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Which is the better camping experience? RV or Tent-Camping? This ongoing debate could be easily resolved if the discussion was based on the practice and not the shelter.

Camping is camping. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines camping as "to make camp or occupy a camp" The second definition say that it is "to live temporarily in a camp or outdoors"

Neither usage defines the shelter. Summer camps have cabins. Is that camping? The debate over what is better is the same as "what came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Purists believe that unless you are backpacking, you cannot truly enjoy the camping experience. Roughing it is the only way to camp, fighting off bugs and other larger vermin. Food sources carried with you and flint for fire. Ok, the flint might be a stretch but camping on the trail is a great adventure. Setting up camp next to a source of water and being absolutely alone is a rare event to be cherished.

The tents in the campground are everywhere. There are children playing and adults sitting around the fire telling lies, um, I mean stories. As the fire dies down, the families drift off to their tents and the campground becomes a place of glowing mounds. There is the murmur of lowered voices. One by one, the glows fade away and it is quiet.

The families camping in RV's, tell the same stories and the children play the same games. As the fire dies down, the families enter their RV's. They pull down the shades and one by one, the lights go out.

Why would anyone who is a tent camper give up the tent camping experience? You only need to picture trying to put up a tent while it is sleeting. A truck with a cab-over camper pulls in and backs into their spot. They get out of the truck and climb into the camper. Twenty minutes later, they climb back out with cups of steaming, hot coffee. For those who have tent camped in the rain in Yellowstone or had it rain in their tent at Glacier Point, it might be a defining moment. It is easy to slip into a RV. It starts with a camper and progress to a trailer or a motorhome. The camping experience is the same. Meals are still cooked outside and tables are set with the same tablecloth. After a busy day of hiking, biking or seeing the sights, everyone comes back to camp to relax and share adventures.

RV's and tents are just shelters. The reasons for camping are the same. It is the draw of the outdoors. It is the lure of the lake or the magnificent forest. It is the waves crashing on the beach or the beauty of the desert at sunset. The choice of shelter does not change the camping experience.

What provides for the better camping experience? The RV wins. I camp in a 1959 trailer. It is essentially a hard-sided tent. After more than twenty years of tent camping, a mattress that is higher than floor level is a wonderful thing. And, if it is sleeting, I can go inside and make a steaming cup of hot coffee.

Learn more about this author, Ann Hinds.
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