So, you must have heard about camping and wanted to try it but have been unsure. You must have heard of different ways that people camp but are unsure which one you will be comfortable doing. You hear people talking about it and it gets you excited but not sure what you need to start. Also the fact of being in nature and spending the night with animals or insects sounds kind of intimidating and scary. Maybe you got excited enough that you went out and bought a tent years ago but it is now gathering dust in your attic.

Put your fears to rest! Camping is not that scary at all. Camping can be a lot of fun and exploring nature through camping is very satisfying.

Our experience

Let me start with our experience. We don’t consider ourselves experts yet but our experience on how we started should (hopefully) get you to book a campsite, hit the road and experience the great outdoors.

We started camping about 5 years back in July 2016. Of all the different camping options out there, the easiest is car camping. In car camping, you get to take your car all the way to your campsite and park it there. It makes it very convenient to move around your camping stuff in and out of the car, to use what you need and hey, if you feel any discomfort sleeping in the tent, you can sleep in the car.

Another, you can say a variation is to choose an electrical site. Though electrical sites are RV sites, no one is stopping you from booking an electrical site and taking your car instead. This site will provide you with an electrical outlet and you can light up the place, bring your laptop, music player (be careful of how loud you are though), portable TV etc, make it more comfortable.

Though we haven’t yet tried an RV, we still like the rawness of a regular campsite.

So our first experience with camping was at the Darlington Provincial Park in the province of Ontario. Since we were new to camping, we chose a park which was not too far from where we lived in York region. This park was an hour’s drive from our place. We booked a stay for a single night to get a feel of it. We were unsure of course of how we would “feel”, so it would be pretty convenient to return back home, in case.

So the stay turned out to be amazing. To be away from the hustle bustle of the city, to switch off from our gadgets that increasing control our life and to instead simply relax by the lake and just staring away into the distance, read a book, gazing at the sky counting stars at night, trying to identify the different constellations, waking up to the sound of birds chirping, cooking food while a soft breeze goes over you and a warm sun shining above. It was a peaceful experience. We felt cheerful and charged. And wanting for more.

The same year, we booked a night at the Algonquin Provincial Park, again in Ontario, a very popular park for many reasons. This one was quite far, about 250kms from our place. We had heard a lot about Algonquin from a few people, so Algonquin it was.

Algonquin Provincial Park is a large park and has about 13 different campgrounds. So there is a lot to choose from but also being popular fills up fast. We booked at the Mew Lake Campground.

The interesting thing about of our campsite and all other campsites in this park was that they had direct access to the Mew Lake. So for people who love boating can bring their canoes, kayaks or inflatable boats and enjoy the day on the water.

Algonquin is also a large forest so you are pretty much in raw nature. You might get to see some interesting small animals, different kinds of birds, plants of all kinds, it is just a raw experience. And if you are in a regular campsite, as the sun goes down, the place becomes pitch dark. This is a great opportunity to watch amazing things in the sky that you would not or never be able to see living in the city. Stars, planets, constellations, meteorites (if you are patient enough) and even the milky way.

Now you might be wondering, pitch dark, small animals roaming about, nasty, biting insects? Though Algonquin is home to many black bears, we have not met any till now. As for small animals, they are most likely more scared of us than we are of them. So they don’t bother. There are some insects that do bite, but it is something that some insect spray/repellent or lotion will not solve. Besides, animals are mostly attracted to the smell of food. You take care of that and don’t leave it exposed, they will not even bother. You have taken away the main incentive for them to visit you.

But Algonquin was a wonderful experience. And in particular, parks like Algonquin provide many ways to enjoy your stay. So you choose what really interests you and make the most of your stay.

So camping does take a bit of an adjustment to our comfortable way of life. You are at the mercy of nature. You have to deal with insects, deal with the unpredictability of weather. If it is sunny, its all good, but if it rains, well you have to adjust to it. Either ways, with a little preparation beforehand like keeping repellents, checking the weather and keeping the things you will need etc., it is not too difficult to deals with these.

Over the years, we have learnt and have greatly improved our camping experiences. In my upcoming blogs, I will try to share ways in which we have improved and have come to understand the importance of being prepared. Nature can be unforgiving, so you have to be prepared for anything and everything. But then you are mostly with many other fellow campers around you and not really isolated, so it is really not too bad at all. You will enjoy it and make some great memories from your experiences.

We do hope that you learn from our experiences and our mistakes and make camping truly enjoyable.

Here are some of the benefits of camping. If you come up with some more, put that in the comment section to motivate other readers:

  • Gives you the opportunity to get outdoors.
  • It gets you close to nature without or with very limited risk of encountering wild animals.
  • Learning to appreciate nature.
  • Appreciating the diversity of nature, the kinds of animals, insects etc. that live and share the planet with us.
  • You face the uncertainties of being in nature, sudden rainfall, crazy insects looking to take a bite off you, teaches you to prepare for it and come up with solutions to handle them. This learning may even help in your personal and professional life to face uncertainties, prepare for them and handle them.
  • Nature is a great architect. Most of the National or Provincial parks are also conservation parks. They are either conserving the diversity of fauna or flora, geographical structures created by nature over millions of years, bio-diverse habitats, early human history etc.
  • There are many activities that families and friends can do together while camping.
  • Great place for bird watchers, photographers.
  • Most importantly, Camping is lots of fun!

For additional information about Algonquin Provincial Park or for booking, visit the below links:

https://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/index.php
https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/algonquin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquin_Provincial_Park

For additional information about Darlington Provincial Park or for booking, visit the below links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlington_Provincial_Park
https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/darlington

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