This winter we used our canvas snowtrekker hot tent to do some winter hot tent camping. In winter the days are shorter, so you will most likely be cooking and eating your dinner in the dark. Unless of course you make use of lights to bring you out of the darkness.
How do you hang lights in a camping tent? You can hang string lights that are solar powered. Make sure the string lights you purchase can be manually turned off and on. You can wrap the string lights around your tent frame, use included Velcro bands or you can use a few zip ties to secure the string lights to your tent frame. While one string light is good for ambient lighting, using 2 string lights in a larger tent can provide really good background lighting. You can also bring a solar powered lantern and hang it from the frame either using rope or a zip tie. Head lamps can be used to provide extra light when reading or doing specific tasks such as cooking.
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Head Lamps
Head lights are the go to light of campers. The head strap allows you to do various camping chores such as cooking, hands free. Many head lights are inexpensive and will last a very long time on a few batteries. Some have various settings such as beam light, spread out lighting, and some have brightness level settings.
String Lights
String lights are sold primarily to the home owner or the rv user for outdoor use. Many rv string lights can be used to add background lighting and ambiance inside your tent. Rv sting lights are great since many of them have an on off setting. These lights can be manually shut off at night unlike many styles which stay on and have no on off button. You can mount the small solar powered panels in the ground outside your tent. Or you can mount them on a stick that is driven into the ground with zip ties. If you are camping in a tent that is floor less, the wire can be run under the tent wall to the outside or in the case of a tent with a floor you can probably run the wire out the doorway and then zip it up.
Lanterns
Battery powered lanterns are a great way to light up your tent. You can also purchase lanterns that are solar powered. These lights can be hung from your tent using zip ties or simply tying them to your tent frame or integrated loops using rope. Lanterns come in many shapes and sizes. Some are collapsible and very lightweight which can be used for backpacking. Other lanterns are not collapsible but are quite small and light. A lantern can be also placed on the floor of your tent, or on a platform such as a picnic table and used both inside and outside your tent. We have personally used lanterns while doing group camping particularly while eating around a picnic table. We could then easily bring the lantern inside the tent when going to sleep.
Other Lighting Ideas
Some additional tent lighting ideas might be using candles (enclosed in a candle holder), using a glow light or stick, or using your iPad screen or other device. A source that gives of very little light can go a long way when it comes to providing some background lighting inside your tent.
Exterior Campsite Lighting
For the exterior of your campsite you can use the above mentioned items as well as you can use propane or butane powered lights. These give off much more light than a typical battery operated light. They are however somewhat noisy and do generally give off a bright but not a “comfortable” light. They definitely compete with the light that is given off by a fire. You can use natural lanterns, which use a real flame inside the lantern to give off light and are larger than the small candle lanterns that are sold for use inside your tent.
We have used very small led motion lights while winter camping. These lights can be set up on a wood stick that is has been staked into the ground. Whenever we needed to leave our tent at night the motion light would light up the area nicely. This is in an area where no one else is camping.
The motion light can also act as a deterrent to any animals initially, since wild animals tent to shy away from bright lights. So setting up a few small motion lights around your tent may discourage some animals from coming around.
Why Solar Powered Lighting?
Solar powered lighting is useful if you do not want to go through a lot of batteries during your trip. If you are just camping for a weekend then a set of batteries in your lighting system will most likely last the entire trip. However, for longer trips solar powered lights can be great since they can be refreshed daily by the sun. You don’t need to worry as much about conserving battery power. The disadvantage of solar powered lighting is some need direct sun to get a proper charge.
Concluding Thoughts
Having a flashlight or headlamp while camping is a necessity. However, having some background lighting inside your tent can provide a feeling of comfort. Lighting up your tent is particularly nice if you are camping in colder temperatures such as winter camping. It just creates a buffer in your mind from the outside cold. Most of the lighting systems mentioned take up little space and weight and the return is often times worth it.