The Perfect Campsite

Let’s say you’ve cleared a weekend, or a week, or two. You’ve got the gear, the family is excited. Now it is up to you. You must find the perfect campsite to use those precious vacation days and build fond family memories.

I’ll say right now, it probably doesn’t exist. The search for perfection is inherently setting yourself up for failure. That said, I’ve had many that come pretty darn close. Some of them were blind luck, some were circumstantial, but some were honestly a matter of planning. So how do you find at least a good site out of the thousands upon thousands out there?

Timing is Everything

There are more options now than ever but also a lot more competition. This means that you definitely need to look ahead. In my early days of camping, I would often just show up at a campground and drive around. “That sight look good?” “Sure.” “Ok, let’s go up and register.” I’m not saying that you can’t still do that, especially at off times and local campgrounds. However, we recently changed our August family trip this year because the sites we originally wanted were already booked for every weekend of that month. This was in March.

The Michigan state park reservation system opens up sites for advance booking six months out. Other states and parks I’ve gone through are similar but be sure to look. My advice? If at all possibly be looking a year out. After you put your trip time in your calendar, also set a day to reserve it based on how early you can do this. This doesn’t mean you need to be at the computer at midnight waiting for it to open, but if you’re looking at a summer weekend at a popular spot, you might want to do just that.

Don’t let missing out on that ideal site wreck all your other plans though. If nothing is open, there’s not much you can do, but don’t let being picky get in the way. There’s obviously a reason you want to go to that particular spot. I’ve had some sites I was hesitant to book on description that turned out really nice. Think of it like you would a hotel, if all you’re going to do there is sleep it’s less important than if you plan on spending a ton of time in the room. Generally, the trip is most about what you’re doing…

Activities

Why did you take that time off? Are you looking forward to fishing, hiking, swimming? Is this an inexpensive alternative to a hotel stay near some attraction? Or are you really just looking to spend a lazy summer day in a camp chair with a cold beverage roasting hotdogs?

The answer to those questions will decide your jumping off point. I’m lucky enough to be able to take multiple trips throughout the year. This means each one tends to focus on something different. If this trip is all you have for one reason or another, don’t fall into the trap of looking for everything at once. With a trip that’s a week or two long, different days can have different things going on, but choose what’s most important when starting to look.

If there’s a specific attraction, obviously start looking close to that. If there’s a list of activities you want to make sure you can do, you might want to try with a state park site and filter for options. Most of our trips are in state, and the Michigan DNR has two separate searches I use pretty extensively. The Recreation Search is good for your initial park search. I’ve found it’s easier to look for a specific activity or type of campground here, eg. Fishing, swimming, and hike-in sites. Then the Park and Harbor Reservation site to nail down and reserve the exact site at that park. There are numerous places online (Including Blogs😊) that can help you out. Don’t forget old school sources as well. I’ve got a few books on things like the top backpacking trips that might be a little dated, but still offer a good place to start.

It can be crazy overwhelming, particularly if you’re new to it. So, let’s say you’ve whittled those thousands of outdoor experiences down to a few hundred. Still a bit on overload. Next, let’s look at where that location is compared to where you are currently located.

Location and Distance

Some of the time, what you want to do, will dictate this for you. Other times, I actually start with this and worry about what we’ll do there second. This can seem odd, but if the chilling in a chair mentioned above is your speed, where the site is might be more important to you than what activities you can do there.

At least one of our annual trips has become trying out a new location with a cabin for just a weekend out of the house. This search has become: What’s the closest available that looks nice, but we haven’t been to. This style of motivation means that you’re widening your search each time.

Actually, this is how camping tends to be. If you’re new to this, I recommend starting close. Find a nearby campground for a weekend stay. As your trips get longer, and you’re looking for new experiences, you expand out.

I don’t like gas cost to be a large percentage of my budget, so I’m not one for driving all day for a weekend stay. In general, all else being equal start your search with the spots close to you and go out from there. More time at the location than in the car tends to be the way to go. If you are looking at a long drive though, check out a few tips to make it more bearable here.

Rustic vs Modern

This is one that can have a pretty big impact on your options. If you’ve read my other posts you likely know that I prefer things on the rustic side. I’ve honestly found that this can limit your search more than if you’re looking for the conveniences of home. A lot of campgrounds out there are geared to the RV traveler. So even if you’re in a tent, you’ll still have an electric hookup and modern bathrooms at numerous sites.

This varies much on the location and activities. So, make sure your adventure and your desire for comfort aren’t at odds with one another. If you decided you want to go backpacking but want to have showers and flush toilets, it’s going to be tricky finding a match.

