family camping » Camping with Kids

Grizzly Bears Playing

Roy Scribner — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:41:15 +0000

We have been in Silicon Valley for nearly six years, and yet we have never been to the San Francisco Zoo. We made the trek into the city, this past weekend, and the kids had a great time seeing all the animals. The star attraction, though, were Kachina and Kiona, two grizzly bear sisters that the zoo adopted from Montana.

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Yosemite Day Trip

Roy Scribner — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 13:54:03 +0000

The holidays are over, the weather has been kind of crummy and cabin fever has reared its ugly head, here in the Scribner household. We had been promising the kids a trip to the snow for some time, so this weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity for a daytrip to Yosemite, which would allow the kids to get their snow on, and us parents to take-in the winter spectacle that is Yosemite.

Arch Rock entrance on Highway 140

Yosemite is not the cheapest destination for a daytrip, at $20 per carload, but your receipt is good for seven days so if you are planning a multi-day drip, you do not have to stay in the park, itself. Chains are required on-and-off, throughout the winter months, but despite a heavy blanket of the white stuff last weekend, the roads were clear all the way into Yosemite Village.

Exploring around the Merced River in Yosemite Village. Can you tell which girl refused snow pants?

That does not mean there wasn’t plenty of snow, however. The place was not exactly empty, but were less than a dozen cars in the visitor’s lot. We bundled the kids up in their new snow gear and headed down to the Merced River to blow-off some of the pent-up energy from the 3 ½ hour drive. Yosemite Village is tourist-central, but that’s because there is just a lot of cool stuff to see, from this location. In the winter, it’s also the best place to grab a hot cup of coffee or cocoa.

Upper Yosemite Falls viewed from the visitor’s lot in Yosemite Village

We bummed-around the Village for a few hours, taking in Half Dome and Yosemite Falls. One of the coolest parts about hanging around the Village in the winter is that we heard two rockslides while we were there. These happen all the time, but in the winter when the water is freezing and thawing they are particularly frequent and the sound is really spooky – like the long rumble of thunder, but at a higher pitch.

Interesting winter sights are everywhere in Yosemite, including this icy snow that looked like a pile of down feathers

We finished-up our visit to the Village with a trip to the store for really expensive trinkets. Call us old-fashioned, but we try to get a refrigerator magnet ($3) every time we go somewhere, and I had to have a new Yosemite t-shirt ($20). It was getting late in the day, and we still had to find someplace for the kids to get their sled on, so we piled back into the CampingBlogger rig and headed out of the Village in search of a hill which, go figure, is quite hard to come by in a valley.

We parked the rig just west of Ribbon Falls and did some scouting along the Merced River. As luck would have it, we found a huge granite boulder that had a perfect 20-foot face made just for sledding. While we were there, we heard another rock slide up around the Cathedral Spires area across the river. We could not see it through the trees, but it provided a great backdrop to the gnarly sledding.

With the sunlight fading, we packed it in and headed back towards home. Everyone was starving, so we made a stop in Mariposa at the Pizza Factory. I don’t know if it was the cold, the long day, or what – but that was the best pizza I’ve had in a long time. We got a medium, two personals, a pizza bread, a salad and drinks for $26 – not bad.

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A Day in the Life of the Happy Camper

Roy Scribner — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:42:40 +0000

This is a guest post from Licia at The Happy Campers, a Tumblr blog about family camping. See my information page if you are interested in guest-posting, here on CampingBlogger.

Let’s face it- there is nothing more daunting than going camping with children under the age of five. On first blush you might think: “Total chaos!” However, if you plan your day accordingly and have brainstormed enough activities, a successful outing will ensue. Camping with children under the age of five is different than camping with the six year old plus category.

The under five kids still need the adult population to be the entertainment committee. Make no mistake, there will be some down time, but the majority of your day will be taken up with the best parts of being outside: hiking, exploring and, most importantly, introducing the little ones to the beauty of the great outdoors.

To help organize the general bedlam that can occur when camping with children here is a general timeline that we follow:

6 am: Wake-up: First light is the alarm that has no snooze button.

6:30am Emerge from the tent and begin setting up breakfast: Get the kids involved, even if it means the little ones are in a child carrier as you cook. This will help you keep an eye on them and they will feel included in the process.

7:30am Eat Breakfast and Clean Up: Clean up can be a lengthy process, washing, drying and putting the dishes away is always more fun as a group effort.

8am Wash up for the day and apply sunscreen and bug repellant: Sunscreen and bug repellant application will ensure that the campers remain happy!

8:30am Choose and begin a morning activity: Whether it is hiking, fishing, animal watching or discovering the local flora and fauna this will engage everyone and is a great learning experience for both children and adults alike.

11am Head back to camp and begin setting up lunch: Again, food prep takes time and is one of the best parts of camping, having everyone participate in the food prep process makes for a smoother meal time experience.

12pm Eat lunch.

