Something where I can walk 10-15 feet to an excellent espresso, another 10 feet to a world class modern art museum, and another 200 feet to a taco truck.
Take the 4Runner down some dirt tracks far beyond where the RVs and fake SUVs go and set up camp for a few days next to a quietly babbling creek. Proper camp stove, espresso pot, beer and wine chilled in the creek, maybe fresh fish and berries and mushrooms if we’re lucky. Ahhhh …
@f00l Mount Lassen Volcanic Park and National Forest - hundreds of little back roads and glacier-melt trout streams. Just get there before the last of the glaciers melt away …
@stolicat While I have’t been at this park I am watching the glacier field retreat (via photos) of a place in Germany where we took students (DoDDS outdoor program) on each course to hike up the glacier. Sad.
I was at a family reunion once and asked where the drinks were. My uncle pointed at a canvas structure held up with poles and rope stating, “In the tent”. I went under this awe-inspiring form, got my drink, and exited quickly as to not be snared in some Wile E. Coyote style trap.
I did not personally hate my camping experience, but I’m not too crazy to try it again. I mean, maybe if I was thirsty.
@haydesigner How about sleeping on the snow then? That’s not, technically, the ground. When I worked in NW Ontario we’d sleep on the snow with a tarp over us (dug down a bit so there was a wall of snow) on the frozen lakes (temps were generally 20-60 below at night). Was really cool to hear the noise of the ice shifting (sounds sort of like blowing across a pop bottle) as that noise when zipping across the lake. It was otherwise so quiet due to the snow muffling noise that you could hear your heart beat.
@edguyver14@Mehrocco_Mole
Pickle Creek Preserve near Perryville, MO, next to Hawn State Park (which is also cool, but Pickle Creek is an amazing 2 mile walk just jammed with geological features amd vistas).
The Little Grand Canyon in Illinois across from St. Genevieve is also very cool.
For Missouri, there is a great book, “60 hikes within 60 Miles: St. Louis” that is chock full of great park experiences. There are similar titles for other vities too.
A tent on an east coast beach after hurricane season. Ocean crabs caught the same day are delicious! And I despise seafood! Bonfires with crashing waves every night!
I did some Boy Scout camping, but I don’t think I’ve done it as an adult. I’ve spent some nights in cabins at the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but they were more like motor court rooms. The cabin at the North Rim was a duplex, and I could clearly hear the people in the other half talking all night.
I want to go into the boundary Waters for like two weeks. But of course finding the right person to do that with where it’s not complete hell and constant bitching’ especially with the route I originally plotted is hard.
@unksol Another place that is really nice to paddle is north and then to the west of Lake Nipogen about a 2 week paddle from the Boundary waters/Quetico
@Kidsandliz looks nice. I wanted to do a big loop on the US side toward the East. It was def too agressive to take kids. Hard day of paddling and some rough water then two days at each stop. Significant portaging.
Would still be a nice vacation just going in a bit
@unksol Also be too hard on the kids if you had steady head winds too - although we rafted up the students and rigged some tarp sails using paddles and rope. That was fun. We were “sailing” that night and watching the northern lights most of the night. Really, really special.
@hammi99 One of my sisters thinks she is roughing it at a Holiday Inn Express. I am not sure this is actually the same person I grew up with though because as kids each summer our family spent a month camping (campgrounds, parks and forests) going to all sorts of cool places. We had a blast back then.
@FoxSpectre But VR has scary guy with chainsaw outside your tent while you are sleeping. Hopefully real-life world doesn’t have that, or if it does, you’re camping in the wrong place.
Bigfoot camper on 4WD pickup. Best of both worlds; can drive on forest roads and snow, but mostly go to RV parks by the Interstate with power and cable TV and Internetz.
Ah camping that’s when I take the 40’ 5th wheel with a 50” tv, surround sound, and an actual king sized bed on the road. It’s really tough as we only have a 12 gallon hot water tank.
When I used to take people camping for a living I’d sometimes joke I wanted a 5 pound mobile home with electricity and running water (I’d spend 260-300 some days in a tent those years), but there were times where using tents and tarps were perfect.
Once taking students we had tarps up. We had gone for an evening walk and came back to a very young, small bunny all settled in for the night on the sleeping bag under one student’s tarp. We felt so guilty startling it so that it ran off at 11pm when it though it was set for the night. We had been discussing how to rearrange sleeping so that baby could stay in it’s little nest all night.
No camping at all.
Uummmm, does staying at the Hampton Inn count? Or maybe a cabin with a bathroom, electricity, a/c and a fireplace!
@tinamarie1974
Don’t forget the Wi-Fi.
@DVDBZN @tinamarie1974 How am I the first like on WiFi?! Can you imagine, staying at a cabin in the woods and having to interact with a real person
@DVDBZN @msqaf00 but I have two phones, both with hotspots. I was not worried
/giphy Winnebago
Camper! Electricity, hot water shower, stove. Couch. Bed.
Something where I can walk 10-15 feet to an excellent espresso, another 10 feet to a world class modern art museum, and another 200 feet to a taco truck.
I.e., my idea of camping is a visit to NYC.
@UncleVinny oohhhh I like your answer too!
@UncleVinny
Are you camping in a cardboard box in an alley?
Travel trailer for me!
Take the 4Runner down some dirt tracks far beyond where the RVs and fake SUVs go and set up camp for a few days next to a quietly babbling creek. Proper camp stove, espresso pot, beer and wine chilled in the creek, maybe fresh fish and berries and mushrooms if we’re lucky. Ahhhh …
@stolicat
That does sound v nice.
Am envisioning perhaps a setup beside the San Juan River in NM.
Or near a glaciee-melt mountain trout stream.
