How to arrive at a campground in the middle of the night
When we take adventures that are farther away, we usually find a campground on the way. Campgrounds are much cheaper than a hotel and you already have everything you need with you. Even though we’ve done this many times, it’s always a struggle.
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After you fumble around trying to figure out the after hours pay system (if there is one), circle the campground at least twice. Even though it’s dark, you’re tired of driving and you can’t really see the sites, you still want the best one available.
SNAFU Tip #1: bring two tents and a car bag that includes jammies and sleep gear (like full-size pillows). These are not for the adventure, just the preadventure. You’ll be more comfortable for this short night of sleep and you won’t have to unpack as much stuff in the middle of the night.
Park your vehicle so you can use the car’s headlights to set up camp. (DON’T point them at other sites.) Try to minimize the opening and closing of car doors while digging around in the car for gear. Because, even though you tried to pack the car to make this part of the trip easier (see SNAFU Tip #1), after driving for 6-8 hours, everything that should have been on top is now on the bottom.
SNAFU Tip #2: be careful with the car key so you don’t accidentally set off the alarm and wake the whole campground. If you haven’t annoyed at least one or two other campers by now this will do it.
Find the bathrooms, brush teeth, and snuggle into bed. Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow will probably be a long day.
FYI, this is a good time to have an air mattress (or other gear) mishap. We’ve had an air mattress fail on us two different times. One was not repairable and we were lucky enough to find a Walmart on the way and took a bulky Ozark air mattress with us on the Spanish River. The second time we were able to repair it once we had camp set up in Quetico.
SNAFU Tip #3: Learn how to do repairs in the field. Read about the importance of testing your gear ahead of time here.
Happy SNAFUing!
Sarah
P.S. Sometimes getting to the adventure is an adventure in itself! Leave a comment and share your best (or worst) middle of the night campground story? Don’t have one yet? Check out my trip planning services to help your next adventure go a little smoother, or help you create some SNAFU stories 😉