Planning Your Camping Trip

All of the camping equipment and supplies you take with you depends on where you are going to go camping and what your camping activities are going to be. The fastest and easiest way to figure out where to go camping is to ask around. Ask your family and friends that camp where the best campgrounds they camped at are and you are done. But if you don't have any idea where you are going to camp and your friends and family can't help, I have some simple planning tips for you.

The Simple and Fastest Way (But not the Best Way)

Go buy a good US Road Atlas. Open it up to an area you are interested and look for a National or State Park. Pack up the family and take off. However, this is not the best way to plan a camping trip. All types of things could happen. You could get there and the campgrounds at the National or State Park are closed. Or you get there and all of the camping sites have already been taken up. Or you can't find a campground with any of the amenities you want, or camping activities you want to do nearby. Or any other number of things.

A Better Way (But Still Not the Best Way)

You can buy a Campground Guide Book. Flip through the guide book. Find a campground with all the amenities you could want and camping activities nearby. These camping guide books are good sources of information. They usually include lists of amenities, short little campground reviews and you can find numbers to campgrounds to make a reservation. But there are a few problems with these books. You have to buy them. They cost money. Also once they are printed that is it. It can't be updated until another edition is printed. Most of the campgrounds will be still there. But the conditions and camping amenities could have changed since the last edition. Or the campground could simply not be there anymore. Also some of these guide books are like the Yellow Pages. National and State Campgrounds might be included in these to add content. But private campgrounds have to pay to be included in these camping guide books. So you could miss out on some great campgrounds and good times.

The Best Way

Picking a spot to go camping on the map works, but there are a lot of problems with it. Campground Guide Books are an OK way to plan your camping trip. But there still is a better way. The way I plan a camping trip I believe is the best way. This is what I do. I use a couple of Free Online Tools to plan my family camping trips. What is great about the online tools are they are updated regularly. You can instantly see what you are looking for and find information on all the other camping activities near your destination. Two of the online resources I now are Reserve America and Google Maps

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Reserve America

With Reserve America you can search for campgrounds near your destination and make reservations. You can find most of the State Campgrounds, National campgrounds and KOA campgrounds in the US. Just put in where you want to go any US city or State will do, click on the amenities and camping activities you want, press a button and less then a minute Reserve America will spit out a long list of campgrounds near your destination. You can then click on each campground you are interested in. You will see all of the amenities they offer, look at maps of the campgrounds, choose a specific campsite and reserve it up to six months in advance. When you are done with Reserve America make sure you have printed the information on the campground. Note the address to the campground and go to Google Maps.

Google Maps

Google maps is the best free online tool for planning any family trip. Just enter your starting point and camping destination. You can add as many destinations as you want. You can also use Google Maps to search for gas stations and restaurants along your driving route. You can add these places to your route too. Click a button and Google Maps spits out your very own driving route complete with mileage and drive times. You can then print out the directions and maps or send them to your cell phone. I believe using Reserve America and Google Maps is the best way to plan your family camping trip. I can literally be done with picking the campground destination, make reservations, and figure out the route portion of the camping planning process in less than 15 minutes. Once you have these tools figured out it will save you so much time and brain power you will never go back to the old ways of planning a camping trip. Congratulations you have completed the Beginners Camping Course. By now you should be well on the way to becoming a camping expert.

What to do next

Visit our Camping Equipment page for articles on how to choose specific camping equipment. You can start with: How To Choose Family Tents and How To Choose a Sleeping Bag Or if you are ready to jump in feet first check out our RV Camping section.

You can start with: Types Of RVs and How To Buy An RV. Also check out my other article on how to use the online tools: Free Online Resources For Planning Your Camping Trip.

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Resources Used In This Article: US Road Atlas Campground Guide Books, Google Maps and Reserve America