I like camping in a water proof military surplus tent.

I don’t consider a trailer, motor-home, or cabin actually camping.

I just use a sleeping bag, tent, and beer.

Cabin, on a cot. No rocks or hard ground, lumps. And with a cot, I can at least hang my feet over the end.

I’m old, or spoiled, or both.

When I was in my 20s and 30s, camping – sleeping bag on the ground in a tent in the forest.

Now my kids are 35+, and I prefer my nice soft heated waterbed.

I have to admit it’s getting much harder to sleep on the ground with little more than a roll out ground pad for a mattress these days. Fortunately hammock shelters alleviate most of those problems.

Camping is walking in with whatever will fit on your motorcycle and/or backpack.

You are all wimps. I didn’t think a camping question would be the push I needed to delete the Fluther bookmark. Laters.

I am with@johnpowell on this: sleeping in a trailer or a motor home is not camping. Staying in a cabin doesn’t even get close to camping.

When I backpacked a lot, we took a tarp in case of rain, otherwise we were under the stars.

I’ve never been camping in a tent. The only way it would be appealing to me is if I felt there weren’t any coyotes, bears, wild cats, you get the idea.

I did stay in an RV with a friend when I was young, and it was ok. My husband is interested in trying RVing.

I have stayed in cabins and small cottages, and I used to love it when I was a child. I’d be willing to try that again. My husband and I both love being in the great outdoors, and we also like having the option of cooking rather than restaurants all vacation long.

Echo: Trailers and cabins are not camping.

Tent at most.

My sisters first husband took me “camping” to hunt some elk in eastern Oregon. Bit more than I though it would be. “Dig out some snow and get in the hole for the night.”

This was possibly the worst weekend of my life. And I have seen Blink-182 live.

I’ve only ever been camping in a tent. Caravans, cabins and motorhomes don’t count as camping in my book. Sure, you can have a wonderful holiday in them but please don’t call it camping. If you’re worried about sleeping on the ground, unless you are walking a long way into your campsite, you can always use a light, foam mattress. They are inexpensive, can be rolled up to some degree, and light weight.

Camping for me is when you carry everything you need on your back or your bicycle and leave civilisation behind for a day or two. When I left a campsite I made it look as though I had never been there.

I’ve never slept in a trailer or motor home. In my mind towing one around and finding places to park would take time away from enjoying the outdoors. To me that feels like serving your possessions instead of letting them work for you.

But obviously plenty of people disagree. We camp in tents alongside folks in RVs. As long as they aren’t running generators I’m OK with it.

I have done, and thoroughly enjoyed, all you mentioned but camping is either with a tent or on the ground. Two years back we did 21 days on the Colorado in the Grand Canyon; two of which were spent in a tent when the weather turned sour. All the rest were on a tarp spread out over the ground. At 60, the first couple of days were rough but after that the body adapted and I slept well and woke up without any major complains. At one site we decided to camp in a shelter cave. As we were pitching our bags out we heard a rattlesnake letting us know he was there. We apologized, told him we were going to be camping in this area and asked him to stay over on the left side where we heard him and we would stay on our side. Nobody got bit so I assume he agreed to let us be if we let him be.

I suppose sleeping in a sleeping bag on a camp cot (vs. an old army cot in the cabin) in a tent would be passible. The sleeping bag’s a little on the short side but, unlike the cabin, there aren’t any rats or mice in the tent.
I must suppose that sleeping in the cabin with the rats and mice isn’t camping either…

@kritiper I too am at a loss as to what to actually call it. It is not being home in your comfy bed but it is not camping either. We just need more verbage to let us express what it is we are doing.

glamping

@Kardamom we bought a little Casita camper last year after years of tent camping and living out of the back of a pick-up. My wife said she wanted a warm, dry place to pee and not having to dress and crawl out of the tent at night. She is very happy in it. I do not object. Quick, easy to get loaded, unloaded, set up and be relaxing.
Cabins have always seemed to be musty, stale and buggy (mainly spiders) and make me long for fresh air. I usually spend most of my time outdoors when we have stayed in one. Also, when we have I always feel the need for a cot to get me off the ground when sleeping. Perhaps odd or perhaps just a personal quirk but I feel that the ground outside is cleaner than the floor of a cabin. Most of the places we have stayed have called them cabins but they are really just glorified screened in shelters.
When I have stayed in a cabin with actual beds and bedding and usually a kitchen, I do not really consider it camping any more than I consider staying at a motel or hotel to be camping.
I have never used an RV. We considered it once on a trip to Alaska but they are so expensive to rent that we chose to stay in motels instead. I feel like I would feel toward them like I do hotels however; not really camping. Still would like to try one though.

We went from camping out of the back of a Suburban, totally primitive, to a pop up, then to a motor home, and now we have a nice 2011 Jayflight pull behind. As we age so do our needs.

”...out of the back of a Suburban, is NOT totally primitive. That isn’t camping, it is visiting.

We had no running water or electricity is what I was saying. We’d camp for 3 or 4 days.

I guess you consider camping to be something completely different.

@Dutchess_III You were sleeping in a car. That’s not camping.

Why is it not camping? Because it it has hard sides instead of canvas sides?

Tent with an air mattress, sometimes not even the tent if it’s nice. I’m 45 years old and it makes me feel like a kid again.

Fun Fact: Sleeping in a military bag with no tent, just trees, was fine for me a few times some years back, but one night I had one of those hazy not asleep not awake moments. I was aware something warm, small, and soft snuggled against my bare back. I was too far gone to wake myself up. Whatever it was was no longer there when I woke up. Maybe I farted and it went for air.
No bites, scratches or scat, but I definitely felt movement from something.

^And that is why I do not, and will not, sleep outside.

I love the great outdoors, but I don’t want it sharing my bed.

We used to have a tent with three zippers that came together (like an upside down T). My son woke up one night to find himself face to face with a skunk who had pushed the zippers apart with his nose and come inside, probably looking for food. Fortunately he had the wherewithal to just lie still until the skunk decided to leave the same way he had come in.

After that we always tied the three zipper tabs together with a wire tie whenever we went to bed in that tent

LOL. (no, really, I laughed out loud.)

We used to tent camp all the time…..........that was many years ago. Today I prefer staying in a private travel trailer or motorhome or cabin. That’s not really camping but it is an enjoyable way to spend some time.

Just being close to the water and the trees and alone is the thing.