Camping With Family Quotes, Sourced and Sorted by Theme

Camping with family quotes are lines about time outdoors with parents, children and relatives. The sourced ones below come from Thoreau, John Muir, Rachel Carson and Mary Oliver, each with the work they appear in, followed by short captions for photos.

Quotes about leaving the house

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.”

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), Chapter 2, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”

Thoreau wrote this about living alone at Walden Pond, not about a family trip. It is a common caption for the first night at a campsite because it describes the reason for going.

“The mountains are calling and I must go.”

— John Muir, letter to his sister Sarah Muir Galloway, 1873

Muir wrote this in a letter. The wording on posters and mugs is usually shortened or changed, so check any version that adds extra sentences.

Quotes about children and nature

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder… he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

— Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder (1965)

Carson’s short book is about taking a child outdoors without needing to name every plant or animal. It is the strongest sourced quote for a parent’s camping caption.

Quotes about paying attention

“Instructions for living a life: / Pay attention. / Be astonished. / Tell about it.”

— Mary Oliver, “Sometimes,” in Red Bird (2008)

This fits a photo of kids looking at a fire, a creek or the night sky. It is a short poem line, so quote it as lines, not as a sentence.

Short captions for family camping photos

The lines below are written for this page and have no outside source.

• Four people, one tent, zero signal.
• S’mores count as dinner this weekend.
• Everyone slept badly and everyone wants to go back.
• The kids found the creek before we finished the tent.
• Family time, offline.

Camping quotes that circulate without a source

Many camping graphics are credited to John Muir, Ansel Adams or Thoreau but contain wording that appears in none of their books. A common check is to search the quote with the work’s title. If no title or year is attached, either drop the name or use one of the sourced lines above.

Related reading

For other outdoor lines, see Maria Montessori Quotes About Nature, Sourced. For quotes on how children learn, see Quotes for Growth Mindset, Sourced and Sorted by Use.

FAQ

What is a good quote for a family camping trip?

Rachel Carson’s line about sharing wonder with a child is the closest sourced match. Muir’s “The mountains are calling and I must go” is the usual short option.

Did John Muir really say “The mountains are calling”?

Yes. It is from an 1873 letter to his sister. The longer versions on merchandise often add words he did not write.

Can I use these as Instagram captions?

Yes. Include the author’s name with sourced lines. The short captions listed above need no credit.