campgrounds or in the hills

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Ellen, there are a million places to camp for free in the National Forests. We always went camping for free until the last few years. In the expensive places it costs $8 per night. Those places have tables and everything. I am not sure if the cost is for in-state or out-of-state. It is different depending on whether or not you are from that state.

[SkiGirl]

There is a $50 National Parks Pass that will cover one vehicle and all its passengers inside to all parks and monuments.

Here is a link with FAQs about the Park Pass.
https://buy.nationalparks.org/faqs.asp



And I do believe that if you camp anywhere in a National Forest, besides the developed campground, it is free. I worked for the forest service before.

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Skigirl, I had forgotten about this. We have never gotten this because we don't go to the National Parks often enough to warrent getting one. However, I can see that that it would save money if you go all the time. Thanks for the information!

[bsktbug2]

We prefer remote, free areas! We camp up in the mountains with our three kids. My daughter hates hole toilets, but she's getting better.
We love being away from everyone else, Papa plays the guitar late into the night, we sing old campfire songs, and the kids fall asleep to the sound of Papa's fingers on the strings.
We love hearing and seeing wildlife that we wouldn't find in a traditional campground. And if it means hiking in, we pray we can get everything in one trip. I've been known to have the kidpack on my back with a pack on front (backwards), and water jugs in both hands.
We did camp in a campground once. We liked the showerhouse, but it just didn't feel like we were camping . . .

[Coll]

Friends of ours go camping but they take so much stuff from home. I always thought camping whether indoors or out was supposed to be rough. How can you be roughin it if you take a tv, and blow dryers and makeup, etc?
I'll never know though since I won't go camping, have to have the flushy toilet ya know.

Coll

[bsktbug2]

We just took our Cub Scouts camping a couple of weekends ago. On their list of what to bring was a category 'What not to bring', it listed radio, gameboy, cd player, etc. Sad, but we had to do it! And, we didn't have any complaints. They found that playing commando in the woods was much more fun than video games. We did bring one high tech device (well 4, but the same device) - GPS units. We taught map and compass, and how to use GPS, it was sooo fun. The kids were covered with dirt by Sunday (no bathrooms, no nothin!). We prefer to rough it, and it was fun to share that with a bunch of boys, many who had never camped before!

[ellenmelon]

I used to think roughing it was the only definition for camping. Now it is simply getting away from the ordinary. We have closed windows at home because of the A/C so it is really wonderful when 'camping' to wake up to early birds, to take early walks, to get out away from the neighbor's lawnmower and the kids next door. If I sleep well and feel clean I will be more likely to take that afternoon hike and see that sleeping owl on the branch.

For us, camping is about our only vacationing so we like to bring things that help us relax. Because my hands get tight when I handwrite, I like to bring the laptop and plug it in to the trailer to make notes from my walks, trips, etc, else so much would be lost when I went to recall it later.

I also like to bring my world band radio and hear broadcasts from other countries, both music and voice. Camping is a time for me to spend doing this without the distractions of home chores.

I like to cook in the trailer with the morning cartoons on. We keep the volume down so the neighbors don't 'hear' us. And my DH is a news junkie so he brings a radio.

He is also an EE and he makes things like antennas for his ham radio out of a slinky, so I guess it just comes with the territory.

For him, he also likes pop music and when he hears songs from the decades then he remembers back to the times he spent outdoors camping, hunting, campfires as he hears the songs of those decades being played. It is reminiscing for him and for the girls, they like to share his love of this 'old time' music.

Without the influence of my DH I would have been a die hard, no electronics, we are camping, but I have come to accept all the accoutrements of living in the 21st century.

It is considerate to keep the volume low or bring headphones.

And we do lots of non electronic things and games too so I guess we keep a balance.

[JoanneTravelMom]

We do the campgrounds out of necessity, too many little ones running around who might wander off! And the community atmosphere of campgrounds is usually nice

[tree3branches]

We camp any were giveme my tent and sleeping bag and let's go... I've camped 4 weeks in a row now and may be going again this week. I've been tapp out order of Arrow in scout got to do the ordeal.

Tree