Do you rough it, or bring luxuries?

[Corky]

Everyone has a different opinion of what camping means. To some people it means roughing it to the point of a sleeping bag under the stars, while others can't survive without their comforts. The only gadgets I bring with me are my ipod and my phone.

 

[Bradsalex]

Personally, I would rather rough it then bring a tent. I'd like to just tie a poncho to a tree and sleep under that. But with a wife and kids you don't always have that option. You need diapers (not for much longer hopefully), more clothes, a tent, and a whole bunch of crap that I'd rather not set up just to take down the next morning.

My staples would be GPS and water, I'd find enough to do in the woods to entertain me.

 

[Flannelshirt]

I like bring a nice thick foam pad to provide some degree of comfort when I'm sleeping. I'm at the point where sleeping on the cold, hard ground makes my body ache the next day.

 

[Pebbles]

I would call our camping experiences luxurious, but we do bring things like an air mattress, a small propane grill, and a few other items to be comfortable and make things a little bit easier.

 

[frank6160]

At my age I like to be somewhat comfortable. So an air matress,tent to keep me dry along with my gear and many other things go with me. I'm sure I carry more than I need.

 

[Corky]

Well, at least nobody is bringing a generator so they can plug in a microwave and a cappuccino maker. Or if they are, they're not about to admit here. I think some people get to a point where they're bringing so much stuff that you realy can't seriously call it camping anymore. I hope I never get that bad.

 

[failghe]

As a kid it was minimal. Just a sleeping bag, food, water. Now the girlfriend wants to bring Walmart with us. LOL.

 

[BigBackyard]

I'm the same-when it was just me (and it often was, with it being just me hiking and sleeping wherever I wanted) I would take almost nothing but a sleeping bag and some kind of camping mat or bivvi bag.

Now I have a family and that means taking stuff-so no, I no longer rough it.

 

[GPER]

When I got married about 30 years ago the wife had to have a port a pot if she went camping. The wife stays at home now:dance3: I still pack the john, it is nice not having to leave the tent in the middle of the night.

I like to cook so I bring more cooking stuff than I really need, but I like to eat while camping.

 

[911 Dispatcher]

I do have to say I love the outdoors and roughing it. However like so many others on here it is not an option for me anymore with having the wife coming along. She refuses to even go in a pit. She has to have a toilet that makes noise (flushes)

I bring a fan also for her. This though is due to the fact that she has a medical issue if she gets to hot.. I have had many of dealings with that and the less the better.

 

[LakeLady]

We have roughed it in the past when we went camping before we had kids, but now we just feel more safe with having a few luxuries. We still occasionally tent camp, but we always have plenty of food, water, extra clothing, first aid kit, and most times a cell phone depending upon where we are camping.

 

[Adventurelover]

I bring a blow up mattress because I get too achy after sleeping on the ground, and a tent. Other than that I bring my camera, my phone, and books to read.

 

[The Scout]

In younger days I would rough it, but now we are comfortable enough at a State Park or Natinal Forest campground with a spicket, showerhouse and flushing toilets. Sleepingbags, foam pads or for some, air mattresses. Colemon propane stove and lanterns, small grill, boombox or radio, plenty of ice, plenty of groceries, cookware and some snakebite medicine or other such libations.

Most of the time we pick a place near decent hiking trails.

 

[wildmonger]

I know of a man who hiked the whole Long Trail in Vermont going from shelter to shelter with nothing. He ate the leftover food in the shelters, and he was wearing a suit and street shoes!

 

[Hilltopper]

I need an air mattress or I would not be able to get up in the morning, I just can't sleep on the ground anymore. We also usually stay at a site that has showers. Some things I just gotta have.:tinysmile_twink_t2:

 

[mommyof2boys]

We bring a tent, cookstove and lantern...although we started last year bringing an air mattress so my hips and back don't kill me the next day!

 

[FernGully]

When we, the family, go camping we bring blankets for lean tos; spades for latrines and battery operated radios. We only stay over night so I guess it's not as big a thing as it could be. We go twice a summer and so far no one minds.

 

[Luvoutdoors]

It just depends on whose going with us what all we take. We have camped with little more than a tent and some food but if we take the little one with us we bring a good bit more.

 

[northernbushape]

We generally will set up a base camp and then explore from there so we tend to bring some extras like a 10x10 Easy-Up shelter, air mattress, folding cook table etc. Nothing too extreme. If I am just hiking an over-nighter then I just bring a pad, bag, small tube tent, and my personal carry.

I guess we have a few extras, but a far cry from luxury that's for sure. Almost all of our camping is remote back-country where the closest amenity may be 30-40 miles away - we take what we need.

 

[outdoors Joe]

I'd rough it, but the wife insists on bringing a tent, charcoal grill, and a camping "toilet." Other than that, she's pretty cool about it. She'll even help clean fish when we catch them.