Whitewater rafting is a great family adventure (click for larger image)

Sure, the economy is in a funk, but that does not mean you have to settle on a family camping vacation that is anything other than extraordinary. The West offers some of the finest rafting rivers in the world and many of them are perfectly suited for all ages and abilities.

I picked three of the most popular runs, whose locations in Southern California, Southern Oregon, and Eastern Idaho, are easily reachable from most of the West without spending a large amount of your vacation dollars on travel expenses.

Continue reading →

Banana slug attacks are extremely rare in the Pacific coastal mountains

When we think about camping in the wild backcountry, one of the concerns that usually comes up is about wild animals. In most parts of the country, worrying about some kind of attack from a wild animal, such as a bear or a cougar, is largely unfounded. We are much more likely to experience a late-night raid by a gang of hungry raccoons, then a large predator. Fortunately, some of the same backcountry precautions that we can take to protect our food from the local raccoon gang will also serve to protect us from an unlikely visit by something more dangerous.

Continue reading →

Use online tools to choose a campsite safe from noisy neighbors (photo by BarelyFitz)

In my first post of the Camping Mishaps series I talked about the weather and what you can do to avoid, or at least minimize the impact, that bad weather can have on your camping trip. In this post, I’m going to talk about something that is much harder to predict and yet can have a huge negative impact on your camping experience: noisy neighbors.

One of the great aspects of camping is getting away from the hustle, bustle and, yes, the noise of our Monday through Friday lives. There is almost nothing worse than arriving at the campsite of your dreams, only to discover that you are camped next to an RV that wants to run their generator all night.

Continue reading →

You planned your camping adventure for weeks, maybe even months, only to end up huddled in your tent as a thunderstorm pummels the area. Camping is all about rest, relaxation, and enjoying the great outdoors, so when things don’t go according to plan, it can ruin the whole weekend for everyone. Here are some things you can do that, while they might not guarantee a perfect weekend, will go a long ways to ensure that everyone has a good time.

Continue reading →