If you’re not already sold on fall as the best camping season of the year, this list will convince you to take your RV, camper or trailer out this fall.
Great weather, great scenery
Spring can be cool and wet. Summer can be muggy and oppressively hot. But fall? The warm days are perfect for getting out and enjoying the fall colors. The cool, crisp nights are ideal for gathering around the campfire. We also relish the good sleeping weather that fall brings. It’s so much more enjoyable to snuggle under a warm blanket than to be struggling to stay cool in your trailer at night.
To find out when the fall colors of Ohio will be at their most beautiful, check out the fall colors report provided by TourismOhio and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Fewer Bugs
Even those of us who are die-hard campers have experienced at least one summer camping trip where we lost the struggled against the mosquitoes, gnats and no-see-ums. When you take your RV out for a camping trip during the fall, problems like bugs disappear, for the most part.
Peace and Quiet
Meeting new people is a great part of RVing, but sometimes it’s nice to have a quieter experience. The atmosphere at most campgrounds tends to be lower key in the fall. Kids are back in school and families are busy with weekend activities. So when you do sneak away to go RVing for a fall weekend, you’ll enjoy more elbow room, quieter nights, and more access to amenities.
Fall Activities
Many parks host Halloween-themed and harvest-themed activities in the fall. Even if not at the park, you can often find nearby apple picking, hayrides, pumpkin picking and carving, harvest festivals and the like. Do some planning in advance and line up some quintessential fall activities to enjoy as a family during your camping trip.
Here are some planning resources to help you incorporate fall activities into your trip:
- Fall activities at KOA campgrounds in Ohio
- Ohio State Parks Event Calendar-try sorting it by “Festivals” or “Special Campouts”
- Northern Ohio Tourism provides this list of campgrounds in northern Ohio, most of which have individual calendars of their special weekend events
- Here’s another great list of northeast Ohio campgrounds with links where you can check out their events calendars. You can look at activities in other regions of Ohio as well.
Comfort Foods
As you plan your fall camping trip, be sure to bring some hot drinks like hot apple cider, hot chocolate and coffee. And, this is a great time to break out the comfort foods. Here are a few good ideas for fall camping recipes:
- Lots of apple themed treats in this list of top five fall camping recipes-how have we never thought of apple cider hot toddies before?
- Five classics that are easy and fantastic-we can’t wait to try the pumpkin nutella smores, the classic cornbread and the five can chili!