Perhaps you already know many of the skills to be learned during our family camping weekend, like fire building, setting up a tent, cooking over the fire. Come share your knowledge with other families on the trip, or learn some more advanced survival skills like starting bow drill fires (left) or building a shelter.

Or maybe you’re versed in camping, but your family simply doesn't have the gear. The upfront costs of tents, sleeping bags, and other equipment, can be another real barrier to family camping. We try and lower that barrier a bit by providing food, gear, and guidance on this fun family trip. Then once you feel empowered to try camping on your own, contributing members of the Center can borrow that same gear for free!

Still though, there’s something about this trip though that’s deeper than learning some skills and getting access to camping gear. More elementally appealing is the plain and simple experience of having a good time!

Picture it: your tents have been pitched, the wood pile is up to your waist, your kids are being led in a game by Ecology Center staff with the new friends they’ve just made, and you’ve got no worries except that your marshmallow is getting so puffy and golden that it might just fall off your stick.

In the two Overnight Family Camping Trips we’ve led in the past, the families who have come to know Blue Heron’s 90 secluded acres along the Milwaukee River have found a deeper appreciation for the wild spaces just a stone’s throw from their city. They’ve also come to see their family in a new way - with new capacities for fun, new lines of interdependence drawn, and the warm light of shared memories cast over it all.

Camping is a skill I’m grateful to have learned. I love the fact that with a full backpack, a willing pair of legs, and a bit of luck with the weather I’m able to be at home almost anywhere I please.

Though this may sound like an overabundance of confidence, the more I camp, the more I realize it’s less about assertion yourself in the outdoors and more about acceptance and appreciation for the nature around you. Whatever it is about camping that makes it so special, I’d love to share the experience with you all.

Hope to see you there!

Family Overnight Camping Trip

Saturday, September 20th | noon - Sunday, September 21st | 11 a.m.

Click here for more info and to register.

Registration is due by September 18th