Tent Camping

Hello all, I'm wondering if anyone might be able to tell me why so many
of these campgrounds don't offer tent camping ? I am looking to finally
(been trying for 3 years) get on the road and see some of this country we
call home but can only afford it on a motorbike and in a tent. This leaves
a lot of the nicer campgrounds in the more popular areas beyond my reach.
I have spent some time trying to figure out why the "no tents" thing seems
to exist and can't seem to come up with a good reason. Does anybody here
know ? Or care to take a guess ? Thanks.

With the Navy facilities, tent camping falls under the Parks and Picnic arena, where the RV parks mostly fall under the lodging program. I would contact the Community Rec department and see if they have a rec area on base. Most do.

Elitist fifth wheelers and espcially a lotta class a motorhomers see tent camping as low life's & not good enough for military campgrounds and complain in attempts to get rid of tent camping...espcially if it's some older single male camper...it's illegal in their eyes???

Only tenting I see not getting stink eye from fellow campers seemingly is scout groups, whom tent to hijack tent camping quarters...why they can't go be alone in a scout centric area is beyond me???

I get the whole "not good enough" stink-eye as I've dealt with it for decades. I didn't however think it would actually make it to the commander of said bases. I mean we're talking military campgrounds. Hasn't everyone in the military spent an awful lot of their days in tents ? I guess as the world gets softer the younger folks don't care to "rough it" in a tent and the demand is low. I also understand that the majority of military campground campers are retired military and don't care to sleep on the ground. Terra firma isn't my first pick, I would certainly prefer to be in a nice Class A with my car and motorbike behind it but, without winning the lottery it's not going to happen so I'm making do with what I have.

I just figured that everywhere a giant house on wheels with water, sewer and electrical needs is welcome a small quiet motorbike and 4x8 tent would (should) be. I will look into the community recreation thing as I never thought of that. Whilst mapping out my trip to include nothing but military campgrounds I quickly learned that the first thing I needed to do was check each possible campground for tent camping permission before all else.

I loved tent camping but my back will not do that anymore. I suggest you check National Parks. They are beautiful and might fill your needs. NASKW used to have great tenting, we really enjoyed it, then they went downhill, but try them when they open..a lot can be forgiven in paradise. MacDill has a pretty good tent area.

SkinStains (I would love to know about your choice of ID – LOL) I’m not really sure I understand Swim-Bike-Run-1’s response to the OP. As a former tenter (starting as a child), and progressing through to a class A MH owner, I do take exception to the “stink-eye” comment. I agree with you that many FamCamps do not set aside an area for tents, and freely admit that it is a shame that they do not do so. However, many FamCamps do have tent areas, and I have never witnessed any RVers looking down on fellow “campers”; we all started as tenters, or at least most of us did!

Many commercial RV parks are likewise not set up for tent campers, but, as above, many are - Check with WWW.RVParkReviews.com for info on which allow tents. All city and state parks, COE parks, etc do in fact, allow tenting. Also, consider joining Passport America, as they offer 50% off on member-campground stays.

Good luck on your journeys!

John