Did you camp as a child with your parents? Did you head to the mountains or the ocean shore on weekends, or maybe even take long trips in the summer, perhaps visiting national parks like Yellowstone or Yosemite? Maybe in the winter, your family headed south for your school breaks, maybe to camp on the beaches of Florida, where you could enjoy mild temps while back home your friends were dealing with snow and ice.
For many families, camping was a cherished tradition—one that brought everyone together to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of daily life and enjoy the simplicity of nature. Whether it was roasting marshmallows by the campfire, hiking through scenic trails, or just spending quiet evenings under the stars, those early experiences often became the foundation for a lifelong love of the outdoors.
Some families even found their own little corners of the country to return to year after year, creating a sense of familiarity and adventure all at once.
Did you camp with a tent, or did your family own an RV? Or maybe you started with a tent and then moved up to a travel trailer or even a motorhome.
After you respond to the question, would you please take a moment and tell us about your camping trips, or even why you never were unable to enjoy the experience of camping as a child? Did camping as a child contribute to your desire to camp as an adult?
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Only family camping trip was when I was five. Change of duty station for my dad (Navy) and we drove and tent camped from California to Texas. Later I was encouraged by my parents to be a Boy Scout and earned the Eagle award with lots of camping involved. Started camping again in an RV after I retired at 56.
Started in 1955, Dad bought a late 40s Nash TT and pulled it with his 1955 Plymouth Plaza 6 cylinder 3 on the tree. I was 5, Sister was 4 and Baby Brother was just learning to walk. We always went to Old Orchard County Park. Wife and I started in a tent. I guess my parents were smarter than we were.
I started camping with my parents when I was 5 years old. We started with a station wagon and a tent then a Coleman pop-up. As our camping increased we moved up to a StarCraft pop-up and eventually, to an Airstream. I raised my family camping and my wife and I, now retired, still camp regularly.
Never, but our son was 6 weeks old for his first camping trip in a backpacker tent in the Alps.
We never camped… But we did go to the national parks. We were hotel kids (lol).
The polls no longer load for me. Tent camped with parents from one year old. Parents stuck with tents my wife and I switched to Roadtreks.
Hi, Elliot. Sorry the polls aren’t loading for you. Sometimes script blockers and ad blockers interfere with our polls since they are from a 3rd party site. If you have one of these try and turn it off and see if that fixes the issue. I hope that works for you. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Only time I recall, my dad took me and another kid for an overnite. We rented an old wooden fishing boat with a 5 h.p. outboard and ran down the Barge Canal. Stayed in a tent on the bank overnite, surrounded by cows in the morning! We explored the canal and fished our way back home. Commercial barges still ran on the canal then, and we worried that the wake might swamp the boat, but it didn’t. Great memory!
My parents started with a huge, heavy, canvas tent for the first year or so.
Due to all the obvious drawbacks of wet smelly tents they soon upgraded to a new popup trailer. We vacationed across the country for many years in that popup.
In my teen years they purchased a new Dutchcraft travel trailer but due to my jobs and social life I didn’t go with them much anymore.
After retirement my parents enjoyed about seven good years as snowbirds before declining health took them off the road. I hope my children have fond memories of camping with me as I do of camping with my parents.
My family didn’t camp till I was 17 when they bought a TT. Lots of aunts and uncles had camped my entire life so at that point we had tons of “expert” help and advice. My wife and I started camping when our kids were less than 3 and 1 years old (now 34 &32) and we are still camping. DW is retired and I will be in 3 years. The youngest and her family camp also and the other joins as often as she can.
We camped without a tent until I was in high school. We’d set up on the ground, use creek or lake water for doing dishes, etc. Then my mom made a teepee our of half a parachute & we could locate out site from far off – it was orange & white. My dad bought a small motorhome in 1973.
I have many fond memories of camping trips with my parents some 65-70 years ago. No electricity, canvas tent, Coleman lantern, Coleman stove, sleeping bags, hauling water jugs to our campsite, meals outdoors and campfires at night. I can still see my dad emerging from that canvas tent, soaked with sweat from setting it up on a hot summer day. I would not trade these memories for anything.
