Tent Camping is the Perfect Family Recreational Activity

Many people are already planning their spring and summer weekend getaways and vacations and are trying to come up with ideas for places to go and activities that can include their kids.

The one activity that is always an enjoyable adventure for the entire family is tent camping.

There are a lot of reasons to consider getting the family involved in camping. One is that everyone can participate and have a good time, regardless of their age, sex, skill levels, physical capabilities, where they live or their financial status.

A family can enjoy a weekend camping trip on a shoestring budget. You can get by as cheaply as you wish or you can invest as much money as you want in specialized gear and fancy tents and accessories, but the choice is yours and the bottom line is, you’ll have a good time either way.

A buddy and I camped very cheaply when we were in high school. Our primary purpose for going was to catch a stringer of channel catfish from the Platte River near Louisville. We’d take his 1949 Ford, park on the riverbank and set our lines, with the reels suspended near the ground, their rod tips jutting into the air between the branches of forked sticks pushed into the mud to hold them. We’d build a small fire on the bank, roast hot dogs and sleep in folding lawn chairs, or one of us would wrap up in a thin blanket and sleep on the hood of Dave’s car. It wasn’t fancy, but it was cheap, fun, peaceful, quiet, and it just felt good to be outside relaxing under the stars at night.

Understandably, most people prefer to sleep in tents. Tents come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. The most common shapes are the A-frame, the dome and the cabin or wall tent. They also come in a wide range of prices, mostly dictated by the material, the size and the structures features. It’s a good idea to read about different kinds of tents and the options available in a mail-order catalog, but it is also a good idea to visit a sporting goods store and where you can see them actually set-up, have the clerk explain the features, and have the opportunity to “rub around on them a little bit” before you buy to be sure you know what you are getting.

In addition to sleeping in a tent, hearing all of the outdoors night sounds, eating food cooked over an open fire, sitting around the fire talking and having a good time, seeing the stars, and experiencing the feeling of “roughing it,” the camp can also serve as the base point for engaging in a number of other outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, wildlife or nature photography, birdwatching, canoeing, swimming, biking, boating, and a host of others.

Nebraska has a wide variety of types of terrain in which to camp. For instance, in the Panhandle there are the Pine Ridge areas such as Fort Robinson State Park (SP), the Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area and Chadron SP. In the Sandhills there is the Nebraska National Forest (NF) at Halsey and Samuel R. McKelvie NF near Nenzel, Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area (SRA)/ Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near Valentine, and Calamus SRA/WMA near Burwell.

In the northeast there is Lewis and Clark Lake SRA and Niobrara SP on the banks of the un-channelized portion of the Missouri River, and Ponca SP in the bluffs along the channelized portion of the river. In the Southwest there are Lake McConaughy and Lake Ogallala SRAs and the southwest reservoirs, and in the southeast are the Salt Valley lakes, Eugene T. Mahoney SP, Platte River SP, Rock Creek Station SRA, and Indian Cave SP on the banks of the Missouri River.

Tent camping is permitted all of the state’s wildlife management areas unless otherwise posted or restricted by special area regulations. Camping is truly primitive as there are generally no facilities on the areas. Special permission is required for group camping.

At state parks and state recreation areas tents may be pitched only at designated campsites, and people may camp for no more than 14 days in a single area during any 30-day period. Site reservations may be made for camping at some areas.

Visit the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s Web site at www.OutdoorNebraska.org for complete camping regulation information. Then plan to take your family camping at least once this summer. It will probably end up being one of the family’s favorite activities.