KQED58%
These 8 Camping Fears Are Real. Let Us Solve Them for You 47%
By Sarah Wright37%
7/21/2026, 11:00:00 AM
Keywords: Camping, Backpacking, Outdoors, Fear, Hygiene, Wildlife, Gear, Weather, Emergency Preparedness
BS Summary: This article contains 30 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Appeal to Authority, and Hasty Generalization, with Indoctrination as the most egregious example at 26.4% saturation with 532 hits. Analysis detected 2,663 faulty-reasoning hits from 2,015 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 49.1% and a BS Rank of 47% (10,329 of 19,233 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 53.70% of the article peer group.
Taking off on your first-ever camping or backpacking trip can be intimidating.
You might be worried about spending the night in the woods, about wildlife or other factors outside your control.
These emotions are super common, said Richard Bothwell, owner of Outdoor Adventure Club, a San Francisco-based guiding company that leads beginner trips all year long.
“Your concerns and fears are legitimate,” Bothwell said.
His biggest advice?
“Start small and give yourself the grace to be a beginner.”
That could mean planning a short, easy trip to start, or hopping onto a guided trip if you’d like the hands-on help of experts.
Josh Dillen and reporter Sarah Wright begin setting up a tent at a campsite at Anthony Chabot Family Campground on April 5, 2026, in Castro Valley, California.
(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)
Regardless, start by trying to home in on your actual concern: Is it the unpredictability of the weather?
The gear that’s intimidating?
Or maybe you don’t know where to go or who to go with?
If any of those concerns ring true to you, keep reading, as we’ll break down eight common first-timer (or haven’t-been-since-I-was-a-kid) concerns and address them directly.
Remember: No worry is too small or insignificant.
So, yes, you might mess up, make decisions you regret and have more questions than answers after your first trip out.
Or, as Bothwell puts it, “experience is a cruel teacher who gives the exam before the lesson.”
But once you break the ice and get out there, you’ll quickly learn what you’d change for next time.
And you also might have more drive than ever to get back out and push your comfort level a bit more to get a bit farther into nature.
1.
I don’t want to be dirty and am worried about hygiene
The first thing Bothwell does on his guided trips is address the three Ps: peeing, pooping and periods.
Yes, talking about any of these three realities of spending a night outdoors may be uncomfortable at first, but he said “There’s comfort in knowing you’re not the first person to go do this and you're not the first to have this concern.”
That includes teaching students these Leave No Trace principles:
1.
Peeing at least 200 feet from trails, campsites and water sources
2.
Burying your poop in a cathole 6-8 inches deep and 4-6 inches in diameter and packing out your toilet paper
3.
Packing out tampons or pads in a sealed plastic bag or emptying menstrual cups into catholes.
A public campground near Camp Richardson is shown on Aug. 4, 2013, in South Lake Tahoe, California.
(George Rose/Getty Images)
Kirk McLaughlin, UCSF’s outdoor program manager, said he teaches his students that you can still have good hygiene in the outdoors.
On their camping trips, McLaughlin said he provides handwashing stations and, while backpacking, shows people how to take advantage of fresh water in any form.
He said he even has fun teaching people how to use a “wag bag” to pack out their waste.
“We can make the bathroom parts comfortable, too,” he said.
If the idea of being or looking dirty is a concern, Bothwell said he sometimes challenges his participants not to bring a change of clothes — and instead, focus on the bits of hygiene that are safety- rather than comfort-oriented.
“The clothes are going to get dirty, but when I’m cooking up pad thai for dinner tonight, you’re gonna see me wash my hands like four or five times through that process,” he said.
2.
Hiking with all my stuff sounds difficult
McLaughlin said the No. 1 thing first-timers on his trips are surprised by is “how they feel after one of our backpacking trips.”
Outdoor gear has come a long way in recent years, with new lightweight options for sleeping bags, tents and other gear that might have weighed twice as much when his students were kids.
He said people often underestimate how reasonable and comfortable their backpacks can be.
“With the nice backpacks they find, ‘Wow, this is not nearly as painful as I thought it was gonna be,’” McLaughlin said.
Two hikers look out on a lake on the way up Bishop Pass in the Eastern Sierra on June 14, 2025.
(Sarah Wright/KQED)
Weight is a top concern that Bothwell fields, too.
Lots of first-timers feel alone in their discomfort as compared to experienced hikers, he said.
“The difference may simply be that that person next to you knows that in an hour you're gonna be at camp and everything is gonna be better and you're gonna kick your shoes off and take your backpack off and just relax,” he said.
“In the end, you’re gonna remember the time by the campfire more than the aching feet,” he said.
3.
Sleeping on the ground is uncomfortable
The same goes for sleeping on the ground, McLaughlin said.
For camping trips, he’s switched from mattresses to cots to bring even more comfort to camp.
And for backpackers, participants carry down sleeping bags that are lightweight and warm.
“I tell folks, ‘In my youth, I suffered plenty so that they don’t have to,’” he said.
“I used a boot for a pillow and slept in some really uncomfortable locations.”
High-quality sleeping gear, in particular, is getting more and more affordable and accessible, he said.
(We can attest: Check out our guide to cheap camping in the Bay Area here for ideas.)
