Car Camping vs. Backpacking

I have a lot of friends who enjoy backpacking. I have a load of respect for them, I really do. When I was younger I enjoyed strapping the pack on and heading out into the depths of the wilderness myself. I really enjoyed it. However, now that I have a family, it just isn’t that easy to strap the old pack on and lead a four year old out into the wilderness. Not to mention even smaller children including a baby. Just not happening. But car camping has its merits as well.

When you’re car camping you’re essentially next to the road. Even if you head out into the back roads (assuming you have a four wheel drive vehicle) then you’re still only a few hours at most from medical care. That can mean a huge difference when you’ve got a medical emergency going on. Not to mention, you don’t put yourself out there physically that much. You can carry a lot more in a car than you can on your back. All the comforts of civilization at your fingertips; or at least as many you can carry in the back of your car and still get your kids in. Where I used to sleep on the ground, I now have a blow up mattress and a foldable bed frame. Where I used to cook over a tiny can of Sterno, I now have a huge Coleman stove with propane cylinders. Where I was eating bags of freeze dried roast beef in “gravy” (I don’t care how you cook it or what anyone says, freeze dried food tastes like dried horse turds at best) I now throw the steaks I carried up in my portable refrigerator.

Overall, there is nothing like the purity of heading out into the wilderness with your pack on, sleeping under the stars with practically no one else around and seeing the stars unfettered from any city lights, but the comforts of car camping have a lot to say for themselves. It’s a way to get out of the house with the kids and give them a little taste of the wilderness experience, without having to haul them into the outer limits on the backs of llama’s.