Are we still camping if we’re plugged in?

Far from the luxuries of home, camp life forces a slower, more thoughtful approach to living. Mornings are savoured. Coffee is sipped rather than drained. Making meals is less a chore and more an event. An evening stroll replaces the nightly TV hypnosis. In short, for a few fleeting days, we are briefly, blissfully, beautifully human again.”

― Mark Kenyon

I’m old so my first thought when considering camping is “roughing it”. We went to the KOAs back in the day and had to camp in a tent complete with bugs, cinder block communal bath houses, and no electricity. This was camping as we grew up with it. Most of us had a “practice” camping experience in our own back yards as kids where we could run to the house if it got scary or hot or the mosquitos were out in force or we just got hungry. We could crawl into our own beds and back into the comforts of home

The other day we passed a large truck towing a 40 foot fifth wheel which was towing a trailer with an ATV and golf cart. It got me thinking about what you really need to go camping? Is it still camping when your trailer is towing its own trailer? Where do we draw the line on what is considered camping and are we getting away from it all while taking all of it with us?

Nowadays it seems that camping is something completely different than it used to be. Don’t get me wrong, there are still those that camp in tents on the forest floor with a sky full of stars to keep them company as they fall asleep. They enjoy being outdoors and roughing it and prefer this to cabins and hotels. These campers cook outdoors over a fire or eat MREs (freeze-dried space meals for those of you not familiar) before they hike for miles and commune with nature. These are the hard core campers, “real” campers IMO and they usually have a backpack that cost more than my first car and Salomon hiking boots.

People camp these days in very different ways. How camping is defined has evolved over the past few decades. If we stay in a national park in a 40 foot diesel RV complete with a full cook’s kitchen, indoor plumbing in multiple bathrooms, recliners, 50” TVs, and room for all of your Razrs and golf carts, is that still camping? How about if you sleep inside a truck camper or pop-up and not directly under the stars. Is renting a cabin in the woods cheating?

Everyone sees this differently. Having creature comforts while out in nature has been labeled “glamping”. The word was coined in 2005 in the UK and has become popular at music festivals like Coachella where everyone has a 4 poster bed and a full bath in their yurt. Not much roughing it there unless there are torrential rains, the fairground loses power, or you run out of alcohol.

Is RVing considered glamping as well? By definition it is. We full-timers carry many of the comforts of home with us everywhere we go. We have real beds, bathrooms, kitchens appliances, and wifi. We call ourselves happy campers and plaster that line on our rigs, hand towels, bumper stickers, and tire covers. Are glamping and camping now synonymous?

I don’t feel like we are roughing it or making any sacrifice, however I’m not sure we are fully connecting with the beauty of all that surrounds us out here. We bring real world distractions with us on our travels. Does our RV brand of escape truly allow us to be fully immersed in the camping experience? Escapism through camping, as I used to know it, brings you closer to nature. Literally. The sounds of birds, flowing creeks and rivers, trees rustling. This is the calming, rejuvenating soundtrack we should be experiencing if we dare to unplug. Should the definition of camping include sacrifice of some sort? Should we have to trade some comfort or connection to the real world in order to be considered campers and exist deep in nature without leaving a footprint like we used to do? Are we true campers if we’re still plugged in?

We are taught to leave no trace when we’re out in nature. It’s the right thing to do for our planet. We clean up our sites, dispose of things appropriately, leave what we find, be mindful of fires, and make sure not to leave any waste behind, tank waste or otherwise. These are the principles of responsible camping. Are the new RVs leaving no trace?

I pose these questions with no answers. I leave those to every individual who “camps” to answer for themselves. Are we really camping? Glamping? Or just enjoying the view out there from the comfort of “home”? Something I’ll ponder over my view of the Bighorn Mountains, after I start the coffee maker and fire up my laptop…or maybe I’ll just unplug and go for a walk.