How to Go Camping with Dogs
The case for camping in a trailer gets stronger when your pup is in tow
Have a blast with your pup in the outdoors
Dramatic ocean views ahead, a big bed in the back, a freshly caught fillet of fish sizzling away on the kitchen stove: For a weekend it was all mine with hardly another person in sight. When I’d first started thinking about taking a quick camping trip, my criteria were remoteness and ease—plus a place where my Australian cattle dog mix, Sam, was welcome (many campsites forbid pups).
After a late-night online scrolling session, I found it, in a vintage trailer for rent in Monterey County. When I arrived, the trailer was so hidden that the owner had to mark the turn-off from the highway with orange cones. After I parked, he picked me up, threw the bags in the back of his SUV, and drove us down a bumpy dirt path to our home for the night.
On a hillside overlooking the ridges and ocean below, the solar- and propane-powered trailer was rustic without being monastic. There was a portable speaker for playing music from my phone and a fully stocked kitchen, so I could cook and enjoy afternoon tea. (I always take my mum’s fruitcake camping.)
Sam and I played in the woods during the day and stargazed at night. I washed up in the large claw-foot tub, just a few paces away from the trailer in a private bathhouse, with the sounds of crickets and a brook coming from the valley below. And at first light, I looked out the window and saw hummingbirds buzzing around the fuchsias, just a few inches from my head.
Clearly, I wasn’t in the comfortable bubble of a hotel room. And that’s the best thing about staying in a trailer: You never lose sight of where you are. It was just me and Sam, in the middle of the woods.
