Camping

Here’s what nobody tells you about camping meals. You don’t have to choose between eating like a survivalist or hauling a kitchen on your back. The camping food game changed when James Beard-recognized chefs started designing freeze-dried meals and foraging apps hit 2 million downloads. Yeah, you read that right. The same award that goes […]

Listen. Your family’s been doing reunions wrong. Another cramped hotel conference room? Another awkward backyard BBQ where the teens hide on their phones? Please. Here’s what nobody tells you: cabin camping creates the kind of family connections that stick. Real ones. The kind where your 75-year-old dad teaches your teenager how to build a fire,

Last October, I woke up floating. Not metaphorically—literally floating in three inches of water inside my supposedly ‘waterproof’ truck bed tent. The storm that rolled through Arizona’s BLM land wasn’t even that bad. Just steady rain for six hours. But there I was. Sleeping bag soaked. Gear ruined. Faith in manufacturer claims completely shot. That

Here’s what nobody tells you about family camping: the best memories don’t come from perfect tent setups or gourmet camp meals. They come from that moment your 8-year-old realizes the petroglyphs they’re touching are older than anything they’ve seen in a museum. Or when your teenager puts down their phone to learn fire-starting techniques from

Picture this: You’re car camping at your favorite BLM land spot, running a full refrigerator, charging all your devices, and keeping the AC on all night. No generator noise. No gas fumes. No guilt about idling your engine. Sound impossible? Welcome to the world of EV car camping – where your vehicle becomes a 9,600-watt

Let me guess. You think bubble tents are those silly-looking transparent igloos that influencers rent for one night to get the perfect sunrise selfie. Fair enough. That’s what I thought too. Until I discovered that the 2025 Stardome Transparent Bubble Tent comes with app-controlled ventilation systems and waterproof smart fabric that actually adjusts based on

Here’s the dirty little secret nobody talks about: most primitive campers are liars. They preach about disconnecting from technology while secretly checking their phones behind trees. They brag about roughing it but panic when their GPS dies. And you know what? They’re not wrong to bring that tech. Last year, 73% of backcountry emergencies could’ve

Let me blow your mind for a second. That basic SUV tent you’ve been eyeing? It’s already outdated. While you’re comparing prices and counting square feet, companies like IDOOGEN and KingCamp are cramming solar panels, USB hubs, and app-controlled climate systems into fabric walls. Yeah, you heard that right. The camping world went digital while

Here’s something the outdoor gear industry doesn’t want you to know: that $300 hammock tent you’ve been eyeing? It’s probably worse than a $75 model sitting on Amazon right now. I’m not kidding. The Onewind Tempest holds 500 pounds. The fancy Warbonnet Blackbird that everyone raves about? 400 pounds. And it costs three times more.

Last summer, my partner and I sat in our half-collapsed tent at 2 AM. Soaking wet from a surprise thunderstorm. Eating cold beans straight from the can. We’d planned this romantic camping getaway for months. Pinterest boards full of fairy lights and sunset selfies. A cooler packed with fancy cheese we couldn’t pronounce. And there

Let me guess. You’ve been trying to book that perfect campsite at Yosemite for your summer camping trip, and every single spot is taken. Again. You’re not alone—nearly half of all campers can’t find available sites anymore. That’s not an exaggeration. The numbers are brutal: booking difficulty shot up from 10.6% in 2019 to a

Let me guess. You’ve been told real camping means suffering. Sleeping on rocks, eating cold beans, and pretending you’re enjoying yourself while secretly counting the hours until you can get home to your actual bed. Here’s the thing—that whole ‘roughing it’ mentality? It’s complete BS. And it’s keeping millions of people from experiencing nature. RV

Here’s what nobody tells you about motorcycle camping: You don’t need a $25,000 adventure bike. Last summer, I watched a guy on a beat-up Ninja 300 roll into camp after completing a 4,000-mile tour. His entire motorcycle camping equipment weighed less than my old sleeping bag. Meanwhile, the BMW GS owner next to him was

Here’s a $200 mistake I see every weekend at the campground. Someone pulls out their shiny new titanium cookware—the stuff that costs more than their tent—and proceeds to burn every single meal on their canister stove. Meanwhile, the guy next door with the beat-up aluminum camping cooking set from 1998 is churning out perfect pancakes.

Let me blow your mind real quick. That expensive Benchmade in your pack? The one you dropped $180 on because some YouTube bushcrafter said it was ‘essential’? Yeah, a $30 Swedish knife just outperformed it in wet conditions. And that’s not even the craziest part. Modern manufacturing has completely flipped the camping knife game. Budget

Here’s something Big Agnes won’t tell you: that ‘ultralight’ summer sleeping bag in your pack? It’s probably overkill for 90% of your trips. I’ve watched countless hikers haul around $300 sleeping bags rated for 40 degrees when they’re camping in 65-degree weather. It’s like wearing a parka in July. Dave Collins from CleverHiker figured this

Here’s a truth bomb that camping gear companies don’t want you to hear: most weekend campers pack 3x more stuff than they actually use. You’ve seen them. Those poor souls dragging coolers the size of small refrigerators, setting up camp for two hours with gadgets they’ll touch once. Meanwhile, Appalachian Trail thru-hikers are crushing 2,000+

Here’s the dirty little secret outdoor retailers don’t want you to know: that $100 tent you’re eyeing for your weekend camping trips? It’s going to cost you $500 over the next five years. Maybe more. I’ve watched too many weekend warriors blow through three cheap tents before finally buying the one they should’ve gotten in