There are as many types of camping as there are campers. But I have found that the best camping experience is the one you define yourself. This is how I categorise the main types of campers.
Some categories necessarily delve into the human condition and cause me to take a pause and wonder what can we do as a society to help others. These distinctions become important when you are faced with a homeless person who is asking how to stay warm at night because they are not familiar with the elements of nature and just got evicted from their home, or cast out of their families. So yes, these distinctions go into socio-economic conditions in which we all live and depend on for survival.
Cowboy Camping:
For myself, camping means cowboy camping with or without a tent, with or without a horse. Some would say that unless you are hiking in and sleeping without a tent, you are not cowboy camping. I disagree. For me, cowboy camping is about independence, and self-sustainment, with or without a tent (or a horse).
You take only what you can carry in your vehicle. It means minimal gear, all with dual purposes, all of which defines cowboy camping. Bonus points if you sit and look at the stars. Even if you drove in, it's still cowboy camping. Cars/Vehicles are the "iron horses" we use to get us where we want to go and in that sense, everyone qualifies, as long as they are self-sufficient, and enjoying themselves.
Still, many people often do camp with their horses. There's a special campground near me that is just for them, and it's only $8 per night, per horse. They count the horse as the main "vehicle" and then charge an extra $5 for actual trucks/SUV's plus the horse trailers. I wish I could be one of them!
Roma Camping:
This could be better and more widely understood as "gypsy camping" but I just made it up for the sake of completeness. The Roma are a distinct people and they are the vardo campers who have evolved with time into the RV sector. Traditionally, a vardo was a horse-drawn wagon and these folks practically invented camping to start with.
They are called Travellers in western countries of Europe, and here in the States as "Gypsies" a rather racist term I prefer not to use. Hence, Roma Camping. The Roma have their own way of life, and their existence has often depended on many rules and regulations they themselves enforce upon each other, in a tribal sense of community. For example, they will not wash themselves in the same water as they wash clothes. If they live in a camper or an RV or even a "mobile home" , underwear has to be washed entirely outside of the dwelling.
They invented camping hygiene. In some communities, they will take underwear items to a laundromat even if they have a washer/dryer at home. They are very strict about these rules, and their health often depends on it, if they do not have access to medical care. They know it and have made it a science. Kudos to them.
Car camping:
This is where the aim is to sleep in your car/van conversion comfortably. This is car camping. No tent, no camper, no RV hitched. Literally, camping in your car or van. Bonus points if you take a cool dog with you.
Wild camping:
Leave it to the Brits to properly define what the Americans are clinically calling "dispersed camping." Dispersed camping sounds like you are moving every night to a new site for clinical purposes of a study on the effects of swearing on physical pain. (It was a real study. Look it up.) Maybe you are or not, but to me "wild camping" is the best descriptor for the act of camping for free, in locales that lack amenities, and are off the beaten path.
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Bicycle Camping:
This is where you literally bringing your entire home with you, whether its a camper, or an RV. You will also probably have hookups to electricity, and water, as well as the latest and greatest in home theatre equipment, and probably a portable sauna and hot tub. There's usually an open bar and I don't think anyone will notice if you slip over there and grab one or five.
Van/Car Dwellers:
This is not camping at all, but rather a necessity now, and a sad reality for many due to the rising cost of housing. These folks are not "homeless" in the classical sense, but many are in the category of what used to be condescendingly called "the working poor". These folks are doing what they do in order to literally survive. They deserve everyone's prayers and good vibes, as much as the "homeless." They are usually in cities and towns, sometimes venturing into camping areas out of necessity. Share some coffee with them if you can.
" Nomads":
This is a dumb category, but here we are. These are people who make enough to have a home, but live in their vehicles and travel by choice because they have the money to do so. In my experience, they are not campers at all and use resources that are better left to the Car/Van Dwellers, and the homeless. They are resource suckers. But that's just my considered and throughly over-thought opinion.
"Unhoused" -
This is a dumb term, but okay. They are not "camping" even given their tent cities. They are homeless, and they are a large and growing section of the population. Alarmingly so.
Most are homeless through no fault of their own, but for time, circumstance, substance abuse, domestic abuse, and lack of financial resources. Many are children under the age of 18.
We can argue all day long about the whys and wherefores, but in the end, the fact is these people are suffering. And it is the aim of human existence to ease suffering wherever it is found. Why this seems to escape some people is beyond me.
Human beings should not be left to the mercy of the elements, and lack of medical, dental, eye/vision, and emotional care. This is not humane. It is barbaric that in the wealthiest countries in the world, and yes, I'm looking at all you Western Europeans as well as the Americans, this is reality for so many. Homelessness is not a choice. It is a death sentence.
