Online community connects thousands around North Dakota campfires

MANDAN, N.D. — More than three years ago, Mandan native Chad Hatzenbuhler started a Facebook group dedicated to sharing information about various campgrounds throughout North Dakota.

Since then,

Camping in North Dakota

has grown to nearly 15,000 members who offer insight, tips, tricks and general information for fellow camping enthusiasts looking to enjoy the great outdoors.

The group’s membership grew slowly at first, although an increase in popularity for camping activities spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic bumped up the numbers. It wasn’t until 2021 that the group really took off — jumping to members in the thousands.

“My family and I are big camping enthusiasts, and we love connecting with other people about camping,” Hatzenbuhler said. “This whole community has grown simply through recommendations and word of mouth.”

As a way to encourage more activity and discussion in the group’s early days, Hatzenbuhler posted a photo of his campsite after he arrived at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park and asked others to post where they were. When he discovered that a member of the group was staying at the same park, he and his family decided to spontaneously gift them with s’mores ingredients.

That sparked an idea to approach a local business about sponsoring

Camping in North Dakota

Yeti coffee mugs that Hatzenbuhler could distribute to members who also happened to be camping where he was. Fortunately, he has connections with Corral Sales RV Superstore in Mandan — his father-in-law is the owner — so the business decided to support his effort to grow the group.

“When I started the group, my father-in-law wondered why I was doing it, but now he’s seen the community we’ve created,” Hatzenbuhler explained.

The connections he was making by meeting members in real life also inspired him to create a

Camping in North Dakota membership sticker program

so members could purchase a decal to display on their vehicle or camper.

“It’s like a welcome message to other people and is a way to find other members in the same campground,” he said.

To make sure the online community is just as welcoming, Hatzenbuhler established a simple screening process to join the group that asks where a prospective member lives and where they like to camp.

“The screening helps us keep the purpose of the group true to its target audience; we don’t want spammers or bots joining the group,” he said. “With more than 80% of members from North Dakota and the rest living in nearby states, we can keep the group authentic and true to its purpose of serving real Midwestern people who love camping.”

If someone happens to share something negative or mean, Hatzenbuhler or his wife, Amanda, may remove the comment and reach out to the person about keeping comments positive and clean.

“Camping is all about having fun, so we want to keep the group focused on that,” he said.

Member Terry Lynn Johnson, who joined soon after it formed, remarked how positive the group is and always has been.

“It’s such a positive community,” she shared. “This group is all about getting to know people and finding out all sorts of places to visit.”

Johnson said the first winter she was a member of the group, she and her husband would take day trips to drive from their home in Surrey, near Minot, to campgrounds recommended by other members to scout places where they planned to camp once summer arrived.

“We must have checked out 40-50 campgrounds on this side of the state,” she said. “We’ve really enjoyed what this group has done to create this kind of community.”

In fact, they discovered a beautiful campground called

Carbury Recreation Area near Bottineau

that was “absolutely beautiful” in the fall; they plan to visit Carbury again this year. “We’ve found many other campgrounds we never expected to find,” she said.

Johnson and her husband were members who were once surprised by the Hatzenbuhlers with a gift while camping at

Wylie Park in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

She was inspired and decided to do that same thing for members who happened to be staying at

Fort Stevenson State Park near Garrison.

“I’m a crafter, so I often make six to 10 of something and will give them to other members who are staying at Fort Stevenson,” she said. “Campers are kind of like a village; if a kid falls off his bike in front of your camper, you go out and help him up.”

That sense of community has led to other ways to connect with members. Hatzenbuhler recently created the

Camping in South Dakota Facebook Group,

which has nearly 1,000 members.

North Dakota group member Dave Witkowski, who also serves as the campground host at

Fort Ransom State Park near Lisbon,

hosts a Saturday morning coffee hour that often brings together members of the group in real life. The gathering has become so popular with campers that the North Dakota Department of Parks & Recreation awarded him and his wife Robbin with a Volunteer of the Year award last year.

“It’s something I want to do for the people who stay here with us,” he said. “A friend I know through the group comes here twice or three times a year, and he’s always talking about #coffeewithdave. He even made up a T-shirt for himself and his wife and they showed me last week.”

Hatzenbuhler loves hearing stories like Witkowski’s, whom he considers a good friend now. He said he’s made a lot of new friends through the group, and exploring new campgrounds even inspired him and his family to relocate from Mandan to Aberdeen after camping at Wylie Park so many summers and discovering the community beyond the campground.

“We just fell in love with Aberdeen,” he said. Hatzenbuhler now works for

Northern State University as the director of communications and marketing.

He is using his professional expertise to see other ways of growing a camping community online, like establishing an Instagram page where he offers recommendations on products for camping, partnering with the state parks and recreation departments, and maybe planning an annual camping event for members.

“This whole group is really an evolving thing that has snowballed into something much bigger,” he said. “My mission for the group is that I want you to go out and enjoy camping and sharing your adventures, share your experiences with all of us.”

Danielle Teigen has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and management communication as well as a master’s degree in mass communication from North Dakota State University. She has worked for Forum Communications since May 2015, first as a digital content manager before becoming the Life section editor and then deputy editor. In 2020, Danielle recently moved back to her hometown in South Dakota, where she works remotely for Forum Communications as managing editor of On the Minds of Moms as well as writes occasional news and history stories.