Define "Camping"

[Redlantern]

I like the so called hard core camping. To be honest, I've only had a very limited amount of experience with camping in campgrounds and also with using a pop up trailer. While they certainly are comfortable, I still prefer the primitive style. I guess it's what you are looking for. For me, I like to get away from the crowds and get away from the noise of motors and radios. So I go to the BWCA quite often. As far as camping with kids, I don't see why they can't sleep in a tent when they're little. Mine have done it. But then again, when I took them with me when they were toddlers, I didn't plan on putting on twenty mile days or catching a buttload of fish, either. Mostly try to get them to enjoy the experience by making it as much fun for them as possible. I didn't mind the change, either. To see them get into what I enjoy meant more to me than any lake trout could. Now that they are a bit older, we go for longer trips, more miles and do a bit more fishing. Hopefully they will continue to enjoy the same kind of camping we do now and when they're adults, I hope they'll take me along like I did with my dad.

[iland99]

My daughter turned 6 months old yesterday. She's camped out in the tent with us twice already. The pack-'n-play is a lifesaver. So are the little mesh screens that go over her pack-'n-play and carseat. They were all of $1.50 each, best investment ever! She did get kind of bored having to sit in her carseat all day, but at least it kept the bugs off her! The last time we camped with her it got down to about 40 degrees one night, so I had to crack the windows in the tent and fire up the Buddy heater so she stayed warm enough. Obviously you have to be very careful when you use those things in a tent, but as long as you're careful they work just fine.

[ib_jigged]

To me camping is being in the outdoors! It does not matter tent, pop-up, travel trailer, fifth-wheel, or motorhome. If you are at a campground or primitive site, spending quality time with the ones you love or your lonesome.

I grew up tenting, then into a pop-up, met my wife, then back to a tent, now we our on our 4th travel trailer on a seasonal spot north of Bemidji. We would love a cabin but this is much more affordable. We still do all of our cooking outside, spend days in/on the water, and nights by the campfire. This to me is camping!

I sounds to me like the true defintion to most here is that camping should be renamed "tenting".

Here is what Merriam-Webtser has to say:

Main Entry: camping

Function: verb

intransitive verb

1 : to make camp or occupy a camp

2 : to live temporarily in a camp or outdoors -- often used with out

3 : to take up one's quarters : LODGE

4 : to take up one's position : settle down -- often used with out <camp out in the library for the afternoon>

transitive verb : to put into a camp; also : ACCOMMODATE

Fishon!!!

[UdeLakeTom]

Is this comparitable to those saying, "we are going up to the cabin", only to find out that the "cabin" has 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bath with a tuck under garage and a dish on the roof. Not quite a cabin with the 2 holer out back and a pump for water.

[sparcebag]

Great reply ib!So during this hot humid weather,I camped out at home,but I did have the air on.UMMM OK I tookup my lodge.

[DigitalFisherman]

I also break it down as

Camping: more primitive, backpacking or BWCA type trips

Car Camping: drive up to a site and pitch a tent

RV’n: if you have a refrigerator and 110, you might be RV’n

I do all of these and think that all have there place but I tend to agree that camping requires a little more work than hooking up then starting a fire.

As for camping with kids and dogs; it is as easy and as fun as you want to make it. Before having kids, my wife and I spent at least 10 days a month, year round, backpacking with our first “child”, a 110 lb Malamute. Now we have kids, 4 and 6, and both started car camping before they started cutting teeth; now neither of them can get enough. At least a few times a week I put my son (4) to sleep in his bed and in the morning find him on the floor in his sleeping bag.

I think where some people run into trouble is when they try to take all the conveniences of home into the woods without realizing that there just creating more work for themselves because now you have to manage all this stuff. K.I.S.S. We leave for a 10 day, car camping trip in two weeks. We will have two adults, two kids in car seats, a dog in a kennel, camping gear, fishing gear and food all in a Subaru Outback; strap the canoe to the top and away we go… now that’s living.

[echotrail]

According to my wife it's anything more rustic than a Holiday Inn.

