The Complete Guide to Camping

Chapter 1: What Is Camping and Why People Love It

Let me start with what camping actually is, because the photos you see online don't tell the whole story. Camping is the act of going somewhere outside your home, setting up a temporary place to sleep, and staying there for at least one night. That's the whole definition. It can be in a state park with a designated dirt spot and a picnic table, it can be in a national forest where you park your car on the side of a gravel road, or it can be in your own backyard if you're testing gear. For most beginners, it means "car camping": you drive to a campsite, you park within walking distance of a flat patch of ground, and you set up your tent right there. You don't have to hike for miles, you don't need to be in peak physical shape, and you can bring just about anything that fits in your car.

Day-to-day, camping is a series of simple, physical tasks that you don't think about at home. When you arrive, you find your site, which is usually a numbered spot with a fire ring (a circle of stones or metal) and sometimes a picnic table. You unpack your car. You lay out a flat footprint, set up the poles of your tent, and stake it into the ground. This first setup takes about 20 to 40 minutes if you've done it before, and about an hour the