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Seeking an easy but exciting adventure? One that calms your mind, doesn’t require much effort, and allows you to disconnect from civilization? Try spending a night in the forest! Experienced nature hikers Ieva Smilga and Agnese Zeltiņa share their experience.

Spending the night in nature is an adventure in itself. There are people who have busy schedules and don't get to be in nature, so they like to mix up their everyday life with a mini-adventure. At the end of the working day, they drive to the closest remote forest and spend the night there. If you've slept in the forest, then you know what feelings we’re talking about. If you haven't - it's time to try! However, we don't want to fool you - sleeping outdoors for the first time, you will hardly get a good night's sleep. In fact, we can't promise the sweetest sleep on the fifth and tenth night in the forest either, but we can definitely promise fresh air and the sounds of nature. And we can confirm that breakfast in nature tastes ten times better than on a Tuesday morning at home.

We won’t teach you how and what to do when spending the night outdoors, but we will share our experiences, adventures, and things we have done wrong. Hopefully, it will inspire you for your next adventure in nature!

From the tent to a hammock, from a hammock to a million-star hotel

There are multiple ways to spend a night in the forest. A tent, of course, is a classic of the genre – you just have to find a smooth surface without pine cones and tree roots, set up a tent, lay out a mattress and a sleeping bag, and the accommodation for the night is ready! Hammocks that are hung between two trees are becoming increasingly popular as well. You need to cover it with a mosquito net, put a sleeping bag inside, and the bed is ready.

But there are other options, for example, on tropical summer nights, when the air temperature does not drop below +15 °C and the weather is clear, you can simply sleep in a sleeping bag. This format is especially charming in coastal forests or by the seashore - nothing obscures the view there, and the whole starry night sky opens up above your head.

If none of these options appeal to you, on the website mammadaba.lv, you can find numerous resting and sleeping places equipped with a canopy, where you can roll out sleeping bags and enjoy the night. However, these places can be very popular in summer; thus, you should expect some crowds or travel early in the evening.

What can go wrong?

Mostly all adventures are associated with items forgotten at home - like socks and headlamps - but in reality, these are just tiny details. However, there have also been times when everything goes wrong so badly that you have to drive back home. If, of course, your car is on the spot with you. If not, then you may have to walk as much as 25 kilometers back to it. That once happened to Ieva and her friends, who hadn’t done their homework and hadn't checked where they were going.

“My friends and I once hiked around Lake Lubāns. It was planned as a two-day hike with overnight stays in hammocks. We were very surprised when we discovered that there was no place to hang the hammocks at Lake Lubāns. As a result, the expected two-day hike turned into a one-day 50 km hike. We finished the hike late at night, got in the car, and drove to a nearby hotel to sleep,” Ieva recalls.

Agnese and Ieva recommend:

No need to buy equipment, you can rent it

If you don’t really know yet what you prefer – a hammock, a tent, or maybe something in between (a tent hung in the trees, for example) – there is no need to rush to buy everything. Instead, rent it and try it out to see what’s closer to your heart. Also, if you only go out into nature a few times a year, it is not worth buying expensive equipment. Borrowing or renting the equipment will be more budget-friendly.

Check the weather, environment, and equipment

It is recommended to check the terrain and forest thickness, not only if you stay in a hammock. A tent also has its requirements - if the forest is bushy or located on a slope, it will be quite difficult to set up a tent. Check if there are any ant nests nearby so that you do not wake up at night from an attack by an army of ants. It is convenient to assess the environmental conditions of the desired resting place using the LVM GEO Mobile app.

Take earplugs with you

They will protect you from both snoring neighbors and very loud birds, which tend to wake up before four in the morning during summer and turn on their trills. Earplugs will also be useful for more cautious sleepers so that they are not startled at every forest sound at night.