How often would you go camping if you could?

[AustinBoston]

Anyone that says that these price increases will not effect their camping budget is either independently wealthy (which we aren't), financially irresponsible or they are kidding themselves.

There is a third option:  Some of us are cutting out other fun stuff to be able to still go camping.

Austin

[sacrawf]

My absolute ideal would be every day, but not in the popup.  Instead I would like to be bicycle touring/camping cross country.

Since I don't have the time or money to do that now, I am quite happy with camping in the popup one long weekend per month, starting with Easter and camping through Thanksgiving, with a week-long trip in between.

[wavery]

There is a third option:  Some of us are cutting out other fun stuff to be able to still go camping.

Austin

The only other "Fun stuff" that we could cut out would be eating (and we don't eat out).

We purchased a home in 2006 (DUH!!) and had a 7-year plan to pay it off and retire (2013). That's pretty aggressive but we are still on track (although it would be nice if the property value wasn't declining at about the same rate that we are paying it off :p) and our budget is important to us.

If someone is a regular camper (like a lot of us), this price increase will have to effect that person in some way. To say that it will have no effect is not facing reality. It has to effect something unless that person can go to his employer and say, "Hey, they just doubled my camping fees and I need a $200 a month raise" and the employer agrees (I wanta work for that guy).

[catworker]

I would like try full timing it for a while to see if I get sick of camping.

It's not likely.  :U

[jpcjtrtj]

We went about 35 nights this year; and have a few more on the calendar.  That seems right.  A week at spring break, a week in the summer and a bunch of 2 and 3 night campouts between spring and fall.  The kids think that's too much, but getting away from work, email and the phone have been heavenly for me and the missus.

jps

[markwi]

We try to get out once a month, can not always reach that goal. We try to keep thing as cost efficient as we can and still enjoy ourselves. Wavery is right about cost. Everything is going up except our wages and that is the trend for now. Mark

[cjpoppin]

We're leaving tomorrow for 12 days.....Can't wait....

[hoppy]

In prior years, we used to camp one long weekend each month of the year, so about twelve times a year. Being that we live in GA, it was possible.
In my last place of employment, I would average a paid vacation day every three weeks and was not allowed to carry them over, so that was the determining factor for us.
This was a perfect amount of trips for us.

 Now-a-days, it's down to 4-5 long weekends a year.

[4Campers]

Every other weekend would be great, with a couple of week to ten day long trips in the summer. However, like many of us here, the budget is a factor. As much as I say that we still have to eat, so the groceries aren't a factor we do spend extra on things like firewood, bug spray, batteries, etc. Add the cost of the site and we spend close to $100 on a weekend trip. Fortunately we live in an area with many campsites close by, so gas is a small percentage of the camping budget. This year we have been out eight weekends and one eight day trip, between May to Sept. Much more this year than the past two, thankfully. One final trip planned Oct 23-25. If we lived in a warmer climate we would keep camping all year.

[Gunrunner]

Since I live in Southwest Missouri and I am surrounded by beautiful lakes with great corp's campgrounds I try to go every other weekend during the warmer months and a couple of cool weather times to boot.  I find the time spent at the campgrounds relaxing and talking with fellow campers to be very re-generative for my inner peace.