View Full Version : Families where no one else likes mountains and camping in the woods?
greenmtnboy
08-25-2015, 15:21
Probably this is not something unique to me, but everyone else in my family goes to the beach for vacations. I can't think of anyone else in the family who likes the mountains. I enjoyed the northern woods and camping/hiking when I was in boy scouts. Is this unique or do others here have this experience? Thanks.
Traveler
08-25-2015, 15:39
I am sure there are lots of great reasons people enjoy the beach scene. However, I have never understood the romance of what goes into a beach day. Fighting traffic to reach the beach, staking out a spot you like, only to have a family of 7 park right in front of you and throw up two beach tents and four umbrellas that not only block your view but stop any breeze coming off the water from reaching you. Then dealing with sand that seems to get literally everywhere and reappears in mid winter somehow. Baking in the sun alongside some nice folks who are only 2 feet off your kit and kind enough to share their Kabuki Dance CDs at a volume the Rolling Stones would say turn down. Shooing sand bees of most anything you try to eat and the lovely grit feeling of chewing food with light beach sand that is drifting behind the tent in front of you, whipping your skin as you smile politely at the small children who just ran through your blankets and knocked over the cooler.
I believe I will let those who gravitate to that type of living enjoy it to their fullest and whilst they do that, I shall be somewhere in the mountains at a distance that I cannot smell the coconut oil and stale beer.
Its not that there is something wrong with you, though I would continue to use that excuse.
peakbagger
08-25-2015, 16:16
Active versus passive recreation is what it comes down to. I grew up near the coast and we went to the beach as my parents liked it. I didn't particularly like it unless we were near some tide pools which were always fun to visit and see what critters were about. If I want water I can go paddling around some of the undeveloped lakes north of me. Flagstaff Lake in Maine which lies right up against Mt Bigelow is almost totally undeveloped and has sandy beaches and driftwood. Hard to beat after a paddle and rarely anyone in sight.
A few summers ago I was on a section hike of the LT. I'd planned to do a sixty mile section. It turned out to be hot as hades. Attitude was not good. I knew that a good friend of mine was staying at a nice rented house right on a lake in southern New Hampshire. I bailed twenty miles and a day or two shy of my goal, hitched back to my car and hightailed it to the lake house. No regrets.
Strolling southbound into Harpers Ferry on a hot day along the tow path, I saw dozens if not hundreds of folks laughing and yelling on inner tubes and rubber rafts out on the Potomac. My feet were killing me. I kept thinking the kids in the river had the right idea, and I was the fool.
Mr. Bumpy
08-25-2015, 16:24
Find a mountain lake or river with a beach. And then there is Gatlinburg.
BirdBrain
08-25-2015, 16:29
The beach preference does not have to equal crowds no more that the mountain preference equals an escape from crowds. When I go to the beach it is usually over Morse Mountain. More people go to Cadillac Mountain in a day than all of the other hills in Maine combined. Having said all that, I prefer to dive off a sailboat if I am going to swim in the ocean.
saltysack
08-25-2015, 17:39
Try Cumberland island in ga.......late fall-spring!! Best of both worlds....I live within stones throw of the beach..I'd gladly drive 6 hours to the mountains than walk a few hundred feet to beach....I'm tired of the beach.....other than to sup or yak give me the mtns!! Jmt here I come!!!!
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atj_Hiker
08-25-2015, 17:50
Going to the beach or somewhere else is always the discussion in my family when trying to plan a vacation. Me and my youngest boy want to see nature via hiking. My wife and other kids like to go to the beach. The last compromise was going out West, me and my boy hiked the Grand Canyon and Yosemite while the rest of the family toured other things. We ended up at Santa Monica beach. It's all about compromise!
GoldenBear
08-25-2015, 22:46
Something to think about:
How many ads FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC; trying to make a visceral connection between a product and relaxing, fun times with friends; use the beach as a metaphor for such experiences?
http://brewbound-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/corona-beach.jpg
And how many use hiking twenty miles on the A.T. as such a metaphor?
