Who gave you your love for camping!

[Monte W]

I posted a story about my uncle who gave me a love for life and thought I'd put this question out to everyone. We all love camping, so who gave you the love for camping? I'm sure there are some great stories out there! For me, hands down it was my uncle Ernie. As a little kid living with him , everyday was an adventure. Best story teller ever !!!! Please feel free to share who give you your love for camping.

All the best, Monte

[thrifty bill]

My parents introduced me to camping as a kid, i have loved it ever since. Somewhat interesting, they really didn't have the love of camping. Back then, it was done so we could take cheap family vacations. In just a few years, my parents stopped camping, so they definitely did not love it.

[floyd]

My early childhood was spent in a house way out in the woods with an outhouse,a well with a bucket, and no electricity. Heat was a wood stove and cold was an ice box. A/C was an open window.
A bath was a washtub and I was the fifth child.

Those days still hold fond memories, but my love for camping now revolves around a little Scamp13 with a flush toilet, running H/C water and electricity with surround sound , television and a microwave.
Heat is now either gas or electric, cold is now a refrigerator and an icemaker, and A/C is now A/C.

I do still like to visit the woods (although seldom as isolated) and sit around a wood burning campfire, now used more for conversation and entertainment than for heat.
I do love camping!

[lisantica]

I had tent camped a little back in my 20s, but never got bitten by the camping bug.
On Aug. 4th, 2017 I bought my new-to-me 1992 Scamp.
I'm not sure I love camping, yet, but I definitely know I love owning the Scamp!

[Sid]

My background closely matches that of Thrifty Bills with the exception being my parents loved camping. They did however suffer from the lifelong ailment of twofootitis. This resulted in a long succession of campers ranging from a tiny Shasta up to a large two door Holiday Rambler.
My fondest memories of them are from these times and places.
Interestingly my wife’s background is the exact opposite, never camping with her family. Realizing what she missed growing up she vowed that when we had kids we would visit every national park before they graduated high school.
We just about did it and now are hitting those that remain.
Our kids and now their families know the value of a brown sign.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by thrifty bill

My parents introduced me to camping as a kid, i have loved it ever since. Somewhat interesting, they really didn't have the love of camping. Back then, it was done so we could take cheap family vacations. In just a few years, my parents stopped camping, so they definitely did not love it.

Same here, Bill. Grew up camping because it was the only affordable way for our family to travel to see grandparents on the opposite side of the continent. First a tent, then a tent trailer, and later various motorhomes after we were grown. Even when frugality was no longer a strict necessity, my parents still preferred RVs to hotels. Years later, Mom confessed she didn't really love the camping part, but she does love to travel. At 91, she still uses her Class B occasionally.

Boy Scouts exposed me to a different style of camping. The group I was in had an overnight (or longer) event every month, 11 months of the year (back then August was the traditional family vacation month). That's where my love of camping & backpacking really developed. Back in Maryland for Thanksgiving last week, my brother and I had breakfast with our old Scoutmaster, to whom I owe much.

No one person, but many had a hand in forming my love of camping and the outdoors. My goal now is to be one of those people for my kids and others.

Interestingly, my brother, who shared most of the same camping experiences growing up, is decidedly not a camper today.

[MK Evenson]

As a son of a single mom in the 50's, my introduction to camping was from the cub scouts. I remember going with a group of boys and some of their fathers who enjoyed camping. I then became a boy scout and continued camping with that group. I always enjoyed the larger state rallies. During college years I traveled a bit and camped along the way. While raising my daughters we still loved to travel to Lake Tahoe area and pitch at tent. Now at an older age, my back don't like sleeping on the ground, and so the Casita came to our rescue.
My wife and I like the egg rallies, with the opportunity to meet other like minded folks. Now retired, we have more time to travel and very much enjoy the fact that we don't have to pay over $100/night at a motel.
Time will tell how many years we have left to enjoy camping in our Casita, but I know the memories will linger.
Good topic!

Mark

[Tom 72]

My family had a 16' 1963 Winnebago Trailer. Went to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Devil's monument and the Black Hills. Oh, and Wall Drug. Is it still there? Of course. It will outlast the Tetons.
In terms of volume, Scouting. Boy Scouts and even Girl Scouts. Very innocently, I was young and mom was a Girl Scout leader.

[Kai in Seattle]

Originally Posted by thrifty bill

My parents introduced me to camping as a kid, i have loved it ever since. Somewhat interesting, they really didn't have the love of camping. Back then, it was done so we could take cheap family vacations. In just a few years, my parents stopped camping, so they definitely did not love it.

