Family Camping - Seven Steps to Camping Success
|
|
|
1. Make a careful list of all the camping equipment you will need for your trip.
Feel free to use our camping list as a starter. A great approach for organizing
your gear is to purchase several large plastic containers and label them as
kitchen gear, sleeping gear etc.. You can quickly put these containers into
your vehicle or trailer to see how much room you will have. Having the
containers will also make loading and unloading easier and keep things dry.
Start packing the weekend before your camping trip and remember to leave
room on your list and in your containers for last minute inspirations.
2. Do some investigation about the area you will be visiting. Take into
consideration the time of year for camping. The weather is obviously important
but what about the level of tourist traffic for that time of year. If you are
planning to leave the campground and visit the local tourist attractions
discuss and pick the things you want to do beforehand. You can save a lot of
time already knowing what you want to do. As far as weather is concerned it
never hurts to check almanacs to have an idea of historical weather patterns
for the time of year you will be camping.
3. If your budget is limited invest in camping gear that will help you sleep
well. A good family tent, sleeping bags and air mattresses are well worth the
investment for your camping trip. Take plenty of ibuprofen for sore muscles and
extra socks for warmth and keeping dry. Bottom line, you want to sleep well and
keep everyone's energy levels up.
4. Make good preparations for your children's camping experience. You will find
several suggestions in another article here. Keeping the kids happy during your
camping trip should be a top priority for a family vacation.
5. Plan to eat well. Begin with checking out our suggested camping recipes. Plan
meals that are easy to prepare and clean up and load up on carbohydrates. The
addtional activities involved with camping will require more calories. Snacks
are important as well especially for hiking, swimming and sitting around the
campfire. People's camping memories are often associated with the meals they
had on the trip: Bad memories like getting ashes in those tin foil dinners you
bury in the fire coals and great memories of how Mom actually backed a cake
with a dutch oven. You will also be amazed at how much better food tastes on a
camping trip than at home.
6. If your trip is going to involve strenous activities get in shape before you
go. The last thing you want is to be totally exhausted after a day's hike or a
canoe trip. Getting in shape can go a long ways towards preventing injuries as
well. So jog or walk and do a few pushups and situps in the months leading up
to the camping season. If you are not in shape you can still have a great
camping vacation just be realistic about the activities you plan to tackle.
7. Make sure you experience the nature that surrounds you when you go camping.
Don't get so busy that you forget to watch a bird build a nest, listen to a
waterfall, smell the honeysuckles and soak up some sun. We need to slow down
sometimes folks.
|