4.
I am afraid of wildlife
Some first-timers are excited to see wildlife, and others are more afraid.
Regardless, McLaughlin said he teaches people that it’s really the small mammals like raccoons, squirrels and ravens that tend to get into camp and raid people’s belongings far more often than big mammals like bears.
Bothwell said while fears about animals are legitimate, he likes to remind his participants that California bears aren’t very dangerous.
On the off-chance you do encounter a bear in the wilderness in California, you’ll quickly realize that all it takes to scare them off is to get big and yell.
“They want to eat your food,” he said.
“They have really no interest in attacking you.”
5.
I don’t know where to go and don’t have anyone to go with
If where to go is your main concern, we’ve got a couple of guides for you.
But if even after reading up on various options, you’re still nervous about striking out on your own, going with a guided trip can help.
That includes guide companies like the one Bothwell runs.
Or you can check out your local university clubs, like the one at UCSF that McLaughlin manages, or other community organizations to see if they run trips.
Here in the Bay Area, we have many affinity groups that organize outdoors-oriented trips all year round, most of which try to keep costs affordable for participants.
“Part of my role, like any outdoor coordinator, is securing campsites and lodging reservations a year in advance, the kind of thing that most people who are new to the outdoors wouldn’t even know where to start,” McLaughlin said.
“Or by the time they figure it out, everything's sold out, especially in California.”
Tents in the early morning, on a hill near the Point Reyes National Seashore, California.
(Angelo DeSantis/Getty Images)
His expertise allows him to secure highly in-demand spots like Curry Village in Yosemite or the Steep Ravine Cabins in Marin County.
One of his favorites is a quick overnight trip to Mendocino County for an unforgettable coastal kayaking trip.
Whether you’re planning your own itinerary or joining a group, just don’t bite off more than you can chew, McLaughlin said.
He curates his UCSF trips with his clientele — busy, stressed graduate students — in mind.
“The main thing is creating an itinerary so that they don’t feel like they have to take a vacation from their vacation when they’re done,” he said.
That means taking care to design an itinerary that’s not too intense (and most importantly, is rewarded with a good meal and cozy camp setup — more on that below).
The same goes for backpacking, McLaughlin said.
He takes first-time backpackers to places like Point Reyes, where the mileage and elevation are low, but the views are rewarding.
Those trips, he said, are most likely to leave participants more interested in the hobby than when they set out.
6.
I don’t want to eat gross camping food
If the image you have in your head of camping or backpacking is eating freeze-dried meals and protein bars all day, think again, McLaughlin said.
KQED Outdoors Engagement Reporter Sarah Wright prepares a campsite meal at D.L.
Bliss State Park on May 25, 2026, in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)
Eating fresh, filling and comforting meals while out camping isn’t as hard as it seems: On his guided trips, all it takes is bringing a box of pancake mix and a carton of blueberries, McLaughlin said.
“I’ve never had so many people be so excited for blueberry pancakes,” he said.
7.
I don’t know how to use my equipment
If you’re going on a guided trip, don’t worry: someone will be there to help teach you how to use everything you need.
If you’re going solo, be sure to test your gear ahead of time and only bring equipment that you have practiced using.
The reality of camping and backpacking, Bothwell said, is that you’re not going to get your packing list right the first time — and that’s OK.
“The first time you do it, your system is going to be rough,” he said.
That’ll be true for the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth time, he said.
But eventually, your changes will get smaller and smaller, and you’ll get more and more comfortable and confident.
If you do decide to go with a guided trip, use the opportunity to ask lots of questions, McLaughlin said.
“Ask about the gear, ask about destinations and utilize the amazing amount of knowledge that everybody who works in the business has,” McLaughlin said.
“It’s really the best resource.”
And once you get home, Bothwell said, do a quick debrief, and ask yourself some simple questions: What equipment did you not use?
What equipment did you not like and why?
In what ways were you uncomfortable and how can you address that on your next trip?
8.
What if there is bad weather or an emergency?
Going with a guided group can help allay fears about emergencies, Bothwell said.
His company’s guides are trained in wilderness first aid, and they check in with someone not on the trip twice per day using satellite communications in case the group encounters any issues.
That person can also relay information back to the group in the backcountry about weather conditions or any other issues that might arise.
If you’re organizing a trip yourself, Bothwell suggested creating your own risk-mitigation plan that includes telling someone about where you’re planning on going and making sure you have some way to check in with them.
It’s also not a bad idea to get some first aid training and make sure everyone on the trip is aligned on safety precautions.
“It cuts down on a lot of friction once you’re out in the woods,” he said.
Bothwell said some participants on his trips even use them as an opportunity to test out a self-sustaining kit of gear and their ability level before embarking on a solo trip.
“So if you figure out on day two of a four-day trip that you miscalculated or you don’t know how to repair your stove, you have support there,” he said.
McLaughlin, too, suggested planning your first few trips not too far from help or home.
One of his favorites is camping on Mt.
Diablo.
“It’s right in our backyard, and some of the campsites have the most amazing views on the planet,” he said.
“Our activity is to get up and watch sunrise from the summit, and then ‘poof, 45 minutes later, you’re home.’”
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