Reasons to go wild camping with kids
Wild camping (not camping on an official campsite or right next to the car) is a great experience, and can be the basis of a fantastic family adventure. Here are our top reasons for giving wild camping a go with your family.
Adventure – Wild camping feels significantly more adventurous when you don’t know exactly where you are going to pitch your tent, but you do know that you will be the only ones anywhere close and will have only what you’ve carried in.
Space – They don’t call it the great outdoors for nothing! You’ll have a large area to yourselves – it could be an entire hill, mountain, valley or beach with no-one else for miles around. It’s exhilarating knowing this.
Peace & Quiet – You can have total silence except from the wind and wildlife. Or conversely there is no one else nearby, so you and your kids can go wild with no worries about waking up or annoying neighbours.
No distractions – It’s just you and your favourite people, with a tent, sleeping bags and a few little luxuries. Getting away from phones, tablets and other technology is much easier to do when wild camping.
Choose somewhere unique – The world quite literally is your oyster (within reason anyway). You can pick a really inspiring view, river, hillside or whatever else catches your fancy. Imagining that you are the first to camp exactly in that spot is a great feeling.
Challenges you as a family – Inevitably it is a bit harder work than campsite camping. You have to walk in, plan a bit more, pack enough food, find a good spot and all have fun, all the while staying safe, but it is a great family challenge you can rise to together.
New experiences – Waking on a hilltop to see the sunrise, watching the stars come out somewhere truly dark, listening to sounds from the wind and wildlife to waking up in the snow are all great new experiences, and will stay in your minds for a long time.
Wildlife – Because you can camp in more remote places with fewer people around it is often easier to spot wildlife, from badgers and foxes to birds and insects and bugs, as well as hearing the animals such a deers during the rut.
Poop with a view – This might be a marmite one, but you have to poop in the outdoors at least once! Just make sure you take a trowel to dig a hole first and bury it after.
Cook outdoors/fire – Cooking your food together on a lightweight cooker is a great family experience, as is having a fire if it is safe, allowed and no trace is left. We have some tips on how to do that here.
So there you have it; a list of our favorite reasons to give wild camping a go with your family this year. We hope you might give it a go if you haven’t already – it really is a great family adventure. Do you wildcamp? What’s your favourite bit about it?
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