Question of the Day - Monday, September 5, 2022

[MoochNNoodles]

Happy Labor Day to those in the US and various other places celebrating this today. I for one am glad to have an extra day off after just a few weeks into the school year. DH is using this day off to go through camping gear since he's thinking about taking the kids for a fall overnight at a nearby campground. I think that sounds more fun than doing one in the summer months; but either way I'll be home holding down the fort. I don't see the appeal of sleeping in a tent. DH would go so far as to thinking backpacking for months at a time sounds like fun. He said I should drive an RV from place to place where we can meet up along the trail. I barely wanted to drive our SUV at first...so yeah an RV isn't happening either.




How do you feel about camping?





Any tent sleeping is going to be a hard no from me. I do like walking in the woods; but I don't need THAT much time in the woods or carrying everything on my back. Roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over a fire is fun but doesn't require sleeping outdoors.

A cabin I could do as long as its not the questionable mattress and creepy crawly kind of cabin. I can even tolerate an outhouse; but that's not my first choice. If the cabin has running water and electricity; even better! I think it all comes down to having a comfortable place to sleep where I'm not so up close and personal with nature. My mom tried to give me a hard time for not camping out with DH and the kids in the past. I refrained from reminding her that even though SHE grew up camping; I could count on one hand the number of times she and I slept in a tent and still have several fingers left over. We can light a fire pit and all that other stuff right here in our own backyard.

 

[Lari]

I remember doing camping in Girl Scouts. Ideally, you wanted the cabin camping, and second best were the platform tents because at least you were up off the ground and away from the ground bugs. Regular tent camping was the worst, but it was okay with a good enough group of friends.

If J joins Girl Scouts, I'd be willing to go camping with them, but I probably wouldn't choose anything less than cabin camping for a vacation these days.

 

[sivyaleah]

Big nope for me.
Bugs, animals, no private bathroom, sleeping on the ground, my allergies, etc. Ugh. It all sounds so unappealing.
My husband enjoys it but we've never gone together. He knows better than to suggest it.
Being cooped up in an RV doesn't do it for me either.
I like the outdoors for a short walk, that's about it.

 

[game misconduct]

i love camping and outdoors stuff gf isnt a fan of it too much thoughdoesnt like the bugs etc. wants running water electricity for ac/heater depending on season she is just a city girl she will fish as long as i bait the hook butsoon as the bugs come out its time to go home

 

[Katie M]

I love my parents' camper. Tent camping? No way.

 

[denice]

No The only 'camping' I did was in the military so nothing about it sounds fun to me. Maybe glamping but that is often as expensive as a really nice hotel so why bother.

 

[Kat0121]

Tent camping is an absolute no especially in Florida. It's just too hot for that. RV camping is OK. I will not go anywhere that does not have AC.

 

[Margot Lane]

YES! Anywhere, anytime! …for those of you not so much, I just saw w/ my own eyes the German Unicat, which looks likes something that might have patrolled the Berlin Wall. But you could camp in it, and never leave the vehicle….until your gas runs out and then…YOU ARE OUTSIDE.

 

[vansX2]

I did camping once as a Boy Scout and hated it. I was fortunate that I never had to do that in the Military. My DW and I prefer a nicely appointed Hotel or Motel room for time away from home.

 

[kashmir64]

I used to love camping...in my 20's.
Now..no thanks. If I want to be in the great outdoors, I'll just go outdoors. We have enough wildlife and predators (animals, not people) to make anyone realize it's not exactly safe out there.

 

[silent meowlook]

I love camping. Don't have a problem backpacking and hiking and camping even without a tent. I do have a healthy respect for bears.

 

[denice]

I love camping. Don't have a problem backpacking and hiking and camping even without a tent. I do have a healthy respect for bears.

