Why still tent camping?

[Oldcoyote]

Many on here have been tent camping for many years as have I. From time to time I wander around the campground admiring the pop-up trailers. I am happy with my tent but I am curious if a pop-up would be much better.

I have seen the pop-up vs. tent threads and I am sure most of you have considered a pop-up. What I would like to know is why you remain in tents after all these years.

Thank you.

[MacGyver]

Re: Why still tent camping?

I had a popup years ago that finally rusted out to the point where it didn't make sense to put anymore money into it. With a trip coming up, I broke out one of my tents.
This is what dawned on me.
- It takes considerably less time to set up a tent.
- Since all I really did in the popup was sleep, the tent made more sense.
- If I did sit in the camper, it was more like being in a living room than what I go camping for - being in the outdoors.
- There are sites that would be difficult, if not impossible to get to with even the smallest camper
- Negligible maintenance on a tent - especially compared to keeping a camper on the road
- No registration fees, license renewals and insurance needed on a tent.
- For way less than the cost of a new (even used) camper, I got several tents for different seasons and different types of trips.

[NVgal]

Re: Why still tent camping?

We bought a lovely Cougar travel trailer about 4 years ago and it was a lot of fun using it when we lived in WA state. There were so many nice places to go fairly close to home with full hook-ups at a reasonable price. We moved to Nevada (the Reno/Sparks area) a year and a half ago and lived in the trailer while we house hunted for two months. Haven't used the trailer since. Haven't even registered it. We are finding we have to go a ways now to find places with full hook-ups and then it's rather spendy (like Lake Tahoe for instance) per night. So we are on the fence about putting the trailer up for sale. We also have to tent camp if we want to take our boat somewhere so we kept all of our tent camping supplies. Just went tent camping for the first time last week in many years and it was a lot of fun. Have a few links to work out but it's getting there.

[ppine]

Re: Why still tent camping?

As we age the promise of furniture up off the dirt becomes compelling. Tent trailers are easy to pull and perfect for a weekend trip. They are not so good in temperatures much below freezing or trips involving moving every day.

Now I have a travel trailer but still tent camp often. Especially for canoe trips, short trips, or trips that involve pulling a boat trailer.

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Why still tent camping?

You are not gettinga camper to half the places where i camp. I have seen a couple try and have to and it didn't turn out to well.......

[Mike]

Re: Why still tent camping?

I am a tent camper, but I have stayed in friends pop-ups. I admit, the pop-ups are nice. They are roomy, dry, comfortable with chairs and a table and BIG beds.

Here in Wisconsin, it seems one out of four homes has a pop-up in the driveway. They are popular here and I confess that I do look at them twice and wonder....

For now, though, I can fit EVERYTHING including a canoe, tent, sleeping bags, air mattresses, all gear, a full size collie, a five year old child, and a lovely wife into one compact car that gets 35 miles to the gallon. We go everywhere with it. The pop-ups look like one more layer of complexity - especially trying to back them into tight campsites. I have an impossible time just backing up my trailer without manuvering around anything.

I have nothing against pop-ups. I just don't want the additional maintanance, transport, and storage space needs right now.

[terasec]

Re: Why still tent camping?

i am a tent camper,
my brief experience in a pop up
is bought one used for $600, moved it to my land, spent a night in -17 temps in it,
i didnt get back to close it up and it collapsed under the weight of the snow during first storm, oh well.
while i dont know if/when i will get another, small campers do get my attention, find myself gazing at them on the road or in parking lots, wondering if i should get one.
if/when i do get one, will probably be a used one, small and hardsided.

[ppine]

Re: Why still tent camping?

Pop-up trailers can follow a truck if they are not too large. Larger wheels help as do flipping the axles.

[GlitterHiker]

Re: Why still tent camping?

I prefer tent camping because I love the smell of the night air; the sounds of the insects & critters; waking up to be amazed at the full moon shining like a headlamp into my tent; hearing the birds chirp to greet the sunrise; feeling the breeze. I don't get to experience all of that if I'm "indoors".

[WanderinWhitlows]

Re: Why still tent camping?

We found some middle ground that works very well for us. It's called a "FlipPac" shell. As it is now on the truck it weighs about 310 pounds and I can still use the truck as a truck with the shell installed.

Picture of ours.


Someone elses video of theirs.

Our plans are eventually to drive down one coast and back up the other to Tierra del Fuego and back while living in our truck using this shell. One retirement is out of the way, now one more to go.

[Consuelo]

Re: Why still tent camping?

I am just now returning to tent camping after a 12-year "break". Just got too busy, and then decided it was time to camp again but bought a motor home to make a 6-month trip around the Lower 48, BC, Yukon, Alaska. Motor home was great! But after the big trip found I did not have time to use it very much, and it was expensive just to own (storage, insurance, maintenance, etc). Anyway, I sold it three weeks ago but can't bear the thought of not getting out to the parks and forests so.... just finished gathering up/buying tent gear for car camping. I will go tent camping in about a week for the first time in a very long time! I'm excited and looking forward to the challenges and (re-)learning curve.

[tplife]

Re: Why still tent camping?

I think you are on the right track...There are advantages to every situation, and you can see the long-term possibilities. We are all hostage to the ideas and advice of our "fellow travelers". Your thoughts about a PopUp show thinking "outside of the box". I salute your foresight and suggest you consider that my tightest tent sites will allow for a standard PopUp - I'll keep a couple of cold beers ready!

[Moss]

Re: Why still tent camping?

You can store your travel housing in your closet instead of your driveway. If I traveled every weekend of the Summer +2 weeks vacation I would consider a small Pop up. But a tent and canopy serves me just fine. :cool:

[F5Moab]

Re: Why still tent camping?

I have a tent camper but I still use my tent. There are places for both. There are places I can go in my H3 that I can take a tent, but I cannot take a popup, then there are places where I can pull the popup with the H3, and still go play on the trails with the H3, then there are those long haul trips when I use my Silverado to pull the popup.

[Old Time Camper]

Re: Why still tent camping?

I have been tent camping for almost 40 as an adult and did alot with my family and as a Boy Scout. I enjoy the freedom and low cost of tent camping verses motorhomes or trailers. I plan on continuing to tent camp in the future, but someday I would like to get a vintage trailer and take some trips with it also. I don’t think I would ever get a tent trailer because I don’t think there is not that much to gain from a tent.