Last fall me and three other leaders in Friluftsfrämjandet started a project where we organize camp nights once a month for a full year. It was Mikaels idea as first, but since it could be difficult to get away every month we added two more leaders, Henric and Peter.

At first we planned to have the first overnighter on “Nordic night in nature” in early September, where people all over the Nordic countries spend a night in the outdoors. But we didn’t get the project going in time, and instead we had our first overnighter in late September instead. Me and Peter were the leaders for September.

We have planned to combine some of the overnighters with hiking trips from the hiking section, or canoe trips from the canoe section, but this time it was just a camp night without anything else added.

We chose to have the overnighter in Skälsnäs, on the northern side of Helgasjön. Me and C have camped here a few times before, and there’s a lot of room for tents, a lean-to shelter and a few different fireplaces. C joined me on this trip, and there were a bunch of people joining us, both a family and a few solo persons.

We had brought a lot of firewood, and me and Peter started a fire right away. We set up our tents, and for the rest of the evening we mostly stayed by the fire, chatting, making dinner, snacking and sharing tips about gear and sleeping in the outdoors.

We had good weather and it was a nice evening with a great group of people.

Eventually I had to put C to sleep, and she fell asleep on my shoulder.

The next day I woke up pretty early, but I wasn’t the first one up, and a fire had already been started. It was great to get up and come to a warm fire. I fried eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast.

After breakfast we all packed up and left camp.

Next time is Saturday on 17th February. If you want to join us, but aren’t a member in Friluftsfrämjandet, just send us an email that you want to test it. It’s suited both for rookies, that want to try camping with experienced leaders, but also people with a lot of experience who just want to spend the night outdoors together with great people. If you lack some equipment, just let us know and we’ll see if we can scramble something together to lend out.