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Trading Web sites for campsites

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By Alma Gaul | Friday, July 04, 2008 |

I remember so wanting to go camping as a kid. It sounded like such an adventure, sitting around a campfire in the dark and sleeping outdoors.

Because our family had no camping equipment and wasn’t about to buy any, I talked my dad into juryrigging a makeshift “tent” in the backyard of our farmhouse with a canvas tarp he normally used to cover grain wagons.

He draped this tarp over our picket fence, creating a triangular-shaped indoor space, and I lined the ground with quilts.

Although I was only a few feet from our back door, I counted this as camping and was proud when the sun came up the next morning and I had survived an entire night outside in the dark by myself, with all the nighttime sounds that are scary because you don’t know what they are.

A few years later, one of my older sisters moved to Idaho and began real camping — in real parks, with real equipment — and I was often able to join her, making great memories.

I bring this up because last night was the Great American Backyard Campout, sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation as an idea for family fun that doesn’t cost a lot.

The campout is also part of the federation’s campaign to rescue our nation’s kids from what author Richard Louv calls “nature deficit disorder.”

The federation is concerned that, with so many kids spending so much time in front of electronic screens, an entire generation is growing up disconnected from nature. This is disturbing because if our children don’t know or care about nature, how can they be expected to maintain it for the future?

Camping is a way to make that connection.

And beyond that, camping is fun, an adventure and gold-standard quality time. Sure, it can be scary, uncomfortable and a lot of work. But that is part of the adventure, and the things you talk about later.

If you’ve never camped, you could start by going with someone who has (and has equipment), or you could try a version of my backyard adventure.

More ideas can be found on the wildlife federation’s Web site at www.backyardcampout.org.

Among the must-pack items: bug spray. The last time I went camping, I got more than 65 insect bites on my legs and actually contemplated calling in sick the following Monday because I was crazy with itching. That’s a camping memory you’ll want to avoid.

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com.