Camping With Kids

GORP Family Expert Alice Cary has literally written the book on adventuring in the outdoors with a family. Here, GORP brings you a taste of the real deal. Here's the most important piece of camping advice I can give you. Arrive at your campsite early so you'll have plenty of time to set up, get settled, and enjoy yourselves. If you don't, you might as well stay home or check into a Holiday Inn.

A common mistake is to spend much of the day hiking, biking, or canoeing, trying to cram as much as possible into 24 hours. You may be having such a good time that nobody wants to stop. But you're likely to pay later, with hungry, tired children, approaching darkness, and a mad scramble to make camp.

Remember when on a camping trip that being at your campsite is a major focus of the day.