It’s pretty much impossible to go to a public campground these days and just tent camp, without being sandwiched between giant RVs. They block views and also, often, the sun itself, and they are constantly running their generators so they can watch TV or whatever they do in there. Brightly lit strings of poorly aimed 5000K LEDs are common at night, so if you wanted to enjoy your flickering campfire or watch the stars, good luck. Often they have a whole living room set up outside with artificial turf, a huge canopy, chairs, etc.
If I wanted to camp in a semi truck parking lot I’d go pitch a tent in a truck stop. Camping as many of us knew it growing up, is pretty much gone.
Public parks love these types of campers for some reason, so nothing will ever be done about it. You would think they would designate part of their campgrounds as tent only but very few do.
Can’t speak to private campgrounds, I assume it’s even worse.
Its been awhile since I’ve been camping, but I’ve camped at spots that required you to hike into the woods a bit. Since there’s no roads there, those would be pretty immune to RVs. I’m thinking in state and national parks.
There are some, and also dispersed camping, so there are options yeah. But official campgrounds used to be a nice place for families to tent camp, with easy access to restrooms and potable water, no longer really. I mean obviously you can go off-peak seasons and stuff.
You’re right.
I remember going camping as a kid, with the whole family in a tent. These days that would be very unusual as most families would have what we call a camper trailer… a trailer that kind of assembles into a tent / RV hybrid type set up.
One thing that’s changed here in West Aus is that everything is much more highly regulated. 40 years ago you could just kinda set up your tent wherever you liked and no one would care really. In 2025 you’d get fined and moved on, no doubt. It just means that everyone is crammed together in a formal camp site I guess.
I wonder, do you know if the increase in camper trailers had anything to do with the increased regulations?
It’s possibly related but not the only reason for the increase. In the past you could just set up a semi-permanent camp wherever you liked really. If you like a particular fishing spot you’d set up a timber and tin kind of lean-to and maybe improve it from time to time. As an aside, if you can manage to reside there for long enough you end up with a legal claim, although that’s not very common in the current age. You just can’t do that anymore so you have to haul your camp with you and away again each visit.
Around here the tent sites and RV sites are separated. Because the RVs have gotten so massive they want/need to have pull through driveways so they don’t have to back up.
Where is this, in general?
From California, been going camping since toddler, RVs have always been an issue when camping. Nothing has really changed it’s just that the RVs have gotten cheaper.
Miss you follows camp. You were a true beauty and the community was amazing.