I have never been camping. I never want to go camping. I enjoy vacations involving fluffy beds, shopping, delicious restaurants, and preferably a beach of some sort. There is little about a tent, mosquitoes, extreme heat (or cold) and RVs that interest me. Is my camping aversion a racial thing? I want to say no, but… it's certainly not a long shot to suggest such a thing.
Ask the folks at the National African-American RVers Association. The small group of black (with some Hispanic and a few white) campers is trying to introduce the joys of camping to non-whites. It's an uphill battle. The organization has little money to advertise or recruit new members. But participants have a lot of theories about why black people are less likely to enjoy camping.
• "They felt like a black person out by yourself just wasn't personally safe," Lemuel Horton, Southern regional director for the black campers' group, told the AP. "But traveling all over the United States and Canada since the 1970s, I've had no problem."
• "My thought is that they just have not been exposed to it," said Linda Profaizer, president of the National Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds.
• "In the early years we didn't have the resources to camp. We didn't have the time off to camp," said Rev. John Womack, the group's president. "And for many people, life itself was camping. Our homes were like tents. We weren't anxious to run from one set of woods to the next."
As for the reasons you should camp, well, it's good clean fun for the kids and a good opportunity for family bonding, they say. And a good reason to camp with the National African-American RVers Association instead of some other group? Better music.
"When we go to the (white) rallies we hear a lot of country and western," said Gladys Curtis, president of a black camping group from Texas. "We've had a Motown review, big band, blues. Not a lot of country." [AP]
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My boyfriend is taking me on an overnight camping trip in two weeks in the Adirondacks. I'm mildly terrified of spending the night the great outdoors, so y'all just wish my good luck and Godspeed. This city girl is so not ready, lol!
I will be more than happy to go camping. In a RV. A million dollar RV. A million dollar RV with a toilet that flushes. With cable. and a plasma.
Thats it.
hmmm, let's see, could it be bears, snakes, bugs, no running water, poison ivy, getting lost, the movie deliverance - LOL
just like you won't see a lot of black shark bite victims
I've been camping before. I enjoyed it both times. Well, the second time not as much, but that's because it was FREEZING cold, and I didn't have the proper gear. But camping is fun!
My husband (from California) and I (from New York) are backpacking (not camping) fanatics. What's the difference? When you backpack you carry all your crap on your back, you sleep/eat/poo in the wilderness and you rarely run into anyone for days at a time (you avoid the rednecks at the campsites drinking beer, taking target practice, etc that way). We've run into our fair share of bears in Glacier National Park in Montana and in the Sierras in California, as well as snakes, lots of deer, foxes, elk, and coyotes. But it's so worth it. We've seen the most beautiful places imaginable and experienced a kind of quiet and peace you can't find anywhere else. BTW, I'm a complete germaphobe so I go armed with babywipes, Purell, biodegradable soap, and we choose campsites next to water for swimming before dinner (gets rid of the hiking all day funk). I highly recommend it.
JasmineL:We’ve run into our fair share of bears in Glacier National Park in Montana and in the Sierras in California, as well as snakes, lots of deer, foxes, elk, and coyotes. But it’s so worth it.
Ummm, death!? Nothing is worth that.
JamineL - sounds like fun! I like the backpacking idea. The peace and quiet does make it worth it, I know.
*M* LOL
But I'm still here..so no death
The thing about running into all of these ani
mals is that NONE of them want anything to do with you! They run away unless you've surprised them and they have no escape route. The bears want your food and as long as you make it difficult for them they move on.
JackJohnson: I hope you try it. I was scared the first time, and it wasn't easy, but I look forward to these trips so much now. We've hiked in Canada, Washington State, California, Montana, Colorado, Maine, Virginia and West Virginia (the surrounding towns are scary "GUNS GUNS GUNS", but the people on the trail are cool).
My dad is a big camper and took my sis and i camping ton's when we were young and even now that we're adults. I love camping, but i know many of my black friends who have never been and have no interest at all. I'm kind of an outdoorsy person anyway. Born and raised in California. My family has camped from Joshua Tree Desert to Yosemite and everything in between. I think it's mostly that we havent been exposed to it.
I love love love camping and backpacking. I believe we lose a lot of ourselves in our lives where we move from one building to another, one box to another. We go from our apartments to our offices to a gym! A gym! To run on a treadmill that doesn't take you anywhere!
When I am outdoors, I move with the natural rhythms of the earth. Going to sleep and waking with the sun is one of the most beautiful things ever. When I am away from artificial light for extended periods of time, and in the night time look to the moon for light, my menstrual cycle syncs up to the cycles of the moon.
We are a PART of nature. When we forget that, and live our digitized, artificial lives for long periods, an indescribable sadness takes over.
I highly recommend to any of you - give camping a chance!
I went camping once with a youth group I was in as a teenager (I was the only black person). I never thought too much about whether I would like it or not, I just went because it sounded like it'd be great fun. It actually was. I'd definitely do it again except I'd go to a more interesting location like Vancouver where I hear it provides for beautiful scenery because it's a very outdoors oriented place.
