Had a similar first time thing taking my child on his first backpacking trip out into actual primitive camping. We had to filter our water and put our food in lockers so no bears or coyotes would come for it, etc. On the hike on in he was pretty insufferable, even though it was only a mile. But even by evening he was already getting very into it, gathering kindling for the fire, seeing his first millipede, stuff like that. We did a lot of hiking around the second day, seeing some ruins, climbing some foothills. He really liked that.

I grew up on a farm, so for me this stuff is already pretty natural. But he’s born and raised in a major metropolitan city, so I am trying to make sure he actually knows how to touch grass. We’ve done car camping before, but it is pretty incredible how much more rustic just a simple mile hike between you and where cars are allowed can be.