Lately I’ve seen a handful of blogposts on camping and or green travelling. On one hand I found these posts to be a little late in the season, although we just managed to make it back to the woods ourselves! We actually started planning the trip back in June, but gave up for a bit when we learned that campsites in a 1 to 2 hour drive were not to be had that late in the season — any and every site worth camping at was already reserved through August. However, an everlasting camping itch was in my bones, so in early August I went back to our camping pals and we made a second (and successful) attempt at identifying a close in, but sufficiently wild camping site.

Since both parties have a 14 month old (they are a week apart) we decided to make this a one night trip, figuring that we could live through a one night sleep disaster. Fortunately, Baby Green Me and is little pal were troopers — exploring and on the move so much during the daylight ours that they slept soundly from 7:30 PM to 7 AM — minus a 4:30 AM shriek session, which ended before I made it out of my sleeping bag and into their tent!

As I mentioned, I’ve been keeping my eye on various green camping trips and so I made mental note to pack as green as a could and be mindful of our decisions, so that I could re-port back the green (and no so green) aspects of our trip.

Transportation: Unfortunately, since we both own 5 passenger cars, but we were sporting 6 people (two in car seats) we couldn’t carpool, which in days past has been my preferred method to get to the campsite. However, as I mentioned we did pick a campsite that was only about 1.5 hours away and about 40 miles away from home, so we did not expend an excess of fuel.

Tents: We slept in three tents — two tents provided by our friends (expert back packers) and one big tent we borrowed from my Dad that we used for the kiddos — large enough to hold two pack-n-play cribs.  We camped at an established campsite, so we didn’t need to clear any plant matter or debree, but used instead “pre-made” tent sites, which is the most Earth friendly option.

Food: We used our whisper light camp stoves (one each) that have been on a zillion trips before to boil water to cook dehydrated dinners, make tea and hot cocoa and oat meal for breakfast. Since we were car camping I decided to bring my stainless tea pot (the one I notoriously burned earlier this year). A real kettle in the wildernesses is what I call living the life of luxury! We used reusable containers to pack in our dinner rice and oatmeal for breakfast and we recycled the box and a few other snack scraps and bottles.

Toiletries: We decided to use cloth diapers on Baby Green Me (as usual). He is a heavy wetter at night-time, so we figured it was the best way to go. We had no problems and I would do it again. We used Toms of Maine toothpaste to brush our teeth (we spat it out in the fire pit) and washed our faces with a damp wash cloth. Not too fancy, but we covered the basics!

Fire & S’mores: We used an established built in fire pit to make our camp fire and used wood that we bought at the store (who knows where it came from). Green & Blacks 85% Dark Chocolate was on sale at the the store, but we had to go with regular Graham Crackers and totally mainstream marsmallows. We tried the Mi-Del gramham crackers from VC (fortunately before we left) and even though I am a big “whole grains” peson they tasted more like bland and brittle crumbs than crackers (they do make a good on the go snack for kids). We ended up with Hain Graham Crackers and generic marshmallows — which you cannot buy a healthful or even natural version of… I swear that one day in the next 5 years I am going to learn how to make my own marshmallows, but for now I have bigger fish to fry in my kitchen!

Other things we did to “Leave No Trace” while camping and hiking: We stayed on the path; we used an established camping site; we used the on-site out-house; we parked in a designated parking spot; we put out our fire thoroughly (with water we brought); we didn’t use soap (just elbow grease and hot water) to wash our dinner pans/dishes and put dirty dish water in the fire pit; we didn’t taken any souvenirs (except photos) home with us; we picked up a bunch of cigarett buts (that some genius had left behind); we didn’t intentionally feed the wildlife (stinking birds did swipe graham crackers from the table and kiddos); we brought our own water and fuel; and we brought reusable rags, napkins etc. to wipe up messes and ourselves (we put them in a dirty laundry bag to be washed at home). We probably did a few other “green things” but, we’ve been back for over a week and I just wanted to get this post finished and published…

***I apologize for the lapse in writing, but I am busy prepping for my first EcoMom Party, which I am hosting Thursday night! The party should be lots of fun (and educational) — I have been working hard preparing an informative presentation and securing some eco-friendly goodies for my guests! I promise that once I have made it through the party (and some more canning, drying, and reusable bag making) I will get back to more regular posting!****