Thursday 28 August 2008

Camping Offers Many Choices to Enjoy the Great Outdoors

You have probably read a number of articles written by me about camping. If so then you already know that I am an avid camper and think camping is one of the best weekend vacation getaways you can take with your family. You probably already know that camping is also one of the most affordable trips you can take as well.

So what does all this mean? It simply means you should be doing more camping. However there are varying degrees of difficulties when it comes to camping. You can take the leisurely weekend getaway at a local state park with water and electric hookups, to hiking in to your campsite along the Appalachian Trail where everything you have is all on your back, more on that in a moment.

If you are looking for something in between, maybe you do not want the luxuries of home so that you are given the sense that you are in the great outdoors, yet do not want the feeling that you will be living off of tree bark for three days, do not worry, those options exist as well.

I recently camped with my brother, father and a family friend at Pennsylvania's Promised Land State Park. I would categorize this campground into the latter part of what I just wrote. We did not have water and electric hookups so we were left to cook off propane, gas or an open fire (whichever you choose), yet it had bathroom and shower facilities within reasonable distance so not to seem like we were in the middle of nowhere.

Pennsylvania's Rickett's Glenn State Park is the same as Promised Land as noted above. Also I want to mention that both campgrounds have beautiful lakes with acres of water to take a small boat out and go for some pan fish, maybe a pike or a bass or two. If fishing is not your "thing" then the miles of hiking trails they both offer will keep you busy during the day so as not to leave you sitting around the campsite doing nothing.

I mentioned before about hiking into the Appalachian Trail, and although I won't go into detail about my trip (I will save that for a future article), if you are looking for this type of hiking/camping trip, then the Appalachian Trail is a good bet. The trail my friend and I chose was challenging to make it fun, yet not over challenging to make it feel like work. The Appalachian Trail stretches from Maine to Georgia so you can see you have plenty to choose from. Along the way you will encounter much wildlife and various bodies of water. I have heard stories of people hiking the entire trail, although I have never met one personally myself, nor have I ever even come close to hiking the entire trail.

As you can see you have many choices when it comes to enjoying the great outdoors. First figure out what you want to, find out where you can do it and then as Nike says, just do it!

About the Author:
Mr. Tucker is the senior editor for Vacation Nation, an online vacation resource where you can learn about various destinations and travel tips.

He is also a regular contributor on Mike's How To Blog, a free resource on how to do just about anything.

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