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

Now is a great time to focus on family camping plans and goals for the coming year.
More camping
One of our family goals is to go on a camping trip at least once every month. We did not achieve that in 2008, mostly due to my wife Lisa’s commitments in her Master’s program, so it’s a good time to refocus on family time for 2009 and start planning more monthly getaways.
Our typical camping trip is a Friday and Saturday night at some reasonably local location. Luckily, we have a lot of nice places to choose from, here in the San Francisco Bay Area, from beaches to forests in the coastal mountains. For short weekend trips, like these, it does not make much sense to spend a lot of time driving, so we limit ourselves to roughly a 2-hour radius around our home.
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Helmets can significantly reduce the risk of a head injury from sledding (photo by Adam Baker)
Heavy winter storms have been blanketing mountains in the west this Christmas, leaving several feet of fresh snow. Unfortunately, fresh snow combined with steep mountain terrain has proven deadly for three people already, with two more still unaccounted for, as of Christmas night.
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Energizer will debut a portable AA and AAA solar charger at CES. (GoodCleanTech)
Energizer® Solar Charger
If you are still using alkaline batteries in your outdoor gadgets, Energizer has a new product that should help you make the switch to rechargeables. GoodCleanTech offered a sneak peak of this new battery charger that Energizer will debut at CES in January. It can charge AA and AAA size NiMH rechargeable batteries via AC power, or its integrated solar panel. The charger also has an integrated USB port, for charging products with internal batteries.
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Numerous state parks across the country face closure
From Washington to Florida and New York to Idaho, state budgets are reeling from a combination of reduced property and sales tax revenue. Numerous state parks are already on the chopping block, in an effort to reduce budgets with minimal impact to union jobs and social services.
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