Cosumnes River Ranch
First Time Camping with a Toddler
Dates: June 17-19, 2022
Consumnes River Ranch
Campsite 6
We haven’t been back in the outdoors in a VERY LONG TIME! A lot of big things happened since 2018….all of our friends, including Jon and I, had weddings, which meant bachelor and bachelorette parties, rehearsals, bridal showers etc. THEN, we all had babies, so that meant a lot of baby showers and now, tons of birthday parties.
Now that Harley just turned two in April, we thought it’s ABOUT DAMN TIME we share our love of the outdoors with her, hoping and praying she loves it just as a much as we do. Bonus is that this weekend, we celebrated Jon’s 36th birthday, our 3rd wedding anniversary, AND Father’s Day.
We don’t usually really “prep” Harley that much in advance for things and generally, she’s fine with transitions and new environments. Her first RV-racetrack trip was when she was only three months old. And since then, she’s been in several RVs at the racetrack already. We’ve flown her to Kauai, Seattle, and San Diego…which have all been good trips!
That said, I’m not sure why I was a little nervous about this trip. Maybe because it’s not a normal kid-friendly campsite. It is pretty much off-the-grid, meaning no electricity, no running water (other than the river), no toilets, no showers, etc. No outdoor movie night, no swimming pool….just us and nature. But I mean, we’re experienced backpackers/campers…it should be no big deal, right?
We had pretty much all the gear we needed, with the exception of some toddler stuff and some things that might make the trip more comfortable. We decided to buy a portable camp toilet w/ popup cover. I’m no stranger to going in the woods…and actually prefer it over using dirty communal camp bathrooms or porta potties. But because this ranch had other campsites (albeit they’re super spread far out) and no bathrooms, plus a toddler to take care of, it was a no brainer to get a camp toilet.
LuminAID Solar Inflatable Lantern / MPOWERD Luci String Lights - make the tent so much more fun!
Toddler Gear
Two new things we bought were fun solar powered lights for the tent. These are our new favorite items! Harley loves picking the colors for each. LuminAID Solar Inflatable Lantern and MPOWERD Luci String Lights. Note: both of these are sold at REI!
Playard: We bring this thing everywhere. It is so nice to have a clean toy area that we could just sit in or lay down in.
First aid kit w/natural bug spray. When we backpack, we usually use Jungle Juice, which is like 99% deet lol. But obviously, we needed a more kid-friendly spray so we went with Babyganics Bug Spray.
Lots of extra clothes/different layers. This area was hot in the afternoon and freezing at night.
New toys, favorite books
Glowstick necklaces & bracelets for night time!
We also brought her camping foldable high chair but didn’t really find it necessary.
Tips
Prepare/chop veggies/meals ahead of time. Don’t try to get all fancy on your first trip with your toddy. Keep it simple, easy to clean, and easy to eat.
Bring activities. We brought her sketch book, paint & paint brushes, a glue stick, and some new tractor toys
Bring foods you know they’ll love. Harley didn’t eat much of the meals we planned so she woke up both mornings with “Mommy, snack! I’m hungry”—next time, I’ll bring her tried and true favorites (ie anything with white rice lol).
Research area (look up nearby hospitals and/or grocery stores)
Print maps
Don’t go too far on your first trip. If you need to abort the plans, let’s hope you’re not too far from home! This location was only 2.5 hours away from our house, which was so easy.
Tell someone exact location of where you’ll be and date you’re supposed to come back. We always do this when we go backpacking.
We brought her travel stroller because we weren’t sure how hot the tent would be during the afternoon. Can never go wrong with stroller naps.
Now, the campsite…
Consumnes River Ranch is a private family-owned ranch in Plymouth, CA (near Sacramento). The entire property is 4,000+ acres! We found it and booked it on the Hipcamp app. There are 10 tent campsites each with picnic tables and fire rings. There are some porta potties dispersed throughout the property, which the reviews claim are the cleanest they’ve ever seen. All campsites are right on the Consumnes River. They also have 2 small cabins (no kitchen, no bathroom), 1 large cabin (looks perfect for events but far from river), and one large group campsite. Also, there is a swimming hole, some beach-y areas, and apparently an 8-mile single track trail.
The campsites are so private! You are pretty far from each other and barely even notice other people. Campsite 6 was a little further from the river than we had hoped, but we knew this because the owners said it is more toddler-friendly since it is further back. But it was so private and big! There was a fire ban when we went so we had to buy a propane fire pit. This was our first time using one and it was nice not to go home smelling like smoke. The river was only a two minute walk from our campsite so we couldn’t complain.
The grass was so dry this time of the year so our Campsite 6 was not that cute. We are so used to lush forest-y scenes but we knew those types of campsites are in the 4-5 hour drive category. We also didn’t have the luxury of having a river view but we opted for safety. There were other campsites that had better views and easier access to the river but we didn’t want to risk having a toddler and not knowing the areas with more active river rapids. Harley didn’t ever roam too far from us so we will definitely have to come back to other sites.
The fabulous part of this ranch was the access to the Consumnes River. Our campsite was only a two minute walk to the river crossing that had a partially submerged cement road that we walked and biked on. On one side of the crossing was calmer waters, which was perfect for our little raft.
