How to Choose a Campsite: Drainage, Wind & Low-Impact Setup
The site under your shelter is part of your weather plan. Before unloading, take a few minutes to read the terrain, look overhead, and check how wind and rain may move through the area. A careful choice can reduce discomfort and impact, but no campsite or setup can guarantee safety in changing conditions.
This guide is about the place you camp. For help comparing enclosed tents and tarps, capacity, and shelter features, see our tent and shelter guide. You can compare current options in the Basecamp Supply shelter listings.
Start with local rules and the forecast
First confirm that camping is allowed where you plan to stop. Check for permits, designated-site boundaries, closures, fire restrictions, food-storage rules, and any required distance from water. Conditions vary by land manager and can change with weather, so check current local guidance before leaving. The Leave No Trace principles put planning, regulations, and current conditions at the start of low-impact travel; the National Park Service campsite guide also recommends checking the campground's rules and facilities before arrival.
Look at the forecast for the campsite, not only the nearest town. If storms, flooding, or wind are expected, identify a safer alternative or change the plan. General site-selection advice is not a substitute for a local hazard notice or a decision to leave when conditions become unsafe.
Choose ground that can shed water
Look for firm, gently level ground with a clear path for water to move past. Avoid bowls, depressions, ravines, dry washes, stream channels, and low saddles where runoff can collect or funnel through. A patch that is dry in fair weather can become a drainage route in a storm. REI recommends higher, drier ground and avoiding low areas where water can channel or pool; the NPS tent setup guidance likewise warns that low, sunken ground can become very wet in rain.
Check for signs of recent water flow: silt, scattered leaves or sticks, muddy soil, pooled water, or a worn channel. Do not dig a trench to redirect water. If the site needs excavation or vegetation removal to work, choose another permitted spot. Follow the land manager's required setback from lakes and streams; REI's tent setup guide recommends camping at least 200 feet from them, while local rules determine what applies at your destination.
Work with wind and rain
Use terrain for shelter where it is safe: a low rise or a healthy stand of trees may soften wind, but avoid exposed ledges and high points when wind or lightning is a concern. Look at the forecast and the site together. A windbreak is useful only if it does not put you beneath hazardous limbs or in a drainage path.
Orient the tent with its strongest pole structure toward the wind, following the shelter maker's instructions. The common advice to point the narrow end into the wind is not a rule for every design. In rain, point doors away from the wind where practical so gusts are less likely to drive rain inside. REI's campsite selection and tent setup advice explains these tradeoffs and recommends using natural windbreaks while avoiding damaged trees and limbs.
If the wind or rain exceeds what your shelter and experience can handle, relocate or postpone. Orientation and a good pitch can help manage ordinary conditions; they do not make severe weather safe.
Scan for hazards before you settle in
Look up as well as around. Avoid camping under dead, cracked, hanging, or damaged branches, and give dead or unstable trees room to fall. The NPS campsite guidance specifically calls out dead branches, wind, lightning, and flash flooding as hazards to consider.
Stay away from cliff edges, ravines, washes, and places exposed to lightning or fast-rising water. Keep the tent clear of fire rings and cooking areas, and follow local wildlife rules for separating and storing food. Leave room for stakes and guylines so they do not cross busy paths. If the weather changes or you notice a new hazard, move rather than trying to make the spot work.
Keep the footprint small
In well-used areas, choose an established, legal campsite and use its durable ground. Keep tents, cooking, and gathering within the already impacted area. In more pristine places, follow the land manager's direction on where and how to camp; avoid expanding a bare patch or creating a new site where impacts are just beginning.
The Leave No Trace guidance on durable surfaces encourages campers to protect vegetation and soil. Leave plants, rocks, and natural features where they are; pack out food scraps and other waste, and use existing facilities where provided. REI's campsite organization guide also advises keeping camp activity focused on vegetation-free areas. Your local rules take priority, including any required distance from water or designated camping zones.
Before you pitch: a quick site check
- Permission: Is this a designated or otherwise permitted campsite, and do you have any required permit?
- Conditions: Have you checked the current forecast, alerts, closures, and a backup plan?
- Water: Is the ground above likely runoff, away from washes and low spots, and within local water-distance rules?
- Surface: Can you use firm, durable ground without digging or clearing vegetation?
- Overhead: Are there dead or damaged trees, hanging limbs, or other fall hazards above or nearby?
- Exposure: Is the spot protected from routine wind without putting you on an exposed ridge or in a drainage?
- Orientation: Can the shelter's stronger structure face the wind and its doors face away from wind-driven rain, according to its instructions?
- Camp layout: Are the tent, cooking area, fire ring, food storage, and travel paths arranged according to local wildlife and fire rules?
- Exit: Can everyone find the route out and move if weather or site conditions change?
Pause if any answer is uncertain. Follow the land manager's current rules and on-site instructions, and choose another location when the ground, forecast, or hazards do not suit your plan. These checks reduce avoidable impact and exposure; they are not a guarantee of safety.