Yes, in a tent packed on top of our station wagon, every summer. All the usual experiences – waking up cold, getting rained out, and of course many great times with gorgeous weather and mountain scenery. A favorite spot was the Kootenay Plains west of Nordegg, Alberta.
The only time I recall was a tent camping trip when I was about eight. Dad borrowed an old eight foot square canvas tent with a center pole. In the middle of the night my four year old brother woke up screaming about a squirrel in the tent and all five of us freaked out. Someone knocked over the pole and brought the entire heavy, smelly tent down on top of us! Mom packed us up the next morning and we went home. We never tried it again, but as a Girl Scout and “Hippie chick” I always enjoyed the simpler life of camping.
camped as a family in a woods 9×9 canvas tent, my parents and my 2older sisters during the summer months. All stuffed into a small Austin. Not really joyful as you can understand! As I’m 74 years of age & still retain the above tent. My wife and I have camped by this tent, and upgraded all the way up to m/homes then downsized to t/ campers but still live Under the stars when we can.
Camped as long as I can remember. First camping was with a tarp on the ground covered with blankets then a tarp cover on top. Tent camped in Idaho wilderness with tents on hunting trip with some nights well below freezing. Lived in Idaho and camped and fished in Yellowstone every year growing up.
Once by tent. Boy Scouts really got me started in camping. Then off to the military and traveling the world. I love hunting so went with some other military personnel
Well back to sleeping in a tent. That lasted one season and I purchased a small 12′ camper that’s all it took to go camping as much as I could. Never looking at a tent, them assigned to Australia and back in a tent. Once retired and back in the states it was back to the camper in Arizona I could do the ground and rattle snakes. No parents didn’t influence me it was the Scouts.
Me too. Scout camping was with a canvas war-surplus shelter-half pup tent shared with another Scout with his shelter-half. My parents did once rent a tent trailer for a week-long trip. All of our camping with our kids was in a 9×12′ canvas cabin tent.
We had several good camping experiences, but for my most memorable one, I didn’t feel well at the start. Turned out I had the mumps, our trip was fairly unpleasant for everyone!
My family started out in a borrowed tent as a way to save money on vacation. We then graduated to our own tent (which my sister still has 60+ years later). Then we moved up to a Nimrod Camping trailer. Basically a trailer with a tent attached, a pop-up but no solid roof. Then a small travel trailer, 13 ft, then finally before I graduated high school they bought a 17.5 ft travel trailer which they had till they couldn’t use it at age 80 +.
Mom and dad got to sleep in the Scotty trailer, while us boys(3) shared a tent outside
Parents started taking us camping in 1960. Had a Sears tent with an Add-a-room. Couple years later they bought a popup. They were all basic back then, no furnace, AC, fridge, stove, just a couple of beds. Cooked over a Coleman stove. We traveled/camped 3 weeks every summer in the 60’s and early 70’s. Saw many things from the Atlantic to the Pacific, both in the USA and Canada. Visited most National and Provincial parks in both countries. Dad’s first trip to Rushmore was when they were chipping away at Lincolns’ nose. Told us that when we visited as a family. He even had a pic! Told our kids the same story when we were there. We had a great time and made wonderful and lasting memories!
My parents bought a 27 foot TT when the 5 kids were between 7 and 15. Dad pulled it with a 1996 Jeep Wagoneer with three rows of seats that the 7 of us barely fit in.
One trip was from Western PA around the Great Lakes and into Canada and then to Maine.
He drove for 7-10 hours each day and mostly stop only overnight. We did two 3 days stops in Canada and a 4 day in Maine.
One of the worst three week experiences I had.
My wife and I now had a 28 footer and limit driving time to under 6 hours/day. One or two overnighters along the way and then 5-7 days at our destination.
One trip to Florida to see her sister took 3 days and we stayed for 7 days. Not rushed and mostly enjoyable.
Borrowed a home made popup camper from neighbors and enjoyed the mountains (and bears) in Big Meadows on the Skyline Drive in Virginia (c 1960s). Car overheated several times pulling it up the mountain. Quite an adventure.
Yes. Camped every chance we got, in a tent, with cloth diapers.
