What about camping this summer? Camping after COVID-19
I hear you - I'm wondering too.
I love camping with my family. It's my favorite way to spend those 18 summers with my kids. I even wrote a togetherness tip about it last year, and here I am writing another one about camping after COVID-19.
Here's why:
#1 - Camping can be a mega family togetherness booster,
#2 - So much has changed since last year, and
#3 - Your questions about whether or not camping is on the table this summer have been on my mind.
I did travel across 12 states last week to move back into our little home in one of the best campgrounds in the U.S. for my husband's job, so I guess it comes with the territory, but the truth is I don't know what camping trips will look like this summer. Just like you, I don't know which states will lift shelter-in-place orders when, and if they lift, I don't know if camping will actually be safe for families.
So this week, I did what I do every time I don't know all the answers - I asked a few experts and did a little bit of soul-searching.
I reached out to three of my nurse friends who love to camp (like REALLY love to camp) and asked them what advice they would give families considering camping after COVID-19.
If you're planning some big family togetherness fun in the form of camping this summer, here's how to keep your family safe according to my camp-loving nurse friends.
#1 - Read and ask questions.
What's happening with the pandemic trends in each state you'll be traveling through? What are the most up-to-date regulations and recommendations? What are people saying who live in the area you want to visit? What is the most recent best practices for fighting and preventing the spread of the pandemic? All of these are important pieces of information to have before going out this summer.
#2 - Be prepared for closures and surprises.
Things are changing from week to week, and even when we make plans these days, they could be changed for our safety. I know this is hard, so hang in there! On our recent trip across 12 states on the eastern seaboard for my husband's summer job in Maine, we encountered lots of open gas stations with closed bathrooms, heaps of shut down hotels, and plenty of small towns with no public restrooms at all. That makes traveling to far-away spots, well, dicey, but being prepared can be the difference between crumpling in despair and being able to move on with courage. (In our case, we chugged a few red bulls and drove 20 hours straight with as few stops as possible, but we wouldn't recommend it and hope we never have to do it again.)
#3 - Don't expect anyone else to decide what's right for your family.
I'm a firm believer that we parents want to do what's best for our families and we all have to decide what that is for ourselves. We're probably all itching to get out and see people again, to experience something outside of our own hometowns again. But we all should make our own decisions about when and how to do that, especially when restrictions on camping after COVID-19 lift. No matter who else is or isn't traveling, no matter what anyone else says you should do or can do in the coming months, if you don't feel comfortable traveling this summer, don't do it. Find an alternative. Create fun elsewhere. You can even camp in your backyard instead (here are some tips for making it super fun).
#4 - Don't expect anyone else to protect and clean for your family.
Bring your own cleaning supplies and clean for yourself. Make your own family rules and talk about them with your family members. In the words of my nurse friend Deb, "We don't know, definitively, how long the virus lasts on different surfaces. We don't know about aerosolization, that is, how long the virus lasts in the air and at high enough concentrations to infect others. My rule of thumb is this: I don’t trust anyone else’s ability and/or desire to keep me and my family safe."
#5 - Keep practicing physical distancing.
It'll be hard for us to see people we care about and not be able to give them a big warm hug, but experts still say that staying 6 feet away from others (some say 10 feet if hiking or exercising) is absolutely essential for avoiding the spread of the coronavirus. Save your hugs for your husband and kiddos - or give one to yourself even. Talk to your kids about how to play with their friends while practicing physical distancing. Show them how it's done. It's certainly a new normal, but we can do it.
#6 - Arm yourself to the teeth with masks, cleaning supplies, and sanitizers.
All three of my nurse friends agreed that taking your own hand soap, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, masks, and gloves (if used properly) camping with you is a good idea. Wipe down everything your family will touch that someone else has likely touched from water spigots to picnic tables and everything in between. Here's a note from my friend Tanya: "I may even go as far as to say spraying permanent fixtures at your campsite down with a disinfectant before your family uses/touches them would not be a bad idea. You never know what has been left behind from the campers that were there before you."
#7 - Be especially careful about bathrooms and playgrounds.
If you can avoid using the public restrooms, do it. If you can't, ideally use a bathroom that isn't crowded and only allows one family in at a time. (If they are crowded, notify campground managers that you need help.) Supervise your kids in the bathroom and clean surfaces before they use them, and be sure everyone washes their hands for at least 20 seconds each time. To that point, my friend Heather said this: "If using your own camper bathroom isn't an option, I would suggest taking sanitizer or Clorox wipes into the bathhouse to use to wipe down handles, fixtures, and handrails. These items could be stored in a shower caddy to be close at hand."
Playgrounds should probably be avoided too, as much as we hate to hear that. Here's what my friend Tanya said, "It’s very difficult for little kids to keep their hands out of their nose, mouth & eyes with unsanitized hands after touching playground equipment."
#8 - Bring your own food.
Minimize your trips to the grocery store and restaurants by bringing food from home. The less you go into enclosed public places, the lower your risk will be, so plan ahead for food. If you can't bring all of your own food, call ahead to a grocery store close to your campground and ask if they could have your grocery order ready for pickup at a certain time on the day you arrive. Our local grocery stores are doing a lot of pickup services, and I'm actually loving not having to go into the store myself - I might never go grocery shopping again!
#9 - Be the most polite hiker on the trail.
When hiking trails open up, choose the ones less traveled or visit them at less popular times (before 10am or after 6pm). Keep your distance from other hikers by waiting or asking to go ahead of them instead of coming up close and passing. When you meet another hiker, step at least 6 feet off of the trail so that they can pass by. Bring plenty of your own water so that you aren't tempted to refill at public water fill stations.
#10 - Wash your hands more than you think you should - and then wash them again.
All three of my nurse friends talked about the importance of hand-washing in their advice to us, and not just when we use the bathroom or do the less-exciting camping tasks like emptying tanks and such. We should wash our hands for at least 20-30 seconds every time we're about to eat or drink, every time we catch ourselves touching our nose or eyes, and every time we're about to prepare any type of food for anyone. And probably again just for good measure.
#11 - Most importantly, don't let the stress get to you.
This is hard for everyone. If you're feeling like the weight of all of this extra stuff is crushing, you're not alone. We all just want to be able to do what we love again. We want at least one thing to go back to normal again. We want our lives back - at least in something as wild and wonderfully beautiful as camping. We know we're living in a new normal, but we want some of our old pleasures back too. Maybe through camping after COVID-19, we can have a bit of both - or maybe not.
I totally get it. Some days I don't know why I feel so on-edge, and then I remember that we're living through a pandemic, and that's stressful.
But we can do this - we can still have family togetherness in tough times like these.
I also realize that you might choose not to travel this summer (or might not be able to travel exactly where you want to go), so as someone who's basically been on a family camping trip for the past 6 and 1/2 years, I put together my own best tips for super fun camping trips you can have at home.
If you're staying home this summer and looking for some super fun backyard camping ideas, check them out here.
Whatever you choose, I hope you'll have so much peace in knowing that you're doing what you believe is best for your family.
Want to hang out with me on Instagram and see some fun family camping photos this summer?
Hop into our email group and shoot me a message. I'd love to hear from you!
