Camping and Watersports: The Perfect Summer Combo

Torn between camping in the woods and crashing into some waves this season? Spend your summer doing both, and have the best of both worlds!

Want to go hiking and wakeboarding on the same trip? We’ve got you covered. Traverse the American landscape this summer and visit cragged mountain terrains, beautiful seascapes, and lush forests by the lakeshore. Here we list 8 outdoor activities to do when you combine camping and watersports: The perfect summer combo is right at your fingertips.

Camping

After a long and hard year, it’s finally summer. Ease into the backcountry and embrace the wilderness through these outdoor activities.

Hiking

Point Reyes Beach North, Inverness, CA. Photo Credit: Unsplash, Kitera Dent

Camping is not complete without this classic outdoor activity. Explore the wilderness while setting your own pace, taking in your surroundings, and enjoying the tranquility of the woods.

If you head to Mount Shasta, you’ll find the most beautiful fields of wildflowers in the spring and summertime. To get to the real attraction, you must hike past its evergreen landscape, beginning with sweeping views at the castle lake trailhead.

Climbing up might be rocky but gradual, so be sure to stop and rest before continuing on your way. Over the final hill of the trail, you’ll finally see the most stunning view of the area, Heart Lake. You can spend the night in the banks in the campgrounds. You can go swimming or fishing, and then watch the setting sun cast a blanket of stars over the sky.

Rock Climbing

Joshua Tree National Park, CA. Photo Credit: Unsplash, Samantha Sophia

If you are light and agile, you can carry your weight easily while you pull and step on rock holds. More experienced rock climbers know how to stick to slopers, relax in a hand jam, and bear down on the edges. Still, they continually challenge themselves to move up mountain overhangs efficiently.

For a meaningful rock-climbing trip, visit Devil’s Lake State Park, where modern bouldering has originated in the country. You can find more than 1,600 routes near the forested lake among the massive quartzite cliffs and boulders. The guides at the park offer trips and courses for climbing lessons for climbers of all skill levels.

In the lake itself, you can try stand-up paddleboarding. Once you’ve gotten the hang of the strokes, you can paddle along the elegant scenery of Wisconsin wilderness.

Biking

Mountain Biking in Lake Tahoe, California. Photo Credit: Getty Images, riverECHO

Healthy and rewarding cycling has always been a staple camping activity for campers to stay active. Great views to take in as you’re riding along the trails during the summertime can be on the lakeside.

Consider camping in Lake Tahoe, which is renowned for the Tahoe Rim Trail, which has become a world-class riding destination for bikers. Around the area, you can even find places for downhilling.

Stay: Tahoe Valley Campground

Watersports

Find a campground near the water on a sunny summer day, and write down the type of activities you want to do onsite. Bring inflatable rafts, surfboards, or a boat! Observe proper rules and regulations in the state of the park you’re visiting, and then you’re good to go. Here are some of the most common watersports in the United States with magnificent camping grounds.

Kayaking

A beautiful view of Fisher Towers from Highway 128 (the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway), north of Moab Utah. Photo Credit: Getty Images, viennetta

As far as watersports go, kayaking can be recreational down a slow-moving stream, or you can treat it as an extreme sport on water rapids. Whether you’re riding with your family or by yourself, this craft can be enjoyed according to your preferences.

Popular places to go kayaking in the country are at the Manchac and Maurepas swamps of the Louisiana bayous. A guided eco-tour will take you around the lush landscape of wetlands and cypress forests sprawling with wildlife like alligators.

For a more thrilling adventure, you might want to head to places like the Fisher Towers in Moab. Here, you can go on a kayaking trip in the backdrop of the beautiful canyons and mountains. Starting at Onion Creek, the small-group tour can let you run white water rapids in southern Utah.

Stay: Spanish Trail RV Park

Fishing

Get great company and fish for fabulous food. Families all across America love to go fishing—why? It’s a fun recreational activity! Plus, you can do it on a boat and on land.

There is nothing quite like the excitement of reeling in that line when a fish pulls at the hook. Dig your heels onto the ground or floor of the boat and hold tight.

Fenced pasture at Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia. Photo Credit: Getty Images, Dee

In Grayson Highlands State Park, explore the beauty of the wilderness of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Not only is it an excellent spot for camping, but you can also find an abundance of trout. Look for the northern part of Big Wilson, and there you’ll find an ideal fishing spot. The park of over 4,800 acres boasts other watersports, hiking trails, and equestrian facilities.

Stay: Camping World Racing Resort

Surfing and skimboarding

Surfers packing it up at Morro Bay. Photo Credit: Getty Images, Penalope

Recognized as the watersport with the most profound connection to the sea, surfing is easily the most popular of its kind in the world, and for a good reason. It takes skill and patience to paddle into the ocean and ride the waves.

Another sport that resembles surfing is skimboarding. Also known as sand skimming, you wait for a wave to come crashing on the shore before you roll out. Luckily, there isn’t as much risk on this water sport. You’ll be doing this in shallow water, and the wet sand can save your fall.

Find a flat beach and wait in the shallow waters. Unlike surfing, skimboarding needs you to skim properly on a thin layer of water. You run across the shoreline, drop the board on the water, and, this is the hard part, you quickly step on it. Bend your knees and ride out the oncoming wave.

One of the best spots to camp and ride the waves is at Atascadero Beach, where the surf comes in great, strong waves on the receding shoreline. The beach was formerly a separate state beach but has been absorbed by Morro Strand State Beach. You will discover an active community of surfers and a laidback environment. Just a few minutes from the shores is Morro Dunes RV Park, where you can camp out while catching the waves.

Jetskiing

Sunset in Lake Elsinore, California. Photo Credit: Getty Images, Cavan Images

Hit the water at high speeds with a jet ski this summer and feel the wind in your hair as you ride off into the sea—one of the best places to go jet skiing while camping is in Southern California.

Consider going to Lake Elsinore, just two hours from Los Angeles. With 3,000 acres for water recreation activities, you won’t run out of things to do out here. Before heading to the lake, riders must first buy a permit from local marinas or the city hall.

Don’t worry about the safety measures: An instructor will be there to accompany you. To be sure that you don’t operate the jet ski alone, they will tether themselves to a safety cut-off switch.

Stay: Pechanga RV Resort

Wakeboarding

Table Rock Lake. Photo Credit: Unsplash, KaLisa Veer

For an adrenaline-pumping watersport, try wakeboarding! With a high-speed motorboat and a long cable, you’ll be able to do aerial flips and turns while skimming on the surface of the water.

Wakeboarding exploded on the action sports scene in the late ’90s and joined the World Games in 2001.

Widely popular among watersports enthusiasts, Table Rock Lake attracts wakeboarders from all across the country. This artificial lake in the Ozarks is recognized as one of the most visited destinations for fishing and watersports. Table Rock has also hosted the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboarding competition for several years in a row.

Boasting 43,000 acres of the freshwater for recreation, the park offers plenty of room for everyone to have fun with their favorite watersport. You’ll find local marinas for boat and fleet rentals, most of which including paddleboards, jet skis, and other equipment.

Stay: Musicland Kampground

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