Pure Bushcraft Outdoor Skills Challenge 89: Set Up Camp by Headtorch in Under 20 Minutes

Setting up camp after dark can be more difficult than it sounds. Familiar equipment becomes harder to find, tent fabric can be confusing to handle and small jobs take much longer when you can only see the area illuminated by your headtorch. Good preparation makes a real difference, though, and a well-organised camper should be able to establish a basic camp without rushing or cutting corners.

For this challenge, you’ll practise pitching your shelter using headtorch light and aim to complete the job in under 20 minutes. The objective is to improve your organisation and efficiency, not to sacrifice safety for a fast time.

Your Challenge

Set up a suitable tent or shelter using only your headtorch for illumination and complete the task in under 20 minutes.

You’ll need to start with your shelter and its equipment packed away, then pitch it in a suitable location, secure it properly and make the immediate sleeping area ready for use.

You can practise in your garden, at an authorised campsite or on other land where you have permission to pitch. Choose a familiar, level location free from obvious hazards. Do not attempt this challenge in an unfamiliar area, near a cliff edge, beside water or in exposed conditions simply to make it more difficult.

Your headtorch must provide the working light throughout the timed attempt. You can prepare your equipment before starting, but once the timer begins, don’t use a phone torch, lantern or another light source to help you.

The target is 19 minutes and 59 seconds or less. If you don’t finish in time, review your method and try again.

What You’ll Need

• A tent or shelter that you already know how to pitch
• The correct poles, pegs, guylines and other supplied components
• A working headtorch with sufficient battery charge
• Spare batteries or a backup headtorch for emergencies
• A watch or timer
• A suitable groundsheet, sleeping mat and sleeping bag
• Weather-appropriate clothing and footwear

Use equipment that you can identify and assemble confidently. This is not the ideal time to learn an unfamiliar tent design for the first time.

Check the weather forecast and avoid practising in thunderstorms, strong winds or conditions that could make pitching unsafe. If you’re using a real campsite, follow its rules and keep your activity considerate of other campers.

Take the Challenge

1. Choose Your Pitching Area

Before starting the timer, inspect your chosen location in daylight if possible. Look for a reasonably level area with adequate drainage and enough space for the complete shelter, including guylines.

Avoid hollows that may collect water, damaged trees with hanging branches, areas with exposed roots that create trip hazards and places where your tent could obstruct a path. Check the ground for sharp objects, animal holes and other hazards.

Make sure you have permission to pitch there. If you’re practising in a garden, clear away garden equipment and anything else that could become a hazard once the light is restricted.

Your starting point should be safe and ready before the timed attempt begins.

2. Organise Your Equipment

Efficient campcraft begins before the tent comes out of its bag. During daylight, learn where each component is stored and how the tent fits together.

Keep poles together, store pegs where they can be found quickly and make sure the tent fabric isn’t tangled around other equipment. If your shelter has separate inner and outer sections, understand how they connect before you begin.

You can organise your equipment before the challenge starts, but don’t partially pitch the tent or position its components ready for assembly. The aim is to test your ability to set up camp from its packed state.

Put your headtorch on before starting. Adjust the strap, test the controls and select a beam setting that provides a useful balance between visibility and battery life.

A very narrow beam may illuminate one small area while leaving everything else in darkness. A wider beam can make it easier to see where you’re placing poles and moving around the pitch.

3. Start the Timer

Place the packed shelter and its components in your chosen starting area. Start the timer and begin setting up.

Avoid rushing straight into the first task. Take a moment to establish where the tent entrance will face and how the shelter will sit on the ground. A few seconds of planning can save time later if it prevents you from having to rotate or reposition the whole tent.

Keep your headtorch pointed towards the task rather than constantly looking around. Learn to move your head deliberately so that the beam follows your hands without blinding you with reflections from pale fabric.

If a component is missing or something appears damaged, stop and address the problem safely. Completing the challenge quickly is not worth using faulty equipment.

4. Pitch the Shelter

Follow the normal pitching sequence for your particular tent or shelter. If the manufacturer specifies an order for inserting poles, attaching clips or securing the outer flysheet, follow those instructions.

Work methodically. Lay out the tent fabric so you can distinguish the corners, identify the entrance and avoid twisting the material. Assemble poles carefully and check that each section is fully connected before applying tension.

When positioning pegs, keep your fingers clear of the striking area if a mallet is appropriate, and never force a peg into ground that is too hard or stony. Adjust the position where necessary rather than risking a broken peg or an injury.

Once the structure is standing, secure the corners and guylines as required. Check that the fabric is properly tensioned and that the shelter is stable. Don’t leave important pegs or guylines unsecured merely to beat the timer.

