Are you really camping?

[ppine]

It doesn't matter what we think.
What matters is that we sleep outside away from everyday routines.

If everyone contributing to this thread were to go on the road for 5 weeks most of this discussion would be moot.

For shorter trips, backpacking and tent camping have a higher intensity. For long trips like more than 3 weeks an RV can't be beat because of the comfort.

 

[clewand550]

I love being in a tent. I love the smell and sound of nature. I feel like I don't get that as well when I'm in a trailer. I also love tenting in the woods where I am secluded from everything and everyone. I am not a fan of a lot of noise and other people talking. I would rather listen to the campfire and the wildlife. I can get all of this in a tent easier than a trailer.

 

[mariaandrea]

To my father it wasn't really camping unless you hiked at least a mile to your site away from the car and slept in a tent. To me, it's sleeping in a tent in an established campground (car camping). To others, it's being in an RV or a trailer. I think it all works. After all, we're not in a hotel.

 

[cwolfman]

Me...I consider myself to be camping in my pop up. I was a long time tent camper before the pop up and still do the occasional backpacking trip. I go to the same boondock sites I used to in the tent, so the only difference is what I'm camping in.

I have yet to set foot in an RV Park/Resort other than a KOA en-route to somewhere else...but never as a primary camp destination. If I'm in a campground at all, I prefer the more primitive forest service CGs and the occasional trip to a State or National Park. Ultimately, I prefer dispersed camping/boondock camping and just pulling off a the forest road to a nice, wide open, all to myself campsite. To date, the only hookups I've ever used are the ones at my house.

If I ever make a point of using my pop up as a rolling hotel room and start staying in the glorified parking lots known as RV Parks, I'll say I'm RVing. Personally, I don't ever see that happening but one never knows...perhaps I'll run out of trails to hike and trout streams to fish someday.

One of my new finds off FR 103 in the Jemez Mts, New Mexico.

 

[hikeorbike]

No, I don't think you are really camping if you are doing it in motorized convenience. That is just one step down from a hotel. RVs are a great way to tour the country, sure, but they're hardly close to nature.

 

[cwolfman]

No, I don't think you are really camping if you are doing it in motorized convenience. That is just one step down from a hotel. RVs are a great way to tour the country, sure, but they're hardly close to nature.

See my post ^^^^^.....Looks like nature to me...in fact, acres and acres of nothing but ponderosa forest, trails, and trout streams. My pop up is a vinyl tenting with 360 views of all that nature. At the particular site pictured, our nearest camping neighbor was 3 miles up the forest road. Not going to get much more back to nature or much more secluded than that without strapping on a pack.

Personally, I think it's not so much about the "tool"....it's how you use the "tool". It is true that many with RVs...whether they be pop ups, TTs, 5ers, MoHos...whatever....they use them for touring and seeing the country...they stay in RV Parks/Resorts, many of which resemble theme parks more than they do CGs (this I consider to be RVin)....but there's a whole lot of us out there that have pop ups or other RVs that love nothing more than taking them back into the woods as far as we can to get away from the crowds and other people. Not everyone with a camper uses hookups and sits around inside watching t.v. and cooking their frozen meal in the microwave.

 

[ppine]

Wolfman,
You are entirely correct that a tent trailer has better views than any tent. It has furniture too, and is a great compromise.

Pathfinder1,
Hold everything. Your quote by Seneca is much more important than this thread. Way to go. Please continue to show us the path.

 

[Grandpa]

Was just reading today about a forest area closure to camping. The USFS definition of camping was (paraphrased, too lazy to look the exact wording back up) an overnight stay by any method other than a fixed permanent dwelling.

This really solves nothing because none of us believe anything the government tells us any way.:tinysmile_twink_t2:

 

[CozInCowtown]

To be honest, I enjoy both camping in a tent and camping in an RV. It kind of depends on my mood. Sometimes I feel like roughing it and sometimes I like the idea of having my comforts with me. It also depends on the time of year. You can't camp in the wintertime in a tent when it's very cold, but you can in an RV.

