We’d planned a big camping trip for Summer Solstice.

A couple days before our departure date, our car’s radiator conked out. Bummer.

Now our camping plans were spoiled.

Or were they?

I called my friends to let them know the bad news. After a few minutes of brainstorming, we came up with the clever solution to take the regional bus to the campsite.

Luckily we live in the foothills of Colorado and the nearest camp site is only a 30 minute drive away.

We decided to take the bus to the end of the line and hike in from there.

On the day of the big camping trip, we gave ourselves a little extra travel time. We walked to the bus station and were on our way. During the bus ride, we had a chance to study the map and get psyched. When we got off the bus, the trailhead was a close walk and away we went.

We hiked in for about an hour and arrived at a beautiful camp spot. We took off our packs, set up camp and collected firewood. Voila. Our scenic home away from home.

We didn’t need a car to go camping after all.

Benefits of bus camping.

1. Pack lighter.

Bus camping forced us pack as little as possible. We prioritized which necessities and luxuries we would bring and took one backpack each. It was a nice exercise in making choices and being responsible for our own load.

2. Slower transition into and out of the woods.

Taking the bus forces us to be on the bus company’s schedule. We had a nice walk to the bus, got to relax on the road trip to camping—looking out the windows and visiting with each other. A bus ride is more leisurely than a car ride. We got to enjoy the present moment of the journey. By the time we arrived in the woods, we’d left our city cares far behind.

3. Lower carbon footprint.

Taking advantage of public transportation is a smart, ecological choice. It uses less energy per passenger.

4. Troubleshooting obstacles.

Bus camping became the brilliant solution having a fun, out of town trip, despite having a broken car.

In the beginning, I believed that a broken car was a major obstacle. After talking over a solution with my friends, I enjoyed the benefits of a team problem solving.

The best part—we discovered bus camping on the first day of summer. We will get to enjoy many more car-free camping trips this season. All thanks to the bus.

~

Relephant read:

The Bus-Cycle: making Bicycling to School sillyfun again.~

~

Author: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: flickr, flickr