How much does a trip cost you?

[evergreen]

Sometimes I here people say that "I'm not taking a trip because I don't have the money", I usually shake my head and don't say anything, but it's kind of a lame excuse in my opinion, besides the initial expense of buying gear you can basically go camping with 20 $, including money for gas.

[Michael]

The last couple of times I went camping, I spent a couple of dollars on food.

The buy-in cost for camping is relatively high, but the per-instance cost is pretty much negligible. Once you have the tent, backpack, etc, the only thing left to spend money on is whatever you're going to eat. And you have to eat anyway, so it's not like you're spending a bunch of cash when you wouldn't otherwise.

[Bobby]

I suppose you could MAKE it expensive by renting a campsite, buying firewood on-site, getting fancy supplies and all that. But, like you say, once you have the basics there is generally very little expense.

[CBatch]

I spend more money on food than $20 for each camping trip. You also have to add in the cost of the campsite. That usually costs $40-$50 for a weekend. It might cost us about $100 each time.

[lbean]

I did not get camping as much as I wanted to and I would say it was because I did not have the money. But what that meant was that I had to work 6 days a week to make enough money to pay off some medical bills. By the 7th day I am to tired to go camping for one night. I did get a few great trips in though.

[JDSport]

I usually spend about $150 for a week camping trip which includes food and wood. Then of course the site fee which is around $30 a night.

[Erwin]

I also shake my head at this statement! I spend about $40 a night and that includes meals, which is much cheaper than finding a hotel room and then still needing food! Sometimes we even camp in our own back 40, so even cheaper!

[hikingprincess]

I would really like to know where you are camping that you can spend $20 total for a few days and have that include the cost of gas. Unfortunately not all of us can be close to anywhere you can camp. I live in a city and the closest place you might be able to camp free or not is at least a good hour drive. When you drive an SUV that will cost way more than $20! Add to that the cost of food and incidentals I would say we spend at least $100-$150 maybe more for a trip further from home. Also in my state we cannot transport firewood because of the emerald ash borer so you have to buy wood on site.

[Michael]

Originally Posted by hikingprincess

I would really like to know where you are camping that you can spend $20 total for a few days and have that include the cost of gas.

In my case, in a super secret spot in the woods on the other side of town. It's a 15 minute drive, so it doesn't cost anything much for gas. It's not a camp ground, so no camping fee. We collect fire wood on-site, so no charge for that. The only thing I pay for is food, and the last time we went camping we caught fish and gathered mushrooms, which is free.

Even if I was staying at a camp site that charged -- which I never do -- I'd still collect my own fire wood. I own a decent saw, and I actually enjoy the process of collecting wood. It's good fun to put in some honest labour and earn the right to be warm at night by collecting your own wood.

[evergreen]

Originally Posted by Erwin

I also shake my head at this statement! I spend about $40 a night and that includes meals, which is much cheaper than finding a hotel room and then still needing food! Sometimes we even camp in our own back 40, so even cheaper!

I very rarely pay for a camping site, almost never for wood and as far as food goes I usually take that out of the fridge or buy some groceries, so that leaves the gas and seeing as the drive is not that long, you can stop with the head shaking .