It was a BIG (I was young) canvas 2-room cabin tent. Between trips sometimes used by scout troops by removing the room dividing wall. About the time our parents became empty nesters, they bought a pickup and a bed mounted camper (still no bathroom).
I answered no, but in fact we went camping once for one night. Not really their thing I guess.
My Dad was a DIYer and custom built a large storage box to fit the back of our ’63 Ford station wagon. It held all our supplies, lanterns, stove, etc. The stove pulled out to cook on the tailgate. Tents, sleeping bags and such packed on top of the box. I loved those camping trips!
We introduced my boyfriend (now hubby of 54 years) to camping, and the first things we bought on credit after we were married was a tent and gear. Since then I think we’ve had every camping setup known to man 😊. As I type this we are boondocking at a National Monument and living full time in our RV. What a life!
OMG. This was our family but my dad built a big wooden box that sat on top of our Ford Country Squire. My dad also camped with his parents and brothers. We had an old army tent and I really can’t remember a time in my life when I did not have a camping trip planned
same here…camp storage box that mounted on top of the family station with a scientifically engineered packing job for all of the camping gear including the Ted Williams Sears 3 bedroom tent and cots. Saw a big part of the east coast with my siblings camping over 2-3 week period each summer. Loved it and still dry camp several times a year now as an adult
We went camping in a fold out camper that my Daddy built. We later updated to a canned ham camper
As a child living in Colorado my summer months were spent camping in the mountains. With two old heavy canvas tents and a 1957 Plymouth station wagon we wandered all across the state pitching our tents along streams and rivers. I have never gotten over my love of travel or camping.
Camping goes back at least to my grandfather, a hunter and fisherman.
RVs didn’t enter the picture until I had small children.
Growing up, we were in the lower income bracket, so not much extra money for vacations. The few we took were at motels or a week at a cottage in Northern Michigan.
My father was a scout leader and loved the outdoors, we camped as a family and I turned out to be my dads back packing companion on several trips. When I started my own family, we tent camped and later on had a couple of Lamas we used as packers. The kids are grown and on their own, so now we are going in our 30′ TT taking the cushy way.
We slept in our sleeping bags, no tents, no RVs or anything else, but I’d say about 8 years old, dad borrowed a small trailer and we used it a couple of times, but went back to just sleeping bags under the stars and lot of them, Haven’t seen as many in decades. Wow, thanks for the question, brings back so many great memories
Not my parents but my grandfather and uncle were scout leaders and took me along many times!
My parents preferred staying in hotels at resorts over RVing. I did have a best friend, however, who took me camping every year. None of our group had RVs but I saw other campers with trailers and motorhomes and vowed to do this as an adult. Today, my husband, who grew up camping in cabover campers, and I have always camped in RV type vehicles. We’ve had a trailer, Class C, cabover, and now own a Class A that works for the two of us.
My youth camping was only thru the Boy Scouts. A few of us would go out on our own for a weekend – walking about 3 mi.. and camping by a river. Later, my folks bought a travel trailer which they parked at the lake – so I weekend fished with them for a few years. When my son joined Cub Scouts I was Cub master moving on to Scoutmaster and back to annual 1 week camping in a tent with the Scouts at Camp Wilderness, Mn., Scout camp.
After Scouting, I knew there had to be a better way! So, we bought our first motorhome; Class A 24′ Eldorado Encore. Moved up to 34′ Class A Winnebago Vectra. I do not miss the tent or sleeping on the ground or a cot and rain! I do miss the Scouting years.
My parents never camped, in fact they seldom went anywhere, I fell in love with camping and the outdoors thanks to The Boy Scouts of America.
No, but we’d set up an old canvas tent in the front yard on numerous occasions.
I was in high school in the 50s with 2 younger siblings. Parents had a very basic tear drop trailer. We would go camping 2-3 times a year, often to Yosemite, once a year to San Felipe when it was a very sleepy fishing village. Parents would sleep in the trailer and kids in a tent. As a result of these very positive experiences, to this day the 3 kids still camp with their families — me in a class A, brother in a class C, and sister in a truck camper. Ans their offspring continue the tradition.
The word parents is plural so I hesitated replying yes. My parents were divorced but I went RVing with my dad and step mother starting at a young age. My dad taught me all the things to do and what not to do. He also taught me how to cook on a campfire which I still do over 60 years later.
