r/camping vs r/backpacking
Side-by-side using public descriptions, members, growth and rule titles from SubMouse. Missing fields show as n/a. Adult communities are excluded.
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Related to r/camping
Related to r/backpacking
Campsite camping vs backpacking trip reports
r/camping is for campers focused on the act of camping more than long-distance hiking or ultralight gear—primarily tent/hammock camping, with no RV camping. r/backpacking’s collected rules require Wilderness or Travel tags and a short paragraph describing your trip.
Both have SubMouse pages at similar scale (camping about 5.6M, rank #153; backpacking about 5.5M, rank #157). Activity samples mix text with galleries/images at roughly 23 vs 21 posts per day.
Collected short rule titles separate the activities. camping: stay on topic; trip details required; no RV camping; ads/blogs limits; OC only. backpacking: tag Wilderness or Travel; include a short trip paragraph; self-promo limits; OC photos/videos; be helpful. Post car-camping and campsite questions to camping; post multi-day pack-carried wilderness or travel routes to backpacking. (Hiking-focused trail talk may fit elsewhere—see hiking vs CampingandHiking.)
- r/camping: tent/hammock camping; no RVs; trip details required (collected titles).
- r/backpacking: Wilderness/Travel tagged trip reports with a short description (collected titles).
- Nearby sizes, different kits. Both have full SubMouse community pages.
Written comparison based on public descriptions and rule titles · updated 2026-11-06.
r/camping
r/Camping
A subreddit for campers concerned more about the act of camping and less concerned about hiking long distances or light gear. Primarily for tent/hammock camping. No RV camping here.
- Members
- 5.6M
- 7-day growth
- +1.4K
- Posts/day
- 22.8
- Directory rank
- #153
- Created
- Jul 18, 2008
- Submissions
- Text or links
Sample mix: text posts 48%, galleries 33%, images 12%
Topics: Camping
Rule titles (short names we collected)
- Stay On Topic
- Be Nice
- Trip Details Required
- No RV Camping
- Ads, blogs, websites
- No Reposts, OC Only
- No Surveys
- No Short Links
Open r/camping on SubMouse
r/backpacking
No public description in our directory.
- Members
- 5.5M
- 7-day growth
- n/a
- Posts/day
- 21.4
- Directory rank
- #157
- Created
- n/a
- Submissions
- Text or links
Sample mix: text posts 70%, galleries 17%, images 9%
Topics: Travel
Rule titles (short names we collected)
- All posts tagged "Wilderness" or "Travel"
- Submissions must include a short paragraph describing your trip.
- Self Promotion and Blog(Spam)
- All photos and videos must be Original Content
- Be helpful. Don't use strong swear words.
Open r/backpacking on SubMouse
Supported differences
| Aspect | r/camping | r/backpacking |
|---|
| Public focus (from each community’s public description) |
A subreddit for campers concerned more about the act of camping and less concerned about hiking long distances or light gear. Primarily for tent/hammock camping. No RV camping here. |
n/a |
| Size r/camping is larger in our directory. |
5.6M members |
5.5M members |
| Posting activity (our sample) |
22.8/day |
21.4/day |
| Common post types in our sample |
text posts 48%, galleries 33%, images 12% |
text posts 70%, galleries 17%, images 9% |
| Topic tags on SubMouse |
Camping |
Travel |
| Selected rule titles (short names we collected) |
Stay On Topic; Be Nice; Trip Details Required; No RV Camping; Ads, blogs, websites |
All posts tagged "Wilderness" or "Travel"; Submissions must include a short paragraph describing your trip.; Self Promotion and Blog(Spam); All photos and videos must be Original Content; Be helpful. Don't use strong swear words. |
Rules and tone we can verify
camping: Stay On Topic; Be Nice; Trip Details Required; No RV Camping; Ads, blogs, websites; No Reposts, OC Only. backpacking: All posts tagged Wilderness or Travel; submissions must include a short paragraph describing your trip; self-promotion/blogspam limits; OC photos and videos; be helpful.
Where this comparison comes from
Public descriptions and member counts from SubMouse’s safe-for-work directory. Short rule titles and activity samples collected for both. Short titles only.
Members and public descriptions come from SubMouse's safe-for-work directory (as of 2026-11-02 UTC); 7-day growth measured from 2026-10-26. Posts/day and post-type mixes appear when we have an activity sample. Rule lines are short titles, not the full sidebar. Directory rank is listing order — communities outside the current Top 100 open in the info tool instead of a full community page.