A BRIEF LOOK AT CAMPING PAST AND PRESENT

(A Brief Look at Camping Past and Present by Bob Phillips first appeared in Lake Champlain Weekly in June 2010)
The Fourth of July celebrations are just about upon us. With this coming weekend we also see a jump in the family camping in our surrounding areas. Camping has taken on a new look for many but the basics are still the same. Taking a brief look at camping, we see that there are basically three types of camping still in vogue today. I made the choice of three types, backpack camping, tent camping and vehicle camping, because they are broad enough designations to cover the most common types.
The first is backpack camping. This is camping using the utensils and equipment that you and your group are able to carry on your back to some remote area. This may or may not include use of a small tent and often other luxuries are left behind for the sake of ease of burden. Backpacking did not really get it’s full growth until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Often, before that time, campers stayed at some type of base camp and only hiked what was possible in a days outing. There were a few brush rats who bivouacked for the brief overnighter or two, but that really was not the norm much before the 1960’s. The explosion of backpacking really started a whole new industry in the outdoor pursuits, that of light weight technology.
Strangely enough, with the shrinking of truly remote wilderness areas and the physical expectations of the modern hiker, I see less of the backpack camping than in other years. Perhaps even the emphasis on leaving as small a footprint as possible on these areas has also persuaded many to forego camping and enjoy the wilderness in day excursions instead. They can often set up a base camp at a local campground and cover much of the wilderness in day hikes in and out.
The second form of camping is tent camping. This is usually confined to designated campgrounds where there may be many luxuries not found in the backwoods, or not! Showers, swimming pools, game rooms and numerous other activities can help fill in the nights of camping at many camping areas. If you are more interested in peace and quiet, there are also those primitive campgrounds that basically provide a somewhat level spot to pitch your tent and nothing else but an outhouse for your rest facilities. Many families begin their camping careers in this fashion.
The obvious difference in tenting from backpacking is the weight factor. Since you drive right to your camping site, you can often bring much more substantial camping equipment. The more recognizable features of this camping is the cabin style tents, multiple burner gas stoves, folding camp chairs and of course the large capacity insulated coolers.
At one time this was also known as, auto-camping. Meaning that you loaded up your automobile and headed to the wilderness to spend an extended period of time sleeping in tents, eating in the out-of -doors and generally getting away from it all. Different forms of tent camping actually predate the backpack camping by a decade or two, beginning back in the 1940’s and 1950’s.
Out of this comes the third type, the vehicle camping that many enjoy today. The popup/trailer/truck /motor home vehicles that populate many of our campgrounds today. Many still find this a relatively inexpensive vacation where they are still able to get in touch with nature and yet don’t have to sacrifice all the luxuries of home. This camper camping began back in the 1950’s and continues to have it’s ups and downs to the present day. It is often tied directly to the health of the nation’s economy, however, as much of this camping is a bit more expensive than the previous two styles.
This is not intended to be exhaustive look at camping but rather an introduction so that you see there are numerous opportunities to get out and enjoy the great outdoors around us on a whole different level. Camping out under the wide open skies.
Whatever the style of camping you like, I hope you do truly enjoy the outdoors as you head afield and astream this summer.