Maybe a little of both. We sold our TT last fall and bought a tent. My reasons were that we didnt use it enough, gas prices, and I want to get a boat (cant take both).
Pete, we've noticed the same thing at Cape Hatteras NS. Last weekend the Frisco campground was about half full which is fairly typical for a non-holiday weekend at this time of the year. However, there were far fewer 25'+ trailers than normal and I don't recall even seeing a fifth wheel. The number of popups and smaller campers seemed to be in line with what we've seen in the past so the loss of the larger units was offset by tenters. Over the weekend we drove through the other three Park Service campgrounds and noticed the same general trend.
Another pattern (totally unsupported by any sort of scientific analysis) was older couples (55+) in high dollar vehicles having a mixture of new tents and sleeping gear with older stoves, lanterns and cooksets. The folks on either side of us (Denali and Escalde) struggled a bit in setting up their tents but obviously weren't first timers. Both had well used Coleman white gas stoves that appeared to be from the same era as my sixties model. Most importantly, everyone seemed to be having a great time.
The tenters and other campers were having a great time
lots of Kids riding their bikes and just playing.
The service roads were small and narrow.
seemed to be more than one vehicle on each site some blocking part of the road.
But everyone having a great time and that's what counts.
I've noticed more tenters this year too. Even at private campgrounds. In thecampground I was in this past weekend, there was one Class A, one pop-up, and half a dozen tents along with the permanent/seasonal trailers.
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