Imagine enjoying a beautiful peaceful sleep in your tent only to be woken up at 5am by a man on a power mower mowing the grass on the adjacent golf course.

This actually happened to 200 campers at a campground in Washington, some of whom have claimed "It was our worse camping experience in the USA so far."

His response was, "this is the only time that there are no golfers around"! (Lucky for them, I'd say!)

This proves one thing. It doesn't matter how beautiful the campground is and how scenic the view is. If you've set up camp in the wrong location your trip could turn into a nightmare.

Planning is critical when camping.

TRAIL COOKING By Karen Willman aka little sister www.moosenosebrothers.com

There is a wide variety of choices to be made when preparing for trail cooking. The type of food, methods of preparation and required equipment play an important role. But there are individual circumstances to consider. Will you be traveling alone or will there be others that can share the weight? Is this going to be a 7-day hike into the wilderness or a weekend trip? Will there be opportunities to forage for food? Are you on foot, in a vehicle or on a horse? What's the altitude or the time of year?

One common link to all of the above is this: keep it simple and efficient.

One of the fondest childhood memories I have are camping with my dad. My dad and I would grab our tent, sleeping bags and fishing poles and head down to a local lake for a weekend. Camping can be a wonderful activity for the entire family. It can also become a huge calamity if you are not prepared or don't know what to expect.

There are some things you need to know before buying motor homes. Motor homes or motorized recreational vehicles (RVs) come in different classes. Two of those classes are usually confused with each other, those being class A and class C motor homes. It's essential to look at the physical appearance of the motor home in order to determine whether it is class A or class C. Class A motor homes resemble a bus design with a flat or vertical front end and large windows while hand class C motor homes have a truck cab with an over-cab bed, in some ways resembling a camper.

If you are thinking of buying a camper, but don't think you can afford the retail price, or don't want to spend that much money, you can always think about buying used campers. A used camper can be just as good of an investment as a brand new model, especially if you are new to the world of trailers, or are only interested in using it on occasion.

If a used camper is something you are seriously considering buying, the following is what you should know before you settle on just any old RV or trailer.