Well said Chary!!
Camping is different things to different folks.
When I camp with the family we mostly take the 5th wheel and set up in a park somewhere close to where we want to be.
Sometimes me and the wife will toss a tent and lantern in the back of the Expedition and head out for the weekend if no kids are under foot.
I also like to pack in on horseback and pack mules up in the Colorado mountains, this is my favorite part of elk hunting.
We have backpackers here who roll up in a small tarp, pop-up campers, full $400K RVers and everything in between here and we are all camping and loveing it!!
JMO,
DC

 

[carmen]

We are camping out in the living room this week as we are getting new flooring installed in three of the main rooms of the house, the bedroom is the first. I would love for them to get it done all tomorrow but I figure it will take a few days. I think once this heat wave blows over we can go on a real camping trip.

 

[RandySki]

I think camping is more of a state of mind than what you bring with you. I'm at the age where I'd rather be in an RV than in a tent but the important thing to me is getting away from everything.

 

[Greatoutdoors]

Well said Randy! To me it doesn't matter what you sleep in. I am just happy to be out in nature and away from the every day grind.

 

[Yhonny Yuma]

I like getting out and camping in tents but getting older isnt easy on the bones and the heat and cold arent fun either Iused a pop up and it was ok but setting out side by the fire at night and taking is the relaxing part

 

[ppine]

Does it matter? Some people think camping involves wool blankets, a fire, trout and little else. Are you really camping with a bunch of high-tech silnylon tents that cost $500? Expresso makers? $150 inflatable mattresses? It only matters that people get out there and enjoy themselves in all God's magnificent creation.

edit- I just returned from eastern Nevada out in the big mountains. There were lots of people "camping" in RVs and enjoying the fall. I saw only one tent camper, and he was working during the day. Where were all the self-proclaimed real campers? They were at home while the RVers were still going out there. Something to think about. My other thought for the day is that many people that are under say 40, will likely change their tune about what is acceptable once they get a few more years on them.

 

[Newanderthal]

If this is camping...

...then so is this.

 

[ppine]

New,
To each his own. For a long trip like 2 months that motorhome would be a dream.

 

[Cappy]

In my world the word çampig has a very broad definition. i am currently on a boat smaller livin'space than many campers, 100 miles south of New Orleans parked in a marsh. The marsh reeds are waving in the wind and I just watched a flock of spoonbill rasettte cranes fly by. I kinda figure i am a paid camper:tinysmile_fatgrin_t

 

[Grandpa]

Whether a bivy sack high in the Sawtooths, a walk-in tent down at roads end, a vehicle with a bed somewhere in the pines or a cabin or a yurt along a road, it's all good. Even some motels are a great getaway. Call it whatever you want.

 

[swebob]

I camp in a tent now but if i could i would upgrade to a pop-up and use both. Right now i own a condo and cant store anything here and also have a small car and a pop-up is about all the weight i could haul. The expense to store it somewhere would not be worth it for the amount of camping i do.. So its a tent for me.

 

[Hikenhunter]

This same subject is a continuing debate on many of the camping forums I have visited. In January I posted my opinion on another website. For what it is worth I would like to share parts of it with the folks on this site as well: The following is my opinion as to what I believe camping really is some of you might agree while some of you won't. My fondest memories are of times I have spent in the outdoors. I have gone to "CAMP" and was sheltered in a cabin. I have tent "CAMPED" in our 12x12 foot tent. and I have "CAMPED" in the backcountry sheltered in a backpackers tent,trail shelter,or with no shlter at all.I have canoe camped and in doing so I have stayed in primative locations as well as commercial campgrounds along my paddleing route. I heard it said that "people have a very broad idea of what camping is.""Perhaps it should be called open air living or outdoor living" as a poster on another forum has said. I have enjoyed the variety of ways that I have camped and I think we should all enjoy the outdoors in whatever way makes us happy. I think that we are all entitled to our individual opinions of what camping is, that we need to realize the ethics that go into being good neighbors and good stewarts of the land we use and that we should strive to instill our good values in our children,our grandchildren, and any one else we happen to teach as we go. If it is living in the outdoors then it is camping,it is an activity with many levels but it is camping non the less. Enjoy your time in the outdoors no matter what method you choose and if you get the chance to experience the outdoors in a different manner than you are used to, take the plunge and give it a try because you just might like it and you might realize a different way to add to your enjoyment of living in the outdoors.