Thanks for this question as reading all the comments has been a Sunday afternoon trip down memory lane for me as I recalled stories from my childhood, my dad’s stories, my kids and even now my grandson’s. Old army tent, to Coleman tent, to pop up, to Class C and 67 VW. We still like to take quick trips to the beach and sleep in a tent attached to the bus.
Car camping with tent. Just pulled into any California state park and there was a place. There is now an overpopulation crisis.
Backpacking in the Sierra. Now you need a reservation!
There is now an overpopulation crisis.
Sent me to summer camp in the mountains.
My dad took his vacations usually in the summer. For several years we would go to the mountains and stay in a large tent. Being 6 ft 2 inches tall he was constantly having to duck under the umbrella poles in the center. One year he saw a design for an external frame so he built his own larger tent with an external frame. That tent served us many years. We even camped on the edge of the Boing aircraft factory in Seattle during the world’s fair. They didn’t get an rv until they were in their 50s. Great memories.
Family started in a big tent – led to my lifelong love of camping.
My parents never took us camping, so I was a Girl Scout for 10 years so I could camp occasionally. Took my young sons camping every possible weekend. They’re now 45 and 48, and we own 18+ acres of semi-remote, gorgeous mountain property, with Index Creek running through it, an hour from my home. Don’t get up there nearly enough, however. 😀 –Diane aka Mountain Mama
My parents never camped. But I was in the Cub scouts and Boy scouts so I did a lot of camping. We did travel a lot visiting relatives in other states. After we kids grew up, my father bought a 5th wheel and traveled the country.
Tent until my Dad and I converted our ’62 Corvair Greenbrier into a campervan. Us kids still had to sleep in a tent though.
Early camping experiences were Army cots under trees, usually somewhere in Arkansas. I was probably about 3 years old, Mom and Dad couldn’t find me at first, then found me in my sleeping bag on my cot, fast asleep. I can still remember the cots and the trees in many camping places near lakes, for fishing. Such fun times, such fond memories.
1970s in a 2-room tent (parents, 2 kids & infant). Next bought our neighbors pop up that slept up to 11; new canvas, new baby, new dog & we were off. By that age my brother & I would slip out at night to join up with all the kids we met in the rec hall & sneak a beer or 3 from the adults down to a beach bonfire. No bathroom in pop up so if busted coming back in we were just at the bathroom. 🙂 VERY fun memories of summer camping Illinois to Maine each year for a few weeks. Got our first TT in 2013 & hit those state parks in the southeast. Now our 2nd TT & the start of retirement travels. NY last year, IN & WI coming up
We tent camped and fished!! Crazy hikes to secluded spots, it really was lots of fun. But, I did envy my best friend and her family across the street-they had a small airstream and boy did I wish we had that luxury!!
I was 18 before I had a vacation. Farming, raising hogs, raising chickens and milking cows did not allow for any overnight trips.
My parents took me on a car trip every summer, but they weren’t campers. It was not luxurious travel, though. My mother cooked our main meal of the day at picnic areas, on a Coleman camp stove.
However, we had a cabin in the woods, less than 10 miles form home, so I learned to enjoy exploring the outdoors there. Our small TT has more amenities than the cabin did.
Lots of trips to the beach, staying in the same hotel for years.
I have great memories of camping as a child. We camped a lot, but didn’t travel too far. Dad built a very nice popup trailer from the ground up around 1960. Quite a step from a huge army tent!
Tent camping in the 1940s-50’s. Hiking, fishing, enjoying being together in the campsite. Led to my avid backpacking in the 60’s through early 2000’s with friends and kids Scout troop, and ultimately to an RV (Winnebago View-2015) with my wife, now with aboutt 80,000 mi, either on our own, with family in our RV or theirs, or on RV caravans-Alaska and East Coast. On our Alaska caravan, we flew in grandkids (teens) to join us sequentially for a week or two each. Another few months planned for this year, a couple months on our own and including another RV caravan-Great River Road.
My siblings and I grew up camping most weekends while growing up. That heavy, HOT canvas tent (which also leaked badly if you were unfortunate enough to touch the sides or roof while it was raining). Still, very fond memories with long days of row boating and fishing.
