Camping is one of the most popular pastimes for people everywhere. It’s an excellent group activity that offers a lot of benefits for everyone. There are plenty of reasons why camping, exploring the trails and hiking are beneficial. These reasons amplify when you share the experience with your friends.
Below are 15 great benefits that you’ll get from camping and hiking with your friends.
1. You get to spend time together.
Spending time with friends is always a welcome experience. These days, it’s easy to get so busy that time with friends becomes scarce. A great camping trip is a perfect way to make up for all that missed quality time with those closest to you.
Camping is also great because you can fit it into your schedule for as little or as long as you’d like. You could make it a day trip, or you could camp out for a few days.
2. You’ll get a lot of exercise.
What better way to get fit than getting fit with your friends? You’ll get plenty of exercise on a hike. You’ll get a full-body workout.
A camping trip, especially if you plan to camp for a few days, is one of the best physical challenges you can do. It can be very motivational to share that fitness journey with some of your best friends. Plus, getting fit together helps to ensure that you’ll have a long life with your friends.
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3. You’ll build stronger bones and muscles.
As previously stated, hiking is excellent exercise. However, your bone health will benefit tremendously. All the trekking and climbing over different terrain pushes your muscles and bones to the max. Plus, soaking up all that vitamin D from the sun helps also.
This push will help break down bone and muscle in a way that, when you rest, they heal and become stronger. Since you’re sharing the experience with friends, you probably won’t even think of it as a workout. You’ll have a lot of fun without thinking about “exercise”.
4. You can bond without everyday distractions.
Spending time with your friends during everyday life can be full of distractions. You have work, phones, social media, family, kids, and so much more. When you go camping, you get to put all of that to the side and enjoy being with your friends.
Being able to put the bonding experience first over everything else can make your friendships so much more durable. You’ll be able to pay attention to each other more than ever. One could also buy the latest AR-15 rifles for safety while going on a hike.
5. It is a great reason to go shopping together (have to get the cutest hiking gear).
If you and your friends like shopping, going camping is a perfect excuse to spend some money. After all, you’ll need clothing and gear. You’ll want to get the best deals, so this gives you a reason to go to more than one store.
Even if shopping isn’t your thing, it can still be fun to pick out your camping gear with your friends, especially if you do it over some beers from somewhere like https://besthuntingadvice.com/. You can all coordinate together as a unit to make sure that you have everything you need. It’s mostly a reason for you to hang out with your friends.
6. It’s a healthy way to do friendly competitions.
Friendly competition is fun and motivational when it’s done right. Hiking and camping are great ways for you and your friends to challenge each other. You can see who would be the best “survivor”.
It could be fun to see who the better hunter or, the better angler is. Maybe you can make a bet to see who pitches a tent faster or who can start a campfire more quickly. There are plenty of ways to turn a camping trip into a string of friendly competitions.
Staying motivated during these little competitions won’t be hard. You can think about having those bragging rights when you go back home.
7. Camping is a great way to open dialogue.
The hustle and bustle of daily life can sometimes hamper dialogue between people. Even if you’re BFFs for life, it can be challenging to find the right time to talk about certain things when you or your friends are always busy.
Camping is a way to slow life down. When you do this, you can finally get around to talking about those critical topics you’ve been putting off. You may even discover new shared interests with friends by opening the dialogue between you all.
8. You can create unique memories together.
If you go hiking with your friends, you can be sure it will be an experience you won’t soon forget. The chances are that there will be some unique and funny moments that you’ll be recalling years into the future. Creating fun and exciting memories is a great way to get closer to your friends.
9. It can put you in a good mood.
Scientists and medical experts everywhere agree that exercise releases endorphins. These endorphins make you feel good. They put you in a better mood and, in general, they make you happy.
This is further enforced by being with your friends. Hiking will release lots of endorphins, and you’ll likely have a lot of fun with your friends. That means it’s nothing but good times and good moods all around.
10. You’ll learn about nature together.
If you’re going to learn about something, what better way to do it than with your closest friends on a camping trip? Even if you’re a seasoned camper, you and your friends will probably learn something new every time you go camping.
Since you’ll be having fun, it won’t feel like school. You’ll casually learn things about the great outdoors. Who knows…you might even be able to use that newly acquired knowledge someday.
11. It reduces stress.
Going back to the point of getting a lot of exercise, hiking with your friends can reduce stress. This is because of those same endorphins that you get from all the exercise. Not only will they put you in a better mood, but they’ll help to lower stress levels.
Another way it can lower stress levels is because you’re getting away from all of your stressors. You’re having fun with friends and becoming one with nature. You’ll probably even find time to be alone and enter into a meditative state. This will dramatically reduce stress.
12. You’ll get to travel together.
In your everyday life, you probably end up meeting your friends quite often. If you go on a camping trip with your friends, it’s a perfect opportunity to travel together rather than just meeting them at the destination.
Road trips with friends can be so much fun. Sightseeing, singing your favorite songs at the top of your lungs, and eating at random roadside diners are just a few of the fun experiences you can have when you travel together. Even if you fly instead of drive, you can still have fun travel experiences together.
13. It promotes teamwork.
Camping is a group activity. You’ll find yourself working with your friends, probably more than you have in a long time. You’ll either learn or be reminded of each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
It can be fun to find out how well you all work together to solve problems. In fact, you might find that you don’t work well together! That’s okay – you can still be friends.
14. You can work out any problems that you may be having with your friends.
If you and your friend(s) have been having problems, a hiking or camping trip is a great way to work out those problems. For all the reasons stated previously, camping is an excellent opportunity to solve issues. You’re away from distractions, and you can open up and talk to each other.
All the activities that you’ll do put you in a good mood. That’s a plus when it comes to working out problems. If you and your friends are in a good mood, you’re more likely to talk it out than argue it out.
15. It’s fun.
You should go camping with your friends simply because it’s fun. You don’t need any other reason to go. Friends do fun stuff together, so camping is no exception to this.
Even if camping isn’t really your thing, it’s still nice to show your friends some support by doing thing that they think is fun. You’ll probably surprise yourself by enjoying the trip a lot more than you had planned to.
Final Thoughts on Heading to the Woods and Hiking with Friends
Any active outdoor activity like camping is always going to come with a lot of benefits, especially for your health. Camping with friends is an even better idea – you’re having fun around people who are your best friends for life.
These are the type of moments that you learn to cherish. Those moments that you share become stories that you get to tell your grandchildren in the future. Don’t delay any longer. Go out there and make it happen!
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