Or even backpacking of ANY kind?
It's true that ads for backpacking gear try to make a visual, emotional connection between their stuff and the joys we experience
http://www.treklightgear.com/media/wysiwyg/infortis/ultimo/slideshow/bindle-pack-slider-wide.jpg
But for everything else that companies want to sell to us, the beach will always be associated with relaxation.
Which means it can't be unusual for someone who has an uncommon joy (ie, backpacking) to be around people with a more common joy (ie, being at the beach).
For the record, you will NEVER find me lying in the sun, on a beach, drinking a beer.
For Shuttle & I, that would be near the bottom of things we would want to do together.
Heliotrope
08-25-2015, 22:51
Going to the beach or somewhere else is always the discussion in my family when trying to plan a vacation. Me and my youngest boy want to see nature via hiking. My wife and other kids like to go to the beach. The last compromise was going out West, me and my boy hiked the Grand Canyon and Yosemite while the rest of the family toured other things. We ended up at Santa Monica beach. It's all about compromise!
Yes compromise it is. Living on MDI we sometimes end our hikes at the beach or I leave the whole fan damily at the beach while I hike a 3-4 mi loop. Sometimes I plan new hiking trips laying on the sand with trail maps strewn around me. Though here in Maine the beach is sometimes f...ing cold and the inland ponds gorgeous, so we all vote for the hike to pond!
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When it's 90+ degrees, 95% humidity and you're drenched in sweat, trudging up a treeless rocky slope or in shoulder high vegetation, the beach starts looking pretty good.
gsingjane
08-26-2015, 09:20
I just got back last night from a few days on the Cape with my Girl Scouts, so this post was pretty timely for me!
I agree that the beach (unless you can combine it with hiking or biking) is pretty passive recreation. However, it can still be fun and beautiful. We saw tons of incredible scenery (I loved the coastal pitch pine forests, those were new to me) and amazing seals, really close up. We were even thinking how cool it would be to do a biking vacation using the hostels, now that would be neat and not unbelievably expensive.
Now if it were just up to me, I'd still choose to go hiking or backpacking. It's great that nobody has to make a permanent choice!
Jane in CT
LittleRock
08-26-2015, 10:09
Yep - I love hiking, my wife hates it, and my kids are still too small for it. So I go on a backpacking trip by myself 1 week/year, and we take a family trip to a more tourist-friendly place 1 week/year.
Compromise was easy. I gave my wife the choice of letting me plan a hiking trip 1 week/year, or waiting for me to go stir crazy and randomly disappear for a week without telling anyone where I was going.
swisscross
08-26-2015, 12:19
I grew up going to the beach for a week as our family vacation.
After I moved out on my own my vacations were in the mountains. I much prefer them to the beach.
Now with two small children and a wife whom hates to camp, I am now vacationing at the beach again.
I get my one decent trip a year in the woods but far from what I would like.
There is no way I will ever be able to get my oldest daughter to sleep in in the woods.
My youngest has shown interest but I have yet to take her.
This year might be the year.
Hopefully my love for the woods will rub off on her.
BirdBrain
08-26-2015, 12:45
Yes compromise it is. Living on MDI we sometimes end our hikes at the beach or I leave the whole fan damily at the beach while I hike a 3-4 mi loop. Sometimes I plan new hiking trips laying on the sand with trail maps strewn around me. Though here in Maine the beach is sometimes f...ing cold and the inland ponds gorgeous, so we all vote for the hike to pond!
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I love Acadia. A favorite hike of mine is Penobscot and Sargent from Jordon Pond. There is even a nice place to swim between the 2 hills.
On a side note, there is no need to have to choose between the beach and the mountains. They both look great as you sail by Acadia. :D
slbirdnerd
08-26-2015, 14:45
Not a "beach" person, although a nice long walk down the beach once in a while is okay. Some of my family appreciate the mountains but don't hike, others are beachy, none of my local friends are hikers... Haha, it's lonely at the "top!" :)
You move 2000 miles away to where there are mountains and visit once a year or so...