In many areas it is the predatory wildlife that does bother me, I will admit it. There are always the older animals that are desperate but there are also the animals that have become acclimated to people. I read a story this summer about a woman's encounter with a cougar. She was an experienced backcountry hiker and camper. She had a video that she took of this cougar and it was scary. He was up in a tree but very close and not taking his eyes off of her. She did the whole waving her arms and shouting but he was not fazed. A bunch of sparrows dive bombed him and he moseyed off. She had a radio to call the rangers with and she explained what happened and they told her to get out of there now. She walked nine hours mostly in the dark to get back to civilization. The rangers marked the area as dangerous due to cougar activity.

 

[NY cat man]

While I have only been camping- always with a tent- only 5 times, I enjoyed those times; especially the ones in the wilds of Quebec. Good times, those. Fifteen miles by boat from the nearest settlement of any kind, on a small island, where for a solid week there was no contact with the outside world. Would that I could do it again, but those days are gone for good.

 

[strider rose]

yes for sure ! telling camp fire stories at night , hiking , swimming , horse back riding and doing nature crafts ... i miss it

 

[neely]

I went camping a few times when I was younger and once with DH the first year we were married. That's the last time it happened but not because of me, i.e. DH wasn't a big fan of it. He likes his creature comforts. The main thing that bothers me about camping is the weather if it's rainy and humid.

 

[Willowy]

Nope. We invented civilization so we wouldn't have to live like that, lol. Plus I don't really get it. It seems more stressful than just staying home and doing nothing. A lot of people say how relaxing it is which makes me .

If I were going somewhere else, I wouldn't mind staying in a cabin or camper instead of a hotel room. But camping close to home is silly.

What I think is funny is that the people in the town I live in will all go to the campground 10 miles away for the weekend. It's so close they'll run home to feed the cat once or twice a day. They'll stay in their campers, sit around and cook hot dogs over the fire pit, the kids will all run around and splash in the small pool someone brought. They're all neighbors, why can't they have a cookout and pool party in their own neighborhood?!? But nooo, have to buy a $40,000 camper and pay $100 a month to park it out there to do that I guess. It's so weird.

My brother is going camping this coming weekend with a group of friends. He rented a cabin, and is the only one who did. I plan to join them for kayaking and an evening or two but will be going home to sleep, thank you very much. I'll use the excuse that I couldn't get off work but I wouldn't even want to stay in the cabin, really.

 

[lizzie]

We did a lot of camping when I was growing up and I really enjoyed it.My folks were devoted trout fishing junkies ...my Dad with his fly rod and Mom had her spinning reel...always a Shakespeare.We'd go every chance they got up to Keene,NY and fish the Ausable River...their favorite place and sooooooo beautiful!They had a couple of tents,a Coleman cook stove,lots of lanterns.Great times!

 

[Jem]

I love camping, however I'm not into back woods camping where you have to dig a hole in the ground for a toilet and bathe in a lake. We always go to private or provincial camp grounds that have showers/bathrooms for public use and power/water on the site. I'm fine with tent camping...that's all we have...no extra $$$ for a camper/RV. But I MUST have an air mattress. We go camping every year and have all the gear needed to be comfortable.

 

[iPappy]

We used to spend the night in sleeping bags under the stars as kids (in the backyard still fun though). We had a tent but rarely slept in it. I could survive doing that again, but I would really prefer RV or cabin camping, and enjoy camping activities, but be able to sleep without waking up with nightcrawlers and spiders in my sleeping bag. Every bug on the planet is born with the sole life goal of either biting, stinging, or scaring me, so my time outside usually isn't the most enjoyable.

 

[Boris Diamond]

I camped often when I was in the Boy Scouts. I kept up the habit in my 20's to 40's. Sometimes I slept outside because that was the most convenient. I had a friend who lived on a river. When I visited, I would sleep in a hammock near the river. Great place to wake up!
The only time I had real trouble camping was when there was a small flood and a friend almost lost his car!

The only animal I ever had trouble with was sand fleas - thousands of sand fleas. These things had no problem getting through the screen on the tent. We were camped on an island on the ocean and we had gotten there with our own canoe, through a difficult and hard to find channel. So no going back until dawn. We ended up drinking all the alcohol for the entire weekend that night and then left Saturday morning, having had enough of roughing it for that weekend.