@f00l Mount Lassen Volcanic Park and National Forest - hundreds of little back roads and glacier-melt trout streams. Just get there before the last of the glaciers melt away …
@stolicat
Indeed.
When young, I hiked and played upon the edges of glaciers west of Denver, and near Mt Blanc.
: (
@stolicat While I have’t been at this park I am watching the glacier field retreat (via photos) of a place in Germany where we took students (DoDDS outdoor program) on each course to hike up the glacier. Sad.
I was at a family reunion once and asked where the drinks were. My uncle pointed at a canvas structure held up with poles and rope stating, “In the tent”. I went under this awe-inspiring form, got my drink, and exited quickly as to not be snared in some Wile E. Coyote style trap.
I did not personally hate my camping experience, but I’m not too crazy to try it again. I mean, maybe if I was thirsty.
No.
Sleeping.
On.
Ground.
@haydesigner they have cots for that…
@haydesigner How about sleeping on the snow then? That’s not, technically, the ground.
When I worked in NW Ontario we’d sleep on the snow with a tarp over us (dug down a bit so there was a wall of snow) on the frozen lakes (temps were generally 20-60 below at night). Was really cool to hear the noise of the ice shifting (sounds sort of like blowing across a pop bottle) as that noise when zipping across the lake. It was otherwise so quiet due to the snow muffling noise that you could hear your heart beat.
Sleeping in tents is too intense for me. Give me a couch, the internet, an inside restroom, and air conditioning.
State Parks all the way!
What’s your favorite park? Mine is Interlochen State Park in Interlochen, MI.
@Mehrocco_Mole Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio.
https://thehockinghills.org/
@edguyver14 That’s not too far from my son’s home in Dayton.
@edguyver14 @Mehrocco_Mole
Pickle Creek Preserve near Perryville, MO, next to Hawn State Park (which is also cool, but Pickle Creek is an amazing 2 mile walk just jammed with geological features amd vistas).
The Little Grand Canyon in Illinois across from St. Genevieve is also very cool.
For Missouri, there is a great book, “60 hikes within 60 Miles: St. Louis” that is chock full of great park experiences. There are similar titles for other vities too.
The STL versio has a new edition coming out in April next year.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0897328833
A tent on an east coast beach after hurricane season. Ocean crabs caught the same day are delicious! And I despise seafood! Bonfires with crashing waves every night!
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, my preferred level of camping intensity is zero.
I used to take people camping for a living. In a bunch of different countries. It was fun most of the time.
I don’t even like hotels that aren’t en suite.
I did some Boy Scout camping, but I don’t think I’ve done it as an adult. I’ve spent some nights in cabins at the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but they were more like motor court rooms. The cabin at the North Rim was a duplex, and I could clearly hear the people in the other half talking all night.
Hilton Resort…
Prefer ocean view.
Null. I’ve always been more of an indoorsy kid.
Watching Bear Grylls on TV.
@mike808 I’ve spent some nights in cabins at the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but they were more like motor court rooms.
I want to go into the boundary Waters for like two weeks. But of course finding the right person to do that with where it’s not complete hell and constant bitching’ especially with the route I originally plotted is hard.
@unksol Another place that is really nice to paddle is north and then to the west of Lake Nipogen about a 2 week paddle from the Boundary waters/Quetico
@Kidsandliz looks nice. I wanted to do a big loop on the US side toward the East. It was def too agressive to take kids. Hard day of paddling and some rough water then two days at each stop. Significant portaging.
Would still be a nice vacation just going in a bit
@unksol Also be too hard on the kids if you had steady head winds too - although we rafted up the students and rigged some tarp sails using paddles and rope. That was fun. We were “sailing” that night and watching the northern lights most of the night. Really, really special.
Eagle Scout here, in a tent, in the winter.camp stove to make meals and coffee.
@Oldelvis I spent the night in a fishing shanty out on a frozen lake. Does that count?
My idea of camping is Motel 6
@hammi99 I was gonna say the same thing lol
@star2236 great minds think alike!
@hammi99 One of my sisters thinks she is roughing it at a Holiday Inn Express. I am not sure this is actually the same person I grew up with though because as kids each summer our family spent a month camping (campgrounds, parks and forests) going to all sorts of cool places. We had a blast back then.
I think there is a good chance I’d like the “intense” option if I was initiated in time, by someone else. And had like a mosquito net and some coffee.
Cabin, yurt, or trailer. Too old for tent camping.
My ideal camping trip starts with putting on the VR gear. The outside is scary. I try to avoid it.
@FoxSpectre But VR has scary guy with chainsaw outside your tent while you are sleeping. Hopefully real-life world doesn’t have that, or if it does, you’re camping in the wrong place.
Bigfoot camper on 4WD pickup. Best of both worlds; can drive on forest roads and snow, but mostly go to RV parks by the Interstate with power and cable TV and Internetz.
Ah camping that’s when I take the 40’ 5th wheel with a 50” tv, surround sound, and an actual king sized bed on the road. It’s really tough as we only have a 12 gallon hot water tank.
@bleedmichigan
Kitty looks very “up for adventure” there.
@bleedmichigan Gosh I’d love a nice camper where I could take my cats with me. Looks fun.
When I used to take people camping for a living I’d sometimes joke I wanted a 5 pound mobile home with electricity and running water (I’d spend 260-300 some days in a tent those years), but there were times where using tents and tarps were perfect.
Once taking students we had tarps up. We had gone for an evening walk and came back to a very young, small bunny all settled in for the night on the sleeping bag under one student’s tarp. We felt so guilty startling it so that it ran off at 11pm when it though it was set for the night. We had been discussing how to rearrange sleeping so that baby could stay in it’s little nest all night.
@Kidsandliz oh my gosh, how cute! I bet that was so wonderful!!
@moonhat It was so unexpected and amazing.