13 CAMPING CLOSE BY You don’t have to go far from the city to enjoy a quick camping weekend, especially if you have gear that can be ready to go at almost any time. In fact, you don’t have to leave the municipality at all. There’s a trio of provincial camping parks within HRM. Dollar Lake, Porters Lake, and Laurie provincial parks are all a short drive from downtown Halifax. Even better, you can get that out-in-thewoods feeling by staying at a hike-in site or a canoe-in site at Porter’s Lake. National Park with her two boys. They enjoy some organized activities, but apart from that, “We go swimming in the lake. We watch the stars. We don’t do too much,” she says. “Having tired kids is fine. Having exhausted kids who are crying is not fun.” “I’ve seen families try to overdo it and it just becomes a big blur,” says Deborah Green, who runs the Wayside campground just outside Halifax. “We’ve had people go, ‘We’re doing Nova Scotia today.’ The kids don’t get anything out of that.”
Chris Surette particularly likes Laurie Provincial Park. “It has some walk-in sites that are lovely and not too far. It feels like back-country, but it’s close to the city.”
Camping as Ritual
THE QUESTION OF DEVICES
We’ve been making family camping trips to P.E.I. National Park since our oldest, now 24, was six months old. Although they’re now adults, most summers our three kids still come, often joined by younger cousins. Part of the magic of camping is its ritual nature, returning to the same spots, sitting around the campfire, eating the same foods. As children grow, there’s a comfort in enjoying those rituals, and in experimenting with the growing freedom to explore in a safe environment where even mundane tasks like going to the bathroom (At night! Under the stars! With a flashlight!) can become an adventure. Evans stays in the same spot every year, not far from a playground. “It’s so easy. They know how to get to the playground and washroom, and they have some independence. With Alfie having Down Syndrome, I know he can be on his own, and I can sort of keep an eye from the campsite,” she says. “That’s what’s great about it. The independence and moving towards adulthood in a safe environment.” My nephew Sasha Martin-Maher, 14, has been camping with his family since early childhood, and loves the freedom that comes with it. “It’s not like the city. When you’re camping you can go wherever you want, as long as it’s not too far away, because there are almost no cars.” Bikes can help provide additional independence. Lucas says his family brought them for the first-time last year. “When you’re in a campground you can let them roam. Having one autistic child, we have to think about that, but her brothers can make sure she gets back to our tent. The campground is like their kingdom.” “Every year you’re allowed to do a bit more,” Martin-Maher says. “I always like starting fires for cooking. That’s fun.”
Camping used to be an opportunity to get offline and step away from social and other media. No more. Most places have cell coverage, and many have free Wi-Fi. Do you let your kids use their devices all they want? Set limits? Or ban them altogether? Chris Surette thinks arguing with kids over devices is counterproductive. While he agrees “there’s a time when you should put your phones down and be immersed in the environment,” he also says families can use phones to enhance their camping experience. “You certainly don’t want your kids playing on their iPads or whatever the whole time, but you can embrace it a bit. Geo-caching is awesome, and there are apps you can use to identify different species of plants, birds, or trees… that can be fun too.” Alice Evans, who camps with her two boys, says she takes a portable DVD player for movies when it’s raining. She says her boys “might say they miss their devices, but I don’t think they do. I think they get used to it pretty quickly.” When all else fails (and if your children are young enough), campground owner Deborah Green says you can always try fibbing: “It’s the country. The Internet’s down, or the password doesn’t work.”