Humans tamed the first campfires over 500,000 years ago, and the word "camp" itself comes from the Latin campus, or "level field," but recreational camping as a popular cultural practice did not emerge until the end of the nineteenth century, when large numbers of urban residents went "back to nature," fleeing the pressures of industrialization and increased immigration for the temporary pleasures of a primitive existence in the woods.

The camping movement began in earnest in the mid-nineteenth century, when upper-class businessman from major cities traveled to the Mountains to hunt, fish, and find solace in the beauty and sublimity of untrammeled nature. These men sought to improve their moral and physical health and test their masculinity against the wilderness.