10 Things You Must Do While Camping

10 Things You Must Do While Camping

By Jason Smith

When I was a kid, camping equated to a tent, a sleeping bag and pillow, and RAIN. Lots and lots of rain! No matter what time of the year or where we camped, rain was pretty much a guarantee. It didn’t matter if we were in the middle of a hundred year drought and Mike Lozano had predicted cloudless skies and hundred degree temps, we were going to get wet before our camping adventure was over.

Dad had a huge, something like 11 man, old military canvas tent that weighed about as much as the truck and smelled like an old canning cellar. My brother and I weren’t much help when we were just little tikes, so Dad, (and sometimes both Dad and Mom), had one heck of a time erecting that behemoth.

No air mattresses to speak of back then, or at least, none that we could afford in our camping equipment budget anyway, so we’d try to pound the lumps down as flat as possible before laying out our sleeping bags, but it never seemed to help much. We would always seem to find a bowling ball sized tree root or stone under our spines, and once found, would roll over them another dozen times throughout the night, at minimum.

Did I mention rain? Yep, well, that’s probably why that old tent smelled the way it did, because Dad could never truly get it properly aired out before we folded it up and put it back into cold storage. It’s tough to sleep in a soggy sleeping bag and doesn’t make anyone greet the sunrise with a smile on their face, that’s for sure.

Some of those childhood camping trips seemed more like exercises in survival than they did in recreation and relaxation. Ah, those were the days… Modern tents, air mattresses and more accurate weather forecasts have made a ton of difference for this guy.

No matter how or where you choose to camp today, as long as you’re not spending a majority of your time locked in absolute survival mode, like I remember from my childhood, here are a few things that can make your camping adventure more enjoyable and eventful after you’ve successfully made camp.

#1. Take a deep breath: You deserve it. You work and toil during a majority of your waking hours in some way or another. This is your time away from all of that. Enjoy that fresh air that only Mother Nature can provide.

Stress is a silent killer. It’s easy to get caught up in the rat race of everyday life. It happens to all of us, some more than others. Camping is a break from all of that. Camping is part of what we work so hard for in the first place. It’s part of living. Do you work to live, or do you live to work? I work to live, but sometimes need to be reminded of what exactly it is that I truly enjoy in life, and camping is one of them.

#2. Relax: Loosen your belt. Pull your sweatpants on. Throw your daily stresses to the wind, kick back in a lawn chair and relax. Again, playing off of #1 above, as far as you’re concerned, your regular daily life is a million miles away and should be completely out of your mind while you’re camping.

Some people can’t truly relax at home these days. We’re just too connected. Personally, I work from my home office 80% of the time and I fall into this category. When I’m at home, I’m constantly thinking about things that I need to do or should be doing. It’s extremely easy to hop Online to answer work email or crank out some work effort in the evenings and weekends as well. When I’m home, the only time I’m truly relaxing is when I’m in deep REM sleep, and even then, stress can creep in and screw things up there too.

Camping takes me away from all of this and gives me a true break that I desperately need.

#3. Go birdwatching and look for wildlife: It doesn’t matter where you’re at, wildlife can be located everywhere on this great planet. Birds are some of the most colorful, both visibly and audibly, and countless different varieties can overlap and share the same general areas.

There are a ton of good inexpensive bird identification books on the market. Pick one up before your trip and go looking for some. Once you’ve spotted one, identify it in the book and read up about it. Learning a new little nugget of information about a critter can give you a whole new appreciation for it.

Listen for a different species. Try to pinpoint its location and seek it out. This quickly turns birdwatching into more of an adventurous expedition. Now you’re stalking something in an attempt to lay eyes on it and identify it. Even if you don’t end up identifying it, you get to enjoy the pursuit.

If birds don’t really interest you, take a stealthy walk around and look for deer, snakes, fox, or groundhogs, etc. Depending on where you’re camping, and how much human traffic the area gets, will determine just how stealthy you need to be in order to give you a fighting chance of seeing any wildlife. If you’re camping in a farmers back 40 acre timber, that rarely gets human traffic, you may want to go full ninja. If it’s a state park, chances are that the wildlife is very used to people and walking around in street clothes, talking to a friend won’t spook them much.

#4. Go fishing: If there’s a body of water, go fish it. Ponds, lakes and rivers can actually produce fish that you may be able to prepare and eat. Creeks and small steams may also produce eating sized fish, but they may also just be a good place to catch chubs. For this reason, I always keep a few small ice fishing jigs in with my tackle.

#5. Go hiking: Wildlife and fishing don’t really do anything for you? Then strap on your hiking boots and go for a walk. First of all, the exercise is fantastic, and secondly, the more ground you cover, the more you get to see and experience of an area.

Putting on miles allow you to discover interesting landmarks and land formation, diverse plant life, and maybe even a cool treasure or few. I’ve stumbled upon lots of cool things on the hikes that I’ve taken over the years.

#6. Start a fire and roast hotdogs and marshmallows: This probably could have gone without being discussed, but I can’t think of another time that a hotdog can taste like a gourmet meal. And outside of drinking hot cocoa following a winter sledding trip, when else does anyone really eat a marshmallow? They’re pure puffed sugar for crying out loud, melted to a crisp brown edge or burnt depending on your taste preference. What’s better than that?

#7. Pick up garbage: Humans are a messy species. There are tell-tale signs of us everywhere you go. When you come across a piece of trash, pick it up and put it in your pocket. Or, carry a bag or backpack that you can use specifically for this purpose.

We should all strive to leave places better than how we found them. It’s such a small effort that takes very little effort, but improves the experience for all people, animals and plants alike. Garbage has its place and it’s not in the wilderness.

#8. Take the kids: Don’t let my childhood story from above scare you from taking the kids along with you camping. Camping is a great way to get the youngsters involved with the outdoors. It gives them a very eye opening experience to everything that is available to do outside of the house. It lets them know there is so much more opportunities available to us than just what we do in our daily lives. Make sure you are prepared though and keep them occupied. Introduce them to the things above I discussed along with other games, projects, and events that you might want to do with them while camping.

One thing I think is important when camping with children is to let them be involved from the get go. Let them help out with packing, set up, meal prep, building a fire, etc. This lets them know they are important in the process and will give them a sense of purpose.

#9. Try something new every time out: Look the fact of the matter is that there are absolutely dozens upon dozens of things you can do while camping. I listed just a few of those things in this article. Next time out pick a different activity to try on your next camping trip. The sky is the limit. You can do something as simple as lie in a hammock all afternoon. Or you can get creative and construct a family scavenger hunt. Perhaps give Dutch oven cooking a try. The point is there is no shortage of things to do while camping. If Patrick, the publisher would have allowed for it, I could have filled all the pages of this issue with just stuff to do while out camping.

#10. Revert back to #1: Remember you are camping to get away from it all. This is your time to enjoy Mother Nature so do it. Let that wise ol’ lady give you some medicine for the stress and rigors of daily life!
This has been one of the longest and snowiest winters I’ve ever endured. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get my camp on. Get out there and enjoy the outdoors and God bless.