Camping During COVID: Here’s How It Went

We finally had a chance to try camping during COVID! The best camping season in Texas is just getting started. It’s way too hot in the summer to camp in any fun way. In the Spring, we were in total lockdown.

So this past weekend was our first chance to go camping in a long while. Here’s the breakdown of how it went in case you are interested:

Camping During COVID: Group

The close friends that we have been quarantining with invited us to go camping with them. Matt and I dragged our feet on securing a spot at the same campground. By the time I finally got around to it, the entire park was booked. Luckily, our friends came to our rescue and let us share a site. Fortunately, it was plenty big for both families.

Additionally, they invited along one other family that we all know through Bayden-Powell Scouts. That family had the site right next to us, which was really fun.

The whole experience felt very safe. It’s so easy to stand six feet away from each other in the great outdoors. Additionally, being outdoors seems to help reduce the risk of transmission.

Location

We camped at Lake Whitney State Park (about 2 hours from Austin). It was definitely a neat spot on a cool lake. However, it wasn’t at the top of my list of favorite camping spots. The sites seemed really close together and felt kind of crowded.

All of us moms took a walk along the lake trail, and it was a really secluded experience. That was one of my favorite parts.

Our Schedule

Matt and I only wanted to go for one day, since we’ve been pretty exhausted lately. So we had our regular movie night fun on Friday. Saturday morning, Matt took the dog that we are watching for two months (if you want more info, be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter!) out to Doggie Camp. I let the boys get their Saturday screen time while I prepped everything we needed.

Since I’m doing Noom, I’m being a lot more thoughtful about what I put into my body and how to stay within the recommended calorie allowance every day. I ate a really light breakfast and went ahead and entered a sandwich into my food log, since we were planning on grabbing sandwiches along the way. Then as I prepped all the food for our trip, I went ahead and entered it into my food log.

Our Menu

Our friends wanted to do “on your own” meals, so here’s what we did for our family.

• Lunch = Grab sandwiches on the way out of town
• Snacks = cucumbers, bell peppers, strawberries, grapes, granola bars
• Dinner = Beyond meat burgers (cooked on our Coleman stove), with cheese, sliced tomatoes, pickles, and barbecue sauce + chips and fruit
• Breakfast = Pancakes! I made the batter in advance and then used a funnel to transfer it from the bowl into a water bottle. Then we stored the water bottle in the cooler. I brought along some butter in a little container and just brought the whole bottle of syrup.

Our Set-Up

We store all of our camping gear in one spot in the attic, so when it’s time to go, we grab everything and put it in the car. I keep a list on the PackingList app that helps me remember absolutely everything (like the vitamins the boys have to take every day for their MTHFR deficiency). Our big Tupperware container contains all the small things that would be awful to repack every time (like a cutting board, knife, spatula, oven mitt, lighter, sponge, pans, forks, etc.).

Our tent continues to be awesome. It literally pops into place. There is no piecing together of poles or sliding them through loops whatsoever.

I continue to love our mattress pads. And Matt and I both bring pillows from our regular bed! It’s very comfortable.

Even so, my mantra is always: “You don’t go camping for the sleep.” I woke up at 1:30am and read my book until my battery died around 5am. Yikes!

When we go for one day, the lack of sleep definitely doesn’t matter, and I honestly just wear the same clothes the next day. Oh, I also don’t shower! So it makes everything really easy.

And I love the string lights we hang around our tent.

It was a really smooth and fun experience. As I work on having more fun and building more connection with friends next year, I will definitely try to do more camping!

My friends and I need to work on booking sites 5 months in advance. Camping is a really popular activity in Austin! And camping during COVID is even more popular.