After I quit my thru hike in '90 I spend a month in Hawaii hanging out at my sister's place. While there I spent a lot of time at Kailua Beach, windsurfing. Ah those were the days. I got nothing against beaches, especially Hawaii beaches.
Uncle Joe
08-26-2015, 21:31
I'm almost always alone when I go out. A couple of friends are getting into paddling so I have some company when I hit the water sometimes. My daughter is starting to get into camping, primarily because her bf is into the outdoors, but they don't always have the time to join me. I feel your pain. Being divorced, it'd be nice to find an SO that likes to hike, camp, and do some of the things I like to do.
greenmtnboy
08-27-2015, 11:16
When I go to the beach I like serious exercise--swimming in the salt water hopefully with real waves such as in Rhode Island; though I went to Hammonasett beach in Madison, CT recently and camped out. Over 550 campsites! Which tells you something about the level of popularity vs. woods camping campgrounds. Plus when I go to various woods style campgrounds I see a huge range of people camping from the non-energetic, well over half, to the energetic types who make full use of recreational opportunities. I was spoiled when I was a kid but the family went to beaches like Sanibel and Nantucket never to interior campgrounds with the exception of an out West trip with a Winnebego back in the late 60s. Boy scouts taught me something about real camping in mid winter, etc..
Heliotrope
08-27-2015, 22:39
I love Acadia. A favorite hike of mine is Penobscot and Sargent from Jordon Pond. There is even a nice place to swim between the 2 hills.
On a side note, there is no need to have to choose between the beach and the mountains. They both look great as you sail by Acadia. :D
That is a beautiful exposed route. However, don't anyone else about the pond. [emoji3]
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BirdBrain
08-27-2015, 22:45
That is a beautiful exposed route. However, don't anyone else about the pond. [emoji3]
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Going up this weekend. Doing Sargent from the west side. So many ways up that hill. Every single one is beautiful. My least favorite is between the Bubbles and up Deer Brook. Doing Day Mountain and the beach Saturday. Acadia is a wonder....if you stay off the Loop Road and Cadillac. ;)
No worries on the pond. Thousand drive up the big hill. A handful are willing to walk the miles to get to the pond. They might eat that huge treat at Jordon. But that is about as close as they will get to a pond near Sargent. That is what is awesome about Acadia. It does not take much effort to get away from the hoards. 500' of elevation change is normally enough.
Heliotrope
08-27-2015, 23:23
Going up this weekend. Doing Sargent from the west side. So many ways up that hill. Every single one is beautiful. My least favorite is between the Bubbles and up Deer Brook. Doing Day Mountain and the beach Saturday. Acadia is a wonder....if you stay off the Loop Road and Cadillac. ;)
No worries on the pond. Thousand drive up the big hill. A handful are willing to walk the miles to get to the pond. They might eat that huge treat at Jordon. But that is about as close as they will get to a pond near Sargent. That is what is awesome about Acadia. It does not take much effort to get away from the hoards. 500' of elevation change is normally enough.
Hysterical and so true! I really love getting back around Bernard mountain. It is truly remote feeling. The hoards are also off trails by 5:00 PM in time for a gut busting dinner in bar harbor and some cones! I had Champlain summit and the bowl to myself by 5:00 the other day
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/08/27/93fc09a26d950669c2ad4422c5761e69.jpg
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Tundracamper
08-28-2015, 08:19
I've just gotten to where I go to the beach with the fam but also plan other trips where I hike alone or with friends. Could think of nothing worse (for me) than forcing the family to hike.
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Heliotrope
08-30-2015, 17:12
I've just gotten to where I go to the beach with the fam but also plan other trips where I hike alone or with friends. Could think of nothing worse (for me) than forcing the family to hike.
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I agree. I took my 10 yo daughter on a 5 mile hike she has done before with another friend. They had a little argument. Then she refused to hike. Very frustrating. However, when she is excited to go it's fine.
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