Campsite

U.S. National Forests often have established campsites, but generally allow camping anywhere, except within a certain distance of water sources or developed areas.

There are no amenities of any kind and typically no development except for possibly logging roads or ATV trails, and few rules beyond the requirement in some provinces to move the site at least 100 metres every 21 days.

The Kampgrounds of America (KOA) is a large chain of commercial campgrounds located throughout the United States and Canada.

Touring campsites have full access to the Holiday parks facilities, including clothes washing and showering.

Caravans are a popular choice with holiday makers, and modern varieties come complete with features like double glazing and central heating, cookers, fridges, showers, hot/cold water supplies, electricity and gas mains input.

[3] Once purchased, holiday homes have various ongoing costs including insurance, site fees, local authority rates, utility charges, winterisation and depreciation.

The camping areas are usually established campsites or "zones", which have a predetermined maximum number of persons that are allowed to stay in the section per night.

Usually in organized parks or wilderness areas, backcountry campsites require a permit, which may be free, obtainable at visitor centers and ranger stations.

Canadian citizens and people who have lived in Canada for at least seven months of the preceding 12-month period can camp for free up to 21 days on any one site in a calendar year.

When President Theodore Roosevelt addressed Congress in 1901, he called for the creation of free campgrounds on Federal lands.

While a handful of campgrounds, both public and private, could be found at tourist destinations, as late as 1936 it was still difficult to find places to stop along the route to these parks.

This practice not only reinforced the negative, nomadic image of RV travelers, it was a detriment to expanding the trailer market.

Martin Hogue wrote, “The first public campgrounds in the United States were nothing more than large, dedicated clearings, free of trees, within which to concentrate groups of tourists.”[10] A plant pathologist named Emilio Meinecke, was commissioned to study the effect of motor tourism in the Redwoods in 1929.

[11] Although he would later continue to write of the effect of campers on nature, submitting a memorandum to the National Forest Service in 1935 entitled “The Trailer Menace,”[12] he had established the basic design for campgrounds still used today.