In the summer, one of the most popular, and most grounding vacations taken by the hardworking families of suburban neighborhoods is a camping trip. This is also one of the best homesteading and sustainable living experiences a family can have when living in the American suburbs. Providing the perfect set up for a survival experience, that is if you want it.
Since camping is so popular, the best camping spots in California are booked a year in advance, and for good reason. California has some of the most beautiful coastlines and mountain ranges in the world, with several national and state parks for families to explore. And the most traditional, budget-friendly way to experience these places is a camping trip.
Camping isn’t for everyone, especially tent camping, but it is a genuinely valuable experience. Particularly for those on the pathway to sustainable living. It’s an opportunity to step away from the fast pace of our technology-filled lives, slow down, and remember how to live without constant convenience. It’s a chance to re-engage with our families through the preperation, planning, cooperation, and fun of the trip.
A Practical Purpose
Beyond the obvious benefits of fresh air and disconnecting from screens, camping also provides the perfect opportunity to practice survival skills that you might otherwise never practice. The old saying holds true if you don’t use it, you lose it. More importantly, it gives us a chance to pass those skills on to our kids, so that one day, in an unpredictable situation, they’ll know what to do.
If you had the opportunity to participate in Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, you probably know exactly what skills I’m talking about. But for many of us, those programs weren’t accessible, and we learned through family members, our own research, and probably a fair amount of trial and error. Either way, the knowledge matters, and camping is one of the best places to put it into practice.
It’s also worth noting that camping trips are done in a variety of different environments and the skills you’ll want to practice depend heavily on your environment. Location shapes everything. Near the coast, that might mean identifying natural shelter in rocky cliffs, caves, or overhangs set high enough to stay dry through high tide. In the mountains, it might mean building a lean-to or debris shelter from fallen branches to protect against wind or cold nights. The principle is the same; the application changes based on where you are.
That being said, it doesn’t matter where the camping trip takes place there are survival skills that can be practiced in all environments. Here are five core survival skills that can be practiced during a camping trip.
Finding and Purifying Water
Priority number one, access to clean drinking water is the most critical survival skill. In a wilderness setting, natural water sources like streams and springs may be available, but they require treatment before drinking. Methods worth practicing and passing down through the generations include solar distillation (not always practical on a short camping trip), boiling over an open fire, and building simple filtration systems using easy to find materials.
According to the CDC, waterborne pathogens like Giardia and Cryptosporidium are common in backcountry water sources. Even water that looks clean and clear should be treated before drinking in the backcountry, because waterborne parasites like Giardia and Cryptosporidium are common in lakes, rivers, and streams across the U.S. CDC, “Drinking Water Treatment Methods for Backcountry & Travel Use”
We start with some basic questions for the kids and since at the time, we were at a lake we started with: Would you drink water from the lake? Why not? What is wrong with drinking lake water?
The response: “No, because of bacteria. It will kill you.”
Me: “Well, yes it could but it most likely would make you sick.”
“So what do we do if we have no clean water but we have access to a lake?”
Response: “I don’t know.”
And that is when our project began.
Building Shelter
Exposure is one of the leading causes of death in wilderness survival situations. Knowing how to construct a basic shelter from natural materials like, fallen branches, bark, leaves which can be life-saving. A camping trip is the ideal controlled environment to practice these techniques with your kids before you ever need them in a real emergency.
Building a Fire
Fire provides warmth, a means to purify water, a way to cook food, and a signal for rescue. Learning how to safely prepare a fire site, build a fire that will sustain itself, and extinguish it completely are all essential components of this skill. The U.S. Forest Service emphasizes that improperly extinguished campfires are one of the leading causes of human-started wildfires, so learning to do it right matters beyond your own campsite.
CAL FIRE recommends the “drown, stir, and feel” method every time you put out a campfire: drown the embers with water, stir the wet ash and soil with a shovel to expose any remaining heat, then hold the back of your hand near the ashes to confirm there’s no warmth left before walking away. CAL FIRE / Ready for Wildfire, “Campfire Safety”. It’s a great hands-on lesson for kids and a habit worth drilling every single time, not just on the trips where it feels necessary.
Fishing, Hunting, and Foraging
The ability to source food from your surroundings is a foundational survival skill. On a camping trip, this can look like practicing various fishing techniques, learning to identify and track animal signs, or beginning to recognize edible plants in your region. Foraging, in particular, pairs well with the next skill, and opens up conversations with kids about how people have fed themselves from the land for thousands of years.
These are some of the easiest skills to practice when camping. Most people will plan a camping trip specifically for fishing and hunting just for the fun of it. In order to fish you will need a license in all states, most places allow catch and release, but if you plan on fishing for food there are some rules and regulations you’ll need to follow. And these are important for kids to learn while practicing their fishing skills. California Department of Fish and Wildlife, “Sport Fishing Licenses and Report Cards”
Knowing Your Surroundings
Environmental awareness is perhaps the most underrated survival skill. This includes learning to identify poisonous plants and insects, recognizing which local plants are edible or have medicinal uses, and reading the landscape for signs of water or shelter. Plants and insects can act as indicators for water sources or warning you away from dry, resource-poor areas. The ability to read your environment confidently changes everything in a survival scenario.
Being able to identify plants, insects, and other wildlife helps you understand the eco system around you. Luckily, there are multiple resources to help guide us with this skill.
In my youth, before the internet and apps, we used the Audubon guides to identify and research our surroundings. In our current society, I believe its important to learn to use both literary guides and apps as our newest technologies to inform ourselves about our world and our delicate eco-system.
Camping is the perfect setting to practice and teach one or more of these skills, not because disaster is coming, but because competence builds confidence. And there’s something deeply satisfying about knowing that your family could handle themselves if they ever needed to.
Each of these skills deserves a deeper look, so stay tuned for future posts where we will dive into how to actually practice each one on your next camping trip.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are ‘affiliate links’. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.
Resources:
- CDC: Drinking Water — waterborne illness and backcountry water treatment
- U.S. Forest Service: Campfire Safety — fire prevention and proper extinguishing
- FEMA / Ready.gov: Shelter and Water Survival Priorities
- Boy Scouts of America / Girl Scouts of the USA: merit badge curricula as general skill frameworks
- National Park Service. (n.d.). Wildfire causes and evaluations. U.S. Department of the Interior. https://www.nps.gov/articles/wildfire-causes-and-evaluation.htm
- CAL FIRE / Ready for Wildfire. (n.d.). Campfire safety. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. https://www.readyforwildfire.org/prevent-wildfire/campfire-safety
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife. (2026). Sport fishing licenses and report cards. California Natural Resources Agency. https://wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Fishing
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