Camping Numbers

This past June Land Girl and I went camping in the Northern Highlands-American Legion (NHAL) State Forest. At the campground my wife picked up a copy of the NHAL 2023 Visitor Guide. We have picked up guides in other years, as they contain some useful information. This year's publication contained an article about camping statistics in the NHAL. Similar statistics were not in the 2022 guide. 

First off, let me explore some national camping statistics from a publication by KOA. A few statistics caught my interest. First, is the small percent of campers that were of the baby boom generation. When Land Girl and I camp, understanding this is mainly during the week, most campers we see our in our demographic. Boomers made up 31% of the US population per the 2020 US Census, but only 18% of the campers. The oldest generation, the Silent/mature made up 5% of campers, with 11% of the population; given the age that seems quite high. Many older campers own the largest rigs in the campground. Gen X and Millennials, were over represented compared to their level within the general population.  Of the Millennial cohort, 37% of them camp, compared to having made up 31% of the population in the nation in 2020. This should put to rest the idea that millennials just want to vacation on their smartphones. It makes some sense that they are camping above their demographic number as they are still young and active,  have now settled into a lifestyle, which apparently includes outdoor activities. 

Campers by Generation, Nationally

I was further astonished by the household income of campers. In 2020 29% of those that camped had a household income of $100,000 or more, 8% greater than their level in the general population. Camping is a rather inexpensive activity, but those who had incomes <$25,000 and $25,000 to 49,999 camped at levels below that of the general population. The $100,000+ income group also made up an astounding 41% of new 2020 campers. 

Of first time campers in 2020 the main choice of living accommodations was a tent, which is a much higher percent than prior years where the tent choice ranged from 39 to 48% (2015-2019). Tents make sense for first timers, as the cost of even a good tent is not too out of reach. In many of those years the second choice was cabin camping, with RV's being third. Until I saw this, I never thought of staying in a cabin as camping. it then occurred to me, if a 35' fifth wheel RV with washer/dryer, internet, fireplace and other amenities is considered camping, so could staying in a cabin. I mean, they even contain a kitchen sink! Many have pullouts which make the space even larger. Everything is dependent on how something is defined. Is staying in a cabin camping? Many, if not most, cabins probably have fewer amenities than RV's. When doing the boundary waters many years ago, before going on the water, and getting off the water, we stayed in a cabin, which was walls, a roof, a wood plank floor, with a cot. I don't even recall it having lights.

We consider our small RV to be glamping, although it is basic, and we have never used it to its full potential since only once did we use electricity (a Army Corps campground where the electric sites were priced slightly more than a non-electric site). We turned on the radio once or twice, we have never used the television or the DVD player. We mainly use it for sleeping, and when going to bed we set up solar powered Luci lights to avoid using the LED lights in the camper. When camping, we cook outside. My in-camp meteorologist keeps track of the weather, and if a storm is predicted we have our dinner for lunch and our lunch sandwiches for dinner. We cook outside on the campfire or our cookstove. We used the air conditioner once (at the Army Corps campground), for fifteen minutes, to see how it worked (it is very loud). We used the heat for two nights (hydroponic heat is nice and quiet). We have never used the sink to wash dishes, and we have not used the toilet for #1 much less #2. We have used the shower, which is a nice amenity. Can one stay at their own cabin up north and that be considered camping, or is the camping the rental of a cabin at a resort or a state/national park? I am not sure how the studies metrics worked. The Porkies, in the UP, have yurts and cabins to which one hikes or skis to, I would suspect those count as camping. 

Preferred first time camper accommodation

What the statistics do show is how much camping took off during the pandemic. RV sales went way up, which is an indicator. Yet, the NHAL numbers, from the 2023 Visitor Guide are also instructive. Even though the state forest was closed for camping until June 14 of 2020, 2020 saw just over 55,000 campsite nights in the NHAL.  A 10,000 camp night increase over 2019. The 2020 and 2021 increases, I am sure were in part due to persons having more flexibility in their work schedules and remote work. I am aware of persons on a camping Facebook page that would camp and work from their campsite--provided they had internet. 2021 saw the greatest number of campsite nights accounted for in the NHAL for the 10 years of stats provided, at about 62,000. There was a 4.2% drop in campsite nights from 2021 to 2022 in the NHAL. 

The NHAL has 900 campsites. The total number of campsites in Wisconsin state parks, forests, flowages and recreation areas is 6,428. Saturday, July 30, 2022 the NHAL document reports, had the greatest use with 793 of the 900 sites occupied. This year looks to repeat that as the busiest time of the year. I examined the NHAL campsite availability on Tuesday 7/25 at 4:00 pm and found that if you have a small RV there are only a total of 13 campsites in the whole NHAL if you wished to arrive Friday 7/28 and depart Sunday 7/30. Of course, no telling how many go unused, but it would be interesting to know. Some may not be booked for both nights, but just one, yet it shows how many sites are claimed. The problem is one cannot go by reserved as we clearly know from experience that a reserved site is not necessarily an occupied site. For example, when at Cunard Lake this year most all sites, but a few, were reserved. However, many, including some lake sites went unoccupied. Pre-pandemic we got a site at Peninsula State Park that happened to open the week before we went, but everything else was reserved. We get there and the number of unoccupied sites was much greater than I would have thought for our few night trip. The reserve, but not occupy is a problem in the State park system. People reserve, but do not cancel meaning others are out of luck for use of the site. Part of me thinks the state does not care, because if the site is not canceled they still get their revenue. Many complain that the 11 month limit is a problem, but according to the NHAL stats, 28% of their sites were booked at the 11 month maximum. Only 6% were booked the day of. Our trip to Cunard we booked by phone when we arrived. Land Girl was unable to get sufficient internet access to do it online.

