When Are You Too Old For Camping?
If we can still open a can of beans and hold them over the campfire with the old two stick method then we are not too old for camping. I suppose to answer the question, when are you too old to go camping could be more correctly answered if it was known what kind of camping is being referred too. There is camping and then there is roughing it.
Are you too old for camping?
Image by andrewmalone via Flickr
If a person’s idea of camping is going out into the woods with a backpack and a sleeping bag and their roll of toilet paper then maybe there is an age limit on camping, or at least a physical requirement to go camping. If a person’s idea of camping is setting up a tent complete with cots and mattresses and a cooler of food and drinks with toilet and shower facilities within sight then any physically able body person can participate, grandma included. If a person’s idea of camping is to rent a furnished cabin then anyone can take part. If a person’s idea of camping is to load half the house into a motor home with all the comforts of home, pull your little house into a campground and hook up to facilities then age is only important when the person can’t drive anymore.
I went tent camping with a ninety-six year old great-grandmother in a group one time. We were so concerned about her comfort, we were trying to constantly give her a place to sit, apologized that there was no cabin and then we proceeded to watch this little lady cook us a full dinner over a campfire. Seems that when she was growing up, her family members were migrant workers and the camp was a normal way of life for her. We held our heads in shame to think we had been complaining about our blow up mattresses not being firm enough and great-granny lay down in the tent on a blanket and went sound to sleep. Not only that but she was up before any of us and had breakfast ready. Then she took the rest of the day off and went fishing.
I don’t think age is the deciding factor on when someone shouldn’t or can’t go camping anymore. My mom loved to camp but when she was seventy-eight she had a debilitating stroke and since most campgrounds don’t have readily available facilities, she had to cut her camping activities. We found a way with a RV to still allow her to go camping until she finally was no longer able to walk and was too weak to feel good about going.
My camping trips became very limited when my knees became so bad that I couldn’t squat so well anymore. I could no longer squat to light a campfire but would still bend over and do most tasks. I found it very difficult to get down on my knees to get into a sleeping bag and began to use a cot. I could still hike and do almost all the normal camping activities but was limited by the pain in my knees to continue my old ways. I haven’t been what I call real on the ground camping in many years, but I still have to get out there in the wilds every once in a while even if it is from an RV. I guess when we get too old to run from a skunk or too weak to battle a raccoon for the hotdogs on the table then it might be the time to change the method of camping. Though I’ve known people in their eighties that still do the rough camping, going into the mountains for a week at a time, all alone with a backpack and a camera, I just can’t do that anymore.
Who said that you’re too old for camping?
And who makes up the rules as to what is ‘real camping’? I think if we have a campfire, even if it is beside an RV then that has got to be at least a representation of camping. If we have a campfire on our own property, cook vittles and roast marshmallows then that can constitute camping …even if we go back inside around two in the morning to a nice soft bed. It’s a hard thing to recognize that we can’t do things the way we once did, but that’s life. We all get older. Some of us get physically older faster than others but where there is a will to continue the activities to which we have become accustomed, we humans have devised ways of hanging on as long as possible.
If we can’t rough camp anymore, maybe we can tent camp. If we can’t tent camp anymore, maybe we can use an RV. If we can’t use parks anymore due to physical limitations maybe we can cabin camp. If we can’t cabin camp any longer and have to stay near home, if we are physically able we can get out in the backyard, build a campfire and roast hotdogs. We can still enjoy some of the great things about camping.
Camping is the sharing back and forth, the laughter, the jokes played on each other and the stories told around the campfires. And for the musically inclined, it is fun to remember the songs sung in rounds. What camper doesn’t remember ‘Row, row, row your boat’ or some other ditty? The joy of camping has as much to do with who we shared time with as it does with the place and type of location where we camped. Some people have physical ailments that limit the kind of camping they can do but if a person loves the outdoors, loves that campfire and looking into a star filled sky without city lights taking away the twinkle then they can and do find ways to camp at any age. So, are you too old for camping – Never.
February 11th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
I like the fact that there are many definitions for camping. I have a fireplace in my backyard that I use instead of a gas grill. Right now I do not consider cooking over the fireplace and then sitting around conversing with a few beers afterwards as camping. But in about 20 years I may. I appreciate the ability to be able to change the definition of camping as my abilities start to decrease