Your Favorite Place To Camp And Why

[NightOwl]

Hey everyone--camping season is upon us and we can all use  inspiring ideas about places  where our PUT friends have camped and why they liked them.

Heck, if you have more than one place, feel free to tell us.  NO ONE is counting the words in your "essay" so feel free to provide all the details you want about the place and the experience.

My favorite camping spot  is a National Monument in extreme desert southwest Utah (the 4 Corners) called Hovenweep.  I've camped there 4 times and it is magical.  It gets hideously hot in summer during the day so you have to do your  hiking in early morning.  It is a place to see petroglyphs and Anasazi ruins and  dusty little pygmy rattlers (so be careful of your kids)  It's kind of primative--you have to dry-camp as there are no hookups although there is water and flush toilets and a ranger station nearby.  

In the morning the sage smells  sweeter and rarer than any manmade perfume and when the jackrabbits see you, they stand still as statues and you can see the sun shining through theri ears.  At the bottom of the canyon is a small cluster of cottonwoods which grow at the site of a small, ancient spring.  And your admiration and wonder at the people who lived there is overwhelming.

And at night, the cool desert wind comes up and the sky is so clear you can count every star.  I want to go back!


OK--I hope some of the rest of you will share now :# :W

[B-flat]

Jordan Lake SRA, Crosswinds B-loop is one of my favorite places.  I really like Myrtle Beach Travel Park because it has a bit of everything for all ages and years ago it was where I introduced my children to tent camping.  I also have to say that I love camping at bluegrass festivals and that ranks #1 on my list at any of the campgrounds where the festivals are going on,with some on private property, too.  Happy Holiday Campground at Cherokee is a favorite in the mountains.  The Denton Farm Park near Lexington, NC is another favorite palce to camp during a bluegrass festival.  Bass Mountain music park is another.

[Kelly]

Great idea, NightOwl!  I don't really have a favorite place that I return to time and again.   I can't complain about any of the places I've camped at ~ perhaps I haven't been at it long enough?!  

I really enjoyed my time at Whitewater Memorial Park near Liberty Indiana, Lake Murray State Park in Oklahoma and Bluff Valley Campground in southern Minnesota.  All places where I got to camp with fellow PUTers and enjoy their company round a real campfire!!

Hope there are many more camping trips like that in my future.

[bearbait]

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[tahoecampers]

One of our favorite places to camp close to home is Sugar Pine SP, near Lake Tahoe. As with most Calif. St Parks, it is basically dry camping, there is water and wonderful hot showers (nice after a day long bike ride on the bike trail, or a hike on the Rubican Trail to Emerald Bay and back). You can't beat the scenery, and listening to the coyotes howl at night is awsome. As far as camping far from home, I love to go down to Baja, Mexico.There are campgrounds for everyone, we have camped in parks with full hookups and every imaginable convienence and we have camped in places that are very primitive. Scammons Lagoon comes to mind, during the winter, the whales come down to give birth and both mothers and babies are very friendly. You can go out with the locals on pangas and will often get close enough to pet the whales.
But like everyone will say, camping anywhere is better than not camping at all!!!

[Camping Coxes]

One of our favorite places to camp close to home is Sugar Pine SP, near Lake Tahoe. As with most Calif. St Parks, it is basically dry camping, there is water and wonderful hot showers (nice after a day long bike ride on the bike trail, or a hike on the Rubican Trail to Emerald Bay and back). You can't beat the scenery, and listening to the coyotes howl at night is awsome.

I second that emotion, although it's not close to home for us!  It was last year's vacation and was so wonderful, it was a unanimous decision to go back this year.
 
We love going to William Heise County Park in Julian, CA.  It's wonderful there.  Another favorite place is Woods Valley Kampground in Valley Center, CA.  It's one of those places like "Cheers" for us, "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name," and where you know the sites are level, the neighbors are well behaved and the showers are clean.

[birol]

Oh, my Favorite place to camp would be, just to be camping , anywhere   Under the trees Talk about being not picky

[wiininkwe]

My most favorite place to camp is, of course, our own piece of heaven in Northern Lower MI.  There is nothing special there, just woods, and we've never done much to improve the place, beyond a two track 'lane' that runs to the back of the property and does a figure 8 then comes back to the front.  There are two fairly level and cleared spots that we can set up camp, there is an outhouse, and that's it.  We bring in our own water, and use our battery or generator if we need power (which we don't need often).  
 
My next favorite place has to be in Lake Superior Provincial Park.   I love the campground that's closest to Agawa Cliff, (Pancake Bay?)  Lake Superior is just that, Superior, and awesome (and cold) and the cliff is a place that I go for renewal and rejuvenation of spirit.   Making prayers and ceremonies at the top of the cliff helps me to ground myself for the coming year.
 
