Although a decade or two ago hardly anybody in Europe or North America even knew what a yurt was, today yurt camping has become an experience that more and more people are enjoying.
We are not sure why yurts first caught on in the Pacific Northwest, but this area was one of the first to see yurts for rent available in campgrounds, Now there is yurt camping in Washington state and Oregon, and north of the border in B.C. it is really booming. You can camp in a yurt in Goldstream Provincial Park near Victoria, in Riverbend Resort in Parksville, Sould Creek Lodge in Port Renfrew as well as in the towns of Lillooet and Golden British Columbia. There is also yurt camping in Yosemite and Manitoba.
In some campgrounds the yurts come equipped with cooking facilities, a wood or propane stove, hot and cold running water and electricity as well as pots, pans, dishes, cutlery and all of the comforts of home. Others are more like a traditional campsite where you have to haul in your own water, camp stove and Swiss army knife. The fact of the matter is that not matter how luxurious or back to nature rustic you are seeking in a camping experience, you can be happy to do it in a yurt.
We do not know why but being inside a yurt simply feels good. Perhaps it is the roundness and lack of sharp angles. Maybe it is even more deeply psychological as it seems subconsciously safer if there is no place where a person can be cornered. Whatever the cause, individuals who favor the alternative lifestyle have been gravitating toward yurts as places for their special interests. You can find a lot of yoga, healing modalities such as Reiki, meditation, tai chi and martial arts, music, painting and sculpture and similar artistic activities happening inside yurts.
Within the hospitality industry the owners of bed and breakfasts, inns and small hotels and motels are discovering they can expand their number of rooms in a less costly, more environmentally friendly and -- perhaps this is the main selling point -- more unusual and unique manner by setting up yurts. I wonder what a Mongolian nomad would think if he were to stay overnight in a luxury yurt in North America or Europe that was equipped with a television, wireless computer port, mini bar and a hair dryer. Now that would really be yurt camping at its most lavish and extravagant extreme. But it does show how very versatile such an old fashioned concept as a yurt can truly be.