Camping is a strange hobby. You spend the weekend sleeping on the ground, dealing with bugs, maybe getting rained on, and living without some of the basic conveniences you take for granted at home. Sometimes the tent leaks a little, sometimes the coffee takes longer to make than it should, and sometimes you wake up wondering why you chose to sleep on a pile of dirt instead of your bed. Yet somehow people keep coming back to it.

For me, camping is not really about camping. It is about waking up already inside the park. Most of the places I love hiking and swimming are at least a couple hours away, and turning those trips into day hikes means spending half the day on highways. When I camp instead, I wake up surrounded by forests, lakes, and trails. That means less time gritting my teeth and more time grinding coffee.

Most of the places I love hiking and swimming are at least a couple hours away from home. If I tried to do them as day trips, half the day would disappear sitting on highways. Camping solves that problem. Instead of driving back and forth, I can wake up already surrounded by forests, lakes, and trails.

Some of my favorite trips have been to places like the Delaware Water Gap, Stokes State Forest, High Point, Cheesequake, Allaire, and Wharton State Forest. Across the river in New York there are great parks too like Taconic and Beaver Pond. Each park has its own personality — different trails, different lakes, and different scenery.

One of my favorite early hikes was the Tillman Ravine Trail in Stokes State Forest. It is the kind of place that reminds you how beautiful these parks really are.

Camping lets me experience those places in a much more relaxed way.

Fine art photography print of Hooks Creek at sunset in Cheesequake State Park, New Jersey — available as a framed print, canvas, or metallic paper print.

There's enough room to sleep in a BMW X3 if it's just you, and maybe enough for a very close couple if neither of you minds being tight on space. I tested this setup by myself, and at a little over 6 feet tall I was able to fit by moving the front passenger seat all the way forward, folding both rear seats down, and sleeping on the passenger side.

What surprised me is that space wasn't really the biggest problem. The bigger issues were heat, bugs, and how the mattress handled the transition where the flat cargo area runs out. My cheap Intex mattress was actually fine, and the rear headrests helped support the head end more than I expected once I extended them, but I still stuffed clothes underneath that area to give it some extra support.

So yes, sleeping in a BMW X3 can work. It's not just about finding a mattress that fits. You've also got to figure out how to stay comfortable once the flat cargo floor runs out, how to keep cool on a hot night, and how to get airflow without letting the bugs in.

If you want a roomy car-camping tent that feels like a real upgrade from a cramped 4-person dome, the Eureka Evanston Screened 6 is a solid choice. I’ve used it on multiple trips (including heavy rain) and it’s earned a permanent spot in my camping gear.

This is a hands-on review of the Evanston Screened 6: what it’s great at, what’s annoying, who it fits best, and which accessories are actually worth buying. I’m a little over 6' tall, and my biggest motivation was simple: I wanted more room to move around and a setup that didn’t feel like a nightly yoga class just to change my pants.

If you spend much time camping in state parks, you have probably wondered whether you can cook with charcoal in the park fire rings instead of firewood. I had the same question on a recent trip.

The short answer, at least in my home state of New Jersey, is yes. Charcoal is generally allowed in park fire rings as long as there are no broader fire restrictions in place. Still, every park is different, so it is always smart to confirm with the rangers before you light anything.

But the real question isn't just whether you can use charcoal.

The real question is why you might want to.