 I'm always writing about gadgets for campers. And that always seems a little ironic to me. I thought people went camping to get away from technology. But now we have chargers you can put in the water to generate power just using the current. There's solar panels that come as stand-alone gadgets and as things you can put on your backpack. There's even a stove that will charge your phone using the fire you're already using to cook your food. So in honor of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, we at The Verge wanted to take a look back and see how camping evolved with and for technology. Recreational camping begins in the Adirondacks. And at that particular point, camping is really the province of really wealthy individuals. There'll be merchants from Boston and New York. And these are individuals who basically are traveling to the Adirondacks and who are hiring local guides to fish and hunt and prep all their food for them. So these people are not really doing much of the work. They're being surrounded by this team. And so if you left these people in the woods by themselves, they would be completely unprepared. They would literally not survive. Then the early 1920s, the Model T and all these really inexpensive cars allow for tourism and travel to be much more democratic. I think a lot of the interesting gear that I found is really outfitting the car itself. These great illustrations from the 1920s of hammocks that were specifically designed to be strung inside of the car. So you're in a hammock in your car in a campground. It's very strange. I'm not sure why you would want to do that. People began taking their cars out for camping trips. And with that came the rise of the RV. But of course, RV camping is totally different from tent camping. Many campsites started segregating them from tent campers due to noise. But once these campsites were established in the 1930s, they really didn't change much. What campgrounds are about is assisting people in very subtle ways. So when you check into a campsite, that allows for you to have the illusion that you're in nature, you're communing with nature, but in fact there's this whole set of infrastructure that's there to support you. But over time, our lifestyles changed. And with that, the infrastructure at campgrounds had to change too. We got Wi-Fi, bathrooms, and showers. But now, what I think we really want are our devices and chargers with us at all times. Even if we unplug and leave our phone behind, what about our camera or our Kindle? The phone is creating a demand for technology to support the phone. People are connected into their stuff, you know. And so there's a need for power. I think power has become a really, really important consideration in gear. So either portable battery packs and solar panels is really a big deal now. And it's a whole new realm of equipment. Solar panels can be found on anything now, from tents to backpacks. People going out for a hike can always charge their phone or any other electronic while they're out on the trail. While not for everyone, these products can make camping more accessible, safe, and enjoyable. Modern camping is designed to be easier and to make us more comfortable outside without the need for local guides. We're in nature, but we're always within reach of our friends or emergency responders. We're out in the wild, but nothing scary can really get us on a campsite. So how will camping change next? Maybe we'll all wear VR headsets and we'll go virtually camping. Or AR glasses will take us around on a hiking trail. I'm sure there's always going to be people who want to rough it outside and leave their gadgets behind. But inevitably, as the world technologically advances, our hobbies will too. When you go around campgrounds in the evening, you'll see little kind of glowing screens inside of tents. And this is not unusual. It's a kind of line that you're constantly walking between forgetting for a few minutes and being completely into the experience of being in a place. And then suddenly you see a screen and you snap out of it. Why did I wear long sleeves?