Photo of the Day: Stress Relief for Camping Kids

Camera: Canon 5D | Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Setting: f/5.6, 1/13th sec, ISO 100

Rope swing! What a perfect camp toy.

I remember driving long roads and hiking brutal miles for the sake of a wild water hole out there somewhere, an X marking the map where a legendary rope swing hung from a marginal anchor by an even more marginal nest of splintery knots.  It's one of the best reasons to embark on a particular hike - "I know a great rope swing" a buddy would say.  And we'd be off.  Here, Samantha demonstrates how a rope swing ought to be used, though with more trustworthy rigging.

Brooke and I had been married about a year when we backpacked to Havasu Falls. One day on that trip we hiked lower into the canyon to Beaver Falls.  Along the way we found a perfect rope swing dangling from a tree over a crystal blue pool in the river. We each took a swing, laughed and locked up that memory as one of our finest nuggets of joy.  The two of us alone on a hike in a canyon that seemed to be cut from a piece of the heavens and randomly happening upon a rope tied in a tree over a river.  It's the perfect spontaneous thrill.

Times like those prepared us for parenthood.  Gee, swings are fun. My brother brings along this length of tubular webbing, a couple of carabiners and a 14" long piece of PVC pipe that fashions into a perfect rope swing at virtually any campsite.  I'm hoping these kids get a thrill in finding their own "natural" rope swing one day when they're older and take a few swings with goofy grins on their faces.