Hit the road for a camping weekend and you might find yourself sharing it with an unusual number of groovy Volkswagen Westfalias and decked out Mercedes Sprinters: Oregonians are 70 percent more likely than the average American camper to call #VanLife their primary form of camping, according to new data on 2024 camping trends from the Dyrt.

Called “the Yelp for campgrounds,” the popular Portland-based app connects users with reviews and photos of campgrounds nationwide. This year, the Dyrt partnered with Toyota to survey 7,000 of those users, plus a representative sample of 1,000 Americans, and campground owners in all 50 states on their camping habits.

CEO Kevin Long attributes Oregon’s pro-van views to the sheer accessibility of camping in the Pacific Northwest. “You get kind of spoiled out here,” Long says, which makes investing big bucks in a purpose-built vehicle more practical (though Oregon campers do cancel trips due to wildfires and other natural disasters more often than most, according to the report). Vintage camper vans with minimal add-ons cost about the same as the average used vehicle—but luxury versions often carry six-figure price tags in their Instagram-ready interiors.

Not that all of us shell out for their backcountry excursions. More Oregon-based campers opt for free campsites, and fewer for pricey RVs, than the nationwide average. Plus, camping only gets cheaper once you’ve invested in the requisite equipment. “The hardest thing about camping is doing it for the first time,” Long says.

Last year alone, the report estimates, 5.5 million Americans did just that. It’s a vacation option that appeals to a variety of tastes, from hardcore backpackers, to glampers, to solo campers (33.5 percent of Oregonians go it alone, slightly more than the national average). 

Even feline friends occasionally tag along: 7.2 percent of Oregonians camp with their cats, compared with the 5.2 percent nationwide average. “That’s coming from Portland,” Long says. “We all know it.”