On your latest camping trip, did you bring along your portable DirecTV satellite to keep up with your favorite shows?

My inner-wilderness girl wrinkles up her nose and says, “Man, I hope not.”

But a wired excursion into the outdoors is apparently the hot new trend, according to a recent Washington Post piece that caught my eye. Lori Aratani’s article “Plugged Into Nature, Wired to World,” describes how families of today’s Internet generation go camping: with their laptops and iPods, cottage-sized tents and 6-inch-thick air mattresses (with built-in alarm clocks).

This is camping? No—it’s “glamping”—at least, that’s what old-school outdoor-enthusiast purists (I’d probably include myself here) call it. Glamping, simply put, refers to heading to the outdoors with many luxuries and comforts from home: glamorous camping.

A three-room "condo tent." Photo: Santafeegret

From “Real” Camping to Car Camping

Whatever it is, it’s a far cry from the wilderness experiences I had as a kid: tiny tents, thin foam sleeping pad, and for food, granola bars and fresh fish from the river.

Granted, backpacking and roughing it with my dad did take a turn towards car camping, where we brought along perhaps a few too many “camping necessities” (extra-large cooler, two-burner stove, the giant camping bin full of all the outdoor gadgets we might need). For my family, the way we camped evolved to meet our cumulative work and school schedules—there started to be less and less time to get out into the woods.

When we did get a chance to make a break, we’d stuff the car, haul to the mountains and try to locate the most isolated site at the campground. As time went on, my accountant father even occasionally placed work phone calls from his cell. I know. The horror.

From Car Camping to Glamping

The demand for car camping grew for us as it did for many campers in the United States. Sadly, this “lack of time” has resulted in dwindling numbers of visitors to national parks. The National Park Service reports that there were 7 million fewer annual visitors to national parks 2008 than a decade before, which some researchers attribute to the surge in electronic media use—especially in children. In truth, many kids today navigate the Internet more easily than the forest trail down the road from their house.

Retailers have responded to lure people back to nature by offering roomy, compartmentalized tents; high-tech camping cookware; ultra-cushy sleeping pads; battery-operated insect repellent—everything to make camping easier. To attract more guests, campgrounds are even offering extra amenities, including fully set up “camper-ready” sites, ice cream socials and games.

Part of me is sad that “cushy camping” is the only way many people are enticed into the outdoors. But I’m also hopeful that the trend does seem to be working. And if it can get kids outside at an early age, maybe they’ll continue their love for camping when they’re older.

What do you think? How has your family’s camping experience evolved over the years? Are you new to camping? What are some reasons why you’ve balked at camping in the past? Please share your stories!