TheCampingGuy.com Blog | Camping Tips

Just as the ABC’s are to reading, spelling and writing, camping can be an essential part of your child’s survival tactics. Knowledge is power and the more your children know about their world, indoors and out, the stronger they can be in a time of crisis or emergency. Specific information about camping in the hands of a child can also keep them safe and prepare them for unexpected relocation or evacuation.

So what can you teach your kids while camping? Besides how to have a good time with mother nature, you can teach your kids a number of things from how to use a utility knife, to how to start and put out a fire. Teach them to use the outdoor grills, pitch a tent and other camping equipment. Show them how to catch fish…and more importantly, how to clean and cook fish! Show them how to cook and take care of themselves in the outdoors. This lifetime skill can come in handy at any time throughout their lives. Some of the skills that I learned as a Boy Scout have stayed with me forever!

To further your kid’s education in outdoor survival, geology, and botany, I highly recommend joining the local Boy and Girl Scouts of America. It’s an excellent organization with a reputation for improving the quality of kid’s lives. They will go beyond camping and teach your children to communicate, identify and survive the every day and the extraordinary events in life. If you have young kids, now is the time for them to join!

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The Scouts and I just got back from Anza Borrego. We do this annually, in the spring when the wild flowers are in bloom. Sometimes we catch them in bloom and other times we miss them. This year we were lucky and made it in time!

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is California’s largest state park with 600,000 acres of very diverse terrain. You can hike, camp in developed campsites or primitive “backcountry” campsites or even horseback ride on their many trails. We love it for the hike to the Oasis and the Slot Canyon hike. More on that later. Here’s a picture of the sun setting on the hills, from our campsite.

The facilities in this campground are excellent. They have clean, new toilet facilities, with showers, sinks for cleaning your cookware and lots of campsites. But, you must book ahead, because it is a popular spot! Best time to tent camp is spring and fall. It was unseasonable hot when we went it got up to 100°F by noon on Saturday. So, we were pounding down lots of water to stay hydrated. We did the slot canyon hike in the morning and waited until almost 4 in the afternoon to do the Oasis hike.

When you’re there, you need to check out the Visitors Center! This is where you can get information on Ranger-led nature walks, guided hikes, Junior Ranger programs, etc. They have the remains of some prehistoric fossils, a large sea turtle and a Mammoth. I can’t image this whole area being underwater!

This Visitors Center is built into the side of dirt hill to keep it cool! There is also a nature hike that starts here and goes out into the desert showing all the plants that inhabit the area.

Here’s a picture of the prehistoric turtle shell they dug up in the desert!

Lastly, I had to show you this! This long tusk, over 6ft. long.

Here’s the link to the CA State Park site with more information on this wonderful park, maps and how to make reservations. Anza-Borrego

Put it on your “Top 10″ list of campsites to visit. Slot Canyon and Oasis Hike in next post.