It still shocks me to this day every time I meet someone who doesn't love camping! I even saw an argument on the internet the other day for why camping is racist... and I am not going to dive down that tunnel of dispair today so feel free to Google if it interests you. Camping simplifies living for me, it takes everything back to the basics. All you have to worry about is where you're going to sleep, what you're going to eat, and what wants to eat you.
Step one to this bliss is making sure I go somewhere where the internet and cellphone don't work. I'm sure a few of you are already ready to quit this part of the vacation, but hold on while I explain. Without that phone, you can't read all those negative headlines that send your blood pressure and emotions through the roof. Without the phone, your boss can't call to have you take care of that one last thing from the road or worse yet to come back in and work because someone else "got sick". You're also going to realize how many adventures you can have in a day when you're not staring at that screen.
Step two is drinking lots of water. When you're out on the water, hiking, biking, or even hanging out in camp you should be hydrating. Next to hypothermia, dehydration is on the "most likely to kill you" list because you just weren't thinking about it.
With all of those new healthy habits starting to kick in plus long days of adventure, there is nothing that refreshes my body and mind faster than a few days camping. After all, you go to sleep when it gets chilly around the fire and wake up when the morning frost touches your nose. So even non-morning people like me, are up with the sun.
My absolute favorite part of camping though is when you wake up just a little past midnight and have to pee. You really don't want to get out of your sleeping bag but it's a necessity at this point. So you find your flashlight and crawl your way groggily out of your tent into the most ethereal scene you've ever been blessed to see. The world is bathed in silver and you know it's not day because the light isn't right. So you look up and discover the universe beaming down at you. They say you've never really seen the stars until you've seen them from the middle of the ocean, I would argue the same is true if you haven't seen them from the heart of the Rockies far from city lights!
If you want to keep enjoying you're camping trips without being eaten, don't feed the animals! Feeding the animals not only is bad for them because you're giving them people food, but it is also bad because you're teaching them that humans are a source of food. That means when they come upon a group of humans later who won't feed them, they might decide to eat the humans instead. A habituated animal that becomes a danger to humans has to be killed by wildlife officials. Protect yourself and protect the cute critters by keeping your food locked up properly, packing out your trash, and keeping your goodies to yourself! Thank you!
Why do you love or hate camping? Where is your favorite place to go camping? What is your favorite camping hack?
Thank you, fellow adventurers! You can follow the lilmissbearpaw blog page on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @lilmissbearpaw for sneak peeks into upcoming posts and my adventures. This will also be a great place to share your own adventures!