside and bring more of that outdoor love into your living space. When that sun drops down, as does the temperatures, you can close those windows, fire up that propane fire pit and provide yourself with a warm area in which to cook and eat dinner. What a great, large usable space to enjoy the outdoors and be able to keep out of the elements at the same time. We enjoy few camping items more than the walls around our awning.

4. Buddy Heater

LINK — Buddy Heater

This is a standard when trying to keep warm while camping. One reason I love these is the versatility when it comes to fuel. You can use the green canisters or pick up one of the hoses where you can attach to a 5, 11 or 20 lb bottle for longer use. Sit one of these at the bottom of your annex and you will be great. The one problem with these is that they are hard to regulate and you have to manually turn them up or down on the unit. One way to regulate the heat is to just open or close windows in the tent. You also must have ventilation for these as they have a very sensitive oxygen sensor and will shut off if they sense they are using up your precious O2. Another thing you have to watch with these is that they are tall and slender and easy to turn over. The units will shut off if turned over but the front will still be extremely hot and will burn through tent material and sleeping bags. I never really slept good when one of these was balancing on my mattress while I tried to sleep, but it was definitely better than freezing to death.

3. Wood Fire Pit

LINK — Fire Pit/Grill

So…if the elements cooperate and all the moons align, you will be able to have a campfire with actual wood. Whether you take the wood with you, buy it for $19 a bundle at the local Stop-N-Rob, or pick up sticks around camp, you will enjoy sitting around the fire like nothing else at camp. Many campsites will have a designated or man-made rock fire ring, but sometimes you will find yourself in a place where you need to contain your fire. I would highly recommend one that has multiple uses such as one in which you can also grill food. This way you get multiple uses out of one thing instead of carrying more gear that only has one use (This goes for anything). Always take advantage of being able to have a fire, as many years will come when this option will not be available due to fire bans. Plus, having everything you own smell like firewood cologne is an extra treat.

2. 12v Heated Throw Blanket

LINK — 12v Heated Blanket

One of the best mother’s day or birthday gifts you can get a female is a 12v heated throw blanket. For that lady friend who is always cold or continuously fusses about some “restless leg” this or that, she needs the warmth that only an electric blanket can afford. If you do your homework, you can find a 12v travel throw blanket that can be used while traveling down the road and also be plugged into your favorite solar generator/power bank in order to be used at night while sleeping. These blankets are small, easy to transport and one time saved my life when none of my heaters would work on an extremely cold night in the Ozarks.

1. Diesel Heater

LINK — Diesel Heater

One of our favorite things we have now experienced is a Diesel Heater. I filled up the tank, holding one gallon of fuel, and plugged it in to our power source, at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning at 9 a.m., it was still running, warm and toasty in our tent. I was amazed and pleased. I was also extremely excited to be able to crawl over to the door of the rooftop tent, take my wireless remote control, and turn the temperature up and down on the heater, without crawling up and down the ladder. I was not accustomed to this luxury. Yes, having to carry diesel fuel, and having to provide it an electrical source, is a pain, but the benefits outweigh the struggles in this area. I made some adjustments and changes to the heater itself (just a plan Amazon diesel heater that runs around $159) so it will fit inside the FrontRunner Ammo Box, so packing it is a breeze as it stacks with the rest of the gear that I carry. It has become a staple for all of our winter camping trips from here on out. There are many different styles and sizes out there. Some square and some skinny and tall. Most are the exact same on the inside so just find one that you like the shape and size of and figure out a way to carry the fuel and you are good to go!

Conclusion and Final Remarks

There you have it. A little list of gear that I never leave home without when camping in the cold or at high altitudes. Make sure and research the weather where you are going. Extreme hot will cause you to sweat bullets, but extreme cold can get very dangerous for you and your loved ones. Make sure you have what you need. Check out the list and pack away those things that are small and do not take up much space or weight. Find a place in your rig to always keep them just in case you have those moments of forgetfulness. You never want to be caught out in cold weather unprepared. As always with weather, it is a 100 chance of some kind of weather, and it is a 20 percent chance that what you have looked up will be correct. You can never be prepared enough.

We do not have an outside Thermostat, but we do have ways we can help regulate how the cold affects us.

Happy Camping!