Today’s advanced equipment and lightweight materials make it easier for campers to get along in the outdoors, but knot tying skills remain as invaluable as ever. Your hi-tech self erecting tent may be state of the art, but it will be useless if it’s blown away by the first strong gust of wind.
Think of your camping routines and all the places where a knowledge of knots will give you more confidence, and make for a more pleasant and much safer camping experience for your whole family.
Packing your gear efficiently, tying a canoe or kayak securely to the roof rack, lashing down the tarp on your tent trailer, tightening the guy ropes on your tent, stringing a clothesline or ridgeline for your fly or dining shelter, hoisting your food off the ground away from critters, scooping a bucket of water from the lake and rigging a makeshift shower, and the list goes on.
All these activities and more will be much easier if you know a few basic stopper knots, bends, loops and hitches, but you can handle most situations with just two simple knots. On this page you will learn how to tie camping knots, starting with how to tie the Bowline and the Taut Line Hitch.
How To Tie Camping Knots
Scouts and experienced campers, Jewel and Michael Nolan teach us the two most useful knots for camping or just about anywhere – the bowline and the taut line hitch. Here they apply it to putting up a clothesline, and show us clearly how to work the knots and how to untie them easily. (You and the Nolans might want to whip the ends of your rope to preserve them and make them look better on film!)
Step 1: Choose The Right Practice Rope
To learn how to tie these knots, you will need a length of rope at least three to six feet long. Knots can be tied in any size string or rope, but we suggest a soft rope about 1/2" in diameter for practice. The size makes it easier to work, and a soft rope is easier on hands and the furniture you practise on.
Note: ‘Standing End’ refers to the long end of the rope, e.g. the clothesline. You don’t always have access to the other end of the standing end. ‘Working End’ refers to the end of the rope that passes through a ring or around an object and with which you form the knot.
Step 2: Learn How To Tie A Bowline
- Wrap the working end of your rope around a tree or chair leg.
- Make a loop in the standing end as shown in the video above – the ‘rabbit hole’.
- Pass the working end through the loop, around the standing end, and back through the loop. ‘The rabbit comes up the hole, around the tree, and back down the hole.’
- Pull firmly to tighten.
Step 3: Learn How To Tie A Taut Line Hitch
- Wrap the working end of your rope around a post or tent peg.
- Form a loop as shown in the video by wrapping the end around the standing end (a half hitch).
- Form another half hitch BELOW the first, farther from the post.
- Form another half hitch ABOVE these two, closer to the post.
- Tighten all three half hitches around the standing end, forming a sleeve.
- A pull on the standing end will not loosen the knot, and you can adjust the tension by moving the sleeve in either direction.
