The Weather’s Getting Cooler – Try Camping With Your Family

This summer was a hot one…and I think we felt it ALL over.  It was tough to get outside to enjoy activities with the record-breaking heat wave that we all experienced.  This weekend will be the first day of fall!!  NOW is the time to think about a trip with your family to enjoy the great outdoors.

While it’s true that you can go camping during the summer, unless you are able to travel to the mountains where it’s always cooler, it may have been too hot to enjoy the trip.  One of the benefits to camping in the fall over the summer is that bugs are less likely to be a problem.  You’re also less likely to come across snakes as they will be searching for dens in which to hibernate this winter.

Autumn camping gives you the best of both worlds – warm days to enjoy hiking and traipsing around nature, but cool enough to truly enjoy cuddling up around a campfire.  What is better than a crisp autumn evening, making S’mores around the campfire, and enjoying the aroma and sounds of the crackling fire?  When the leaves start to change colors and the air turns cool, this is the perfect time to pitch a tent and enjoy a weekend of camping.

Hiking: 
You can enjoy a hike in the woods during the summer months, but you won’t get quite so hot during the fall.  In fact, one of the biggest reasons to wait until fall to go hiking is that you won’t have to fight with tons of other people as you travel along the trails.  Not having to deal with as many people is a great reason to wait until later in the year to hit the trails.  It would also be a perfect time to take someone on their first hike.  They won’t have to worry about carrying quite as much in their backpack and the scenery will be a joy to behold.

Backpacking: 
This is really a combination of hiking and camping.  Backpacking is another activity that can be enjoyed during the fall.  It’s a great way for you to take a day or two to get away from the daily grind, reconnect with nature, and refresh your spirit.  Be sure to take along plenty of water, even though the weather won’t be as hot, you’ll still need to keep yourself well hydrated.

Geogaching: 
A fairly new activity that people are enjoying is geocaching.  The best of hiking and backpacking, geocaching is a trip with a purpose – locating the cache that was hidden by another participant.  This activity, however, requires that you have a GPS unit to find the cache, but requires you to be prepared to climb, hike, and hit the trails. You are allowed to remove items from the cache you find, but you are also required to leave something for the next person to find.

All of these activities can be enjoyed during the spring and summer months, but they can be just as enjoyable, if not more so, during the fall months.  The weather is not going to be as hot, there will be less people to contend with, and the scenery will be beautiful.