GetTheFunOut

Car camping can be a great way to get away and enjoy yourself in the beautiful Arizona (or other) outdoors.  It's that first baby step towards backpacking or hiking the Arizona or Appalachian Trail, or it's as immersive as you need to be given all of the secluded places a sturdy car can take you.  For those of you who are city dwellers or grew up in the woods, like myself, and had no reason to camp in the woods, here is a quick primer on camping that will get you out the door and let you refine your own needs.

Ashurst Lake, a great place to spend a weekend.  Here's my photo album. I have an embarrassing secret to share:  for all the hiking, hunting, and fishing I've done and talk about, I've camped probably less than 10 times in my life--and a solid 5 of those consist of driving in back into the woods at my parents farm and putting up a tent to sleep in after having dinner at the house.  Camping has long been on my list of things to get into, but for some reason it seems more daunting than any other activity I've done.  Maybe it's because of needing the right gear, or knowing where to go to avoid crowds, or worrying about bear attacks...I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to pursue this (actually, it's an aversion to going more than a day without a shower).

One of my biggest struggles with living in Phoenix is what to do in the dead of summer when temperatures top 100 for 20 hours of the day.  Making it especially difficult is my impatient insistence that "yea, it's hot, but it's not THAT bad" anytime someone has the gall to complain about the Phoenix summer.  The reality is that it's still entirely possible to be outside and do things, but the list of things you can just do at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon without a legitimate chance of death resulting is significantly lessened.  The other constant struggle, aside from merely figuring out what are decent options, is finding things that don't cost money.  Because while driving to Flagstaff, seeing a movie, and day drinking are all perfect options, doing them every weekend day gets expensive quickly.  Here is my attempt at making you (and myself) a list of enjoyable things to do to beat the summer heat that are no/low cost.

Remember laser tag?  Remember the glamorously awesome kids in the commercials?  Remember how GD expensive that stuff was in the 80's/90's?  Remember how hot it is outside right now?  Make the dreams of 8-year-old you, who always wanted to be laser tag champion--and the dreams of current you, who doesn't want a heat stroke and doesn't want to sit inside all day--all come true at once with what I consider a highly underrated activity.

Wet Beaver Creek, a good summer destination.  It pretty much goes without saying that Wet Beaver Creek is far more popular than Dry Beaver Creek, but no one knows for sure if the 'Dry Beaver' name is a smokescreen, like 'Iceland,' to throw lazy travelers off the scent of boundless joy.  Well, maybe that's a bit extreme, I'm sure someone knows the answer, but when the Wet Beaver is so nice, there's really no reason to thrust yourself into the wilderness of Dry Beaver.