My daughter is asking about going camping. Not sure that we will, but I thought it would be interesting to ask how Dopers like to escape from their work-a-day lives and get in touch with nature. It can be camping, or other ways of getting outside and away from life’s mundane distractions.
So, what’s your pleasure and why? Also, if there are downsides, feel free to share those, too.
Big fan of the outdoors here.
In April, I start fishing. First for trout in the local rivers/streams, then move to bass in the ponds/lakes around here. Through the warm season, I camp and hike (read pre-season hunting scouting) as well. The boat (14’ Alumacraft from the '50s with a 15hp motor from the 80s) comes out during bass season, and is used for one particular camping trip, where the site is several miles away from the boat launch.
As the days become shorter, and the air a bit cooler, I turn to hunting. Archery starting in NH on 9/15, with firearms season starting in mid November.
When the snow falls, and the hunting season is over (12/15 in NH for Archery), I still walk in the woods, until the snow is too deep to move at a reasonable speed/effort.
When I can, I fire up the outdoor fire pit, and do a bit of “backyard” camping with the 4yo Butlerette. Tonight, we’re going to be making a chicken on my campfire rotisserie. Hopefully, Mrs. Butler is getting the fire going as I type this post, and get ready to head home. I’m not sure what else we’ll be hanging from the Campfire Cookset for cooking in the cast iron dutch ovens, but I’m sure it’ll taste great! Especially the Marsh-a-lows (4yo Butlerette speak) on long sticks.
The only downside I’ve found to being outside is the bugs. But spray with a high DEET content seems to take care of that pretty well for me… Weather can be problematic as well, but dressed properly, it’s not a real problem. Creative tarp hanging at the site has seen my mates & I through many a rainy weekend in reasonable comfort.
Camping can be a great diversion from everyday city/suburban life. I certainly enjoy it.
Where are you located? Chances are someone familiar with your area can give you some specific guidance.
A few years ago I fell in love with orienteering. For those not familiar, orienteering is a cross-country map reading race. You get a topographic map with a series of checkpoints marked on it, and the goal is to visit each point and return to the start as quickly as you can. Easy courses won’t have you leaving trails, while hard courses send you through heavy woods and give you lots of opportunities to get lost.
There are clubs all over the country. Try googling orienteering with your city or state to see if there are any meets nearby. Easy courses are absolutely doable by kids.
For some reason I’m not fond of just going out for a hike, but if you give me a game to play while I’m out there I’m all over it.
Camping – although I rarely do it. Last year I did a solo backpacking trip (it was wimpy – one night)… I really needed a major shot of nature and that did the trick.
Hiking – I like to do at least one long day hike each summer, picking some interesting trail I’ve never been on before.
The beach. As a person born and raised in Rhode Island, it doesn’t feel like summer to me unless I’ve been to the beach – hopefully, someplace scenic and not crowded, but I’ll take what I can get.
I can get in touch with nature to some extent just by going out in my back yard. We live in a woodsy suburb, with deer, rabbits, foxes, and owls… we have about a dozen full-grown trees in our backyard and a little creek (with minnows) forms the rear boundary. And there’s a hammock and a (rarely used) fireplace. Listening to the birds at dawn and sunset can be wonderful.
Camping for sure. My husband and I camp year round, I think December and January are the only months we typically don’t have a trip planned. We average about once a month, usually long weekend trips in the area, with one week long trip planned for places like Yosemite, King’s Canyon, etc. We spent 4 days last month at Big Basin in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Hiking - I do a 4 mile hike every Tuesday after work with a group of girlfriends in the foothills in the area, and we occasionally get together for longer day hikes near the beach or in the redwoods. We’ll pack a lunch and maybe a bottle of wine, meet up early on a Saturday, get a good hike in and enjoy the scenery.
Cycling - Sadly I haven’t done as much of this as I would have liked the last couple of years. My husband and I rode our bikes to the farmer’s market downtown last week, and it reminded me how much fun it is. We’ve done a couple of century rides together, and I used to commute 2 or 3 days a week by bike, I’d like to do more stuff like that this year.
Kite flying and the beach - I bought a small power kite last spring and fell in love with it. We spent every other weekend or so at the beach so I could get some good flying in. We love the beach though and both agree we could never live too far from an ocean.
We had a sailboat for a short while and when we did spent a lot of time on the water. We’re qualified to charter boats, so I hope we do that at least once this summer. I miss being on a boat. We’re hoping to do a 'round the world type trip in the next 10 or 15 years or so.
And there are lots of other little things throughout the year. Every June we go up to the amphitheater on Mt. Tamalpais to see the mountain play, we go canoeing and kayaking on the Russian River every summer, or we head off on little day trips out to Bodega Bay or Point Reyes, or wherever.
We spend way too much money at REI.
The little boy scout dude next door did something sorta similar (on a junior scale). They gave them GPS units and maps and sent them on a scavenger hunt. I thought that sounded like a perfecty awesome thing for kids to do.
Me? Gardening is my outdoorsy thing to do. I have a forest next door, but the bugs usually ruin my good time.
I love camping, hiking and just generally being out in the natural world. I spent the weekend before last wandering around Pt. Reyes. This weekend I’m headed to the Eastern Sierras. I’m hoping to make it up to North Cascades NP later on this summer.
We used to go camping a lot when I was a kid, and I was a boy scout for a while although not the serious Eagle Scout type. More just having fun and getting the occasional camping trip. We live in Florida, and I’m not wild about the idea of camping out in Florida in the summer. A bit too hot, humid and buggy for me. I’m jealous of those of you back in California (my birthplace and where I lived as a kid) and up north.
When I was just a wee lad, we’d go camping all over California, along the coast, in the north and out in Yosemite. This was in the mid-to-late 60s, so it was a bit less crowded then. We moved out east in the 70s and did some camping in Pennsylvania and also the lower Appalachians. We also occasionally did beach camping and as I got older we did some houseboat trips on Lake Cumberland, which is not roughing it but still mostly outdoors and relaxing. Our “honeymoon”, such as it was, was a trip on the Gauley River. I’ve always liked canoeing and rafting, although we’ve not done it in a long while.
I’ve never really hunted but butler’s description sounds fantastic. Especially just walking outside and cooking out back.
I live in the woods (more or less. I’m actually in town, but on enough acreage that you can’t see the road or neighbors or anything) so I can get my outdoor fix just sitting on the deck. And we do - we spend a LOT of time on the deck, reading or playing games or listening to music - when the weather allows.
Other than that, I run - my favorite path is along the lake, so I get good views of the beach. We mountain bike, and both hubby and I have road bikes but we tend to be on the trails more often.
We also do some hiking, but tend to run/bike more.