I am responding to the question “Did your parents take you camping as a child?”. My parents started taking us camping when I was 7 or 8. They didn’t know if we’d like it or not so they rented a tent, sleeping bags and cots and we made our first trip to Lake George, NY. I thought it was absolutely magical. The night sky was unlike anything I’d ever seen. My sister and I were in charge of carrying water. No electric, no flush toilets. The following year we camped in the Adirondacks, then went to Expo ’67 in Montreal. I saw and learned so many fascinating things! We stopped camping when I was a teenager – my mom wanted a camper and my dad didn’t – but I started backpacking!
Sorry, Sharon. I just noticed our sometimes-overzealous spam filter put your comment into the Spam folder. (It does weird things like that sometimes.🫤) Have a good night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
We “camped” in the early 1950s in cabins, before motels. Mom fixed all of our meals outside and on the go It was a real treat to eat in a local cafe. In the late ’50s dad got the first camping trailer. Ever since I just assumed that vacation meant camping. Motels were always for rich people.
My Dad only got 2 weeks vacation. We tented once, in the pouring rain. After that we rented a cabin at the beach until we were old enough to travel. Then my parents rented a trailer and we travelled all over for those 2 weeks. In Girl Guides I learned to tent and build a campsite and best of all to hike and backpack. At 18 I was one of 2 Canadians selected to attend a backpacking International Girl Scout Camp in Nantahala Forest in North Carolina. That was wonderful except for the snakes! As a parent we first rented at the beach, then bought a second hand Class C to “See Canada with your kid”. After she stopped going we bought a second hand Class B Pleasureway that we can keep at our house.
Nope. Grew up in a major city and campfires would be considered arson and only the bums slept outside.
Growing up in Michigan my family used two weeks every August to drive to the Upper Peninsula, near Sault Ste Marie, to camp. we started out in a tent with air mattress, then when I was about 11 my dad bought a 16 ft trailer. We thought it was the best thing ever.
My parents one weekend rented a tent trailer in the 1960’s and we went camping with 3 other families. That was the only time I went camping with my parents. My Mom’s sister and her husband had a lake condominium and my Dad’s brother had a lake home. We went there occasionally. We occasionally went on a road trip and stayed in motels. My hubby and I, we’ve camped all our adult lives. Tent and then tent trailer. All these questions are really bringing back memories. Memories, misty water-colored memories, of the way we were.
My youngest memories were waking early, as my dad fired up the 68 C-10 Chevy, with me watching the road pass by from the cab-over window. We would arrive at a nice breakfast location, by a lake or stream, with my mom just rousing from bed.
Tent camping/backpacking for several days at a time. Some of the best memories vacationing as a family.
Tent camped at 13 and then for the next 50 years. Went to a trailer when my wife would not sleep on the ground (or cot) anymore.
Mid to late 60s my parents had a 16’ yellow & white Shasta. We would go out one weekend a month during the summer. GREAT TIMES, GREAT MEMORIES!
Thank you for the question and preceding discussion, RV Travel! No, never did we go camping. Weekday evenings, Saturdays, and vacations were devoted to work around the farm or home maintenance. DW’s family “camped” their way from Alabama to California and back to visit family every third year during her childhood. Have a great weekend and safe travels!
When I was growing up that was the only way we could afford to go on vacation. My dad rented an aluminum topper that matched the height of the pickup cab. He put a ¾ piece of plywood across the bed top and a mattress for us there and then put a mattress on the floor for my mom and sister. We upgraded the next year with a topper a foot taller than the cab that he bought. We camped in it for the next 10 years with a camp stove, lantern and large cooler. No AC no heat and no port a-potty. We went to Florida for my high school graduation present. If you’ve been to Florida in July without AC you know it was a miserable trip. They bought a cab over camper the next year with AC. 🙂
My parents weren’t the camping type. I did manage to drag them to a local national park campground one time, for one night, when I was a teenager and had built my own popup camper. But, family friends that did camp often allowed me to tag along on their family camping trips, did some in the Scouts, and so forth.
My parents did have a Shasta trailer when I was very young. We tent camped often. In 1968 we tent camped down the Alcan Highway.