Camping

We're packing the mobi for a madcap trip across Europe to see as much as we can in 18 days. If this trip goes badly, it's our daughter's fault. This is her idea, pitched from her apartment in downtown Antwerp during a call months earlier. "Come visit us," she said. "And rent a mobi and travel around," the boyfriend added. "It'll be cheaper than hotels and restaurants." It conjured up old memories of exploring the Pacific Coast and the Canadian Rockies in our '73 Ford Econoline camper conversion, perfect for two. "I'll come too," Cassie said.

When 6-year-old Ethan Bondick told his mom and dad he wanted to go fly-fishing in Montana, his well-heeled parents were stumped. "We looked at each other and said, 'Oh, god, now what?' " said Gigi Bondick, 37, a "reformed" attorney whose husband works as a private-equity partner in Massachusetts. "We're just not the camping kind of people. We don't pitch tents. We don't cook outdoors. We don't share a bathroom. It's just not going to happen. This is a kid who has never flown anything but first class or stayed anywhere other than a Four Seasons.

Amy Hubbard's words should not be taken lightly ["Wisps of Magic in Carpinteria," Down and Dirty, Dec. 23]. She is correct that "parking lot" camping is the worst. The state park system should be ashamed of itself for developing such horrible sites in the name of serving more visitors. Ken Harrison Cardiff by the Sea

While reading Dan Neil's Airstream camping article ["Hi-Yo, Silver," Aug. 31], I was reminded of a conversation I had with my wife about a return trip to San Felipe, Mexico, where we had camped on the beach. When I asked whether she wanted to go again, she said, "Well, if you will do the shopping, pack the car, set up the camp, do the cooking, clean the dishes, unpack the car and do the laundry when we get home, I will go." Did we go? No. What most men may not realize is that when a woman has to do more work on a camping trip than she would at home, it's no vacation -- no matter how aerodynamic the vehicles.

Camping is back at Pyramid Lake, thanks to a new concessionaire that has reopened the fire-damaged Los Alamos campgrounds. The campgrounds' 93 sites had been closed since a brush fire swept through the wooded recreation area in August 2003. The concessionaire, Recreation Resource Management, was hired by the Forest Service in April to operate the campgrounds, picnic areas and a boat launch. The concessionaire also plans to open a bait shop.

Camping is supposed to involve tents, sleeping bags and lots of dirt, but not so at one Manhattan luxury hotel . For the second year, AKA Central Park [(888) 381-4488] offers what it calls a "five-star camping experience" on the wraparound terrace of its 17th-floor penthouse suite at 42 W. 58th St. This uber-urbanized campout comes with a queen-sized bed, vodka cocktails, gourmet s'mores at midnight, flashlight and camping lantern (how quaint!), a telescope for stargazing and a Nook e-reader loaded with campfire stories.

Re Laurie Winer's review of "Camping With Henry and Tom," (" 'Camping' Casts Little Light on the American Psyche," July 23). I realize I can do little about the judgments of critics, but I do believe they have an obligation to report the facts to the public. Among many other critical achievements, "Camping With Henry and Tom," by Mark St. Germain, won the 1995 Outer Critics' Circle and Lucille Lortel awards for best off-Broadway play. Winer is entitled to her opinion but why does she neglect to tell the Los Angeles theater-going community that she is reviewing a multi-award-winning production?

Re "Malibu residents lose park suit," April 4 As a Malibu resident who has lived through her share of fires, I find it incomprehensible that the near-bankrupt state would give money to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy so it can bring more camping visitors to our parks who will burn down our homes. Malibu welcomes millions of visitors every year to its beaches and hiking trails. The conservancy wants to punish wealthy landowners (celebrities). In fact, most of us are older, retired and barely scraping by. Corral Canyon's 53 homes were lost because of careless people who started a fire in a canyon.

Wolves are stealing shoes and pots and pans from visitors at Denali National Park, prompting the closing of one campground and a ban on tent camping in another. Although the wolves have not attacked anyone, they have become bold, sometimes coming within feet of humans. And National Park Service officials said they do not want to take any chances. "The wolves are not being shy and that's a concern to us," said Gordon Orson, chief of research and resource preservation. "These are wild animals."

With summertime weather hitting lots of the country in late winter this year, overnight backpacking trips can now conveniently move to April and May. Just in time, an impressive new crop of hiking and camping gear has sprung up along with the cherry blossoms, promising easier times on the trail in any season. Roomiest two-man tent Kelty Vista 2 tent: The first two-man free-standing tent that actually fits two full-grown men, due to a unique design with near-straight-up walls.