Camping IS the Hobby

[tknecht]

I've been backpacking since 1959 and campground camping (first with a variety of tents, and now with a popup) since 1978. I live in PA and I've camped in PA, NJ, NY, OH, MI, VA, MD, and DE, more states than some, and less than others. I've made of study of both backpacking and camping (indeed, I've applied much of what I've learned backpacking to camping), and I teach Backpacking for Beginners and Intro to Family Camping for a local Adult Ed program.

So, for DW and me, camping IS the hobby. We've found that developing efficient routines along with good equipment makes for comfortable. effective, happy camping, and THAT allows us to pursue other things we like while we're out under the trees.

We are both avid readers, so books are always part of our packing. I'm a (part-time) writer, so the laptop comes along when we're at more rural campgrounds, like Tuckahoe State Park in MD (they're more conducive to introspection than the "little suburbias". We also enjoy a good, hot game of Scrabble after dinner. I've been a photographer since the early 70's, though I retired my venerable Nikons and Leica film cameras for digital.

A large part of camping for us is learning and enjoying the area we're in. What's to see and do? What restaurants are there (eating out is not a staple for us, but an exception, so we pick and choose carefully)? Are there any microbreweries in the area? How about wineries? Artists and craftspeople?

All of those are fun, but camping is still THE hobbie for us!

All of that is fun

[shum]

Hobby?!  I consider it an addiction

Starting first with the CAF and it hasn't ended since 

[another_newfie]

I couldn't agree more with this post.  We read, light biking, play board games etc, but for us camping is the hobby.  Just getting out there and spending family time, what better hobby could there be?

[TooManyTents]

Welcome to PUX Thknecht.  There are a bunch of former and not-so-former tent campers here.  You're in good company.

[Lifeangel1]

I'll have to agree that camping is my hobby. I'm camping every weekend this month and don't want to put the camper away.....ever 

[Mudslide]

Ive got to agree that the camping is the addiction with fortunately no cure. Now the hobby for me at any campground is the hiking trails that are there and walking around the cg looking at other pups

[tknecht]

I didn't say it WASN'T an addictive hobby. I've been doing it since ***1959***. If ANYBODY knows it's ADDICTIVE, I DO!!!! YES, IT'S ADDICTIVE. I ADMIT IT. OK??? IT'S ADDICTIVE.         I T ' S  A D D I C T I V E.

And, it's one heck of a hobby. 

Tim

[TooManyTents]

tknecht,
A book (ok, plural) is one of my 10 essentials!

[easternshorebilly]

My wife and I were also avid  backcountry tent campers. Then lo and behold, 2 children appeared! Backpacking and camping got put on hold. My wife(of all people) then starting looking at PUPs. I was skeptical at first, and adament that we wait till the kids got a little older, but it has been a great investment. We can still get to some remote spots, where there isnt anyone else. Also it serves as a great base camp to come back to after hiking, canoeing, birding, etc.
 Some of the conviences of having the PUP with children, cannot be overstated. Like when the 0400 potty alarm goes off on the 3yo, and you dont have to get all dressed to go look for a good tree, just use the toilet!

[TooManyTents]

Welcome to PUX easternshorebil,
Our kids have been camping since they were 6 months and 1 yr old.  The only reason the 1 yr old started so late was our friends wouldn't let DW come along on the camping trip when she was a week overdue.  Wimps, there was a nurse along, what could have gone wrong?

Putting backpacking on hold?  I read in a reliable source (Backpacker magazine I think), that the maximum distance you can backpack with a toddler on your shoulders is one mile, then the diaper starts leaking. 

[easternshorebilly]

.......nasty.

[tknecht]

Toomanytents:

Thanks a whole bunch for sharing!!!!!!!! (I've changed my share of babykakgreen-laden diapers......)


(As you and I have already shared, there IS NO SUCH THING as too many tents!)

But, FOR EVERYONE, I believe that just about the BEST thing a family can do -- next to dinner EVERY DAY -- is camp. What a marvelous, wonderful thing to do with your kids! You can teach them so many values, and I'm not sure there's a better way to bond.

CONGRATULATIONS and KUDOS to all parents who camp with their kids!!!

Tim

[BirdLand]

Had a laugh about "books are always part of our packing".  They have always been part of ours too, except that I have always been the person who went to the library and came home with about 2-3 totebags of whatever I thought the family might be interested in (honestly, I meant well; the rest of the family has, until this point, been indifferent).  Today, my 13-year-old wanted to accompany me to the library.  I was rather surprised at the books that he chose (war, 'thriller', and science-fiction novels).  I've never really thought about what a personal choice 'voluntary' reading material was until today...I've also tried to avoid thinking about how my son's reading choices are so very different than mine...but I guess that's what is important is that he is enjoying the act of reading in itself...

Anyway, taking time to read is an essential part of our 'camping hobby' experience.  After an afternoon of activities (usually the beach for us), what better way to recharge than with a good book?  We regard camping as a hobby, but reading is an essential part of that.

If camping in itself is to be considered a hobby, what does everyone consider to be an integral part of the experience?

[retiredtraveler]

We camp in order to be able to afford to travel. Yes, we have enjoyed tent camping for decades and decided to get more creature comforts in a pup. 
  But the objective was always to be able to take long trips, primarily to hike, in places too expensive to stay at. For example, we've taken 3-4 week trips to the Tetons/Yellowstone, Canadian Rockies, Smokys, American Rockies, Glacier/Waterton, Washington DC, etc. Some of these places, especially out west, start at $150 a night, bare minimum, plus cost of meals. We camp on 20% of that.
  So, the 'integral' part of camping is to be able to hike and travel, in general, all over U.S. and Canada.
 

[southpennrailroad]

Not so, Not so. Though I love camping I have my first hobby as an explorer. I explore the abandoned South Pennsylvania Railroad along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Been doing this for the past 14 years and though I love to do this I love to have a base camp which makes me feel I am like the surveyors or the photographers who took preliminary photos of the abandoned route for the future highway department before they acquired the route for the future turnpike. Ever read a book and really take on one of the characters rolls. Well that is how I am. Usually I take on the roll of one of the main surveyors. Reading the letters they wrote, photographing the remains, putting pictures together to make panoramic views of the grades, writing books, studying the maps, locating quarries, offices and studying the aerial shots of that era. I would not trade this hobby for anything except one.



In this shot, east of the Allegheny Tunnel east of Somerset, Pa, you have to look inside the woods (9:00 to 3:00 to see the abandoned,never completed South Pennsylvania Railroad grade which the turnpike owns. Obviously the turnpike is in front of me. Even when you look at this date, this section of the turnpike would soon become abandoned. The ever changing Pennsylvania Turnpike is what I call it.



Again look inside the woods to another section of the grade west of Somerset.



A section in Fulton County south of the Fort Littleton interchange. Never had a train run on this route.

Now you can see some of the satisfying reasons I camp as well as research. I see things differently then most people who travel the turnpike. When I am on these sites I think about getting back to camping and when I am camping I think about getting back to exploring.


Visit: southpennrailroad.com