Promoting family camping and outdoor recreation with tips and tutorials that will make your next family adventure a success!

Vintage metal Coleman ice chest

Vintage Coleman cooler (photo by Caffinara on Flickr)

The year I was born, 1965, Coleman® introduced the popular steel-sided ice chest that I imagine many of us grew with, camping with our families. I imagine that it wasn’t all that great, compared to some of today’s high-tech plastic coolers, but it was as much a part of my early camping experience as the smell of kerosene from the camp stove and I kind of miss its retro-simplicity.

Unlike 1965, we have a lot of choices these days, when it comes to keeping our camping food cold. There are coolers of all different shapes and sizes, hard-sided, soft-sided and even refrigerated units. We have the boating industry to thank for a lot of the technology we see in today’s multi-day ice chests and, indeed, some of the best (and most expensive) coolers on the market are aimed primarily at boaters.

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Busy family camping weekend - campground full

Busiest Family Camping Weekends for 2010

February 2, 2010

2009 was a banner year for many popular family camping destinations. Parks in Maine, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia all set attendance records last year, with big national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite also putting in big numbers.
There is a renewed interest, across the country, in family camping trips that offer more [...]

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Camping with kids - setting up tent

Three Secrets to Camping With Kids

January 31, 2010

Online travel site Tripbase is putting together a project on “Best Kept Travel Secrets” and has asked me to contribute something from a family camping perspective. This sounds like it’s going to be a really great resource, as I’m just one of over a hundred sources contributing to the effort. I’ll be sure to give [...]

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Camping menu made with sausage

Full Day’s Camping Menu with Sausage

January 27, 2010

I love sausage, but I also love getting the most mileage out of the food I pack for camping as I can, so planning a day’s camping menu around a common theme – in this case, sausage, makes a lot of sense. We camp a lot, so even though we like to keep our meals [...]

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Golden Age Passport

Forest Service Proposes Cuts to Camping Discounts

January 24, 2010

When is something that is good for a lifetime not good for a lifetime? Evidently when it’s issued by the United States Forest Service. That’s what some holders of the agency’s Golden Age and Golden Access passports are saying, in response to a proposal that would lower the card’s discount on camping fees.

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Habitat family camping tent

2010 Mountain Hardwear Family Camping Tents

January 22, 2010

Continuing our look at some of the highest quality family camping tents on the market, this week we turn to Mountain Hardwear, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company is known for their innovative technology and products, including tents.
While Mountain Hardwear focuses primarily on lightweight backpacking and climbing tents, their Habitat and Casa [...]

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Kids Camping Junior Ranger

10 Kids Camping Activities

January 20, 2010

If you are planning a family camping trip this summer, you are probably wondering how to keep the kids entertained. The kids are going to have a great time, particularly if camping is a new experience for them. They’re going to have a great time helping you setup the tent, gather firewood, cook meals – [...]

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Contest giveaways at CampingBlogger

Contest Winners

January 19, 2010

I wrapped-up the $200 gift card contest on Friday – congratulations to Jill from Oregon, who selected an REI gift card and a big thanks to Kia Sorento for sponsoring such a popular contest. At the same time, Steven from Utah checked-in to claim the Panasonic Lumix digital camera, that he won just prior to [...]

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Crazy Jug Point overlooking the Grand Canyon

National Park too crowded? Try a National Forest Instead

January 18, 2010

This is a guest post by Suzi Dow. If you would like to guest post on CampingBlogger, please see the About page for my contact information.
Every January, I start planning for the upcoming camping season. In the beginning, camping was a break from my life of a 9-to-5 job, bills, and the same-old, same-old. Then [...]

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Snow sledding in the Sierras

Weekend Outdoor Reads for January 15th

January 15, 2010

Outdoor Reads highlights five interesting blog posts, news articles, photos, or just about anything else that caught my eye on the Internet, this week. This week, I can across a post on snow sledding, a great map of our national trail system, camping at Disney World®, some great wildlife photos and an expedition to Argentina [...]

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Family camping adventure - whitewater rafting

Family Camping Adventures

January 13, 2010

Depending on the age of your kids, there are a lot of outdoor adventure activities available to you that can really spice up a summer family camping vacation and make it one that everyone will remember. Many of these activities, like rock climbing or rafting, are more dependent on a child’s ability and confidence, than [...]

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