Be sure to be clear on terminology as well. Not all “Modern” is created equal. Read the fine print in what is actually offered and look at the campground maps for where things are. Also, “Primitive” and “Rustic” are not synonymous, and “Backcountry” is a whole other ballgame. Rustic just means a campsite without power and modern plumbing on site. There is usually a picnic table, fire ring, a nearby handpump for water, and there might be full modern bathrooms at the campground elsewhere.

The short of the other two: Primitive tends to mean a cleared spot with no facilities (meaning dig your own bathroom), and backcountry is usually given when there are no designated sites, just guidelines for where you can put your tent.

All of these options have their place in my opinion. I always suggest that people try all of them. Maybe a tent at a modern site is your comfort level right now. However, after a few trips you might find some natural wilderness folks in your family that go all in for minimalism. Some of the fun is in the discovery.

Seclusion Level

I put this one further down the list because I tried to put these in the order of what most people would look at. For me, it’s something that can often come first.

When I go camping, I tend to want to be alone, meaning just the family. The further I can get out away from people and society the better. Does that sound antisocial, maybe, but I interact with a ton of people on a daily basis for work and in life in general. To me getting away from that is part of the vacation. Not everyone feels the same though.

I’ve known many people who go camping to be social, and there’s nothing wrong with that either. Where you fall on this divide can have a pretty big influence on not only where you go, but when. I personally love camping mid-week when possible. We’ve had times on a Wednesday with the weather a little chilly where my family have had whole campgrounds practically to ourselves. In fact, I stayed in a cabin with my middle boy where we were the only people there, with Higgins Lake still frozen over. Go to this same campground in July and you’re part of a throng.

These are the two extremes obviously. This will also depend on your Rustic vs Modern preference. I’ve been at some semi-modern sites that give you a pretty good tree line between sites. At others, there’s a good chance you’ll be lodged between two giant motor homes in a field. Same goes for rustic. I was at rustic site years ago that was honestly mowed squares in a field. No running water or power, but also no trees. All of this comes down to our next point.

The Site Itself

This is actually less important from my experience than you might think. However, I’m coming from a history of tent camping at mainly rustic sites. Less frills usually means less can go wrong. That doesn’t mean I’m not notoriously picky when it comes to deciding which of a handful of open sites I’m actually going to reserve.

First, I look at the camp map for bathrooms and water. This goes for modern and rustic sites alike. I don’t necessarily want to be a mile from the hand pump or outhouse, but being too close means random people will inevitably walk through your site on the way to those necessities.

Next I look at proximity to other sites. How important this is to you will depend on your feelings about seclusion level, but in any case, it’s good to know how close your neighbors are.

After that, it’s time to look at pictures if possible. Many reservation sites at various types of campgrounds have this. If nothing else, this gives you an idea of shade level and possibly the evenness of the ground. More and more, I’m also seeing brief descriptions like “slight slope and morning sun”. This is incredibly helpful if accurate. Last, I bring up Google maps and look at the satellite view for an idea of the area.

After all that, if you’re still not sure, you can always just have one of your travel companions pick the site from a narrowed down list. That way, if something goes wrong, it’s on them.

Signal Strength

When I first started camping extensively, this never would have entered my mind. The term “car phone” was relatively new, and what cell phones did exist wouldn’t have made the camping cut due to weight restrictions. As we all know, the changes in the past 30 years have been far from small. Nearly all of us have multiple forms of mobile tech and most of us don’t leave the house without our phone.

I’m not looking to debate if this is good or bad, at least in this post, but it can’t be ignored. So, I’ll take both sides. Maybe your self-restraint is limited, but you want to get away. This can mean a secluded site with sketchy or no signal is what you’re looking for. Maybe you’re looking to post to your blog and keep up on your twitter feed while you’re out. (Not naming any names.)

Either way, this is something I’ve noticed becoming more common in descriptions of various sites. I might even start making a note of it in my travels as well. I’ve been fairly surprised at some of the locations where my internet fails and flat out shocked where I end up getting a strong 5G signal.

This is one where you can always look at a usage map from your provider for some idea. Beyond that it’s largely a matter of reading up from what others who have been to the same location have said. If you know of a better way to work this one out before actually going, let me know, I’m definitely curious to know.

Conclusion

In the end, no campsite or location in general can truly make or break a trip. You will periodically hear horror stories, and I have my share. You will also hear of the magical summer trips so and so had at this or that location. I’ve been lucky enough to have those as well. I’ll tell you right now, with the beauty of hindsight, neither extreme was solely the result of where we were.

One of my most memorable outdoor experiences was at a camp site no place special, with pretty much nothing to do. A friend and I decided that rather than just sitting around we’d try our hand at some bushcraft and build a full two-man lean to we could sleep in. It even snowed that night, and it was as cozy as any tent. A true formative experience.

A camp site is just a starting point. Do your best to pick one that’s right for you, but in the end, it’s who you’re with and what you do that will truly make it a trip to remember.