Wow, that sounds just like my situation and Paul's.

My father, too, took us tent camping for cheap vacations. In a couple of years my mother insisted he buy a little trailer, but we only used it for one or two summers. They also did not love it and once the trailer was sold they never camped again.

My mother used to tell stories of tent camping with her parents way back, and their harrowing misadventures with wild animal poo in the wilderness. She would shudder with each tale.

My mother did, however, love "little spaces," little nooks, tiny playhouse areas she could decorate...my father was an educator/contractor who would build a new house every year or two; if he could sell it, fine, if not, we'd move into it and my mother would paint and decorate it I was involved with chores around the construction sites, held wood while he cut it, picked up trash, watched the drywallers and electricians and plumbers work.

Paul's family, gentlemen farmers with acreage, built their own house, so he grew up watching and helping with that and constructing the barn and outbuildings. The brothers often slept out under the stars in sleeping bags, and they had miles of woods around them and spent a lot of time half lost amid the creeks, beaver dam and giant firs. They built forest forts and cut wood, made fires and learned to shoot out there.

No wonder we've been camping all our adult lives, and have always been willing to take on renovations and projects. And no wonder we weren't put off with redoing Peanut.

Thanks for the chance to bring up some old memories!

BEST
Kai

[Island Claire]

My parents gave me my love of the outdoors and camping. They were very involved in the Youth Hostels and most weekends were spent in the Rockies, either camping or staying in a hostel and hiking all day. My playground was glacial streams, forests and alpine meadows. We used to run to the train tracks when we heard the train whistle so we could wave to the engineer and the caboose. I have great memories of falling asleep to the sound of folk music and flickering candle and/or lamp light. If in a tent we would fall asleep watching the campfire from our beds.

[Joe & Cherie]

Growing up we moved from the "city" to rural Indiana when I was 7. Us 4 kids camped on our parents property MANY nights a summer. I'm sure they love the quiet with us out in the field or woods haha! Then teen years working at a Canoe Rental, and camped most every Saturday night to "watch over the stocked up canoes" at the outposts. Eventually took up boating but we primitive shore camped on Lake Cumberland, sometimes for 6-7 days at a time! Bar of soap and a lake! Now married to Cherie for almost 10 years, we both have a love for traveling and camping (her parents took her as a kid). We did a 7 night primitive raft/tent trip down the Grand Canyon - best trip ever! So then we bought the egg. We don't camp at local campgrounds as we live in a rural area anyway. We more look at camping as a way to travel and experience to new places! Loving it more all the time - cant wait till we retire to really get into serious wandering!

[garycarolyn]

Originally Posted by Monte W

I posted a story about my uncle who gave me a love for life and thought I'd put this question out to everyone. We all love camping, so who gave you the love for camping? I'm sure there are some great stories out there! For me, hands down it was my uncle Ernie. As a little kid living with him , everyday was an adventure. Best story teller ever !!!! Please feel free to share who give you your love for camping.

All the best, Monte

1955 my folks took our family camping out of our 1949 Packard from Long Island to Burbank CA for 6 weeks. That was our first experience. We all loved it. My hub and I have continued the love for 50 years now, but moved from backpacking, to tent, to bigger tent, to pop up and now love our 16' Casita - with bathroom!!!
Great stories you all. Thanks.

[stevebaz]

Found it on my own at the age of 18 when I emancipated myself from the poverty I grew up in. Being a middle child of 5 children with only the support of my uneducated mother we didn't have the means to go camping or other frivolous adventures.

[Jon Vermilye]

My family always camped. The first photo on this page is our "Camping Trailer" built for a trip to California from New York in 1950 (in a 1938 Plymouth). Although only 5 at the time, I still remember highlights of the trip, including the Firefall at Yosemite.

Many, many trips to New England, in fact my parents retired to Nantucket Island in 1975. My mother was a serious painter & did landscapes while the rest of us played in the sun & sand, both on trips & after the move to Nantucket, where she sold paintings at the India Street Gallery.

Not exactly camping, but one of my favorite memories was my mom doing a watercolor of a fishing shack during one of our trips. She had an easel set up on a tidal flat, and never noticed (or, at least, never paid attention to) the tide coming in. She was sitting on a stool, up to her knees in water, and kept tugging her paint box back as it floated away. Nothing was going to stop her from finishing!

They drove to Alaska in 1968 (well before the entire Alaskan Highway was paved) in an Volvo station wagon, tent camping.

