I'm with Alex on this one. If I can see or hear anyone else while I'm camping, I'll drive farther. Being near toilets, showers, picnic tables, etc., means being near other people. We've seen people bring huge tv's camping. What's the freaking point?

We do like a bit of "luxury" though. We bring a huge tent, an air matress, a few hammocks, etc. Big breakfasts, small lunches, big dinners that usually consist of either steak or hot dogs. I love baking potatos in hot embers. Mmmmm...

I haven't been camping in almost two years. I miss it. You guys have much better camping than we do here in AZ though. My favorite camping spot burned down. :(

Me, too. Camping with air conditioning is the way to go.
:)

I camped once Alex style. My ex and I woke up in the morning to find our site surrounded by Black Bear tracks that weren't there when we went to bed. Since then... no thank you.

Another time, for Boy Scouts believe it or not, our tent was attacked by centipedes. One crawled on my back and my dad's leg. I said never again but I caved in years later and the above instance occurred. So... no thank you.
:)

Come on, I would think both those instances would make you more likely to camp. Black bears sniffed you while you slept and didn't bite, and you survived a centipede attack unscathed. You're invincible! :D

The thing I love most about camping is hearing the elk walk around the tent at night. I love elk. A bear would be so awesome!

Yeah, that's the difference that separates people.

One group reads GC's post and says "That is why I don't camp" the other group reads it and says "That is why I do camp."

Similarly, I tell my story of hiking El Capitan in the snow wearing shorts and a t-shirt and I think it was great fun and most others assume it was just a horrible experience.

This is about the tenth time I've misread the thread title as "Fun in Sephora."

We did a hike near S. Lake Tahoe in late May and the occasional patches of snow on the ground became waist-deep drifts taking up most of the trail and passable ground as we gained elevation. We were wearing shorts and t-shirts, and, yeah, it was great fun.

With one exception, I've only done SCA camping. Which means the object was to make it as much not like actual camping as possible. I made a center pole hub-and-spoke pavillion (father/daughter shop project! When I was in my late 20s! My dad was SO thrilled to get one last "project" with daddy's little girl. He couldn't care less about my dressing up in funny clothes and eating funny food, but making the pavillion meant quality shop time with a kid, so it was a-okay in his book.

Anyhow, I'm partway through making a slatbed to go in the pavillion, but I haven't finished and I need to get more tools to do so, and I need to make room in the garage before I do that. *THEN* I'll be ready to go camping again.

(The exception was the time I went with dormmates to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival during spring break and we camped to save money. Campsites ranged from fairly primitive National Forest sites along the way to one of those for-profit campsites outside of Ashland that had everything from cabins to RV hookups to (for us) tent spce. One of the forest sites was cool because we set up in the dark next to what we assumed - from the sound - was a swift-moving stream. Woke up in the morning to the sight of a gorgeous waterfall directly across the river from our tent. :snap: )

Totally. To me it would seem awful, but if you have fun doing it, more power to you :) The "pampered" camper and the "hardcore" camper have two definitions of what constitutes "fun" and "camping"...


If you got gussied up in the woods using Becca Stick Foundation, Black DiorShow Mascara, Sue Devitt Eye Intensifier Pencil and Jungle Red Nars Lipstick but nobody was around to see it, would you still look fabulous? :cheers:

The El Cap hike was unintended in that snow had not been in the forecast. The same unexpected storm killed a couple mountain climbers who froze to death when they got trapped halway up.

But another time a friend and I did a day-long snow hike at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains wearing just shorts and t-shirts again. You definitely keep moving. But it was late spring so while the snow was still there the air temperature wasn't too bad. But you definitely keep moving.

On our recent trip to Alaska we had a chance to walk on a glacier. The air was definitely cool, but the sun was shining. My brother-in-law and I didn't go more than a couple of minutes before shedding our coats and sweaters down to short sleeves, despite being on a 4 mile long chunk of dense ice.