8 Reasons to go Camping in Nature

Camping in nature is a timeless activity that goes back to our human roots. Most of us carry childhood memories of camping – with family, with friends, with Boy/Girl Scouts. 

The smell of campfire smoke, the sounds of night insects, the sparkle of stars…even that feeling of damp morning air against our skin. Camping in nature is a touchstone in our lives, but one we attend to far less frequently as we get older.  

We grow used to our comforts, our air conditioning, our memory foam mattresses. Why face the inconveniences and discomforts of camping? 

Here are eight great reasons to consider it:

Connect with Nature

Few activities will allow you to immerse yourself so completely and connect with your surroundings as camping in nature. Unlike a simple walk, or even a day hike, camping pulls us away from our comfort zones and the walls we build against the outside world. 

We get to spend nights outdoors with nothing but a flap of canvas between ourselves and the world. We must listen to the sounds of insects and leaves, feel the sun and the wind, touch the dew, view wildlife, and brush the dirt and grass from our feet.

The sense of disconnection – of separateness – from nature that we feel indoors, surrounded by our own manmade luxuries, is stripped away. It can be a disorienting sensation at first. Overwhelming to our senses and full of vulnerability.

With time, that feeling persists but becomes less frightening and foreign. We feel less protected and coddled, but also more alive, more alert to the happenings around us. More mindful of small details and sounds and variations of weather.

Find the Spirit of Adventure

With that feeling of vulnerability comes a feeling of adventure and exploration. It is only when we are able to cast off some of the veneer of civilization that we begin to feel the stirrings of something deeper and more meaningful. 

Camping in nature is a physical pursuit. Even simple things that we take for granted in our everyday lives – hot water, cooked food, shelter from rain – requires some physical action from the camper. It is a far cry from our often sedentary and unadventurous lives.

Adventure comes from the sense of the unknown, from a lack of the mundane. Camping, for most of us, is a far cry from mundane. There are inevitably adventures during a camping trip. A thunderstorm, a wildlife encounter, something forgotten, something broken.

These should be expected and approached as what they are: small adventures, tests of human ingenuity.

John Krakauer writes in Into the Wild:

“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences…”

Unplug and Find Solitude

Our lives have become socialized in nearly every aspect. We are frequently around others, but to an even larger degree, we are always connected. Modern technology has almost eliminated the “off” switch. There was a time when to step outside your house was to step away from the crowd, but no longer.

Camping in nature provides the opportunity to truly break away and disconnect from the day to day. It’s an excuse to silence the phone, soak in the silence of nature, and let go of the anxieties of modern society for a little while.

Don’t confine yourself to campgrounds. Consider dispersed camping on public lands, or more solitary spots available through websites like HipCamp, which lists campsites for rent on private property.

Camping spots can be found deep in the wilderness, far from the ubiquitous cell signals and charging stations. It offers a chance to recharge your own batteries away from the hubbub of consumerism and the demands of society.

Learn Something New

Camping in nature has few guarantees. The weather, the experiences, and the quirks of every camping trip are new and unpredictable.

But one guarantee that we can make is that every camping trip will teach you something new. It might teach you that your packing checklist is incomplete. Or that the spot you thought so picturesque in the sunshine is a swamp in the rain.

It could teach you about the behavior of chipmunks, or a new way to make camp coffee, or how the Little Dipper slowly circles around its handle in the night sky, or how to arrange firewood.

We always suggest bringing along a travel journal or notebook to keep notes on your trip. It is always these small details, the seemingly insignificant epiphanies, that make the trip memorable. How else would you remember everything you’ve learned? 

Build Relationships

Camping in nature is a fantastic way to build relationships with family, friends, or companions. So much of our interaction, even with our own family, is virtual. We send texts and instant messages. We share in sedentary pursuits like movies.

Camping gives us the opportunity to remove those technological barriers and interact in truth. It gives us a shared set of unfamiliar tasks and goals to work on together: choosing a site, erecting a tent, building a campfire, cooking food, etc…

It also provides us the leisure to hold discussions on meaningful subjects without all the distractions that are so omnipresent in our daily lives. We have a platform to learn from one another and to teach; to make choices as a group; to make lasting memories.

It is a hands-on experience and teaches both self-reliance and patience. Everyone learns a bit about the unpredictability of nature and how to roll with changes in plans.

Stargazing

One of the great advantages of camping is spending the night beneath the stars. In our daily lives, most of us rarely spend much time outdoors after dark, and when we do it’s a passing thing. A passage from one lit place to another.

When camping in nature, you spend much of the dark hours beneath the stars. Better still, you’ll often spend those hours away from the lights of towns and cities, and only then can you see what those lights have been hiding.

There are few more humbling experiences than gazing up into a dark night sky loaded with stars. It’s not only awe-inspiring, but it gives you a sense of the vastness of the universe around us, as well as our own small but not insignificant place in it.

Stargazing is also another relationship builder. Spend time together with friends or loved ones staring up into the Milky Way watching for falling stars or identifying constellations. 

Campfire Food

Campfire food is a great reason to get out camping in nature! Cooking over a campfire requires a bit of creativity, but it can be a whole lot of fun. 

There aren’t adjustable burners or thermometers on a campfire. It just requires a sense of adventure and a bit of trial and error.

The simplest things to cook are the tried-and-true favorites – hot dogs on a stick or toasted marshmallows (by themselves or as part of a tasty – and sticky! – s’more).

But a skillet and a little creativity can allow you to fry up burgers or eggs & bacon. With a small investment in some pie irons you can make a variety of hot sandwiches or pies over a campfire. 

There are countless great recipes for campfire food available online. Collect a handful of ideas and ingredients before you go and experiment along the way.

For convenience purposes, I always recommend bringing along a propane camp stove. These are small and easy to pack and can give you a versatile burner for heating water or cooking small meals. Campfires aren’t allowed at all campsites (be sure to check before you go!) and you need to go prepared for the possibility of wet weather or other setbacks.

Low Cost

Not only does camping in nature provide all the benefits listed above, but its cost is minimal in comparison to other types of travel.

Sure, if this is your first time camping and you don’t have any gear, there is a potentially high initial outfitting cost. Tents aren’t cheap, and high-quality tents can quickly get outright expensive. There is also the multitude of small items – camp stove, camp hatchet, sleeping bags, sleeping pads or camp mattresses, cooking gear, etc...

Most folks already have some of these items around, but even if you have nothing a low-range tent and all the necessary gear could be purchased for less than $500 if done on a budget. The upside is that after their initial purchase and with good care, all these items can be reused for years at basically no additional cost. 

A single night in a tent instead of a hotel could save you hundreds of dollars. A week-long trip in a tent can be done with little more than the cost of transportation and food and perhaps a nominal fee to reserve a campsite. And the experience and memories of those nights beneath the open sky are priceless.

Camping in Nature

Camping in nature is a great step toward building a simpler life that focuses on a connection with nature and sustainable living.

Before you go, make sure you understand the concept of “Leave No Trace”, which is critically important with camping. Review our camping tips and packing list so that you go out as prepared as possible. 

Walk softly on the land, give back to the environment, and leave it for future generations.

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