News 12 at 6 o'clock, June 22, 2009

LAKE THURMOND---With the economy down in the dumps, a popular vacation seems to be slowly on the rise: camping.

Some campgrounds around Lake Thurmond have had a busy season so far--and some have have gotten pretty crowded.

Whether it's the economy, a renewed call to nature or some other reason, the word at many campgrounds in the area is people are coming in droves.

Chuck Holt and his wife don't need much of an excuse to go camping.

"Nice weekend. Didn't have anything else to do." he said.

They recently upgraded from a tent to a small rv to make things a bit more comfy, but they're still fishing, grilling and enjoying the outdoors.

One other change this year Chuck says is the amount of people wanting to do the same thing.

"If you don't book a site a couple of weeks in advance, we're finding you won't get one. Evidently everyone likes to camp." he said.

In fact, they only got they they had this weekend after a last second cancellation.

Rangers at several of the campgrounds around Lake Thurmond say this has been a busy season so far. Campers haven't increased dramatically, but there has been a noticeable rise.

"Camping has been really good for us this year. We're typically fairly busy and we've been beyond that the last few weekends. The campgrounds have been fairly full." Park Ranger Jay Weidman said.

It could be the economy or it could that the lake is near full pool, but either way, more people seem to be setting up tents or rolling up in RVs to ogle the outdoors.

You could do it too and who knows maybe you'll see Chuck.

"We're pretty much out here every weekend when we are not doing something else." he said.

Exact numbers of the increase weren't available.

The increase is not across the board. One Georgia State Parks spokesperson says there have been a few campgrounds that have seen a drop.

We also talked to another campground in South Augusta who has seen a 15 percent drop.