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Camping with Kids: The Best Family Campgrounds in British Columbia and Alberta (Heritage, 2004) / Camping British Columbia (Heritage, 2004)
The conceit that creativity is more important to society than practicality is deeply entrenched. Consider, if you will, the lowly guidebook author. Ineligible for grants, he or she generally spends more money, and takes more time on their work, than sedentary poets or novelists, but their useful work seldom garners press or praise. Even cookbooks get more hype. The business of helping people not get lost, not get prosecuted, and learning how to do stuff for themselves, is considered too déclassé for anyone to offer a Best Guidebook Award, and yet hundreds of thousands of British Columbians depend on guidebooks every day-such as Jayne Seagrave's camping guides.
Newly pregnant in 1998, Jayne Seagrave was asked by her publisher if she'd consider writing a follow-up book about camping with children. After spending five nights in a tent with an eight-month-old in 1999, she told him such a book would consist of one word: DON'T.
"For ten years I camped in B.C. with only my spouse,"; she says, "and occasionally the province's mosquito population for company. Since having children, there are times when I wonder if the mosquitoes would be preferable to my two young sons. As a mother I know you are not supposed to say that children radically change your life-but they do.";
Now, after five years of camping with two kids, Seagrave has come to appreciate the joys and the economics of get-away-from-it-all experiences with her family. Sleeping in the same tent under the stars beats the latest violent Hollywood blockbuster, but she's not a camping purist. She says camping with a rented motorhome is highly recommended if children are under age three.
Her commonsensical Camping with Kids: The Best Family Campgrounds in British Columbia and Alberta (Heritage $17.95) has fuzzy family pix, down-to-earth advice and plainspoken site summaries. With a Ph.D in criminology, Seagrave isn't out to impress anyone. There are historical bits and an emphasis on rainy-day activities. Only 21 full service sites are included; just three of these are in Alberta. But Seagrave's combination of hokiness and smarts provide the boost some families might need to get off the sofa and into the woods.
Simultaneously she's released Jayne Seagrave's Camping British Columbia (Heritage $19.95), the fourth edition since 1997. It comes with cooking and preparation tips, maps, camping rules and websites to consult. She points out BC Parks has produced a map that details all provincial parks and their activities, available for just $2.95. She also recommends the 4th edition of the 140-page British Columbia Recreational Atlas. She provides a handy list of the 69 provincial campgrounds that take reservations at 1-800-689-9025.
The appeal of Seagrave's books is that she's not an outdoors snob. For her family, it's not about tackling the mountains, finding the most remote waterfall or buying the best boots. It's about roasting wieners on a stick. Seagrave began her camping career with a tiny tent and a 1974 Ford Pinto. Unprepared, she and her partner didn't have an axe so they had to scrounge unused wood left by predecessors.
"One of the tremendous joys of camping is learning how to do it,"; she says.
Part of that learning curve (don't forget the toilet paper, the candles, the garbage bags, the bug spray, THE MATCHES...) is learning the ropes of the new provincial parks system that has curtailed free firewood, free parking, interpretive programs for kids and campground hosts. If you go down to the woods today... you can stay up to 14 nights in one spot. Fees range from $9 to $22 per day for provincial sites, and up to $24 for national parks (GST included).
Don't forget the corkscrew. Seagrave points out it's legal to drink in your open-air hotel site.
"I had camped for years before I learned it was okay to consume a glass of wine with our dinner,"; she says. "I guiltily hid my drink from the park attendant [who] I thought would expel me for my transgression. On one such occasion, discovered and expecting to meet the full wrath of the BC Parks employee, I cowered and apologized. All he said was, 'You can drink here. This is your home away from home. It is only in the public sections of the park that alcohol is prohibited.";
For the more adventurous camper, Kathy Copeland's Camp Free in B.C., Vol II (Knowbotics $18.95) has directions to 260 free Forest Service campgrounds, accessible by 2WD cars and RVs.
Camping with Kids 1-894384-55-5
Camping B.C. 1-894384-54-7; Camp Free 0-969801-66-1
Newly pregnant in 1998, Jayne Seagrave was asked by her publisher if she'd consider writing a follow-up book about camping with children. After spending five nights in a tent with an eight-month-old in 1999, she told him such a book would consist of one word: DON'T.
"For ten years I camped in B.C. with only my spouse,"; she says, "and occasionally the province's mosquito population for company. Since having children, there are times when I wonder if the mosquitoes would be preferable to my two young sons. As a mother I know you are not supposed to say that children radically change your life-but they do.";
Now, after five years of camping with two kids, Seagrave has come to appreciate the joys and the economics of get-away-from-it-all experiences with her family. Sleeping in the same tent under the stars beats the latest violent Hollywood blockbuster, but she's not a camping purist. She says camping with a rented motorhome is highly recommended if children are under age three.
Her commonsensical Camping with Kids: The Best Family Campgrounds in British Columbia and Alberta (Heritage $17.95) has fuzzy family pix, down-to-earth advice and plainspoken site summaries. With a Ph.D in criminology, Seagrave isn't out to impress anyone. There are historical bits and an emphasis on rainy-day activities. Only 21 full service sites are included; just three of these are in Alberta. But Seagrave's combination of hokiness and smarts provide the boost some families might need to get off the sofa and into the woods.
Simultaneously she's released Jayne Seagrave's Camping British Columbia (Heritage $19.95), the fourth edition since 1997. It comes with cooking and preparation tips, maps, camping rules and websites to consult. She points out BC Parks has produced a map that details all provincial parks and their activities, available for just $2.95. She also recommends the 4th edition of the 140-page British Columbia Recreational Atlas. She provides a handy list of the 69 provincial campgrounds that take reservations at 1-800-689-9025.
The appeal of Seagrave's books is that she's not an outdoors snob. For her family, it's not about tackling the mountains, finding the most remote waterfall or buying the best boots. It's about roasting wieners on a stick. Seagrave began her camping career with a tiny tent and a 1974 Ford Pinto. Unprepared, she and her partner didn't have an axe so they had to scrounge unused wood left by predecessors.
"One of the tremendous joys of camping is learning how to do it,"; she says.
Part of that learning curve (don't forget the toilet paper, the candles, the garbage bags, the bug spray, THE MATCHES...) is learning the ropes of the new provincial parks system that has curtailed free firewood, free parking, interpretive programs for kids and campground hosts. If you go down to the woods today... you can stay up to 14 nights in one spot. Fees range from $9 to $22 per day for provincial sites, and up to $24 for national parks (GST included).
Don't forget the corkscrew. Seagrave points out it's legal to drink in your open-air hotel site.
"I had camped for years before I learned it was okay to consume a glass of wine with our dinner,"; she says. "I guiltily hid my drink from the park attendant [who] I thought would expel me for my transgression. On one such occasion, discovered and expecting to meet the full wrath of the BC Parks employee, I cowered and apologized. All he said was, 'You can drink here. This is your home away from home. It is only in the public sections of the park that alcohol is prohibited.";
For the more adventurous camper, Kathy Copeland's Camp Free in B.C., Vol II (Knowbotics $18.95) has directions to 260 free Forest Service campgrounds, accessible by 2WD cars and RVs.
Camping with Kids 1-894384-55-5
Camping B.C. 1-894384-54-7; Camp Free 0-969801-66-1
Submitted on May 19, 2004 in By David.
