Camping Activities

By Gray Rollins

Camping is a fun and budget friendly activity for most families. I've seen some people bring along every creature comfort form home they can think of, but they're missing the spirit of things a bit. Camping itself can be all the entertainment you'll need.

The fun starts as soon as you reach your destination. You get to pick a place to set up your tent. You can start exploring your campground a bit. Then you get to start a fire, start making hot dogs and roasting marshmallows, and have a blast hanging out talking and laughing.

And the campground is only the beginning. State and national parks have a vast array of activities in store for you. Let's take hiking for example. I can't say I've ever camped at a park without hiking trails. And while hiking may sound boring if you've never done it, all I can say is you've got to give it a try. It gets in your blood.

Then consider that most popular camping destinations also have at least one lake in the park. Lakes offer a a ton of activities and can easily provide a full days worth of entertainment via swimming or fishing or boating..

You don't have to own a boat to enjoy getting out on the water and enjoying seeing lots of natural spots along the lake shore. A boat can usually be rented for reasonable rates and with a small amount of knowledge or training in how to use an outboard motor, you can be cruising along like an old pro in no time. And boating is a great sport to combine with fishing. The fun thing about fishing is even if you never get a bite, everybody has fun getting out there and trying. And when your young son or daughter catches their first fish on your camping trip, that squeal of delight will be one of those memories that you will be thinking about during your retirement years.

Most state or national parks are well staffed with park rangers who jobs are to protect the park as well as its visitors and to assure that your visit is safe and fun. A visit to the Visitor's Information Center can be a real education as they are almost always well decorated with maps, pictures and visuals of local wild life and videos of the history of the park. You can turn that visit into a recreational outing that will rival going to a Harry Potter movie for fun and excitement and it is educational as well.

Make sure you don't leave the visitor's center without talking to the park rangers. Find out if they are doing any tours or nature walks soon and then find out how you can go along. It'll not only be fun for your kids but you'll probably find yourself having a good time as well.

There really isn't a whole lot that is more fun than just going out in nature and hiking and camping. You'll probably be amazed at how economical your camping activities are - most of them will be free. And the memories from those trips will last a lifetime.

About the Author:

Gray Rollins writes for CampingEarth - the best site to learn camping information and great camping tips on the net. Check out his site to learn geocaching and for camping recipes.