In a mini-series of lessons learned posts, this is Lessons Learned #2 where we list some things we’ve learned while camping with a baby and crashing at four Maine State Parks, so far. It is mostly in millennial list format so you can scan it without having to read much, but it is not ranked in any order. Just like in Lessons Learned #1, our experiences and our opinions are certainly not the end-all be-all. We are not professionals, and will probably have a different perspective camping with a toddler very soon.

Camping with a baby tidbits:

1. Try to eliminate any unnecessary worry by not going all out on the first trip. We were within 2 hours of our house and minutes from a town. We tried to keep the weekend basic with lots of room for flexibility. You can pull off more with confidence as you go along. We also found it helpful to bring a pen and notepad to write any missing items we thought about while camping, to purchase for our next camping trip.
2. New camping gear is always fun to buy, but when babies are small most of what they need comes right from your house. Pack ‘N Play, clothes, diapers, toys, etc. As they get older, picking up a few accessories, such as a portable high chair or hook-on high chair for meals doesn’t hurt, but you don’t need to drop a ton money to start.
3. You cannot control the weather but you can control the location, which can sometimes make life easier. Bugs can be rough in Maine and black flies can ruin the best of anything. Keep that in mind, early in the season. We tend to stay closer to the coast in June, which can be cooler but often less buggy. It is a trade off!
4. You can make your own decision on pets because God knows they are all different. We eased in one dog at a time depending on where we went or what we had planned. Our dogs cannot make every trip; which isn’t always a terrible thing. It’s less work without our dudes!
5. It’s okay to cheat and buy some sort of a fire starter puck/brick. The last thing you want to be battling with is wet wood when dinner needs to get going for hungry kids. Unfortunately, this lesson was not learned until the fourth and final trip.
6. Speaking of wet wood, it seems like a lot of the wood they sell at the parks end up soaked even though it is often kept in sheds. Make sure to at least bring some your own dry kindling. Within state rules of course.
7. Leave any type of sound machines at home. Mother nature has your back.
8. You don’t have to shop for food ahead of time but if you want to save money, make sure to plan your meals before leaving.
9. These are family campgrounds so don’t worry about your kids being kids. They will yell, cry and laugh. Everyone around you will survive. Another lesson that took some learning.
10. Bring lots of twine because you tend to hang more tarps for sun or rain protection with kids.

Maine State Park camping tidbits:

1. Bring cash just in case. If it’s camping, you’ve most likely already paid online but you might want somethings while on site. Some places have ice and other items for sale. They don’t all take cards and are not always staffed either (honor system).
2. Squatters…lots of people are passing through so some parks are really just a place for people to pitch a tent in the dark in order to get some inexpensive Zzzs. We only saw a lot of this at Bradbury, late in the season.
3. Local people use some of these family campgrounds more than you would expect; which isn’t always great. These folks tend to have many visitors during the day and drive in and out a lot. This was big at Lake St. George.
4. When reserving a site at any of the family campgrounds, be sure to look at the campground maps to get a feel of the layout. Reservations for the year typically go live in February so plan ahead for the parks you want to stay at, and be ready to reserve your top sites when it goes live. Prime sites, such as ones on the water or with water views get scooped up fast at a lot of parks, but they will rarely sell out all sites.
5. The Google Earth maps on the Maine State website can give you a better idea of the privacy of each site. You can also view written information on each site when making your reservations.  Another tool for selecting a site is TripAdvisor. Some reviews tell you point blank which sites are the best, so it doesn’t hurt to scan those. If it’s a park we’ve camped at, you could always shoot us a message.
6. Camping at Baxter State Park isn’t included in the official list of 12 family campgrounds. They are their own animal with another couple pages of rules. Same with Acadia, because it’s a National Park.
7. Some family camping rules are not strictly enforced, so don’t stress out about a minor infraction like we did on our first trip (whether or not a 6 month old counts toward the number of people at a site). We should have never called ahead to inquire! Although we did see many park rangers throughout our stays, they never came to our site to check on things. As long as you’re respectful of others, they’ll leave you alone.
8. Don’t feel like you can’t have some beers/drinks because you most certainly can. Like stated above, from our experience the locals and squatters are the only ones who blatantly bend the rules at times.
9. A lot of these parks have hiking trails, beaches or both, right on location. You don’t even have to touch your car to take advantage of it. So pack gear accordingly, depending on the park.
10. Not all parks are created the same, that’s why we score them. Therefore, you have to keep an open mind at each one. In the end, it isn’t so much about the campground, it’s more about the family and friends at your site.

In closing, camping with a kid is fun and simple, if you keep it simple and allow yourself to have fun. Maine State Park family campgrounds are the perfect setting for these outings because they often give you what everyone is striving to getaway to in the first place, but with just enough amenities to make it easier with kids. Who knows what the next Lessons Learned will be about, or even if there will be one. We just can’t wait to kick off the camping season in June! Have a wonderful spring, summer and fall!