Go “BIG” or just Go Camping…..

Camping has changed – big time!  Just go to most campgrounds right now and look around.  What do you see?  Hotels!  Yes I said hotels – gone are the modest canvas tents of yesteryear.  Now they have separate entrances, vaulted ceilings, e-ports and solar adapters to charge your electronics.  And some even go as far as having air-conditioning units.

I stopped into Sunnyside Campground in Cultus Lake, British Columbia to visit some friends that were camping and wow, tent ownership is thriving, especially at this campground.  Sunnyside has 353 Seasonal Sites, 104 30-amp sites, 134 Tenting sites and 2 group campsites that can hold groups of 50.

Upon a walk-through of the campsite, I was met with names such as Coleman, Ozark Trail, Woods, Outbound, Broadstone, Gigatent and Tentsile the tree tent.  I was most impressed at the variety of sizes and the looks.  Some look like log cabins, others had screen rooms attached to them, I was hard pressed to find a tent that slept “two”  Did you know that you can get tents that even go on top of vehicles?

The Hotel (oops I mean tent) that got instant attention, was one called, Carter Mountain 12-person Cabin Tent by Gigatent.  It is a whopping 20‘X 10’ with three rooms separated by two dividers that are actually sewn into the tent.  It has both a front and back door and an awning on the front that spans most of the length. I really liked that each room had large meshed windows and that the tent almost stands straight up so it really gives you more space to move around in.  The owner of this tent is really serious about camping as there were two rooms that had stand up canvas hanging closets – what a great way to keep clothes, shoes and towels organized.

Now that’s not the only thing I saw that piqued my interest.

A camping kitchen from Cabela’s (photo is stock photo from Cabela’s website) was standing there in all its glory.  It has two zippered, removable cabinets (for easy stowing from the critters and creatures of the night) that can hold pretty much a weeks’ worth of supplies and on top of these are Arborite counter tops, a plastic sink with a drain and hose to place in a bucket for easy disposal, but the owner had placed two Rubbermaid dish pans into it to save the plastic from getting destroyed by cutlery and when not in use, there is another Arborite counter cover that turns the area into a great prep area for cooking.  Underneath the sink is a wire rack – great for storing pots and pans.  On the top of the unit there is a small Arborite shelf great for placing the spices, and below are small hooks for hanging utensils and it even has an aluminum pole for storing the oven mitts and a roll of paper towel, I’d suggest wrapping a small bungee cord around it to stop the wind from taking off with the roll.  Add to this a couple of telescopic tables and this is the dream camping kitchen that is sure to get the seal of approval by Chefs like Dean McDermott and Gordon Ramsay.

For other campgrounds in the area or elsewhere in British Columbia go to the Camping Map.

Share your BC travel and camping photos using hashtag #campinbc #explorebc

It’s always a great day to #campinbc.

Published: August 25th, 2016