Swarms of mosquitoes, rocks in your back, no toilet, and no shower! What is the point of camping anyway? Why in the world would we want to leave our climate controlled homes with hot water to head out into the wilderness?
The point of going camping is to escape the digital world, bond with family and friends, breathe fresh mountain air, re-center our lives, improve life skills, and of course eat S’Mores.
But what about all of the negatives about camping? In the US approximately 40 million people go camping each year. Let’s dive deeper into the point of camping to figure out what’s driving all those people out into the wilderness year after year.
Escape The Digital World
The world we live in is rapidly changing and everyone is becoming more connected digitally each and everyday. I can’t imagine living without my iPhone and it really wasn’t that long ago that they came out. We are so connected as a society, but at the same time are we really connected?
When was the last time you called your friend on the phone? When was the last time you sat down and had a meal with your family? If you have kids how many times have you been staring at your phone while they try to talk to you? We are all guilty of it, people prefer to text instead of call. We check our social media incessantly instead of spending quality time with our loved ones.
Going camping gives us a chance to turn off our electronics and detox from the digital world we live in. It is truly refreshing to unplug and become one with our natural element. If you have a family then it is a perfect time to get everyone do a digital cleanse with you. If you have young kids then chances are they have been connected with digital devices for their entire lives. Camping is a great opportunity for them to really experience life outside of the 1’s and 0’s of the binary world they’ve grown up in.
Bond With Family And Friends
Camping is a great way to really bond with family and friends. Some of my most cherished memories with my friends happened in the hills. When ever we get together it doesn’t take long before we are rolling with laughter reminiscing from one of our camping trips.
Families that camp together stay together. This is a saying my family would say as I was growing up. We camped all of the time and it really brought us together. Now that I have four kids of my own I love bonding with them in the mountains. Kids tend to love the adventure and excitement involved with camping. Getting to start a campfire, pitch a tent, eat good food, tell ghost stories around the campfire, gaze at the stars, and try to fall asleep before someone starts snoring. It doesn’t get much better than that for a kid.
Fresh Mountain Air
Getting away from the smoke and smog of the city into the fresh mountain air is truly refreshing. Mountain air not only smells good, but it is also good for your health as well. Because the air is fresh it means less pollution which in turn means it’s easier to breathe for people that have asthma. Mountains also have pine trees which studies have shown walking through pine decreases hostility, depression, and stress.
Recenter
Camping is a great way to recenter your life. With life being so busy and pulling us every which way it’s easy to get lost in the weeds and forget what is important in life. Being in nature gives us a chance to reflect on our lives and determine what areas we need to focus more on. Maybe you haven’t reached out to your parents for a long time and realize that you should make that call. Or maybe that goal you made at the first of the year needs some attention.
While your climbing the mountains breathing in the pine you may come to realize you’ve lost a little of your speed and need to hit the gym more. Whatever it is, being in the quiet of nature is a great way to reflect on life and recenter.
Improve Life Skills
There is no better way to improve your core life skills than going camping. Every aspect of camping includes a life skill that you can improve on. The more you go the better you will get at starting a campfire. To add a little fun for everyone you can try different methods for starting the fire and improve on those.
After you wake up with a sore back or everyone in the tent is rolled up to one side of the tent, you will learn the importance of picking a shelter location. Taking the extra time to find a flat and rock free location for your tent is worth it.
If you have kids there are so many things you can teach them while your camping. Things that could help them survive in an emergency situation and things that are just fun to do. I wrote an article that covers 65 father and son camping activities. If you are interested in going camping and have kids then this article is a great resource to help you come up with ideas for your camping trip.
S’Mores
It really wouldn’t be camping if there wasn’t S’Mores involved! You can’t top molten chocolate and marshmallow. Just be sure you bring some wet wipes to get the sticky marshmallow off of you. You don’t want the bears to come lick it off in the night. Happy Camping!