[irvingdog]

Everybody has their own definition.

I'm an ultra-light backpacker/canoeist. But I also "car-camped" with my 7 year old until this year. Now, he's a hard core backpacker as well. He says "I want to sleep were the raccoons fight as we go to sleep and the turkey wake us up". And when we take his friends, he says "I want to camp in the site near the bathrooms and the pool".

It's all good. I'm there for all of it. And so is he.

[Bobby Bass]

Camping is when you wake up in the middle of the night and crave your bed!

[Hammer Handle]

So, camping is anything temporary and outdoors.

So, if I barbque outside my house and have a bonfire, I am not "camping".

If I put up a mobile home (or even a tent) and leave it sit for all summer and use it...I am not camping (as it is not temporary).

Does that sound right?

I needed to actually define "camping" for legal reasons and a lawyer told me that the two main things that must be met to be "camping" is that it must be outdoors and the "home" must be temporary.

[Jameson]

I know someone who was recently "camping" at Baker Park. They brought a 110v room AIR CONDITIONER into the tent with them. Just ran the hose from the AC outside the tent. What a way to enjoy the great outdoors!

[fishinchicks]

So how would you define a log structure with two rooms - one with a table, and the other with log beds? All cooking was done outside, and you had to run a ways to get to the bathhouse? We stayed in such a structure while in New York this summer. We called it camping, since we did all our cooking outside. The added bonus was the artillary range on one side, and the rifle range on the other during the US Military Acadamy's summer training.

[sparcebag]

AHHH Jameson now thats my type a campin,roughin it in a tent

[Xplorer]

The only type of camping that I have done the last 11 years has been boating into sites in Voyageurs Nat'l Park. Used to do the public/private campground thing (in tents) but that got old quickly.

Having made 40-50 trips thru the years (next weekend I'll be making my 5th trip this year alone), we know it may be alot of work but the rewards to us are well worth it (almost all trips have been family camping trips).

For the last 5 summers our son (who turned 5 on June 25) has been with on every family trip, with each trip being 5 days long. I figured up that he has been on 16 trips to date, with # 17 next week. He has spent 77 days camping in Voyageurs, and he is a great little camper. He helps get kindling, and likes to try and break up the "beaverwood" that we scavange along the shorelines. He knows that he must wear his lifevest when he's gonna be near the water/rocks, and is a first class s'more eater

When we go out west for a week each June to hike and stay in a KOA kamping kabin, I dont consider that camping. I guess for me camping must include a tent (or tarp, or sleeping under the stars which we did alot of when we lived/camped in Colorado).

A few years ago we considered getting a travel trailer and putting it on a seasonal site on Kab, but just couldnt bring ourselves to do it. We knew that we'd constantly want to be out on the lake in the tent. To each their own.....and no I'm no kid either. Lets just say that I'm barely on the downside of my 40's, so its not just for the young, but the young at heart too

[lookincalifornia]

i was raised in forest city ia. home of winnebago industries, so i can't bash the rv. however, since i own only one pair of black socks, keep my belt below my bellybutton, and do not drive a saturn, i will keep my kelty. i feel like a sissy in our big 8 man coleman. but with two toddlers and two teens, ya kinda gotta.

my buddy has a scamp, and i could see my self getting into that, but if i can only tow one thing, it's gotta be a boat.

[cold one sd]

I feel pretty guilty on a hot day while I'm in my 32 foot fifth wheel with the air conditioning going and a cold one in my hand. NOT!!!! Each to his own. Our campgrounds have electrical hookups and I don't mind using them.

[Queenswake]

I think a lot of guys are forced to get an RV by a significant other who is less than impressed with sleeping on the ground. It's a compromise they have to make if they are going to get out in the woods at all.

And I don't many need the luxuries of a 5th wheel, but because it's the best of all worlds, I think a lot of people get them. They are economical comparatively, can tow the boat behind, and you have your truck to go drive around. The only other similar option is a truck camper, but those are pretty small for a family.

