For me, I started camping at a very young age. I grew up in Huntington Beach, a suburb near Los Angeles, so there were not many opportunities to camp. Fortunately, I discovered Cub Scouts and went on my first camping trip with them. I loved it. I continued to camp at least once a month with my troop and eventually earned Eagle...and the camping merit badge! So why/when did you start camping?
Summertime, when all the city relatives came home for the fishing and visiting, the tents would go up and us boys would bunk down in a wall tent out in the orchard. By the age of 10, some friends and I would get a mom to haul us up a canyon and another mom to come get us 3-4 days later.
Hi... I guess that I must have had some Mountain Man in me...always loved the outdoors...hunting, fishing, trapping, camping. The camping part of it came about when my folks dropped me somewhere in the middle of nowhere...but I always found my way back...!!
It didn't take a lot of inspiration. Dad took me. That fact coupled with another (I always liked being able to pee anywhere I wanted) and I was a natural.
Like Dino, nothing inspired me to go camping. Rather the fun I had and wisdom I was taught, when I was old enough to notice inspired me to continue camping on my own.
When I was a kid I remember loving to thumb through my dad's old Boy Scout manual, especially the camping section. I was intrigued by the idea of sleeping outdoors in the woods. My younger brother was a Boy Scout and did a few camping and backpacking trips with them in his early teens, but I avoided the Scouts because it was considered sort of nerdy. During my college years my friends and I started "camping". It was actually pulling our cars into a small field on state land in the Catskills, rolling out a keg or two and drinking and blasting music for 3-4 days. I had no camping equipment, so I slept friend's tents in my dad's old knee length army coat from his days serving in Alaska. I'd be powerful cold during some of our mid November trips. It wasn't until I was in my mid 20's however that my brother bought a backpack, stove and other equipment and I thought that it was a good idea and started accumulating backpacking equipment of my own. A sleeping bag was first on the list because I was sick of freezing in dad's old army coat. Went on my first backpacking trip when I was about 26 with my then girlfriend and was hooked.
There wasn't much inspiration involved in my starting camping. My dad liked camping all the time and I went with him when I was growing up. Sometimes at a campground, sometime just packing a bunch of stuff and heading off in the woods around the house. As I got older I made friends that had the same interest. So we would go almost every weekend during the summer during our breaks from school. We even built a log cabin back in a nice little sheltered hollow. Since that time, however, I haven't had much inspiration. Just the occasional trip maybe once a year, sometimes not that often. I still like it, but it's just not the same. Mostly I just let my health go, I'm too obese to be able to enjoy it now. My back hurts so bad when I try to sleep on the ground that I can't sleep. Tried different options with air pads, cots, etc. and nothing is tolerable. If I could find the motivation to drop the weight I'm sure I'd be able to start enjoying camping again.
As kids we used to borrow stuff from my Dad and we visited the Army Surplus stores all the time. I never had any decent equipment until I went to college and joined REI in about 1969. We did a lot more adventurous trips by the age of 12, than most college kids today. We had the wanderlust. I don't know where it came from. My niece and her friends go on vacation once in awhile, but few of them have cars and they know nothing of road trips. We used to drive across the US every summer just to see what was out there. We had cheap old cars, VW buses, panel trucks, old pickups, 57 chevys, a 60 Ford. We never went anywhere without a box of tools. Kids today can't change a tire. I have been accused of turning into my Dad. Recently it occurred to me that I have turned into my grandfather.
I still occasionally visit surplus stores and the only thing that keeps me outa fatigues is my ample waist line.
My parents took us on camping vacations from before I can remember. I was a friendly, confident little kid, and my parents have stories of me dragging my little camp chair over to neighboring campsites to meet new people and sit around their campfires. Once I got old enough to remember things, I have great memories of wandering in the woods and staring at the stars late into the night. We traveled up and down the east coast with the whole family, camping out wherever we ended up that night. What seems to have solidified my love of camping was going on a "wilderness trek" the week before starting college. My parents helped me pick up all my gear from the local outdoor shop and I spent one of the most memorable weeks of my life in the great outdoors hiking and camping with a small group of fellow students. During each season of the year, I seem to get inspired to camp outdoors again and again. Right now I'm excited for the start of foliage season and the crisp autumn nights. Soon enough it will be the fun of winter camping in the snowy woods.
Last month my parents celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversary. My brothers and I did a short play with 7 scenes. One was in Puerto Rico in 1950. The folks went out for a Sunday drive in the military jeep in the mountains. Dad strung a hammock made from a gunny sack from the windshield and the rollbar. Mom heated up the formula on the exhaust manifold of the jeep. Then they fed me some little red bananas. That is how I got my start in the outdoors.
I was raised to be outside. Started camping with my uncles to hunt. Came back to backpacking and camping after a long hiatus for fishing.
I have had it in several generations of my family. I had tent gear in high school. Had many camping dates. Married a camping sweetheart, had first child and bought her a new popup. Child number two got herself a new hybrid tt
