• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

Why do men want to go camping???

Because of the time my wife and I watched a Northern Harrier glide over a marshy area looking for a meal, and land on a fence post not twenty feet from us. Because of the time we saw black bear run a across the road in front of us and leap a three foot high grazing fence without breaking it’s stride. Because every time we fish Big Lake we watch the Osprey catch 10”-12” trout all day while we lose bait to crawdads. Because a camp fire is so satisfying and I get to play with axes and knives all day if I want too. Lastly, there are no phones, fax machines, computers, text messages or emails to ruin the outdoors for me, my wife and our two dogs.
 
I do it to get away from people and work and college and traffic and people and my cell phone and the internet and people and fast food and laziness and tv and people. I also do it so I can experience life like it should be. Serene, but oh so powerful. Oh, did I mention I do it to get away from people?
 
Because people are innately not meant to live so close together.

Edit- Male species typically have larger roaming areas than females do. I believe this is due to the drive to pro-create.
 
I like the woods is because it is isolating, it provides visual aesthetics, it provides challenge, I can sit and watch the fire and listen to the sounds of night with the stars visibly overhead. I don't think those are necessarily man-traits. As Rock pointed out, his wife loves camping. My wife doesn't like the outdoors quite as much as I do, but she enjoys it nonetheless. She likes the escapism of it, but likes her escapes in chosen company.

I think women enjoy the outdoors as much as men. I think they appreciate different facets of nature. There is as much symbiosis and mutualism in nature as there is predation and violence. I don't think they like to go off in isolation as much as men do. As I said before, they are more social in nature and far better socialized and trained to deal with social interaction than us. They love the wilderness in group or with their spouse. So there is probably a key difference there. Men get called to periodic quests for mobile isolation and the outdoors is one of the few venues that allows us such luxury.
 
I never really thought about it, its where I would rather be, where the few things I actually need are always at hand.

I can remember who I am when I surround myself in the creations of God rather than stuff built by man.
 
I go camping (and hiking) to get out of a barely tolerable existence in the cesspool that is the city.
 
My preferred type of camping is motorcycle camping. Ride off somewhere, set up camp for a few days, go on some day hikes, pack off and move on to the next destination and start over.

Both motorcycling and camping quiet my mind by keeping me focused on immediate and simple needs. I feel a stronger link to my surroundings. Reflection becomes the rule and not the exception.
 
i grew up in the mountains but now living in an overly large city i dont see much wilderness so for me camping is a way to connect wit what i have always loved, and when backpacking i love how time seems to stand still
 
For me there is more then one reason. One of the big ones is to find my self. I lose my innerself in city. When im all alone my inner self come out. Life becomes somethine that is more enjoyeble, life more clear. Some other times i like to get out there for the adventure of it. To stirr my inner self my walking stick is actualy a sword and im out in the mountains looking for treasure and fight trolls(i read way too many fantasy books). Sometimes its nothing more then to enjoy nature watch the animals which bring a smile and let me see what life and where i belong in it.

Sasha
 
For me, because it's so pretty out there! I prefer backpacking than car camping because you can get further away from crowds. You also see nicer things when you pack in.

In the city, I see all the bad things that people do. A lot of things I see in the city makes me scared or sad. I like to get away from it.

I went backpacking a week ago and when I got home, as I was taking a shower, I was already wanting to go again!
 
We have been sitting around a campfire, discussing the hunt, creating and worshiping Gods and generally becoming closer to nature for thousands of years, and after society crashes, as they all do, we will do it for a thousand more.

On the more civilized level, when I camp I don't have to pay $25 to park, $5 for a bottle of water or $7 for a hot dog and sit with a mass of people I don't know, then have to wait for an hour in traffic after the game.

So my choice between doing something "City" vs. "wild" is obvious.
 
I like going camping because it's a great way to go back to our primitive ways. On a daily basis everything you want it provided and easily attainable. Water, shower, food, shelter, transportation etc. That's why when I go camping I rough it as much as possible. No tents, only sleeping bags. Bring very little food and a big pack. I think this also makes men feel as if they have a truly important purpose in life(at least at the time of camping).
I would say probably the majority of us work and have a job that we don't love, so going to work can be dreadful and draining to our inner self. I'm an Assistant Manager at a tool store and I can be honest and say I don't like my job at all, but it pays the bills and affords me what I need/want. Camping is a way to escape all of this and be able to provide for yourself without having to join the rat race we have made for ourselvs.
 
Talfuchre said:
Most men camp as a compromise. Men don't want to camp - they want to LIVE. They don't want to hike, they want to simply move from one place to the next with all they need to live on their backs. Modern man 'hikes' and 'camps' as a socially acceptable way of being what he wants to be. Men don't want to 'hunt' - they want to kill to live. (No wonder we are pissed off when hunting is challenged.)

Men desperately, and I mean that in all its force, desperately want (I think need) to challenge themselves, to do things that matter, to live where their lives are on the edge of survival, and where decisions need to be made properly or death is a real possibility. However, due to what we have created in the name of ease and relaxation (society) we have neutered ourselves.

Like Thoreau said:

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

In our current society, most men live their lives inert, emasculated, neutered, and domesticated. They do things, sports, collecting, business, and so on, in the attempt to live the life of testosterone and adrenaline. What camping and hiking is, is the attempt to live our lives by our terms, do things that matter (cut the wood, make the shelter, kill and dress the food...) and live like men... not the feminine men we have become.

I want to forge a blade that destroys the political correctness of modern culture (be honest and true, call people what they want to be called, but don't pussy foot around every subject so that it cannot be expressed at all), the artificial ease and pace at which we live (we make BOB's because we know this security we have is temporary and false), the lack of nature we build, the shoes on my feet that remove me from nature, and the rest of the things that drain my manhood, remove my purpose, and destroy my soul.

In a response, I want to load my pack, pick it up, move out with my family, and live a life that has purpose... It is difficult to do this any more... so I camp.

TF
Click to expand...



Thanks buddy, I needed that!!!!!!:thumbup::thumbup:
 
ratamahatta said:
my wife and I have been talking about this lately and I would like to see what your take on this is......I put this is W&SS because this is where I spend almost all of my time, if it needs to be moved, then do as you please.......thanks!!!


Why do men co camping????
Click to expand...

I go camping to "smooth it." Because in the city , I'm "roughing it."
 
ratamahatta said:
my wife and I have been talking about this lately and I would like to see what your take on this is......I put this is W&SS because this is where I spend almost all of my time, if it needs to be moved, then do as you please.......thanks!!!


Why do men co camping????
Click to expand...
Because we like to get out the farking big city and get shitfaced drunk in the woods.
 
i cant stand drunk campers they are the reason many campgrounds are close to being shut down in my area, not to mention the fact that i want to be in the wilderness to get away from the idiots in the city. That is one reason i only ever go backpacking these days
 
hiwa,

That's the first time I've seen Nessmuk's philosophy applied in that manner. Good point!

DancesWithKnives
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top