T

[vjm1639]

Wow...uhhh...I think my favorite is the place that Bearbait goes!  That sounds like a bit of heaven!!
 
...actually, our favorite is anywhere quiet...wooded...and if it has decent fishing that makes it even better!  I don't normally go for the KOA types or the majority of Private Campgrounds. WE normally don't want all the ammenities. Camping to me is peace and quiet and the outdoors.  There have been times in even our favorite campgrounds that a rowdy group can spoil it.  Around here our favorite times have been at Prince William Forest Park or Mathews Arm and Big Meadows in the Shenandoah Mountains.  Goose Point (Corps of Engineers Campground) in Virginia  has to be one of my all time favorites (thanks Cliff!).
 
DH was a member of Thousand Trails for years before I met him and there are actually two of their campgrounds that we go to every now and then that are nice. If we need to do a resort type... Chesapeake Bay is not bad for a "resort type" of campground.  You have the lake, the river, and pools...plus about anything else you can think of.  There is one side of the park that you feel like you are in the middle of everything...it seems to be where the families are.  We usually choose the other side of the park that is further from the amenities and quieter.  It's a good base camp for us for visiting Williamsburg, Bush Gardens, and that area. It's also a terrific place for those special Halloween (and other holiday) camping trips where you want to be around all the people.  We also enjoy the Thousand Trails in Lynchburg occasionally. It's much quieter there and close to the mountains!
 
As in most things in life...what's a dream place to some, is a nightmare to others!  LOL

[Papaso]

Where to start, since camping is my true passion every place I've set up a tent or my PU has been my favorite place for that moment. I've been very fortunate to have been able to camp at many wonderful places across our beautiful country and around the world.The most unique place I've camped is along the Amazon river and the Rio Negro outside Manaus, Brazil. Fishing the Amazon is an experience in itself and camping along side of the many creatures is also facinating, birds,reptiles, monkeys, big cats it's like camping in a Zoo. For now my favorite camping place is Long Key State Park it's about an hour and fifteen minutes from my home. It's where I enjoy hanging out in my bathing suit, sipping my favorite drink,swimming,snorkeling,fishing,cooking sausages over the campfire watching the sunrise,sunset and stargazing right from my very own piece of beach overlooking the Atlantic. Yup, I do love Long Key and every other place I've ever camped.

[NightOwl]

these answers make me want to pack up and get on the road!  Papaso, I've looked at the pics on your website--I mean, not just now, but way back--and it looks like you and your DW have a WONDERFUL TIME!!  Good for you; clearly you know what is truly important in life

Just a note for people who might be holding back:  although names and places are nice, I am asking this--not for specifics of   ideas  where to go--but for atmosphere, for the FEELING a place has given you that touches you deeply for some reason.  

So if you have a favorite place but dont want it over run with campers who saw your remarks here, just tell about its place in your heart  like some folks  have done in their replies.  Feel free to add your thoughts here--even to post twice or 3 times as places occur to you.

More than anything, camping seems to mean freedom from everyday cares to most of us, and a chance to get back in touch with our souls.

So, go ahead--tell us where your soul finds rest and  refreshment. :p

[David Roder]

Any remote location around lake powell where you have to dry camp and you are the only ones out there.  The place is full of history and late at night, when the only thing you can hear is the water slapping the shore, if you listen real hard, sometimes you know you're not the only ones there...that is if you believe in that kinda stuff.  It is truly powerful to know and feel how powerless you are when you are without electricity, running water, and the only thing that keeps you sane out there is that you have been put in your place and you fully respect that.  

Not getting wierd over here, I just love being in places like that because I found out when I was young that are experiences and places far more spiritual than church.

[garym053]

Hermit Island Campground,Small Point, ME
Falling asleep listening to the waves crashing against the rocks or on the beach. Strolling out to the cliffs to watch the sunset over Casco Bay. Lobster and Steamers cooked over the campfire. Waking up to see deer within feet of your camper in the dawns early light, Hearing the sounds of children's laughter as then run into the water and back out again.
Where's the phone I gotta make some reservations!

[tlhdoc]

We live near a small, state park with only 59 campsites.  It is less than 30 minutes from home and we enjoy it there.  There is a stream and a lake, deer, bear, etc.  Just a nice quiet park.


We also love going to Assateague Island National Seashore.  The wind, ocean, beach, wild horses, bay, collecting shell fish...

The other place we keep going back to is Acadia National Park.  The ocean, carriage roads, eating popovers on the lawn at Jordan Pond House, whale watching, BLACKWOODS (the woods really are black at night) campground, puffins, whales, sun rise at the top of Mt. Cadillac...

[debbiedee1957]

My favorite campground that offered solice to all that camped there is Sand Flat.  It is a National Forest (minimal ammenities) campground in Northern CA, sierras, along Highway 50 on the American River.