camping since the 40's

I was a bit later. Wasn't taken camping until I was 6 mos. old. Turning 72 in a couple of months and still at it. Of course me and DW have gone from tarps, ropes and hatchets to an RV. My how things have changed. Even with the 21' B+, we still consider ourselves campers rather than RV'ers. Of course we like the amenities of electricity a water, most RV parks are mostly RV parking lots with no trees or personal space. COE & most State Parks are our preferred sites.

Dutch_12078 wrote:


When I was a teenager, my parents liked to embarrass me by telling friends that I started camping 9 months before I was born when I left on a camping trip with my father, and came home with my mother... ;)

I'm stealing this. Same here for Son #1.

I am going backpacking next week with a close friend and my best dog. This will be my 58th year of living out of a pack. The technology has changed but it is still a magic experience that I am reluctant to give up.

My great aunt lived alone in Seattle with her cat when I knew her in the 1970s. But she used to tell stories about hunting with my railroading uncle. She would get up early in the 1920s and 30s to make breakfast for the boys before they headed out to hunt in the dark. Then she would go back to sleep in the old wall tent.

One morning she heard some quiet commotion, grabbed the Savage 99 and noticed some rough looking men going through the camp supplies. She stuck the rifle out the tent flap and announced in a loud voice "Can I help you boys?" They could not leave fast enough. This was amusing to hear coming from my elderly and frail great aunt.

I was raised tent camping, I bought my first rv in 1978, a 69 VW Westfalia. My wife, on the other hand.... This would be around 1947


Trailer is a Prarie Schooner.

I have been camping since '58 when I was 3. My parents hauled us all over the country in a variety of Chevy sedans with a basket top carrier to haul the 12 x 16 canvas tent. when I got met and married (to the right woman this time) in 1985 we started hauling her 2 daughters and then our additional 2 daughters all over the country, in tents and then popup campers. Three of the 4 daughters love camping and the other one seems to think she was raised with a gold spoon in her mouth and will NOT EVER go camping. Four years ago, my wife and I took our Toyota MH, her Merc pulling our popup and 2 kids with two of their kids on a three week trip to the Rockies. Everyone had a great time. Now they want to do it again. Teach them how to camp when they are young, make it fun, and maybe they will continue when they get older.

My parents took us camping and we took our kids and grandkids. 2 years ago our grand daughter her husband and there two kids asked us to go camping with them 'cause they bought their first TT.

I’ll chime in with the youngster input...camping since about 1980. Started in homemade shelters made from black plastic tarps as a kid, then graduated to “real” tents a few years later in scouts. Years of tent camping in little backpacking tents, big wall tents, out under the stars, etc. first trailer in 2013 and recently upgraded to our 2nd trailer. Still enjoy roughing it in tents every once in a while too. My kids love it all too. :D

Been at it since I was an Eagle Scout in the early 60's and I have to say, overall quality has went downhill.

Wish I still had my Serro Scotty. That was a great single axle trailer. My Cox tent camper was too.

Camping in my family goes back 5 generations. They were farmers that came out to Washington State on the train in 1889. My grandfather made an ice axe in shop class around 1910 for climbing the volcanoes. Starting in the late 1890s the whole extended family packed up several wagons and headed for Mt St Helens for 2 weeks each summer to "climb the mountain."

I still like to take out the old wall tent and fire up the wood stove to stay connected to the old ways. Big trip planned for late October after the crowds die down in the Sierra.