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4 Things to Do During Camping ‘Downtime’
Let’s face it: even on your most active day of camping – fishing, hiking, boating, building fires – there’s still going to be some downtime. After all, even the U.S. Marines enjoy a certain amount of free time every day. If your day has been active enough, you might only want to spend your downtime eating and resting, but if you have a little bit of reserve energy, you might just feel a little bored. Here’s how you can cure that boredom out on the campsite.
- Constellation spotting – Constellation guide books are easy to buy. If you’ve never really done any serious stargazing, you should feel free to take a gander up at the stars and try to identify as many constellations as possible. If you’re exhausted from activities all day, you can even do this on your back. Just be careful that you don’t fall asleep outdoors! Stars are clearer out in the country, where there’s less light interference here on Earth to drown them out.
- Roasting marshmallows – This is perhaps the hallmark camping activity. Roasting marshmallows doesn’t take a lot: a fire, a stick, a marshmallow, and of course some graham crackers and chocolate bars to go with it. You can even make S’mores for everyone else if they’re too tired to do anything, seeing if you can get your marshmallow at just the right temperature.
- Talk – The campfire is one of the greatest places to have a conversation. Not in it, of course, but around it as everyone gathers. There is a certain psychiatrist’s-office effect in looking at the fire and not directly at anyone else: after all, it might be dark anyway. Talking around the campfire is usually done with friends, so the conversations tend to get a little deeper than smalltalk. Of course, there is nothing more engrossing than a good conversation, and you can do it while sitting in a chair under a blanket.
- Play cards – A flat surface and some willing participants are all you need for this easy activity. Oh, and a deck of cards, of course. A quick game of poker can be great for just before bedtime, and nighttime means that it will be harder for others to see your cards.
The spirit of “downtime” usually means that people aren’t exactly willing to volunteer for a lot of exercise-heavy activities. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself while sitting down or even lying down.
Photo Credits: parl -
Camping Overnight vs. A Camping Vacation
If you enjoy camping, is it better to go camping on a weekend, or to take a full week-long vacation out into the wilderness? The answer might seem obvious: people who enjoy camping should take as much time camping as they possible can, right? But when you consider the advantages and disadvantages of both, you might just gain a new perspective. Here are some variables to consider.
Time Off
When you go camping for a vacation, it can make a great vacation, but it’s still a vacation. That means you have to take time off of work, plan to take your family traveling, and manage all of your affairs so you can have the week off. No problem, right? For many people, this is an ideal situation, and if you love camping vacations, there’s no reason to stop now.
But consider this: what if you’d rather spend your vacation time relaxing on a beach in the Caribbean, or enjoying the Pacific breeze during a Hawaii vacation? This means less time for camping, unless you organize your schedule and go overnight camping during a few spring-through-fall weekends. If you embrace overnight camping, you can enjoy yourself in little bits and pieces without having to eat up your vacation days at work.Your Level of Expertise
Unless you plan on renting an RV for your entire camping trip, your level of camping expertise will have a dramatic effect on your ability to camp for a week. If you’ve never gone camping before, you can expect to meet a few surprises throughout the week. They won’t all be pleasant ones. Camping is a skill, and if you decide to match your wits against nature for the first time over one week, you may find that nature often wins.
What’s a great way to build this skill? Camping overnight on the weekends until you feel comfortable building fires, setting up camp, and cooking your food.
If, however, you know that your level of expertise is more advanced, you can have a great time vacationing all week – and in fact may find that’s the only way to camp for you.
What works best for you? A true camping enthusiast may find that including both overnight camping on the weekends and week-long camping vacations is the best way to go, and the only way to continue to get your fix!
Photo Credits: ames sf
