1. Survey your campsite. Before setting up that tent or leveling the RV, have a quick look around for; dangerous trees or tree limbs, animal holes, yellow jacket nests (in the ground or in fallen logs), hornet nests (in trees), old tent stakes and other ground-protruding hazards. Sound neurotic? Just last month, two kids in Illinois and one man in Oregon lost their lives to falling tree limbs.
   
2. Monitor the weather. You might think the 100-plus campers who had to be evacuated from the Grand Canyon floor this weekend get a pass because there is no radio reception inside the canyon. Wrong! Adding a weather radio to your camping gear list is just the smart thing to do and it can give you enough warning to get out of an area before danger strikes. Even inside the Grand Canyon.
3. Stay together. Stay together hiking on the trail, stay together swimming in the water; stay together. We know a couple that lost their 15-year old son to a river that he had swam-in a hundred times. It happens in an instant, and if you are not there you have no chance to do anything about it.  
   
4. Monitor the campfire. Do not leave a fire burning if you leave the campsite, or when you turn-in for the evening. Keep a close eye on children around the fire, and teach them how to properly extinguish the fire; dousing with water and stirring the embers until it is cold to the touch (they’ll love this).
5. Dispose of all trash every night. It is easy to get people to follow this rule in bear country, but there are a lot of other wild animals, in all parts of the country, that can be attracted to your campsite garbage. Did you know that skunks are nocturnal and like all kinds of edible scraps? Now there's something to think about, the next time you zip-up your sleeping bag!
   

This picture is from a friend of mine in BC who is building a vacation home in Belize. He is obviously avoiding the clutter on his front deck, which overlooks a harbor. Thanks for rubbing it in, Steve!

We always use a couple of 10lb. bags of block ice, which lasts a lot longer than crushed or cubed ice. I also drain the water out of the cooler each evening. I like the 70 quart models because there is still enough room for food and drinks, after loading them up with ice, and they are not too heavy to pack around. We have never opted for one of the wheeled models. Although wheels sound like a good idea, we have found that we are never carrying the cooler very far and that we are mostly lifiting it in and out of places, so wheels wouldn't help.

Under current Monongahela National Forest policy, campers may stay at 62 restricted-use area sites without paying nightly camping fees. Campers claim the sites on a first-come, first-served basis and may stay up to 14 days.

Dispersed camping is free, but I cannot think of an instance where I have seen actual campsites offered at no charge.

Each of the 30 Williams River sites has a parking spur, a picnic table, a fire ring with grill, a bear-proof trashcan and a lantern hanger. All sites can be used for tent or trailer camping. Several of the sites have pit-style toilets nearby. 

That sounds like our typical “primitive” USFS campground, here on the west coast. If you read down towards the end of the article, it looks like the USFS will eventually start charging for these sites. Still, the proposed $5 is a bargain, by west coast standards.

Camping is a great way to “get away from it all” for a weekend, or even longer. Finding the perfect campsite might take a little digging, but the rewards will be a relaxing vacation that is uninterrupted by the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives.

1. Your local county website. If your county manages any campgrounds, you will be able to find information on them under the "Parks and Recreation" department. County campgrounds are often overlooked, so can be less-crowded than state campgrounds.
   
   
2. Reserve America. The best online resource for finding state campgrounds that accept reservations.
   
   
3. Recreation.Gov. Like Reserve America (in fact, they are operated by the same company), but for federal (USFS, BLM and COE) campgrounds.
   
   
4. Google™. As good as Reserve America and Recreation.Gov are, they won't show you any first-come, first-served campgrounds. To find these overlooked gems, start with a search for your state's parks page by searching on your state name, followed by the phrase "campgrounds first come first served" (without quotes).
   
   
5. Federal websites. There are equivalent first-come, first-served campsites available at the federal level, too. Use the USFS, BLM and COE pages to locate campgrounds in your region that are first-come, first-served.

One of the biggest concerns for a couple of our friends who are just getting into camping, or thinking about getting into it, is that their children won’t have fun and will get bored. I cannot tell them that this won’t happen; like most family activities, your kids will get out of it whatever you put into it. I suspect that although the parents in question won’t admit it, what they really wonder is “what are we going to do with our kids if we can’t plop them down in front of the TV?” Luckily, though, this is mostly misplaced parental paranoia and not something that you really have to be worried about.

The truth is, your kids are going to have a great time wherever you go! One of the first things that our kids do is to run around and look for other kids in the campground. We have camped in national parks, state parks and county parks all over the west coast, and I can only think of several occasions where there weren’t other families with kids camping nearby.  Another good way for kids to meet other kids is at the children’s programs that many of the state parks put on during the summer months.  

Recently at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, near Felton, California, the park had an organized children’s program called “Bug Day.” The kids learned about the wide variety of wildlife found in the park, including bugs –which, of course, they love. They earned a degree in “Bugology” and received a certificate for attending the afternoon class. These kinds of activities occur at most of the state parks throughout the country. Parents are always encouraged to participate, but there is enough supervision if you just need some time alone. 

