Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Definitions: Camp

(1) A camp is an officially-designated spot where overnight stays are allowed.

(2) A camp is an unofficially-designated spot where overnight stays are allowed.

(3) A camp is a spot where overnight stays are tolerated, if you don't make yourself too obvious.

(4) A camp is a spot where overnight stays are not allowed, but where you stay anyway.

(5) Your apartment, as viewed by your mother, especially if you are a guy, and a slob.

(6) Your home away from home, which is what you wanted when you decided to get away from your mother and go on a long, long backpacking trip.

Want more? OK.

"Camp" comes from the Latin word "campus" which meant an "open field" — something which might not be your best option if the place you choose is one inspired by the original Roman sense of the word.

Because their idea of camping was to find a big, wide-open, easily-defended area where an army could drop its armor, pause to let wounds dry, and maybe do a little foraging and pillaging on the side. Or, in the slow season, a place where they could practice-up and sharpen their skills by holding military exercises. Which included a fair amount of after-hours drinking, partying, foraging, raping, pillaging, and wound-drying.

If you've ever stayed in a drive-in campground, then you may have an idea of how this all sorts out.

These days though, if you add shouting, gunfire, rolling clouds of diesel exhaust, and wake up with tank tracks across your sleeping bag, then you've experienced the modern version of military-grade camping.

If you are a light sleeper then some of these maneuvers may tend to keep you from achieving a full night's worth of happy dreams, leaving you owly and out of sorts. It's probably a good idea then to read those signs before blithely hopping any more fences at dusk. Whether or not stealth camping really tickles your frisbee.

Other than that, go for it.