I didn’t really believe there would be no internet on our recent camping trip. We live in an era where it seems that you can find anybody hiding almost anywhere in the world. I can shop while I’m at a baseball game. An internet void is almost incomprehensible. But no, if you are looking to stay connected while camping at Alouette Lake Campground in Golden Ears Provincial Park in British Columbia you will not be able to get signal unless a random blip or two for a second while you try to take pictures as you raft on the lake counts as internet at all.
It’s okay to go off the grid sometimes
So here’s a word of advice that you can take or leave: if you want to post pictures while on a trip where you don’t have clear signal-wait. You never want to end up in a vicious-what did I post? Did that actually post?!! Oh no did I post the wrong thing on the internet?!!-cycle. No one needs to see everything in real time and sometimes it’s good for us to leave the social media world for a little while.
I took my own advice and went off the grid for 48 hours.
It was heavenly to be in the forest with friends and their kids.
The biggest barrier to me and the outdoors (besides bugs, danger and no wifi) is always the bathrooms. I do not like public bathrooms and it’s almost a phobia. I was told I should be more than thankful for the flushable toilets at this Alouette Lake campsite in Golden Ears Park but they were very intimate toilets-with two stalls and a sink in a space smaller than in my not very large bathroom at home. I almost felt like introducing myself to the tooth-brusher at the sink while I went about my business.
“Hi, I’m Terumi…have you camped here before?”
And with limited showers there is really no such thing as forest bathing here unless you want to wait in a pretty long line. I peeked at the shower area, but the line was lengthy in another too intimate restroom space so I decided to forgo.
At least there is plenty of water in the lake. There are campfires and s’mores. And so many memories to be made. This is why we do this right?! Time together. Time with friends. And time to be one with Mother Nature.
Camping Gear and Tips if you Camp with kids
For next time we all said we needed to remember to bring a little broom and dustpan to keep our tents clean. Our tent by the way is one from REI that we bought a few years ago and a friend got a cool tent that you can put on top of your vehicle and there are a bunch at REI so I’m so glad this is a local Seattle store. And if we’re talking about camping dream lists can I please one day dream of a portable cabana sized bathroom. I put my other camping needs and wants like walkie talkies and fun pool floats in my Amazon Store so you might want to check it out if you’re heading to the brave outdoors anytime soon. I also have a Pinterest board for camping ideas too.
Also here’s my biggest camping tip: bring a ziplock bag for your electric keys. We have had a few mishaps with keys since ours are the type that aren’t actually keys anymore. One of our kids suggested that we put them in ziplock bags because we have dropped them in water a few times while hiking and it’s terrifying to wonder if you can actually drive home after you drop your keys in water. We’ve also left our electric keys on the roof while packing up our inflatable SUP’s and driven away because apparently you can when your electric keys are on your roof. They fell of on the highway and broke and I had to run out and get them so we wouldn’t be stuck in yet another area with no cell reception or wifi.
When to book your Campsite in British Columbia
We had to book our campsite way in advance! If you want to camp in summer in British Columbia put a reminder in your calendar to start checking-last year they did away with an opening day and you can now start booking your campsite 4 months in advance).
(PS For us non campers who don’t really like camping bathrooms, camping should be limited to about two nights max. The kids however would disagree-they’ve loved camping since they first went years ago. )
Do you camp with your kids? What has been a campsite that your family has really enjoyed? Do you have any camping tips? (If you have a blogpost feel free to link it below!)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)