How to Make Outdoor Adventures Memorable

It's always amazing when you can get outside with family and friends for new outdoor adventures. To make your trip in the great outdoors memorable, it's a good idea to have a lot of options in your arsenal to maximize your getaway and enjoy your time. In addition to outdoor adventure gear, you also want to be ready with a list of games and activities to enjoy. For camping trips, it’s great to be out in nature but it's also easy to get restless unless you schedule some fun activities.

From scavenger hunts to disc golf to star gazing, there are many intriguing activities to do on your camping trip. We have included several games and activities that you can play anywhere. So, pick out a few of your favorites from this list and let the adventuring begin!

Scavenger Hunt

This a great activity for the whole family. Start by making a list of common items in nature. Set a time limit if you want or just go exploring to see how many of them you can find. It can be physical items, like a rock or pinecone, or something not as tangible, like a cloud that looks like a dinosaur, a waterfall or bald eagle. Then, you can use the physical items to create nature art around your campsite.

Disc Golf

If anyone in the group likes to play golf, they’ll probably like disc golf too. Although this game has been around since the 1970s, it’s still not well known. Like golf, the winner of disc golf has the fewest number of throws (instead of hits). In disc golf, you throw a flat disc into a post installed in the ground with a sleeve.

Typically, a metal basket is the target. As each player makes their way down the fairway, every throw counts. You must start from the position of your last throw. If a shot goes wide, it can take you further away from the course. When the small flat disk makes it into the base, you’ve completed the hole.

Try adding new pin locations to keep the game interesting. A disc golf basket sleeve is used to set up additional basket locations for any hole. It installs quickly into the ground so that you can move the basket. Renlicon makes a universal disc golf basket sleeve compatible with most baskets. Made of a 2-inch pipe, it’s 18” in length, made in the USA and won’t take up much space among your other outdoor adventure gear. Simply attach the basket anchor to the disc golf basket sleeve via an interlocking tab.

Hiking

Wherever your outdoor adventure takes you, there is a hike for everyone. Before you leave on your trip, map out local hikes near your camping site by researching online or getting a hiking guidebook. There are also some great apps to use like the All Trails app – just make sure you don’t rely on it completely in case you don’t have cell reception where you’ll be hiking.

Hiking is all about enjoying the company (or some peace and quiet!) and immersing yourself in the great outdoors. It allows you to explore new places, some off the beaten path, that you’ve never seen before. There are hikes for every skill level. Remember to hike smart by packing the appropriate outdoor adventure gear for your hiking destination to stay safe and prepared.

Fly Fishing

Your hiking adventure may take you to the perfect fly fishing stream – or it may your destination. Fly fishing is a great multi-generational activity that can be enjoyed with children, grandparents and all ages in-between. From beginners to experts, it’s enjoyed by people with varying skill levels. Fly fishing can be done in fresh or salt water. The fish are caught by using artificial flies that are cast with a fly rod and a fly line. Author Izaak Walton has called fly fishing “the contemplative man’s recreation.” Be sure to check any fishing license requirements at your location and whether it’s catch and release or if you can take it to cook for dinner.

Paddle Boarding

Stand up paddle boarding is a great outdoor activity if you’ll be camping near a lake. Essentially, you stand at full height on your paddle board and use paddles, similar to canoe paddles, to move yourself through the water. Not only is it a fun way to be out on the water but it also gives you a full-body workout. Depending on where you’ll be camping, you can often rent paddle board gear. But when people decide they love it they end up buying their own paddle board and a few other key pieces to add to their outdoor adventure gear. If you’ll be trying paddle boarding for the first time, choose a calm body of water, a sunny day with little to no wind, and a sandy beach where you can easily launch your vessel.

Birdwatching

This may sound like a boring activity or something that people do in their later years, but it can be interesting. Think about when you wake up in the morning while camping. What’s the first thing you hear? Usually, it’s the birds chirping, and learning about what you’re listening to can be an enlightening and therapeutic experience. Not much outdoor adventure gear is needed for birdwatching! All you need is a good pair of binoculars, a notebook to jot down what you’re seeing – like color, size, beak type, nest material, sounds and anything else you think might be relevant. Then, compare your observation notes to a birdwatching app or guidebook to identify the type of bird.

Cooking

It doesn’t matter where you are, food brings people together. And maybe even more so when camping – especially after a memorable day of hiking, fly fishing and paddle boarding! Depending on the type of camping you’re doing, you may set up an area that’s your camp kitchen or bring the basics and plan on cooking the day’s catch around the campfire. Either way there’s nothing like a shared meal together in the great outdoors to fuel you for the next day’s adventures.

Games

Camping gives you the opportunity to unplug and connect with others. Playing games is a great way to have some fun. Horseshoes, cornhole, frisbee, wiffle ball, cards games and words games around the campfire not only create fun moments they make for some lasting memories.

S’mores Board

What’s sitting around with campfire, without s’mores, right? S’mores these days can be made of so much more than graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars. When you do your camping grocery shopping trip, add the following to the list:

• Peanut butter cups
• Nutella
• Andes mints
• Strawberries
• Yogurt dipped pretzels
• Cookies
• Raspberries

This list is just the beginning! The possibilities really are endless for your s’more board but will definitely make for a delicious and memorable evening around the campfire.

Star Gazing

There isn’t much outdoor adventure gear you need for star gazing! A dark location is the only requirement. You can take your star gazing up a notch by bringing a cozy blanket or chairs to sit on or even a telescope. But sitting under the night sky counting the number of shooting stars you need and seeing if you can remember how to find the constellations you learned about in science class is more than enough!

Wherever your next outdoor adventure takes you, we hope these ideas help make it memorable. At Renlicon we believe that camping and outdoor adventures should be about maximum fun and minimal frustration.