Jason Bleazard wrote:
> On Mon, November 29, 2004 4:32 pm, jon@dakota-truck.net said:
>
>>What would be really cool is if we could get away from an organized
>>campground altogether, or find one that is spread out over many acres
>>with private sites far enough from other people that we won't be
>>running across them. What I think would be ideal, from that
>>perspective is to have the base camp just be on public land somewhere.
>>Unfortunately, that would result in no amenities like access to a
>>shower, RV hookups for you and something like a toilet and running
>>water would be kinda nice too. :-)
>
> I know it sounds like a good idea to a few people to get out and camp in
> the middle of nowhere, but I want to make sure we've all thought very
> carefully about this. Especially those of us bringing wives (or
> girlfriends, as the case may be). You may not mind roughing it, but she
> might. I haven't heard from anyone bringing kids, but that's a
> possibility as well.
No kidding. My other half isn't really up for "roughing it" for very
long. I think an "organized" campground area is probably best for an
event like this. Perhaps one that has cabins and such for people who
*really* don't want to rough it.
> I've camped in the middle of nowhere before. After graduation, four of us
> went out in to the desert, found a flat spot, and pitched tents. For five
> days, the only people we saw were when we had to drive back in to town to
> get more gasoline and water.
I go on a trip like that once a year for a weekend (we leave Friday
morning and come back Sunday afternoon). Middle of nowhere (~2 hours
offroad on unmaintained fire roads to get there), no amenities. It's
fun because there is almost never anyone else around. It does have the
advantage of having plenty of trees (including plenty of dead ones for
firewood) and a creek.
> Here's my idea. We should do our base camp at an organized campground,
> KOA or something along those lines. Make sure we have 24 hour access to
> come and go as we please (some of them have security gates, especially
> near metro areas). When we want to sit around a bonfire and be loud and
> obnoxious, head for the hills and find an empty spot to do so. Then when
> we get tired, we don't have to camp right there, we head back to base
> camp. The drawback is we'll need designated drivers. Or, anyone who is
> so inclined could even pitch tents right there, sleep off whatever has
> been consumed, then head back to base camp to shower and clean up. Just
> because we aren't camping out in the boonies doesn't mean we can't go
> there to visit.
Yeah, rules are basically the main area of suckage when it comes to
organized campgrounds. Another possibility would be to organize one or
two one-night camping trips into the nearby areas. I think most people
would probably be up for one night at a time. Would be pretty
inconvenient to have to haul that much gear around, though.
> Just a thought.
>
> Naturally we'd have to answer the question of access to public land first.
> My experience is based on Utah, I'm assuming Colorado is similar. No
> idea about any of the other states that have been suggested. I haven't
> seen any wide open expanses of public land where you can just go out and
> camp wherever you please in states like New York (maybe there are and I
> missed them).
I don't know much about those states either, but here in Northern
California there is a lot of state and national forest land where you
can go and do just about anything and as long as you aren't disturbing
other people using the land or endangering the forest.
-Bill
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