Camper household income

The worst part about our Cunard trip was the grilling by the campground host, who I later found out is a former Eau Claire County Sheriff. We got our reservation before 2 pm, and then setup. And just after 6:30 pm the camp host shows up, and parks right in front of my Jeep. It was an odd exchange; he claimed he and headquarters at Clear Lake, had no record of us, but after several questions, he then asked who was Toni (Tony) basically admitted he did know we were registered. I had only given my last name. I wanted to tell him to get off my back. When I was working, I was cross-examined in a trial on a zoning matter by a future WI Supreme Court judge (she represented a developer), and a few times I went head to head with a former Dane County DA (who was in private practice at the time), who was later elected Attorney General and Governor of Wisconsin. I was deposed several times, mainly in actions before the PSC on transmission lines. Not only that, I grew up with a brother who became a lawyer and any argument with him was like getting cross examined. 

I did not retire to get cross examined by some guy flouting his position, and, who now lacking his former authority, wants to puff out his self-important chest. I am still trying to figure out if he wanted to be combination of Roscoe P Coltrane, Deputy Dog, and the sheriff of Nottingham. I think I would have found it more amusing if he was more like Barney Fife. If Roscoe lacked a record of our site reservation, all he had to do was ask for our confirmation or registration number. If has a problem with the inadequacy of the state reservation system, he should talk the WIDNR. He never asked for our confirmation or reservation number. As he was "interrogating" me my wife pulled up the confirmation email, which completed downloading after he completed his prying. Turns out, he looked at his piece of paper and mentioned my wife's first name, which had not been told to him. The reservation uses her name. Not having asked for the confirmation number, and knowing my wife's first name, he had to have some ulterior motive. What I will do in the future at the NHAL, or perhaps any other state park we visit where we make reservations the day of, is to write the reservation number on a piece of paper and put it on the post by the camp site. With all sites requiring a reservation you no longer have the days of arrival and departure which used to be common. If Roscoe comes by again to ask if we reserved the site, and to continue his interrogation, I will simply suggest he look at the reservation number on the post. Reserving the day of arrival, and time of arrival allows us to pick a site we like. We write down the available sites when we leave home and then go by the sites, and select one best fitting our needs.

Cunard Lake Campsite, author photo 2022

The NHAL has a variety of campsites.  The Modern family (flush toilets and showers) in four campgrounds, contain 352 of the 900 sites, so well over 1/3. These campgrounds are heavily used and this time of year, you may find only one site available in one of the campgrounds, particularly the three near Sayner.  The 14 Rustic campgrounds, hand-pump water and without flush toilets or showers, range from 20 to 70 sites, so they are smaller than the modern family campgrounds. Rustic sites comprise 513 of the 900 sites (57%). The remainder are primitive sites that are widely separated, for tents only, and have an open box latrine, a fire rang and picnic table. There are also a two group campgrounds. 

The least busiest campgrounds in the NHAL were Big Lake (30.1% camp nights), Cunard Lake (35.4%) and Sandy Beach (37.3%). The busiest campgrounds were West Star (76.6%), Firefly (75.8%) and Crystal Lake (75.1%).  Cunard and Starrett Lake campgrounds in the NHAL are the two quiet campgrounds, meaning no generators and no loud music. Although, that apparently does not apply to varied vehicles driving through blasting their radios. Finding a campsite in the whole state is often difficult for a summer weekend. 

Cunard Lake, 2022 author photo

State legislation limited the number of electric sites to 35%, but recently the cap was removed, per the Governor's budget message. The Gov said more electrification will allow the DNR to better respond to campsite demand from visitors. But, it is more about revenue. Per the DNR, electric sites generate more revenue for the state park system, so the extra electrification is said to be worth the cost of installation, energy cost, and maintenance. The State Fiscal bureau in May estimated an extra $420,000 if the cap is raised from 35 to 40%. This is based on the WIDNR estimate that each electric site makes $2,100 more a year than a non-electric site, even net energy cost. Just under 35% of state park sites are now electric, with 27.1% of forest and flowage sites being electric. The  recently signed state budget allocated 29 million for capital development projects, including $1.5 for electrification of more campsites. The increase in electrification means money, and more use of the park. 

Since the DNR is adding additional electric sites, they should also revisit, or tighten, their generator use policy and add more quiet campgrounds.  With more electrical sites available, there should be less need for generators. On the one hand, I am not sure I like electrification of more sites, but cutting down on the use of generators would make it more palatable.  

State campgrounds are in high demand, and Covid increased the demand. The state has now reacted by setting money aside for more electric campsites. It was ten years ago that the percent allowed to be electric sites was increased from 30 to 35%. There are campers that like the luxury of home, and those that like more primitive camping. It will be interesting to see if the increase in camping, whether tent, RV, or cabin continues to decline as COVID has become less of a concern, or will a new, higher, sweet spot, of the number of campsites be found. Camping numbers are up more than they were in 2019, and they may not go back down.