Going Glamping?

camping, gear | dlacord | Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 8:33 am

Don’t get me wrong. I love being comfortable in the outdoors. I’ve been lusting over a Big Agnes sleeping pad for our late-fall camping trips, and I balk at backpacking without carrying a camp chair.

And I’m not even against a stay in a luxury mountain cabin now and then (I wrote about the concept of “roughing it” last year in a column for the Rocky Mountain News).

But when I’m going camping – with a tent – I think part of the fun is packing, unpacking, and setting up the gear.

Apparently, others don’t feel the same way. A recent news story described a special perk at a regional park in Montgomery County, Md. Campers at Little Bennett can pay an extra $25 for the park staff to set up their campsite with chairs, tent, a lantern and propane stove.

The story also details other luxurious outdoor “adventures” – feather beds at a KOA site near Santa Cruz, Calif., butler-prepared meals at The Resort at Paws Up in Montana, and hand-woven willow beds on wooden platforms in California’s El Capitan Canyon.

The luxury details are part of a trend to get comfort-seekers out of their comfort zones and away from their technology.

The new trend is called “glamping,” named for the glamorizing of camping. Comfort, technology and service all transform a traditional camping trip. If it catches on, we might have to retire the phrase “roughing it”.

– Deb Acord

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