5. Prepare the Sleeping Area

After pitching, organise the inside of your shelter.

Lay out your groundsheet if required, inflate or position your sleeping mat and place your sleeping bag where it will remain dry. Keep muddy footwear and wet outer clothing away from your sleeping equipment where practical.

Store essential items, such as a drink, a map and your spare light, somewhere you can find them without emptying your entire pack. Avoid blocking the entrance or creating a tangle of cords and equipment around the sleeping area.

You don’t need to unpack everything you own. The aim is to establish a functional camp rather than reproduce a fully arranged long-stay campsite.

6. Stop the Timer and Inspect Your Work

Stop the timer when the shelter is correctly pitched, properly secured and the sleeping area is ready.

Record your time, but don’t judge success on speed alone. Inspect the tent carefully while your headtorch is still on.

Check that all required pegs are in place, guylines are tensioned appropriately, doors and vents work as intended, and the fabric is not caught or twisted. Make sure the entrance is accessible and that no guyline creates an avoidable trip hazard.

If anything needs correcting, correct it. Your recorded time is less important than learning to set up a safe and usable camp in low light.

Check Your Results

Use these questions to assess your attempt.

Did you finish under 20 minutes? Record your final time. If you missed the target, identify where the delay occurred instead of simply trying to move faster.

Could you find everything? Think about whether you knew where the poles, pegs and smaller components were stored. Searching through a pack repeatedly is a sign that your organisation could improve.

Was the shelter pitched correctly? Check the corners, poles, guyline tension and any components required by the tent design. A shelter that is standing but poorly secured is not a successful result.

Was your sleeping area ready? You should be able to settle in without needing to rearrange the entire camp.

Did you remain safe? Consider whether you moved carefully, maintained useful visibility and avoided forcing equipment into place.

If you finished in 20 minutes or longer, practise the sequence again. You may find that simply packing the tent more consistently and storing the pegs in an accessible place makes a noticeable difference.

Complete the Challenge

You’ve completed this challenge when you have set up your shelter by headtorch in under 20 minutes, secured it properly, prepared the sleeping area and checked that everything is ready for use.

Your evidence should show the completed camp, and you should record your finishing time. A photograph of the finished shelter is sufficient; you do not need to film yourself working in darkness.

If you don’t meet the target on your first attempt, keep practising. The purpose is to develop a repeatable routine that works when daylight has gone, not to encourage careless speed.

How to Submit Your Challenge

Share your evidence on your Pure Bushcraft member profile so your attempt can be verified.

Submit your evidence

1. Log in to your Pure Bushcraft account.
2. Open your member profile and select Social Activity.
3. Upload a photograph of your pitched shelter.
4. Include your finishing time and add #Pure BushcraftChallenge89 to your post.
5. Share the post for verification.

Make sure the photograph clearly shows your completed shelter. You can include a separate photograph of your timer or a written record of your time if you wish.

Do not put yourself at risk to obtain evidence. A photograph of the finished camp is all you need.

Challenge 89 Checklist

Want to Push Yourself?

Once you can complete the challenge reliably, try improving your performance without compromising the quality of your camp.

Repeat the challenge in different conditions. Practise in dry weather first, then consider a mild, damp evening when the ground and equipment are still safe to work with. Avoid storms, strong winds and conditions that introduce unnecessary risk.

Improve your packing system. Repack the shelter so that the components you need first are easy to access. Keep pegs together and avoid storing small items loose at the bottom of your rucksack.

Aim for a consistent time. Completing the challenge quickly once may be luck. Try repeating it on another occasion and see whether you can achieve a similar result without forgetting essential steps.

Practise with a different familiar shelter. If you own another tent or tarp shelter, learn its setup sequence in daylight before trying it by headtorch. Different designs require different techniques, so don’t assume the same method will work for every shelter.

Work on headtorch discipline. Learn to illuminate the ground where you’re working, avoid shining the beam into other people’s eyes and preserve enough battery for the rest of the evening.

The real achievement is building a routine that makes setting up after dark feel manageable, even when you’re tired after a long day outdoors.

What’s Next?

Continue developing your outdoor skills with Pure Bushcraft Outdoor Skills Challenge 88: Produce a Set of Wooden Tent Pegs From Suitable Deadwood. That challenge develops your understanding of natural materials and how to shape them into a practical piece of traditional camping equipment.

You can complete Pure Bushcraft Outdoor Skills Challenges in any order, so choose the next activity that interests you and keep building your skills through practice.

Once you’ve shared your evidence and it has been verified, the Pure Bushcraft Outdoor Skills Challenge 89 is complete and the completed challenges figure will be updated on your profile.