Aw Riverwild,
Once upon a time we camped with no one else around, canoed in, made a fire of found branches, cooked from scratch with found materials when possible.(pancakes with huckleberries - DH telling me loud and clear , huckleberries NOT blueberries.) Time went on - brought an air mattress, a cook stove with propane!! Life now has so changed. I'm in a chair. Last summer I cried seeing our canoe on a bank, knowing I'd never get in without a lot of help and wearing a life-jacket. Last time when we sort of still could, went camping in a "parking lot", RVs all around. DS (8?) lived in RV next door with his new friend - they made popcorn in the microwave. Our fresh caught trout on a fly-rod was no competition.
We once "free-camped. No charg,e to sleep in wonderful, deep woods, but no rangers either! We awoke in way early hours before dawn to gun fire. We finished the night in van, hightailed it out of their next day. Was "just" drunks who in the huge place picked site near us. Camping never was my absolute fav.really.