Do most bay area residents camp in tents, or are the big trailers and RVs pretty common? (San Jose: homes, camping)

[butercup]

We're relocating to San Jose later this month and we have a vehicle conundrum. Living in Florida where it's hot and buggy, we have to limit our tent camping to tolerable weekends which are few and far between. For our longer camping trips (family of 5, all kids under age 10) we've rented travel trailers and towed them.

Now, because of this and because of my husband's need to tow his boat (which is being sold) - we have a large obnoxious diesel truck. Not only is it an unwise choice for his new much longer commute, we're afraid we're going to look like yahoos having such an impractical vehicle once we have no need for it.

We're considering downsizing to a smaller vehicle that can tow much less, assuming we will either tent camp or just go with a small popup. Is that somewhat the norm out there in the N. California and Oregon campgrounds, or do you still see most people using some sort of trailer/fifth wheel/rv? In the SE, tents are sort of the outliers. We were wondering if most of the good campgrounds have limited spaces for bigger trailers or if we'd be sorry to have limited ourselves to the smaller options.

Any input from campers is welcome - I'm also posting this in the San Jose forum.

Thanks!

[gone down south]

Both equally.

[bmw335xi]

From my experience, most people in San Francisco camp with tents. That's probably because there is no where to park an RV at their homes.

[ketch89]

The vast majority of bay area residents camp in tents, and the majority of the campgrounds on the peninsula and in Marin have a small number of RV hookups. Honestly, RVing is really quite antithetical to the camping culture in the bay area - it's about getting away from civilization here, not bringing all of it with you.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by ketch89

RVing is really quite antithetical to the camping culture in the bay area - it's about getting away from civilization here, not bringing all of it with you.

Kind of funny when you see people in campgrounds watching the big HDTV they brought along with their satellite dish on their RV, while plinking away on their laptops.

[rkwalton]

Honestly? I've done both and prefer the RV for a few personal reasons.

Whatever works for you and your family is what you should do. Maybe don't worry about what other people are going to think.

[CAVA1990]

Look at an aerial shot of Burning Man and it'll give you some idea of the mix.

[sliverbox]

Most people do tents here. The reason is that its going to be very different here than where you're coming from: camp sites are typically smaller and lack hookups. You also need to be prepared with how incredibly popular camping is here, as in there's a few places my wife and I don't even bother going to because they're always filled up by the time we get there if they're first come first serve. It also seldom gets hot enough to worry about AC and so forth.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by ketch89

The vast majority of bay area residents camp in tents, and the majority of the campgrounds on the peninsula and in Marin have a small number of RV hookups. Honestly, RVing is really quite antithetical to the camping culture in the bay area - it's about getting away from civilization here, not bringing all of it with you.

^ This.

I've always preferred backcountry/backpacking style camping (where you obviously sleep in tents) and one thing I love about the Bay Area is just how many other people love to do this, too. I haven't had trouble finding friends that like this style of camping. Even when I car camp (organized campgrounds), we always sleep in tents. At these types of campgrounds, there are usually a few RV's there. But of the campgrounds I've been to in the west (CA, OR, WA, CO), the majority of people are sleeping in tents.

In some places in the country you are the outlier for sleeping in a tent...I just came back from FL and camped at a few places there, and definitely stuck out...one kid, who had just exited a gigantic 12 person tent (holding 3 people) next to their giant truck, ran by me saying "how do you sleep in such a little tent!!??"

In CA, it is often quite the opposite experience.

[18Montclair]

Tents...I have 2 folded into a box in my garage.