Hey guys,

What is everyones definition of rustic camping?

Does it have to do more with the location and what amenities it has or more with what you bring with you?

Get specific and give me your definition.

No electricity, and no roads leading right into the camp, and filtering water.

Tent, campfire,sleeping bag,maybe a camp chef, folding camp chair,fishing poles, guns, books.No toilet, running water or in the case of my in laws 30ft double pop out trailer,microwave,generator tv,radio and A/C. I would like to go more primitive though.

I agree with Inferno. No power, no roads, everything carried in on your back.

Motel 6

My idea of camping PERIOD, is:

What you can carry on your back & how far away from civilization you can take it.

No cell phones or DVD's, etc.  The only "electronics that would be acceptable is a GPS & maybe an FRS or other "EMERGENCY" radio.

Pathfinder

forgetting the Grey Poupon . . .

No electricity, amenities, structures or running water.

No phone, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury, like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be.

Walk in, no electronics, cook on a fire, the only electric stuff would be flashlights.  I just brought my camping circle back to this level and it nearly killed them; but they loved it.

To me, primitive means no toilets and filtering water.  Most of the camping I do is walk-in, but I could see how a drive-in trip could be considered primitive if you're way off the beaten path or completely off road.




I did the same thing with a bunch of people who had never been to a campsite without a post with a number and a parking space next to it.  They enjoyed it immensely.

I knew I hadn't made myself clear when I saw them pull out the luggage with wheels when we got to the trailhead.    It was funny hearing brbrbrbbrbrbrbr-thud-brbrbbrbrr of the little rollerskate wheels on the dirt trail when they'd hit a tree root.  We didn't go very far in, but it was good to stretch the limits of their comfort zone by taking away the ability to sleep in the car if it got too cold/wet/whatever.  Above all, they had fun.  

Kind of redundant, IMO.  

Main Entry: 1rus·tic  
Pronunciation: \ˈrəs-tik\
Variant(s): also rus·ti·cal  \-ti-kəl\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English rustik, from Latin rusticus, from rus open land — more at room
Date: 15th century
1: of, relating to, or suitable for the country : rural <rustic rolling farmland>
2 a: made of the rough limbs of trees <rustic furniture> b: finished by rusticating <a rustic joint in masonry>
3 a: characteristic of or resembling country people b: lacking in social graces or polish
4: appropriate to the country (as in plainness or sturdiness) <heavy rustic boots>
— rus·ti·cal·ly  \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb
— rus·tic·i·ty  \ˌrəs-ˈti-sə-tē\ noun

Main Entry: 2camp
Function: verb
Date: 1543
intransitive verb
1: to make camp or occupy a camp
2: to live temporarily in a camp or outdoors —often used with out
3: to take up one's quarters : lodge
4: to take up one's position : settle down —often used with out<camp out in the library for the afternoon>
transitive verb
: to put into a camp ; also : accommodate

Camping in the country.  Where else would one camp?  In the city?  In the suburbs?

You know, it's kinda interesting...

But my basic camping gear doesn't change if I'm hiking in or if I'm car camping. I'm still using my tarp, hammock, and a variation on insulation dependent on the weather. In other words, my hiking gear is my car camping gear... it's just that damn comfortable.

When I'm in the woods, I really don't feel the need for a lot of "stuff"... in fact, I find that the more "stuff" I've got to keep track of, the less I enjoy it... after you're packing in a few tacticool wheelbarrows full of odds and ends, keeping track of everything... packing, unpacking, dealing with the mess, seems less like a vacation and more like a job.

If I'm car camping in grand style, I might bring along a little folding grill and a cooler of food and another of beverages... but that really is my limit. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that DLG-83 can cook up a mean hamburger and camp chicken wings, I don't think we'd bother with that either...

From a survival standpoint, I'd say that if you require 100lb of shit to feel comfortable "car camping", you need to seriously re-evaluate your communal time with mother nature. Your hiking gear should provide enough comfort, security, and protection to serve just as well hiking as it does car camping.

But then, they call my crazy...

The further from civilization, the better, whether you're carrying your stuff on your back or camping out of the back of the truck.

If the rangers say "it's too hard (or too dangerous, or too much of a PITA) to get there", it's probably a good spot.

To the mrs., it's anything more than 100 yards from a port-a-potty... but I'm working on it (and making progress).

Every time someone covers a public grill with aluminum foil to cook burgers, the terrorists win.

Everyone has their own ideas of what rustic is. Just like everyone has their own idea of what kind of camping they like. I have never been a fan of backpack type camping. Too much work. Don't like really crowded places either. A place where there are some like minded folks and some relative quiet is all I want.

In my older years I've come to REALLY appreciate a folding camp chair, campfire grill and a couple cast aluminium pots which are all too big/heavy to backpack.  Pickup camping can be good too if you get faaaaaaaaaaar away and it affords ice which is a tremendous luxury while camping.

I don't camp much anymore, but I keep some gear in case I need a cheap place to crash.

My inlaws took the kids camping last year, I asked where......they didn't even leave town, 3 miles from home. Whats the point?

They said it costs 2 dollars to use the shower.  The gas would cost less just to drive home.

A 3000 dollar pop-up that never left town, I don't get it.

I live in northern Michigan, It's less than 20 miles to get to literally 10 or 20 campgrounds with an outhouse/hand pump, no blacktop and FAR less people.  There has to be nearly a thousand campgrounds up here plus a million acres of state/national forest.

You crap in dirt.

At the risk of sounding like a total fanboy loony, this is one of the reasons why I love... love! the hammock...

With the hammock, the need for a folding camp chair is virtually obliterated. Hell, staying awake in the hammock can be an extreme challenge... usually, more than a few minutes in that stupid thing and I'm out like a light.

