The Camping Circle of Life

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Campers are moving back to cotton canvas tents. While grouse hunting last week, I saw four or five set up and waiting for elk season.

 

[AWG_Pics]

I worked with a guy that went elk hunting in central Oregon every year with his buds. It seemed he was as in love with the ritual of setting up and hanging out in the wall tent with a wood burning sheep herders' stove. Getting his elk was almost secondary.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I worked with a guy that went elk hunting in central Oregon every year with his buds. It seemed he was as in love with the ritual of setting up and hanging out in the wall tent with a wood burning sheep herders' stove. Getting his elk was almost secondary.

I kinda miss the days of heading to a destination, setting up camp, and staying put to enjoy the area. We used to do that in the high lakes, but those areas seem to be “discovered” by the hordes. A favorite was a lake near Bend that had a healthy population of big brook trout and Atlantic salmon. Mostly flyfishers, no motors, but it’s a different crowd. In our last time there, we had a lady dump her gray water through our campsite. Alas…

 

[AWG_Pics]

In the 80's I took a few weeks off, loaded up the 2WD Ford f-150 and camped with a big tent in central Idaho and western Montana. It was not hard to find a place to set up for 4 or 5 days and not be bothered by others the entire time. Can still do that with the 4WD and pop-up camper, but have to research more carefully and go further back into the remote places. There are a lot of people out and about nowadays.

 

[ckent323]

Never mind how few people were out camping in the 1960's when I first started camping.

But the desert was mostly empty, as were the mountain areas (except for some small communities), and large swaths of Southern California such as San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange County, CA were agricultural fields and Orange Groves in those days.

The US population has more than doubled in size since 1950 when it was 157.8 million to the population today of about 345.4 million.

{8-o

 

[JaSAn]

Hunters and a lot of backcountry snowmobilers never left.
My dad started with an army surplus canvas tent.
The hunt camp tent for every elk hunt I can remember has been an outfitter's tent with wood stove and room to sleep 8 (if you could stand the snoring and farting).

 

[Sagebrush Reconnoiterer]

Above Ione, Nevada, 1983.

Near Jarbidge, Nevada. September, 2006.

 

[Sagebrush Reconnoiterer]

But the desert was mostly empty, as were the mountain areas (except for some small communities), and large swaths of Southern California such as San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange County, CA were agricultural fields and Orange Groves in those days.

I was raised in the San Bernardino Range foothills between Apple Valley and Lucerne Valley between 1956-1976. Explored every cow trail to Big Bear Lake on my motorcycles. Victorville was a small town, the signs said three-thousand something population back then. Apple Valley was a widely scattered community with two small business centers at each end. Lucerne Valley just a small community. We'd visit family in Covina, going via Devore Cut-Off to US66 (now the general route of I-15). Like you said, just miles of citrus groves, small towns and the road lined with eucalyptus trees. If it were a clear day, you could see Catalina Island and the LA city hall from the Pomona Hills. When I married, my wife was a Big Bear native and we lived there for two years. I worked for San Bernardino County driving snow plows and road maintenance until I moved north to the eastern Sierra in 1978.

 

[AWG_Pics]

Many years ago I read in a fairly authoritative book that the population of US residents living in cities, instead of farms, first exceeded 50% around 1950. I have often pondered what that has meant for us all.

 

[JaSAn]

. . . I have often pondered what that has meant for us all.

It means that a majority of Americans (and Developed Nations) has lost connection with the land and the cycle of life.

 

[dr.tucson]

I think a certain amount of that is marketing. Good chance it was an outfitter creating ambiance for his clientele. First you had bikes with balloon tires, then ten speeds with skinny tires, then mountain bikes, then cross bikes, now 29er's. Gotta have something exotic or
different to stand out. Nostalgia is also a big factor. There are tradeoffs to almost everything.

 

[Jon R]

It means that a majority of Americans (and Developed Nations) has lost connection with the land and the cycle of life.

It’s only a matter if time before REI is marketing a “wilderness boom-box.”

 

[Occidental]

These tents seem to be on about every flat surface in our area of Idaho, starting in late September through most of November. You don't need to tow them, people leave them in place for weeks (months?) at a time, they have their own wood stove (with lots of wood to cut and stack nearby). I rarely see anyone actually parked at or staying at one. They seem to be a placeholder.