Since we started camping I have always kept a file on each place that we have stayed. When we began to get a vision for what we wanted TheTouringCamper.com to contain, we knew that the main focus of our site would be campground reviews and touring adventures. Each time we would start to plan a trip I would (and still do) spend hours researching the best place to stay that met our specific needs (click here to read our post on how we pick a campground and site). While there are some really great campground review forums out there, several lack some of the things that we really wish they included–particularly pictures. Additionally, none of the forums have a consistent reviewer, as each review is generally written by different people and you have no way of knowing what each person’s standards are. (One reviewer’s 10 out of 10 could be a 4 out of 10 to me.) Additionally, the reviews people leave on the forum sites often are short, so it can be hard to determine why the individual gave a campground a particular review. (For example, some people may give a very nice campground a low rating simply because it doesn’t have wifi or cable access, but if I don’t know why they gave it a lower review it might steer me away from that campground.) We hope TheTouringCamper.com will give you more information so that you can make better planning decisions for your camping adventures!
Some things that you need to know about us and what we look for in a campground:
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We have not always had a bathroom in our camper and even now that we do, we have found that no campground review sites give enough attention to the quality of the facilities. While this may seem trivial to some, for someone like Kristin who did not grow up camping, quality bathrooms make our camping experiences much more enjoyable.
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We currently have two dogs and although there have been a few trips where they have not accompanied us, this is the exception not the norm. So unless we say something specific in a post about the absence of our dogs, you can assume that at the time of our visit the campground allowed pets, either throughout the campground or in designated loops. (Campgrounds have a range of rules when it comes to pets–some may require documentation that pets are vaccinated and others may have a pet limit–so a call to the campground or a visit to the website is always advised.)
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While we enjoy time around the campfire or exploring the natural area of the campground, neither Kristin nor I like to sit still for long. We love to see what the local area has to offer, but we have yet to find a campground reviewing website that combines a love of camping with touring. So yep, that’s how we came up with the idea for The Touring Camper.
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We camp primarily as a family and thus safety is paramount. We will not stay someplace that we do not feel safe.
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We are not full-timers. While our camping adventures has increased in recent years and we are now spending more time on the road, we can’t speak to the specific needs of full timers.
What you need to know about the types of campgrounds that we review and why:
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While we will and do stay at private campgrounds, we tend to favor state parks and other government run campgrounds because campers are limited in how long they can stay.
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We do not claim to give all the information that you may need to make a decision on where to stay, however, we try to provide a complete picture of the campground so you can make the best decision for you. If there is something that we are missing in our reviews let us know and we will consider including it in future.
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We can not meet all of your expectations in a review. We have only camped as a family in pop-ups and travel trailers. We are not tent campers, backpackers, or RVers and do not claim to be. If you are in one of these categories we hope that you will find the information on our site helpful but our experiences are going to be different from yours. We have and will continue to think of some things that are important to you (i.e. is there a tent platform, are trees and branches cut back for big RVs, are there pull-throughs that are level, etc.) but without your experience and equipment we just can’t provide all the information for all segments of the camping world.
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We will do our best to accurately represent the conditions of the campgrounds that we stay in and will not review a campground that we just drove through. If we did not stay at least one night we will not review it.
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We also do our best to accurately explain the conditions of the campgrounds that we stay in. If something is good we will tell you about it, if something is not so great we share that information as well. However, the situation and condition of campgrounds can change quickly so we make no guarantees (See Legal Disclosure) that you will find the campgrounds in the same condition when you visit as when we were there. So please pay attention to the date of the review and keep that in mind when deciding if that campground will or will not meet your needs.
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As our About Us page explains we are from Pennsylvania and thus while our reviews do talk about campgrounds in over sixteen states (and counting). That means we have a whole lot more country to see and review. Keep coming back as we hope to continually expand our reviews both near and far from PA. It is actually our hope that as The Touring Camper community grows and we earn some money (See Legal Disclosure) we will be able to go more places and review more campgrounds.
- At this time we are not seeking other campground reviewers. But if you have suggestions of where we should camp, please contact us with a brief explanation of why we should visit and we will add it to our file for possible consideration in the future.
