Do you go camping with friends? Today’s Trailblazer shares with us why she feels that camping with friends is a good idea for your next camping trip.
Today’s Trailblazer is Tanya From Family Adventures In The Canadian Rockies.
Tanya loves hiking, camping, cross-country skiing, and on occasion mountaineering or backpacking a few times a year. Above all, she enjoys adventure in the Canadian Rockies with her husband and preschool son, Noah. Tanya can be found on her blog Family Adventures In The Canadian Rockies.
Tanya, I have been following your blog for quite a while so it is great to finally feature you on my blog. Thanks for joining us. Let’s get right to the questions. Do you camp? We love camping because it allows us to have a base camp set up in the mountains. It’s too far to justify driving out for a day hike when our son can only hike for an hour or two. From our campsite, we can do a couple short day hikes and enjoy outdoor play as a family. We love going camping with friends because our son can run around with the other children and it’s much more fun. We are a tenting family and use a small four person tent for our family.
You know, we love tent camping around here. And most people who camp, are active outdoors in a variety of ways. What are some other outdoor activities enjoyed by your family? We are passionate about hiking in the summer and cross country skiing in the winter.
How long have you been camping, hiking and skiing? I wasn’t an outdoorsy child and didn’t have an active childhood. I started hiking when I was living in Korea teaching English in 1996. I moved to Calgary at the doorstep of the Canadian Rockies in 2000. My husband and I have made adventure sports our lifestyle since then.
With whom do you share your love of the outdoors? I share my love for the outdoors first and foremost with my husband and son. I also love to plan a few trips each year with my girlfriends. Most of them are also moms and it gives us a sense of empowerment to share a grand adventure with each other and realize that we are not just moms but we are women as well- strong and capable.
So, when you have a mom’s night out, it gets really wild. That sounds like so much fun. Describe your most memorable camping trip. Last summer we took a two week family vacation down to Washington. We camped and hiked in Mt. Rainer National Park as well as the Olympic Peninsula. I saw a travel program on Seattle and Mt. Rainier a few years back and put it on our to-do list. Reading the Twilight Saga added the Olympic Peninsula to my life list. It was the most amazing camping trip we’ve ever taken. I can’t say enough good things about Mt. Rainier National Park. We camped in Ohanapacosh in the midst of an old grove forest. It was so quiet and by 9pm, everyone was getting ready for bed. I’ve only ever found this kind of solitude in a campground when backpacking. We did some crazy hiking in Mt. Rainier because the snow hadn’t melted yet despite the fact that it was August. The easy family hikes we had planned turned into beginner mountaineering expeditions with slopes warning hikers to have ice-axes.
Our best memory from the Olympic Peninsula is camping at Kalaoch. The beach was one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen and our son discovered star fish in the tide pools. To this day, he looks for star fish every time we go to a large lake.
Tanya’s Camping Tip: Go Camping With Friends
My camping tip: go camping with friends. The kids will run around together for hours and entertain each other. This allows the adults to have some down time- the real reason we go camping, right? It’s also great for beginner campers or those just transitioning to camping with kids. You can watch the other campers in your group and learn so much! Last summer we learned that we really want to purchase a hammock for this year’s camping after watching our friends enjoy theirs. We also noticed that our friends had the camp cooking thing down to an art by comparision to our pathetic cooking. We studied what they made and now have ideas for this year. When you camp with friends you can share things that maybe you don’t have, such as a camping stove, you can share recipes or even do joint meals and you can compare camping gear. It’s nice to see your friends using something before you go out and buy it yourself. This year we have made a couple group reservations where we’ll have an area of a campground all to ourselves. We’re very excited about this and one campground even has a private playground just for us. Our kids are going to have so much fun running around and playing together. We can’t wait for our first camping trip!
Camping with friends really provides you with a lot of advantages. What a great camping tip! Tanya, thanks so much for joining us around our virtual campfire.
And to our readers, thanks for hanging out with us today for Trailblazer Tuesday. If you enjoyed Tanya’s camping tips or if you would like to hear more about her outdoor adventures with her family, see all her great photos and read more of her camping series, head on over to her blog Family Adventures In The Canadian Rockies. And don’t forget to give her a virtual high-five, in the form of a comment:)
I’ll see ya around the campfire.
Tiffany
Thanks for joining us for Trailblazer Tuesday, where we feature a different outdoorsman or woman and discuss their passion for the outdoors. If you are interested in being a featured Trailblazer, send me a noted through my Contact page and tell me a little about yourself and your outdoor experience.
Do you camp with friends? What camping tips would give someone considering going camping with a group of friends?