When the province of Ontario allowed backcountry camping starting June 1st, we only had a few days to plan our first trip, already booked for June 4th to the Massasauga Provincial Park. After months of not seeing people, we wanted to invite some friends, so we devised a few ways to eliminate infection while camping during the pandemic just in case any of us had COVID-19 and didn’t realize it.
Our tips for going backcountry camping with people outside your bubble during the pandemic include:
- Do camp chores only with people from your own bubble – often you have to get up close and personal with your fellow campers while cooking, gathering wood, rebuilding fire pits, and doing dishes, so it’s a good idea to only do those things with members of your own household or bubble.
- Use separate toilet paper rolls. ‘Nuff said.
- Take extra steps to sanitize shared dishes using the “Boy Scout method”, which involves adding a few small capfuls of bleach to a third rinse bin. Just in case.
We don’t mention this in the video, but we also keep masks with us just in case we come into contact with people on our route and we chose not to stop in any of the small towns near the park for lunch on the way to and from the access point like we might normally do. We packed extra meals to have for lunch.
We’d love to read your tips in the comments. Is there anything you’re doing differently when camping with people outside your bubble?
