Summer Camping

Summer feels incomplete if I don’t go camping at least once,

My family didn’t camp much when I was growing up. It was mostly something we did out of necessity to save money as we traveled across the country to visit family. We always stayed somewhere with grass and washing machines, and almost never had a campfire. And we kids loved it.

Now Scott and I camp for fun and in a variety of ways and locations. Sometimes we take our trailer. Sometimes we tent camp when we explore Forest Service Roads in our truck. Sometimes we make reservations at a state park. Other times we find a dispersed camping site. This year we are going to try backpacking (we’ll keep you updated about how that goes). Any way we do it, it’s always something we look forward to and something we enjoy.

Sometime in the late winter / early spring we get our reservation made at a state park campground to camp with family for a few days. These fill up quickly, so a reservation is really required. Especially if you need more than one site. This is where you can make a reservation online.

https://parks.wa.gov/passes-permits/reservations/making-reservations

State parks have the advantage of picnic tables, fire pits, running water, bathrooms, and garbage collection. Most have hook ups for trailer camping too. Some even have play areas for kids. We always have a tarp or two with us. You never know when it will rain, and there’s usually plenty of trees to tie them to if needed.

Dispersed camps are areas on public land (such as national forests) that have been cleared for camping. They don’t require reservations and are strictly first come first served. This is what we do when we are exploring forest service roads. More information about dispersed camping can be found here: https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/camping

They usually have a rock ring fire pit but have no water or anything. You need to bring everything with you and take every scrap back out with you. Sometimes though, we’ve found dispersed sites with stunning views that we have all to ourselves.

A campfire is one of the things Scott and I both really want when we go camping. So, we always take a propane fire pit with us. So far, we’ve been allowed to use it even late in the summer when a burn ban is in effect. There aren’t any embers that get carried on the wind, so it’s safe to use when everything is really dry. And there’s no smoke!

We’re new to backpacking, but the places we’ve been looking at going require a permit (and often a bear canister). Some of these locations are so popular the permits are given out by a lottery. Others don’t seem to need much advanced planning. Of course, backpacking has its’ own set of required equipment, so some advanced planning is required anyway you do it.

Do you like to camp? Where do you like to go?