Have you ever walked into a room and stood there wondering why you walked in there? Sometimes
with camping, a similar thing happens.
Sometimes we get to our picturesque and secluded area, set up, lay back, and then get bored
within seconds. I know I’ve twiddled my thumbs unsure of how to enjoy the journey before, and it's not
fun to feel like you're wasting time with no solution to have some laughs. Few things are worse than
planning and packing for a trip, getting there, and then realizing it's the last place you want to be.
To avoid this, here are 15 things to do on your camping trip that don’t include your phone.
Scramblin’
My personal favorite and thus number one on this list is the joy of scrambling around on rocks, boulders, hills and the like. Cave exploring is similar to boulder exploring so I left it out, but if you find a cave, you should try that too. See how far up you can climb, but beware that it might be trickier to get down. Tumblin’ is fun too though. Swimming
Hopefully your site has a body of water because swimming in nature is not like your average chlorine
pumped swimming pool. Make sure it’s safe of course, but then jump on in! If you forget your swimsuit,
it’s no problem because you’re in the middle of nowhere.
Meditate
Just ten minutes of meditation is great for your mind and may help you make wiser decisions with more
clarity of thought. The peaceful sounds of nature are a great background noise, and it may help you feel
more connected to the earth. Plus, sometimes when there is nothing but quiet, our minds come up with
great ways to entertain us.
Reading
Peaceful environment and this can be done from the comfort of your sleeping bag.
Drawing or writing in a notepad
Practicing doodling or using a notepad to journal are productive time usages that you can always look
back on.
Photography
Brush up on your photography skills by capturing the best sides of all the foliage and wildlife at your
disposal.
Cooking
When camping, you have all the time in the world to make some gourmet level foods. Just beware of
bears.
Skip Stones
Chew a leaf and have your main character moment with this one. It’s all in the flick of the wrist.
Chopping Wood
You won’t believe how meditative this can be. It’s a free rage room! All you need to bring is an ax.
Make a Rope Swing
I admit that I haven't tried this one yet, but I can't imagine it'd be too difficult. Finding rope and tying a
couple knots to a plank of wood is really all there is to it.
Scream to the void
On the same note as the chopping wood, this will just leave your soul feeling a bit more free. We all
struggle with the stress of life, and it’s no good coming back from a trip feeling more tired than when
you left. If life is beating you down at the moment, go give the sky a piece of your mind and rest up
champ.
Play music
Not digital music, but with a guitar or harmonica or ukulele. Even if you don’t know how to play,
whipping up a catchy tune with a couple of string picks will sound lovely with the natural backdrop.
Whittle
It's a whittle mushroom :) Get it? Bring bandaids for this one and good luck to you.
Search for bugs
I find this activity grotesquely fascinating and therefore fun. They’re under logs, in the trees, and
buzzing around. If bugs scare you, this might actually be a great activity to get more familiar with
who you’re sharing the space with.
Stargaze
Last and not least, the activity that brings most of us out of the city in the first place is watching the
stars come out at night. It really reminds us of how little we are on this planet and gets us thinking
about our life purposes and the beauty of existence. It’s important to have a reality check every now
and then.
Only a few of these are more than enough to entertain myself for a weekend, so I hope it helps you formulate some ideas the next time you’re out. When in nature, it’s important to be in the moment and not on a device.
Hope these helped,
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post this week, thanks for sharing! I have been such a fan of your blog throughout the semester. This post stood out to me specifically because I love camping. All of the things to do you mentioned are great ideas that I've never thought of before and I will definitely be incorporating them into my next camping trip. Personally, I always have a great time camping and love exploring but I can see how some people may get bored or run out of things to do so this post will be great for those people! Great job! - Delaney Meehan
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I also enjoy camping since i can spend time with friends and family. However, scrambling does sound fun because you can entertain your curiosity and make memories. I also like camping due to the fact that you can connect with nature and stargaze. Good job!