As Mammoth said, we are a part of nature. There was a time when all we had was nature and all we could do was bask in its beauty and give thanks unto God for his wondrous creation. I think sometimes we need to go back to that place. Back to the basics of life.
RVing yes, camping no. My dislike of the idea of camping is more a woman thing than a Black thing. I just don't like the idea of being somewhere that I can't take a shower, have to use the restroom out doors and there is no where to wash my hands. Yuk!
My dad used to rent RV's when I was a kid. It was alot of fun. We drove up the Pacific Coast Hwy from L.A. to San Francisco. I was only about 8 or 9 but I remember how beautiful and relaxing it was.
Oh man, camping is really fun. I do it here, in Hawaii, often. There is nothing like setting up a tent on the beach, bbq-ing and drinking beer all day, swimming in the ocean when you need to cool down, playing games and talking with friends. At night, we set-up a fire, more drinking, and have a great time. My favorite part is getting up at 2am and sitting on the beach listening to the waves and watching a million stars.
Think out of the box, camping doesn't just mean woods and bears!
MyOpinionCountsToo: That's sounds amazing.
The closest I've come to that is kayaking in the San Juan Islands off Washington State. We kayaked to an island, had a huge meal with lots of wine and crawled into our sleeping bags. I woke up in the middle of the night because we'd left the rain fly off the tent and the stars were so brilliant. Because the island had no bears, I decided to go for a walk by myself (I didn't need a headlamp because of those stars). I'm so glad I did that. I hate to sound all crunchy granola but for the first time I didn't feel like I was a being separate from ocean, the sky, and the trees around me. I've only had that kind of experience once again — while backpacking in the Canadian Rockies at a place called Floe Lake (7 mile hike up to a lake filled with ice floes). I have to get back there.
I want to but I am scared of rednecks and racists hillbillys with double barrel shot guns.
I don't want to have to hide on top of a room divider like the kids did in college hills this season because they ran into some hillbillys while camping.
Camping is, by far, the most romantic thing you could do with another person. Something about cooking dinner over a fire and having to cuddle to stop shivering while you sleep…it's awesome. Also, seeing each other at your/their grubbiest but still liking one another anyways is always a good test to see if it will really work.
Camping fucking rocks!! I've camped and backpacked on three different continents and a bazillion countries so far. Connecting with nature is what God (all of them) intended for humans to do!!
Chic - are you serious?? Where do you live??
My people, my people…I SMH at us sometimes.
Lauren - not liking camping has nothing to do with beibng black. Probably has more to do with how one is raised and your inate need to connect to mother earth. I'm as diva as they come, but can squat behind a tree, sleep in an open field and wash my undies out in a stream with the best of 'em. And SMILE while doing it all.
I wonder sometimes if this blog squashes stereotypes or keeps them going?! Dag!
Lol@Chic Noir
@BMD — I got a similar reaction from someone when I posted this swimming story. When I said that the possibility that there is a "racial" reason for me not wanting to ever camp is not far fetched, I wasn't implying that black people have some genetic predisposition not to like camping or that all black people don't like to go camping or that I have no desire to camp for the sole reason that I'm black. I just meant that culturally/socially (and I probably should have used the word "cultural" in the post), it's not an activity that I or many other black people I'm closely acquainted with have been exposed to in life or have any appreciation for. The story — that there is this group of pro-camping blacks trying to increase their ranks — is a stereotype squasher in itself!
Camping isn't too bad, it reminds me of living in rural Africa. Like JasmineL said, gotta load up on the Antibacterial everything!
If you're brave enough, it's cool to 'rough it'. It makes you appreciate what is often taken for granted.
Lauren - gotcha! You said the opperative word: appreciation. I've found that a lot of people don't have an appreciation for nature. That baffles me. Totally don't get it, but, shit, the same can be said of half the things I do.
*operative
I wanted to add that when I go camping I see a lot of black people - usually familes - out camping. Maybe people from outdoor cultures (the west coast, mountain west) are more apt to camp b/c being outdoors is more of a way of life for us?
I can definitely see how it could be a regional thing.
I would hesitate, though, to equate a lack of appreciation for camping with a lack of appreciation for nature. I am rather fond of nature — learning about it, seeing it, and conserving it. And I love animals. I'm just not trying to sleep outside!
@Chic Noir - Haha, I saw that episode of College Hill. That was crazy! I think that might have been a set up because it seemed like a little too much.
Obviously it doesn't make sense that black people would have some sort of genetic aversion to camping but I do think there are cultural norms. I have never been camping and have no desire to go. Hiking stresses me out so I can't even imagine sleeping outside, especially if I haven't showered in days and am covered with dirt. I also had a rather strict Southern upbringing and was raised with a very high premium placed on personal hygiene and cleanliness (probably explains why I'm a germaphobe to this day). However, I'm from Colorado so I definitely know a high percentage of black camping enthusiasts, some of whom also have Southern roots. That's the culture out there (especially in Boulder) so they adapted.