We always bring plenty of activities for the kids, like games and bikes. Good old fashioned Uno is usually good for an hour or so, and a few bottles of bubbles will keep a pack of kids going for a while. Uno and bubbles are not things that our kids do at home (at least not very often), so they are a bit of a novelty on camping trips, which helps keep them fun. 

One thing that will keep the kids busy for an entire morning or afternoon is exploring. Taking your kids on a hike is a great way to introduce them to the sport, and equipping them with disposable cameras helps keep their focus off of the walking. Whenever I am asked; “are we there, yet?” I always sound-off with a resounding, “Yes we are!” Actually, my three kids have widely different abilities when it comes to hiking. My two youngest are only good for about 1 ½ miles, each way; while my oldest daughter, who is eight, is good for twice that. Whether hiking with all the kids, or just my oldest daughter, I always take a small daypack with drinks and snacks.

New friends, games, organized programs, exploring; these are just a few of the many things that your kids are going to be occupied with on a family camping trip. As they get more familiar with the whole “camping thing” they are sure to want to get more involved with setting up the campsite, building the fire and camp-cooking. That’s the beauty of camping, it never get old! 

One of the ways we help keep our camping trips a regular event in our household is to keep the meals simple and consistent, from trip-to-trip. This usually means cereal for breakfast on the first morning, since nobody is very excited about doing anything too involved after Friday’s mad dash. We save a more involved breakfast, like an egg scramble or bacon & pancakes, for the second morning. Lunches are always the same; soup and sandwiches. Dinner is usually a pasta dish or a pre-made frozen casserole (frozen in a crockpot liner, so it can be reheated by boiling in water) for one night and hamburgers or tacos for another. We try to keep as much of the menu on-hand as we can, so that we just have to pickup perishables like milk and potato salad for the trip.

If it sounds repetitious, that is because it is! After a few camping trips, knowing that you need exactly five hamburger patties and buns, one can of baked beans, six eggs, one gallon of milk, two cups of pancake mix, etc. becomes second nature. You not only don’t forget things, but it is a tremendous stress-reducer, because you are less-worried about forgetting something and you reduce those last-minutes runs to the store. Family camping should be all about relaxation and fun, not something that you worry about and that causes stress.
 

The picture above is a fairly typical springtime example of Poison-oak; glossy dark green leaves, with lobes reminiscent of oak tree leaves. Unfortunately, the leaves of Poison-oak can take on many different characteristics; smoother edges without the lobes, five leaves instead of three and colors ranging from bright pink or red in the early spring, turning dark green in the spring and early summer, yellowing through summer and often returning  to bright red in the fall. Arborist M.D. Vaden, of Oregon, has an excellent collection of photographs on their website that depict a lot of the variation that is inherent to the plant. Starting your own picture collection is a great way to learn how to spot the plant and if you camp at any of the state or federal parks, a Ranger will be happy to point some examples out to you. Chances are, you won’t have to go far to find it! 

Being able to spot Poison-oak is the first step in preventing an allergic reaction. If you are hiking in an area that you know has a high concentration of the plant, you might consider wearing pants instead of shorts, along with a long-sleeved shirt. Be sure to change your clothes after the hike, and consider a cool shower with an urushiol-cleansing product like Tecnu®, which removes the oil from your skin. Soap is not nearly as effective at cutting the oil. If a rash does develop, your best course of action is to cool the affected area, which constricts the blood vessels and reduces itching. Calamine lotion will extend the relief and help dry up any oozing from the small bumps that are common to the rash. 

There are many capable family tents available and the sky really is the limit when it comes to the amount of money one can spend on a large tent. In reality, though, you want to camp in the woods; not an open field, so there are some practical limitations on the size of tents you should be considering. A couple of popular 13x9 foot examples that won’t break the bank are the Kelty Green River 6 and the Sierra Designs Bedouin 6.

As you can see, these tents have a similar four-pole construction that provides over six feet of interior height. Changing clothes is much easier when you can do it standing up! Both tents use the same flooring material; 1800mm Polyurethane-coated Nylon Taffeta (1800mm of mercury measures how waterproof the material is). If you look closely, though, you can see that the floor of the Bedouin 6 goes up much higher on the side of the tent. Both floors are seamless, bathtub designs. Also of note is the mesh roof of the Bedouin 6, which provides plenty of ventilation. Condensation is the bane of tent camping, particularly at night when the family is snoring away.

Both tents have model rain fly designs that cover the tent all the way down to the ground. Both rain flies also serve to enclose large front vestibule areas, which are great for keeping gear close at hand, without taking up space inside the main sleeping area. In fact, at 83ft2, you can store several bicycles in the vestibule of the Green River 6!

These are both great tents that will stand up to everything Mother Nature, and your family, can throw at them. At around $250 these tents are about $100 more than a superstore special, but that is a small price to pay when your family is sleeping through the night in bad weather.  

This is an interesting business that might make a lot of sense in a destination city, like San Diego. Traditionalists might scoff, but I can think of several occasions when I would have paid someone to setup and tear down my campsite!