Car Camping & Its Popularity Over The Years

Is car camping popular or is it dying?

Where will the car camping community be in 10 years from now?

I’ve been an avid car camper for as long as I can remember. My father introduced me to it when I was a kid and now I carry that tradition on with my own family.

For my family and I, we will continue to do it for as long as possible. But what about other families?

That’s what I’ll be discussing today.

I’ll be looking into the history of car camping, how common it is today and what the future holds for all car campers.

First and Foremost, What is Car Camping?

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For the most part, it is when you DRIVE to your campsite and sleep outside of your car in a tent, rather than walking to your place of refuge.

Other times it is also called car camping when you sleep in a camper.

Often times people think car camping is literally when you drive to a campsite, park your car and sleep IN it.

Sleeping in your car can be just as fun if you properly build your setup properly, not just put the seats down, throw some blankets and pillows in and then call it a day.

The weight is not an issue, so when you’re shopping around for outdoor equipment specifically for car camping you can get whatever you want as long as you like it.

Pros and Cons of Car Camping

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Pros

• Weight is not an issue
• Can pack bigger and better items
• You have a backup shelter in case your tent leaks/blows over in a storm
• The boot can be used for storing items away from wildlife

Cons

• Petrol costs
• Accommodation costs if you’re in a public site

So Why is it Called Car Camping When You Don’t Actually Sleep in Your Car?

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Well, it’s because you pack everything you need in the car, drive to your location and sleep outside of it.

People don’t usually sleep in their car when they go car camping (it’s not common anyway), they would rather place a bed, lamp, TV, and other things in a van because there is much more room.

And then it turns into van camping, so it’s totally different to what I’m talking about here.

Basically, there is no hiking or backpacking involved.

Car camping is for the “lazy outdoorsman”, to put it simply – the outdoorsman that wants to enjoy the outdoors without walking too far with a huge backpack on his back and having to worry about every single item he’s taking.

The History of Camping

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Well rather than talking about it here, I found a comprehensive article from Reserve America.

I have read it numerous times and enjoyed learning how it has all changed throughout history.

The Popularity Over the Years

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We can see just from doing a quick Google Trends search that the popularity of car camping is sitting steady.

While it may not look like it because it tends to go up and down during the four different seasons, that line still continues on year after year and shows no signs of decreasing in popularity anytime soon.

In fact, the last few months have seemed to spike higher than the years before.

There can be a number of different reasons for this to happen.

It may be happening this year only, or it’s gaining popularity for the upcoming years, especially with the increase in social media and the talk of camping to friends and family members from fellow camp goers.

It can be influencing other people and making them go on their own camping trip so they can share their experiences also.

However, one thing’s for sure, we will see if it continues to rise over the next few years or if it dies down slowly, which I highly doubt.

I will be updating this article frequently to see how the car camping community performs in the future.

The Current State

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As I stated above, the ever-increasing use of social media platforms such as: Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, etc. means more exposure to every niche imaginable.

And of course social media platforms haven’t reached their peak yet either. These are only going to get even bigger, better, and more popular.

But at this point in time, the camping community is massive and social media plays a HUGE part in this.

Why?

When campers share their experiences online, it makes others want to go as well, which they do and then they share their own pictures, stories and what not.

It’s like a snowball effect.

What Does the Future Look Like for all Car Campers?

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With technology on the ever-expanding rise, it’s only going to get even more popular and fun.

There will be cool new gadgets, apps, and technology that’s going to REVOLUTIONIZE not just the outdoor world, but everything we do on a daily basis.

That’s right my good friends.

We will start to see tents that have bigger and better features, sleeping bags so lightweight they’ll almost feel like a feather, and apps that we can use and benefit from mores so than we already do.

Technology is taking over, there’s no two ways about it.

We can either gloat on that fact or move forward as a species and use everything at our disposal to live life to the fullest, with NO regrets.

This means going on car camping trips more frequently, getting your friends and family along to join, trying new things while you are in the outdoors and not doing the same thing every time, and of course camping in different seasons instead of the one.

Final Words

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Car camping (or just camping in general) is massively popular in this day and age.

If we continue this tradition more than just once a year and actually get our children involved we can all grow stronger, TOGETHER.

We can continue to grow the popularity of camping and get others involved so they can reap the benefits of being in the wilderness as well.

Before you go, please share this post with your friends and family!

This was a really fun article to write and I’m happy to answer all questions you have 😀 Just leave a comment below!

-Brandon