Camping
I hate pictures like this which make camping look like something dreamy and fantastic. It’s not. There is nothing dreamy and fantastic about camping. There is no one beautifully frolicking around in their bathing suit. You’ll soon find out swimming in the river is actually what gave you poison oak. Tents are not water proof. The ground is not comfortable. No one knows anything about fire or fire building anymore. The bristles of your toothbrush will become a motel for bugs to mate in. Nothing stays clean. Pictures of camping should look shitty. People who want to camp don’t want dreamy and fantastic; they want an experience so far removed from civilization that only bathing in mud can give.
Opinions are simply opinions, but to make a statement against all who “want to camp” begs a reply. Furthermore, you are crossing the line from remarking your opinion to thinking you are stating objective truths.
Towit, I respectfully disagree to the utmost! Camping is magical and fantastic. It is an experience laden with the amazing. If you go in the warmer months then people can absolutely be frolicking about in their bathing suits, or perhaps even naked. There is nothing more refreshing than cool mountain water over your skin after a strenuous day of hiking in the heat. What gave you poison oak was poison oak, because you did not know what to avoid. Firebuilding is an essential and fun practice that is usually a sought after task when setting up camp. I could teach you in 10 minutes an effective way to build a fire, it’s very easy. Being clean is a subjective thing, but I enjoy a shower a day and i find no difficulty staying ‘clean’ and keeping my gear the same.
People who go primitive camping (tent, backpack/hike in, no one else around, self-sustained) go because they are reconnecting with something that has been lost in our modern world. They go because they have a sense of wonder and childlike imagination, and nature is best observed through those lenses. Bathing in mud is dirty, not clean, but being baptized in a meandering creek miles from any human on a hot summer day surrounded by mountain laurels is an experience that gives an intimation of the sublime.
