Meet Brooke Simmons, the healthy living adventurer on a mission to increase inclusivity in the outdoors. Brooke helps open new doors by empowering women to fuel their adventures with daily movement, and sustainable habits while finding community in their wellness journey. Based out of Fort Collins Brooke spends her time doing all the things- hiking, camping, paddleboarding, biking, forest restoration- anything and everything in the great outdoors.
Below is an intro to camping guide curated by Brooke to help support anyone and everyone ready to embark of their camping trip.
Camping Guide:
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How do you find a campsite?
- When searching for campsites, I always start with looking at State Parks. I love the amenities offered in State Park campgrounds and they usually have a camp host on site that is a wealth of knowledge for finding trails or nearby experiences that fit your abilities and interests!
- While searching for State Parks, I found Paonia State Park located on the Western Slope of Colorado. This search led me to looking up things to do near Paonia State Park and the search evolved from there! You will quickly notice at the top of all search lists comes the widely admired Big B’s Delicious Orchards. Knowing I would be here in mid-October, I was immediately intrigued by the prospects of wandering the pumpkin patch and picking apples directly from the trees in the orchard! Perusing their website, I noticed they offered camping IN THE ORCHARD (in the middle of the trees!) I knew I needed to have this experience! So, I booked a campsite through their website and start to plan out the rest of the trip.
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What to pack for camping?
- Outlined below is my personal checklist I keep for all my car-camping trips. This Essential Gear Guide from REI is a great list to start with for beginner campers!
- When it comes to food and groceries- I opt for meals that will help sustain my energy with minimal ingredients. I love each of Wildway's products for just this reason.The granola makes for a quick easy, low maintenance breakfast (I love to add berries with a little nut butter)- or I grab a handful or snack pack to take for fuel on my hike. The Coconut Chips are my newest obsession- the having the snickerdoodle Coconut Chips as a quick snack or dessert is both satisfying and delicious
- Shop my favorites here:
- Coconut Cashew Granola
- Organic Coconut Chips: Snickerdoodle
- Cinnamon Roll Hot Cereal
- Pumpkin Spice Latte Granola: Perfect for fall camping
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Things to do while camping:
- This list is going to vary greatly depending on your interest and abilities! A great way to start building your itinerary is searching a simple phrase like, “things to do near x (insert campsite here)”. This will provide a starting point for your research then you can start to narrow in and define the search words to meet your needs.
- * Pro Tip * I love to search geo tags on Instagram of the place I’ll be visiting. This can help me get an idea of current weather, additional things to do in the area, an idea of crowds at locations, etc
- This list is going to vary greatly depending on your interest and abilities! A great way to start building your itinerary is searching a simple phrase like, “things to do near x (insert campsite here)”. This will provide a starting point for your research then you can start to narrow in and define the search words to meet your needs.
- Here’s a list of some of my favorite things to do while camping:
- Cook meals at the campsite
- Color in a coloring book (for me, this is a process of active meditation where I’m focusing on a task but quieting my mind to take in all the sounds around me)
- Nearby hikes
- Read a book / listen to an audiobook
- Stretch or workout (the workout platform I use allows you to download your videos so you can use them offline without internet access!)
- Nap! (I really love napping in nature and sleep is so important for our overall wellness. Why not let your body get back to its roots and fully relax to the sounds and scents around out!)