I think I'll be forced to do the same when I marry my girl. I will NOT have a TV and will do all the cooking outside over the fire as you should be. It will be used soley as a place to sleep and hideout when it rains. Who wants to be cooped up inside something that looks like home when you are camping?

[Down Deep]

To me camping is a tent away from electricity. I don't have to be sleeping on the ground and using an open fire to cook my meals, just out on an island or shore of a lake somewhere. I have a camper and use it sometimes, but I really think that you can't be camping if you have the stove, refrigerator and AC. I think when I use the camper I'm actually RVing which has lots of pluses.

[federline]

Quote:

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I think a lot of guys are forced to get an RV by a significant other who is less than impressed with sleeping on the ground. It's a compromise they have to make if they are going to get out in the woods at all.

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Bingo!

I'm an RV'er. I'm a camper, too.

I don't go camping with the RV, and my family and friends know it - we "RV" across country, and stay in "RV parks", and "campgrounds". Microwave, TV, Fridge, A/C and furnace, its a rolling house - but there are still fish houses out there that put it to shame.

I go camping, too. My family, in the sense of a family unit, simply does NOT camp. In my wife's words "If if the walls, roof and floor ain't solid, I aint' sleepin there." Same goes for the daughter. Son is a Boy Scout, I'd be a lost soul in our family if it weren't for him camping.

But I can get the whole fam damily plus dog into the class A for a 3 week nonstop adventure across the country to someplace new every summer, heavy on the grilling and campfires. No routines, no schedules, no grand central station at the house, just downtime for family and self away from the familiar daily bothers. Nice. Wouldn't happen in our family if not for the RV.

Sure beats clawing out each others eyeballs in an airport or a hotel room at Disneyland!

[Wade Joseph]

Personally, its a tent, sleeping bags, cooler and cooking over an open fire. I don't even like to use the coleman stove if I can get away without it.

[gomer89]

Quote:

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Quote:

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"Camping" does not need an electrical outlet.

"Camping" is relying on coolers to keep things cool and fires to keep things warm.

"Camping" is standing under a tarp during a rainstorm to keep you dry.

"Camping" does not involve generators, satellite TV's or air conditioners.

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Let me add a couple more...

"Camping" is sleeping with your boots so they are not frozen when you wake up!

"Camping" is paddling a little harder to beat the other group to the "good site"

"Camping" is making sure that your food packs are hung up high enough to keep out the critters!

"Camping" is walking down a beat down trail at 2 am with a headlamp and a roll of TP looking for the latrine.

"Camping" is making sure that you set up the tent so your head will be uphill.

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man, i think you guys hit most of them.

"Camping" is taking a stick with you to the latrine and moving it around the inside to get rid of the cobwebs

"Camping" is if its nice outside, sleeping under the stars

"Camping" is using tomorrows clothes as your pillow so they keep warm

or

"Camping" is sleeping with tomorrows clothes on so they keep warm

To me, camping is escaping reality for days, weeks, or months.

"Camping" is going to the bathroom in a makeshift toilet or digging a hole in the ground

"Camping" is living in the outdoors sleeping in a tent

backpacking out several miles into the wilderness with all the necessities strapped to your back.

just my two cents

[surviverman]

To me if its driven or pulled on wheels it's just a bought and paid for portable hotel room and you're a tourist not a sportsman. Just my thought, don't mean to offend the modern great outdoorsmen

[kunk]

I guess it's just your frame of reference. Years back I was single and invited a friend and his wife to come with me to the resort I was going to back then. We had a cabin, heat, stove, bath, etc. When we went home they thanked me for the great camping trip, and always remembered that as a camping trip. I never had the heart to tell them that it wasn't really camping. To them is was.

[heat checker]

Camping is spending time in the outdoors with the resources that are available to you, be it under the stars, tent, popup, 5th wheel, condo on wheels. It's not about what you are sleeping in, its about WHERE you are sleeping. IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS! Fishing is no less fishing wether you are in a jonboat or a Ranger.

[sjburnt]

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