Now, I'll give you... if you're doing a lot of cooking, having a frypan is great, and cast iron cookware is perfect for camping. That definitely falls under the "luxury of car camping" category... but even so, if I've got food that needs to be cooked like that (eggs, bacon, sausage, beef, more bacon...), I'll have a cooler and a frypan.

Dammit, now I want some bacon...

Going up river by boat for 3-4 days at a time.
Pack light. Carry mostly extra gas and props.
If motor breaks it can take days to get down to where traffic is more regular.
Most of the food is easy fix over campfire.
Shit in dirt as someone else said.

Analog portable TV instead of Digital and only using the internet on your phone and not your laptop so you are stuck with AR-15 Mobile

I have camped in places by truck that took me an hours worth of driving in 1st or 2nd....  some 4wd in the fall that seemed pretty rustic.

dead cell phone battery.............lol

no shitter

I love camping. All camping. I love camping in the infield at Talladega. I love humping to the top of The Priest in Va. The only difference is that if I've got my Jeep, then I will bring a cooler and an air mattress. It's all fun as hell.

And the 40 acres of woods it sits in.  If I wanted to sleep on the ground, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place.

Very nice David.....

Here are some real rustic camping pics.  My best friend from HS bought 100 acres out in the middle of no where in west georgia and had a small "shack" and outhouse built. He has limited funds so he could not spend much on cabins, etc..   His wife has never even been out there.  We go out there all the time to shoot guns and scout around or relax during the day and party at night.  And we hunt in there in the fall.  We have several ladder stands around on the property.  The only improvement he made was have a man clear a road around the perimeter of the place, thats it and built this shit hole shack we camp in.  While we have some comforts of home, its pretty damn rough, not backpacking, but still something you definitely dont want to take your GF or wife out to visit.  

The shack - basically just somewhere to get out of the rain - thats about it - has a wood burning stove in it we got out of a junk heap.  siding is pine slabs from a local mill.  Its not even worthy of being called a cabin.



my best friend - he owns the land




another view of the front "porch" - we got a 55 gal drum off of craigs list and use that to contain our fires - when its time to cook we throw a heavy steel grate on top



the shitter



steaks cooking over the barrel - yum!!



sleeping bags on the cots


my friend works part time at a pawn shop and gets all kinds of cool shit - he picked up a projector that we set up at night and watch movies on an sheet stretched between 2 trees - we hook up the sound surround too - its pretty cool



show time!!!




time for some crown and a movie!!

^^^ That ain't campin'... that's just a sweet ass shack in the woods away from the women folk!



I agree wholeheartedly.  Most of my camping has been bouncing around the middle of the desert from hot spring to hot spring.

-HAZE

/\ awsome man cave...

rustic camping is when you have to go to a ranger station and watch a video about how to not get eaten... and then tell them about where your gonna be incase you dont come...

i dont consider anything with power, floors, windows, roofs, with in 100 ft of a road,car, pavement,mailbox, 5 miles to a store .rustic. or camping

In my view you need one of these to get there:



You need one of these to find where "there" is or at least help you get home from "there".



So that you can enjoy views like these w/o a tourist bus pulling up:

My version of the rest of it:  "No Giligan, no Skipper too, no millionaire or his wife, Yes The Movie Star, no professor, Yes Mary Ann, with Me on Gilligans Isle!"

So I guess rustic camping would be marooned without Mary Ann and Ginger.

Rustic to me (seriously) is not taking a tent - building or using natural shelter, of course no TV and cooking over the open fire if possible.  If not, using a camp stove or just trioxane tabs and the canteen cup.  It could also include foraging for your food.  In my misspent youth, I would take food in on weekend jaunts but try not to use it.  At various times, ate some fish we caught, ate grape leaves in the spring and summer, grapes, when we could find them,  acorns, apples, dandlions, cattails, squirrels we shot in winter, rabbit we snared once,  and at a robin once - it tasted like worms.   Ate crawdads, cooked and ate some white grubs once too.  Not too tasty and didn't get sick.  Just kinda disgusted - wasn't hungry 'enough' yet.

Building a simple lean to or a more sturdy log/sod/earth shelter can be an experience.  Can't do that in many state or federal areas because you can't dig or chop trees down around here.  I would carry basics - you can use candle lanterns to read by since they are light.  If you car camp, you can still call it rustic if you don't use power devices once you get there - pioneers were getting there in wagons many times so just consider your car your wagon but don't rely on it for power.  

Build your fire out of materials there - not charcoal or brought in split wood.  That can be a tough thing when its wet - then you develop skills in finding dry kindling and wood or you focus on eating things that don't require cooking.  That is also why you should always plan for rain in your gear and food items.            

Yes!  That is a man cave, dude.

I wouldn't knock it - many of us have fantasized about building just such a place.  Good job.  

You had me going until the Channel Locks to flip the steaks.... thats not rustic!  Use a forked branch!  

In my younger days it was anywhere it took more than two hours to hike to,

now its if the site don't have cable hook up and wifi

Drive back in a woods and set up camp.

-Woods
-Fire
-Tent

No:
-Pavement
-Power
-Running water

We usually drive our trucks back to wherever we are going, but don't do a whole lot with them.

    Nice camp!   Are you sure you meant to say 100' from a road?  Hell do you camp in NJ.


         Rustic camping is many things to many people but comfortable is one thing it ain't. As a young kid i slept many a hard drunk off wherever i pulled over, in the back of my pickup. I learned pretty quick that although shorts were cool during the daytime, they can lessen the chance of a decent nights sleep after the dew falls.


             Anytime i get the chance to camp anymore is pretty rustic to me.

No more facilities then a table and a firepit... ( and those are very optional)



Dig your own crapper



Filter your water from a river



Throw a tent or a Improvised shelter.



And usually in places you can't get a vehicle too.....