Cowboy camping, which is simply sleeping outdoors without a tent, is something that many people dream of, but won’t have the courage to try. A tent is a flimsy protection in itself, after all. The exhilaration of sleeping under the wide starry sky with all of nature surrounding you is one of the great reasons to try out cowboy camping on your next trip into the outdoors.
An advantage behind this style of camping is the convenience of going without a tent. If you’re on a multi-day hike, the lack of tent is a noticeable bonus. This means more room in your pack is available for other things, like perhaps a book, pair of binoculars, or extra food.
Or, leave out the extras completely and just enjoy the lighter weight on your back. In addition, there’s no hassle of setting a tent up or down. You can set up camp in less time and break it down quickly, getting you back on the trail faster and easier.
The experience alone is an advantage in addition to the convenience of going tent-less. Watching the stars slowly shift positions over the dark silhouettes of the trees as you drift to sleep is a beautiful thing to experience. The feeling of exposure causes your senses to be heightened, especially if it’s your first time, so you hear every little crackle and rustle in the area around you.
When you have no tent walls boxing you in, you really feel a connection to the campsite and the area around it and beyond it. Waking up right before dawn with the pale morning light slowly brightening your campsite is another beautiful site to experience.
Though some may think it’s more dangerous to sleep outdoors without a tent, the odds that you’ll encounter a dangerous animal are unlikely to be substantial. Besides, if an animal is set on attacking for whatever reason, it’s not likely that a tent will offer much more protection. Biting insects are one concern while cowboy camping, so you can either spray yourself down with repellent first, bring along a simple bug netting that you can erect over your sleeping bag, or choose to do this type of camping in the cooler months when bugs are more scarce. Though snakes can be attracted to the body heat inside your sleeping bag, keeping the head or face hole shut well (if your sleeping bag has this option – some rectangular bags do not have drawstrings at the top) will keep out any unwanted intruders.
If rain is forecast during the days of your trip, it’s best to bring a tent along just in case you need to set it up in the chance of a downpour. Another option is to bring a simple tarp with you to set up as a rain fly over your sleeping bag to ward off light showers. Anything heavier would most likely warrant a full-scale tent.
I had the interesting experience of camping without a tent in February 2011 in F.D. Roosevelt State Park in western Georgia, which lies at the base of the Appalachian foothills in their lowest point in the state before continuing into Alabama. The park is beautiful, with the 23 mile Pine Mountain Trail a good, easy to moderately challenging hike. The actual reason I went without my tent that trip was because I couldn’t find it at the last minute!
Not wanting to cancel the backpacking trip with my father, I decided to go without it. After all, rain was not forecast, it was too early in the year for biting insects, and the weather was mild enough that it was feasible. It turned out to be a great trip, and an enjoyable way to camp, though it took me a while to get to sleep one night because there was an animal of undetermined species rustling around our campsite from dusk til dawn (the next day we discovered it had found some discarded MRE containers).
Though not everyone is likely to try out cowboy camping, it can be a wonderful experience for those who do. Nothing is quite like having the whole of nature stretched out around you and above you with nothing more than a sleeping bag in between. There are advantages, and of course disadvantages to this style of camping, but it is certainly something worth trying at least once.