Camping: A Community

What is camping? When you think of camping what comes to your mind? A quick overnight stay in a camp ground? Family bonding time? Character building? Connecting with nature? Camping seems to mean something a little bit different for each of us. Take me for example, when I think of camping I think of an adventure. I think of a time to better connect with myself and those who I have the privilege of camping with. In fact some of my fondest memories come from camping. I remember trips where it randomly snowed 3 feet overnight and we had to dig ourselves out. I remember trips so beautiful that it felt I was visiting another world. Every trip always has something new and for some reason camping never seems to get old.

I'm not unique in my feelings, Millions of us go camping every year because camping seems to speak to us. When asked why we camp our reasons ranged everywhere from "Digital Detox" to simply wanting to see what nature has to offer. Though my favorite reason, and perhaps the one I've heard the most often, is that camping offers a chance to take a moment away from all the craziness of our day to day lives.

Of course not everyone enjoys camping. There are quite a few people who really don't find the idea of roughing it in the wilderness very enjoyable. It's an opinion I respect, many in my family fit that category, but I find it interesting the number of people who go camping despite their negative opinion towards a night spent sleeping on the ground. After all, most of us tend to avoid things we don't enjoy with a passion.

As I've thought about why we behave this way when it comes to camping one thought kept reoccurring over and over again in my mind, community. Then when I took it a step further and did some research, both in person and online, that word continued to appear with some frequency.

That's when it hit me. Everything about camping fosters a sense of community. It opens up paths to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones. Earlier, I mentioned some of the reasons people like to go camping. These reasons included things like digital detoxing, taking a step back, family bonding time, character building, etc... When broken down, all of these reasons for camping revolve around some element of community building. I think at a fundamental level much of our enjoyment for camping comes from that sense of belonging, or sense of community, that we're able to build while we are out in nature with only the people traveling with us to rely on.

I know for me personally, many of my closest friends are the ones I go on camping trips with. Those trips generally hold a special place in my heart. Those friends are also some of the people I trust most in life. Camping has taught me to rely on them. To not just go lone wolf but to be part of something more.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you can't have strong relationships or a sense of community if you don't go camping. That's 100% not what I'm saying. Each and every one of us is different. Thus, it stands to reason that many of us might find that sense of community a different way. What I am saying is that camping helps to foster a strong sense of community. It has the ability to touch our lives in subtle ways I don't see to often. It doesn't matter if I'm backpacking or glamping, (yes glamping is a real word), I always feel like I come out of those experiences closer to those I went with.

So if you've thought about going camping but haven't yet managed to make it happen, I highly recommend you give it a try. I've never regretted a trip.