We were sitting in our backyard recently and I noticed something I’d never noticed before. Two of our palms were perfectly spaced to hang our hammock. A nearby was a spot perfect for a fire pit. Trees for the hammock, a safe spot for a fire pit, and plenty of room to sprawl. This is stuff I look for when camping. Why had I never thought of it in our own backyard?
So that got me thinking… How important is the site to the camping experience? When we called Camp Venice Retreat in November to book a week’s stay, I tried to cut straight to the chase with the manager, Tamara. I’d eyed their site map, but those things can be so deceiving. Often not drawn to scale and designed to make every site look spacious enough for Will Smith’s monster rig, you don’t know if the site they’re offering is the spatial equivalent of a parking spot at the outlet mall.
All their sites are full hook-up. Almost anywhere we camp, that’s table stakes. So we moved to some side wagers. Would we be on the tree-covered row backing up to the Myakka River? Was the spot shaded? Is it big enough for our dog’s zip line and some yard games and plenty of privacy and, and, and…
Tamara seemingly had heard it before. She’s already moved us from a site down the row to one of her “favorite” spots on the row. But…? “All our sites there are covered. And yes, it’s big.” I could see Tamara shaking her head.
We don’t demand much when picking a site. Trees for some daytime shade and later, to project some nighttime “fleas in the trees” from our laser light. Maybe we’ll string up that hammock and the zip line for Stella’s leash. We’d want a big site, not necessarily for seclusion, but so we’re not on top of the next guy or forced to whisper because they can hear a peep.
Besides, if you want true seclusion while camping, boondock.
Waterfront? Absolutely. A pool beside the clubhouse? Hardly.
So I posed the question to the #TravelTrailerLife Facebook group. My ask went something like this: “Writing a blog on must-haves for a campsite: Space, tree cover (or trees to hang your hammock), waterfront, seclusion, RV resort with a pool and clubhouse… What’s your Must Have? (All Of The Above is NOT an answer! Share pix)
The first guy answered simply, “Beer.” Can’t argue there. But seriously, Dave, we were looking for a little more, you know, camping.
The second answer warned of flying pests and noseeums. Casey suggested a spray called “Florida” and a fishing shirt with bug protection woven in.
Colleen wrote, “a spot as far as possible from a children’s playground.” Fair enough.
Jess had some simple requests. “A few must haves for our family are waterfront, privacy, flat site and clean! We’re not too hard to please.” Jess shared a pic from Kimball Point on Kerr Lake along the North Carolina / Virginia border.
Ashley summed up her needs in a word. Space. “We often boondock in the northern Nevada desert without a soul around. So when we are in a campground, we like it to still feel a little secluded. Even if that’s just a row of tall hedges between sites. Also, something to do within walking distance. We travel with two cattle dogs, so a beach, river, large meadow, something like that.”
It’s much the same when we go to music festivals. We look for large spots with space for chairs and fire pits and friends we might meet or pick up along the way. And plenty of those well-placed trees to hang hammocks and tapestries and to cast those fleas in the trees.
We’ve even biked the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, eyeballing the grounds and jotting down site numbers for spots with lots of what we like.
We occasionally dig solitude, or as much as you’ll ever find at a music festival with thousands of fans ambling about.
We also make note of things we don’t want. That includes the bathhouse backing up the campsite, which encourages passersby to pass through our site (obviously they didn’t get the memo with Rule One of camping – Never cut through a stranger’s campsite).
Another on my not-on-my-site list: intrusive lighting. A full moon straight overhead around midnight is charming. Somewhere along the even 50s on SOSMP’s Loop camping area is a street light that shines that intense glow of an interrogation lamp like some noir cop flick.
So if you have a chance, think twice.
Where you park your rig, open your chair, and hang your hammock or string up your tapestries have as much an impact on the memories you’ll gather as the camping trip itself.