Sleeping under the stars is a quintessential family vacation, but for me with my kids feels like just as much work as being at home, with the addition of bad sleep, zero privacy and biting insects. But my kids camping, so much so that after three years of sending them to the great outdoors with their dad (and opting out of camping myself), I agreed to join their annual trip to in Gaspé, Que. “What’s key in making camping trips more enjoyable is determining, what’s your comfort level around suffering?” says Jan-Sebastian LaPierre, who co-founded along with fellow outdoor enthusiast Chris Surette.
For the past five years, the pair has worked to get people, including beginner campers, into the wild by leading Parks Canada’s programs. “It’s about analyzing what the pain points are and trying to mitigate those,” LaPierre adds. Here, a few tips I’ve learned for making family camping fun for all, even those who would rather cosy up in a comfy hotel room.
A view of Forillon National Park and one of its well-known heritage sites, L’Anse-Blanchette. My threshold for suffering is low, so sleeping in a tent was out of the question. Fortunately, LaPierre says national and provincial parks and private campgrounds are increasingly recognizing that not everyone wants bare-bones digs in the backcountry, and they are offering more interesting accommodations to meet people where they are.
For instance, many Parks Canada sites have , including the snug MicrOcube, and the tent/cabin hybrid known as the oTENTik, which was the option we chose. Available at 30 locations across Canada, oTENTiks are outfitted with bunk beds, an inside dining table and chairs (perfect for card games in gloomy weather), a heater, and an outdoor BBQ and picnic table. We booked two oTENTiks so I wouldn’t have to share with the kids’ snoring dad or my young boys, aged eight and 11.
Instead, my teenager and I had our own accommodation, which was crucial for better rest. Even if you have a large family, camping trips can be relatively cost-effective — our booking was $133 per accommodation per night, and each could sleep up to six people. My boys stick to me like glue when they are bored.
Picking a national park with tons of family-friendly facilities — Forillon’s features include an epic playground with zip lines, easy beach access and a heated pool — ensured that I got a few minutes to myself on the trip. Forillon also has tons of cool activities, both within the park or close by, so travellers can plan for an adventure every day. We rented quadricycles to race along a beach boardwalk; took a kayaking tour from Cap-aux-Os beach with local outfitter to observe seal colonies; hiked seven kilometres up for stunning views of the Gaspé Peninsula; boated out to , passing iconic Percé Rock; and spent an afternoon at an idyllic waterfall swimming hole at municipal park.
Forillon National Park is close to family-friendly activities, like this kayaking excursion to see seal colonies. Another upside of camping in Forillon was our proximity to the nearby cities of and (about 20 and 75 minutes away by car, respectively). Because doing dishes at camp is no fun, I made it a rule that we would cook no elaborate meals — only breakfast and simple dinners requiring limited cleanup.
Fortunately, it was easy to road trip to restaurants for leisurely lunches of seafood and Quebec delicacies. LaPierre says camping is a skill that improves with practice, and part of that involves learning what gear will make your experience better. “You can’t control if the people camped next to you are snoring, but you can pack earplugs or a white noise machine.
If you hate that the tent is 35 million degrees in the morning because the sun’s up, bring a battery-operated fan,” he says. We packed a Thermacell mosquito repeller to help mitigate the biting insect situation (it kinda worked). While I’m still a luxury travel person at heart, the trip went so well, I would probably camp with my kids again.
Was it perfect? No, especially not my sleep. But LaPierre says the camping experience should involve a little bit of suffering. “At the end of the day, the stories we tell about travel are often derived from difficult situations and how we coped,” he says.
“That’s a funny quirk about human nature. We want to be reminded that we can do hard things.”.
