Driving Into the Wild: the Industry of Camping
Why do you want to go camping? Is it an escape?
I have a confession: I don’t really go camping.
It’s just not really my thing. I’ll take this time to blame a childhood experience of “camping” in my backyard and ending the night with a bloody big toe. Since then? I’ll kindly pass.
But I like the idea of camping. I love the outdoors. I love hiking. But as much as I love those “The mountains are calling and I must go” typography t-shirts, that’s not me. Aesthetically and in theory, sure. I’d love to be that quirky outdoorswoman. Realistically, though? The closest I’ll ever get to Everest is through a computer monitor. And I am more than OK with that.
So why am I writing about camping if the closest I’ve ever gotten was a weekend at Firefly? Because I want to get a little closer to camping than just through a computer screen. But before I do that, I’m the kind of person who needs to do research. Through a computer screen.
So I repeat my question: Why do you go camping? In fact, why does anyone go camping? What is the rationale?
As a citizen of the good old U.S. of A, camping isn’t a necessity — it’s a recreational choice. A choice that millions of Americans make every year. The stereotypical answer for the why in “why do people go camping?” is pretty much always framed as an escape — an escape from the monotony of a 9–5 job, from technology, from high-rise city living, whatever. It’s pretty much always been this way.
One of the things I have noticed as an onlooker/Peeping Tom to the outdoors and camping community is the great technology debate. Does newfangled camping tech affect the soul of camping? Does it minimize the experience?
Well it really all depends on who you talk to.
I know someone who believes that you haven’t actually gone camping unless you’ve slept in a tent. But, like, who are you to define someone’s camping experience, bro?
I’m not here to say whether or not a portable washing machine, a hammock hot tub, or maybe even a portable/collapsible/solar fridge-freezer makes your camping experience any less. Why? Because camping is in the eyes of the camper, man.
But I am here to say something that I do know: Camping is the “escape” from technology that became popular because of technology. And while I’m sure if you listen very closely you’ll hear someone, somewhere, blaming the “millennials” for some unnecessary technological gadgetry “nonsense,” here’s the thing: the automobile totally changed the the camping experience over 100 years ago. It helped make it popular recreation.
Innovation and Industry Inspired Camping
Well, sorta.
Turn your mind into a time machine and mentally go back to 19th century America. The United States of America hadn’t been the United States of America for very long, but the country was growing. Post-Civil War, boy, the country was a-boomin’. Too fast and too much for some people. The urban areas weren’t even all that urban before the city dwellers needed a vacation from their fellow mankind.
I mean, don’t we all?
The best way to beat off those city blues was, naturally, nature.
It didn’t really matter that their forebears had worked so hard to conquer the landscape (and fought off FOUR BEARS in ten feet of snow uphill both ways), they were going to ditch the still-infant civilized world for ye olde wilderness.
Yee-haw.
By the late 1800s, camping (for recreation, not for necessity) became trendy. I mean, when you don’t have to do something, it immediately becomes fun, right?
I’m not doing this survival thing for literal life and death anymore so this is totally cool now.
A naturalist by the name of John Muir heavily spurred the camping trend when he shared his experiences living in Yosemite beginning in 1868.
His story became popular and journalists and essayists wrote about him and camping.
Well if the media is writing about it…
Cue the Great Escape
Early campers who wanted to escape from the responsibilities of civilized society and the cold, iron grip of industrialism found camping (and California).
Some of the earliest campers were also the wealthy elite. They could literally afford to vacation in the idyllic wilderness by hiring help to take them there. Not to mention serve them, cook their meals, and build their shelters.
What were you saying about roughing it?
At the turn of the 20th century, modern railways helped take families to camping destinations. There were those in favor of primitive camping, though. Those who ditched all urban amenities hired a team of pack horses or burros, and only packed the simple bare necessities.
But the invention and then affordability of the automobile completely changed things and became the preferred means to escape.
Unless you were really going to rough it in a survival sense, even early campers needed gear — especially if they planned on longer stays. Tents, stoves, cots, lanterns, ice chests, food, clothing, children, and even the family dog could fit in the truck or back seats. The bulkiness of items such as sleeping bags no longer became an issue to carry and store. Cars enabled camping to become not just a luxury for the wealthy man, but also a vacation for the everyman.
Auto camping allowed Americans a certain freedom that wasn’t as readily available before the 20th century. Individuals and families alike could do more farther away. they could now travel longer distances and actually enjoy what they saw. The world is a much more beautiful-looking place when you’re not worried about the elements; rain and storm do not necessarily impede a car or truck the way it might a team of mules.
Tech This Out
Post-WWII, more advanced and comfortable means of camping were developed, including travel trailers, truck campers, and RVs. By the late 1950s, America was certainly in love with camping — and such infatuation only led to further advancements in transportation, gear, and technology.
Nylon (you know, a technological advancement) helped the development of camping gear. Invented in 1935 for use in WWII, the durable, lightweight fabric was a natural fit among the great outdoors. Gear made from nylon was much lighter, stronger, more compressible, and more resilient to water, mold, and mildew, compared to wool and cotton.
The primitive “bell tent,” first designed by a Confederate army officer in 1855, was replaced over and over by lightweight models designed for easy transport and set-up.
So what is it that I’m trying to say here? Even the most basic of camping gear in the 20th century are technological improvements compared to what it once was.
While some people might say that with all the modern conveniences of camping, the purpose of the initial escape has all been lost. Naturalist and essayist Henry David Thoreau would certainly agree, I’m sure, were he alive today. But he’s not.
Any my point is that everyone has different reasons for going camping, just as everyone has different reasons for not camping. Some may want to escape industrialism, capitalism, or convenient living and live off the grid. But not everyone wants to disconnect from everything: some people just want to escape work, their annoying neighbors, or not even an escape at all.
It’s not my place to tell people what camping should and should not mean to them. There’s nothing wrong with simply appreciating a new space and admiring the view — as long as we leave it the way we found it. What’s that inspirational quote that makes its way around social media during vacation season? Take only pictures, leave nothing but footprints? Yeah–do that. Or less than that.
This article originally appeared in a slightly different form on Industrial Outpost.
