How did you meet your camping friends?

Friends??? we don't need no stinking friends ...lol

I met'em when we were down at the club house shooting pool. And we've been friends for 18 years we've been going to this campground.

We go camping to get away from people, not make friends.

We do our own thing too. We are social and love to chat with other campers while at the park but I have plenty of friends now. I find it difficult to coordinate things with others. One or the other is either waiting or you don't want to do what the others want to do...etc. Plus I hate following one another on the road. I feel like I can't stop if I see something I care to stop at. If we do have multiple vehicles going somewhere I say I will see you there when I get there. To each his own.

I camp with friends from college dorms (40 years ago). We camped then and get together a couple times a year and camp now. I've also camped with family members and neighbors.

I also like camping alone. I like unusual places-not necessarily the most scenic or tourist oriented. Drag someone along and I'd probably hear "what the heck is this?" An example would be night in the desert summer just to see the stars.

My suggestion for the post above to meet 30 or 40 somethings- I'd frequently weekend camp in local campgrounds near your residence. Public campgrounds tend to have younger visitors. Make the rounds and try to strike up a conversation. Invite for campfire-a glass of wine or drink if you're so inclined. Also in your neighborhood look for other younger people with RVs. At least the RV is a conversation opener. In my neighborhood there is a cluster of homes with RVs/toyhaulers owned by 40 year olds. Don't know them personally but they may have become friends before all getting into the RVs.

I'm curious about a more specific version of this question... How to meet like minded people in a similar age category? As most of my friends have moved out of state, I have had less and less venues to meet new ones (work for myself from home). Seems like most activities DH and I try are more common with retirees (not sure what this says about us) like metal detecting and RVing.

Would love to find other 30 or 40-somethings to get together with! Not that I'm opposed to hanging out with people in different age groups, but there are those stage-of-life similarities that seem to make it easier to bond with people at a similar stage. I've never been to a Rally - does it typically have a cross section of ages?

Our camping friends are all of my friends from high school. Known all of them at least 30 years.

We own a lot in a private campground and have met lots of nice people simply by talking to them as they walk by or talking to them as we walk by.

pitch wrote:
We want to be able to shift gears on a whim. I would guess that something is wrong with us, as the things we like to do don't seem to interest other people.

nah, nothing wrong with ya :) you want to do your thing which is cool.

we are the same. we do what we want when we want and others sometimes don't fit into that category or go with the flow.
I hear ya on this one.

Opie431 wrote:
We have several people we meet by chance at campgrounds we return to each year. One man I have talked to each year over July 4th week was not there this year altho his spot was empty and paid for. I assume he died.

Ahhh...that is sad truly.
I hope not and something else came up :)

We use to camp with neighbors and as they got out of it, a friend started so we would go with them. We would also camp with just the 5 of us. We went seasonal for 11 years, met people and still camp with one family. At times it was fun having 30-50 at a campfire or at a breakfast but now it is just work. We still camp in a group but with different personalities, sometimes it is not enjoyable. Last year we took the first ever trips, just my wife and I and she said that was the biggest mistake as we liked it so much that is is our favorite type of camping, our place on our time doing what we want. We still go with others as the next 4 or so trips are at least 3-4 sites but come the fall, it will be us empty nesters...