They continued camping into their late 70's in a converted Chevy van, heading to the Florida Keys for the winters. I know the original reason for camping was to save money, but you would never convince us kids of that. We had a ball!

[Jim Bennett]

My parents took me on a few camping trips when I was young, but not too many.

When 13 I joined Air Cadets, who had a big focus on camping and outdoor activities. I took the opportunity and ran with it.

As a young adult most the group of friends I hung out with were avid backcountry enthusiasts, and I got into this in a big way. Lots of long and short hiking, kayaking, backcountry skiing, downhill skiing, canoeing, and so on. I just loved it, and still do though mostly do canoe trips now where one can be comfy and bring along some luxuries like a chair.

When our second kid was born, and our first 18 months, we bought a tent trailer to make things easier. A playpen made a great crib. This got our kids exposed to the joys of camping, where there were way fewer restrictions leaving them to have lots of fun. When they got a bit bigger, we went to a 24' stick bunk model for a while, then when they preferred tents we moved to the newly designed 2009 Escape 19, and then onto our 2017 Escape 5.0TA.

Others have mentioned Cub Scouts being an influence. Air Cadets was much along the same line, and was what first really gave me that eagerness to camp and explore.

This is why we are setting up for our retirement to include a heck of a lot of RV travel, camping along the way, hoping to see as much of North America as possible.

[Mike_L]

I grew up on an acreage in the country. We spent many summer nights outside on the property in a tent. Many days fishing and tenting in the back country. I had a log cabin on an island in the middle of a big lake, only accessible by boat. My wife and I did a lot of back country camping when we were first married. For many years we camped between Christmas and New Years in the back country with only what we could carry in our back packs.
After the kids came we bought a small trailer and spent 40 -50 days a year camping. It kept them away from the strip malls and other hang outs where other kids were getting into mischief. Now they go themselves, sometimes with us, sometimes by themselves. Looking forward to grand kids and camping with them.

[Glenn Baglo]

Start them young.

[DeBreez]

I didn't camp when I was a kid, but the first home I remember was a trailer. We had a couple of classic 50's trailers (pretty sure one was a Landola and the other a New Moon) which are about as far from a fiberglass egg as you can get. However, the concept of traveling around the country and sleeping in the same bed at each location is not dissimilar and is deeply ingrained in my psyche.

Although we did a fair amount of fishing and other outdoor stuff, we never camped since... we already were.

I don't think I slept in a tent until after high school, when a group of us did some trips together. Then, I was in a rock band and to save money we camped when whether permitted. Some of the best times of my life (except for the leaky tent.)

Almost every vacation my wife and I have ever taken involved a lot of outdoor activity, and usually extensive driving. We did tent camp a little in our early years, and when my son was in Cub Scouts. Since we're both about to be retired, we felt like the camper would be a lot of fun and a way to save on lodging, since that was usually the largest expense. Now we're hooked.

[steve dunham]

I never camped as a child , my mother hated the outdoors.
I camped with my buddies during fishing and hunting season when I was a teen and in my 20's.
I now have a trailer with heat , A/C , a bathroom , bed , TV ,radio , refrigerator , hot water and cooking facilities. For me that's not really camping , it's more like a home on wheels or as my kids say
" Your RVing"
To me camping is sleeping on the ground in a tent , cooking over an open fire , using a log as a bathroom , getting up and going to bed with the sun, and taking a bath in the closest stream or pond.

[Byron Kinnaman]

I think my love of camping happened when I was around 12 or 13. We had lived in the country and hunted out our back door. A neighbor and I camped in our backyards, my family went on vacations to a couple lakes and we camped there. When we moved into town I missed the outdoors. Tried sleeping in backyards, but wasn't the same. After HS went off into the military, where we spent a week or more in 2 man tents. I thought it was great. After that it was married and kids, took a nice trip through Oregon when the oldest was a baby. That was great fun. Sometime later I started getting an interest in backpacking. The love of camping came into full bloom when the backpacking and day hiking started. This was after a divorce and marrying another woman. I talked her into the backpacking and we were off on never ending outdoor adventures (almost every weekend and 2 to 3 weeks of summer vacation.)
After 30+ years of outdoor adventures on foot it became time to change a bit. The 13' Scamp was the change. With the Scamp our season was extended to year around. Now retired our favorite time is winter, when mostly you meet retired folks. And we travel much wider and farther.

There of course was many things learned along the way that made camping easier and because of that more fun. Most of what we learned was during the backpacking years and that transferred easily to trailer living.