12:30pm Clean up lunch and take a break: This is a good time for napping or getting the kids to play under the shade or in a tent. Have the kids relax. Remember they have been up since dawn so they will be exhausted. Even if they don’t nap it is a good idea to have some down time as to avoid meltdowns in the late afternoon.

2:00pm Snack and afternoon activity: This activity may need to be a bit more low key than the morning outing due to energy levels and weather. Having a few options thought out ahead of time will get you over the “hump” of the afternoon.

4:00pm Head back to camp and start preparing dinner.

5:00pm Dinner.

5:30pm Clean up dinner and start campfire: This is a great time to talk about fire safety. Even the smallest kids will understand the basics of “Hot” and “Careful”.

6:30pm Campfire activities: Time to get out the s’mores ingredients and cook up some marshmallows! Also, this is a great time to get the kids on your lap and talk about the day’s activities and what they liked best about their adventures.

9:30pm Bed: Trust me when I say: you will be exhausted.

In my experience, the more you can get the kids moving the better. During the activity hours I highly recommend going on hikes or walking around and exploring the campground. Sometimes that takes a bit of motivation but once they get out they are always happy to keep going. I am always amazed at the ideas my three year old comes up with when we are out and about in the wilderness. Everything is exciting and new to him and often times we take the same hike over and over so that he can re-discover the items we found the day before.

In the end, camping with children is always a good time (even with a mishap here and there). Just remember: the more organized you can make your day the better it will go and the happier both the kids and adults will be!

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3 Things I Learned Camping With My Kids

Roy Scribner — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:51:35 +0000

One of the great joys of camping with my kids is watching them discover new things and grow in their appreciation of the outdoors. It came to me the other day, though, that my kids are not the only ones who have been learning and growing, from our family camping adventures. Here are three things that camping with my kids has taught me.

Patience

Appreciation

Creativity

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A Successful Hike With Kids

Roy Scribner — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:23:32 +0000

I talk a lot about hiking on CampingBlogger, because it is something that we enjoy on our family camping trips and it is a great way to keep the kids busy, for an afternoon. If you are new to camping, though, you might be wondering if hiking is something that your kids – or even you, will actually enjoy.

A gorgeous day at the lake, but the weather can change quickly at 5,700 feet

Over the Fourth of July holiday, one of the places we camped at was Lassen National Park. On our last afternoon in the park, we drove back down to Manzanita Lake at the western entrance, to hike around the lake. As family hikes go, this one is perfect. It is 1.6 miles around the lake, which is a great distance for our two younger ones, who are 5 and 9. It is also nice and flat, since the trail follows the edge of the lake.

Baby geese on Manzanita Lake

During our first two days in Lassen, the only wildlife we had seen were the numerous pikas throughout the area. I had high hopes that we would have better luck around the lake, and I wasn’t disappointed! We had barely hiked 200 feet, before we came across baby Canada Geese perched on a log, just off shore. Is there anything cuter than baby geese? If you are trying to stretch a short hike with kids, being able to spend some time watching wildlife is a great way to do it.

Taking advantage of a fallen tree

Wildlife isn’t the only attraction, around Manzanita Lake. The girls had a lot of fun walking out onto a fallen tree. We try to take advantage of these “fun breaks” whenever we can, and there are always a lot of things to do around water. Breaking up a hike like this can make it an easier experience for the kids, who might enjoy skipping rocks, or poking mud with a stick, more than just hiking.

One of the keys to hiking with kids is patience. Patience to let them walk on a log, watch baby geese, throw rocks – some of the “kid things” that they don’t get to do, back home. This can be frustrating if you are trying to get somewhere, but when you are just entertaining the kids for an afternoon hike, it is much easier to move at their speed.

Weather changes rapidly at 5,700 feet and we were soon hiking in light rain and hail

Half way around the lake, the weather began rolling in over the mountains and we were soon hiking in the rain, and even some hail. Early July in the mountains is always an adventure – we had also had some weather come up on us a week earlier, in the Oregon Cascades. That was a much longer hike, though, and one without the kids – so I was curious to see how they would react. Watching them laugh and jump around in the rain quickly reminded me of how much I liked that, when I was a kid! Maybe our generations aren’t so different, after all. I’m not a kid anymore, though, so out came the GORE-TEX® Paclite® shell that I keep with me, exactly for these situations.

This doe decided to grab an afternoon snack

Other than the kids having a great time getting wet, another benefit of the rain was that it got some of the local wildlife up and moving, in the afternoon. When we are camping in the coastal mountains of California, if the kids want to see deer we have to schedule our hikes fairly early in the morning. Needless to say, the kids don’t get to see a lot of deer! The rain lasted about 20 minutes and we soon spotted a doe, just off the trail.

It was the perfect end to a perfect hike, with the family. The two youngest ones headed off to the store with mom for some firewood and I went with our oldest daughter back down the beginning of the trail to find the jacket that she had left hanging on a log. They grow up so fast – 10 years old and already acting like a teenager!

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