View Full Version : camping near roads
Someone in another thread advised the OP not to camp near a road in order to avoid being harassed by non-hikers/campers. For the record, I totally agree. I've had to camp near a road before and was concerned about it all night, despite the fact that nobody payed me a bit of attention. I was wondering, though, if any of you have had an actual run-in with some unsavory character or have had some otherwise unpleasant experience while camping near a road that you would be willing to share...?
max patch
10-09-2009, 11:17
Back when the old Stover Creek shelter was right on usfs 42 a couple miles south of Springer I was in the shelter with 5 of my friends when a car stopped about 11:00 pm and 3 young men -- all drunk -- got out, walked to the shelter, and asked if we knew how to get to Doraville (a suburb of Atlanta about 100 miles away). This was 4 of my friends first time on the AT; scared them to death.
Not only can it be unwise, there are places where it is specifically prohibited including Pennsylvania State Game Lands, where only A.T. through hikers are permitted to camp and then only 500 feet from public access areas. Yes, that does mean only through hikers are permitted to camp in shelters on SGLs, but there are only 2 of them and the term as defined by Pennsylvania Code is different from conventional usage.
I will edit and post the link later today.
Tipi Walter
10-09-2009, 11:24
One time I was stealth camping in a small town by a creek in the treeline and it was in the middle of winter so in the morning I got up and left camp to sit in the sun for awhile to do some morning yoga. In the distance some people saw me sitting still and thought I was "tied up" and called the police. They came to check me out and we exchanged information, or at least I gave them mine. Have a nice day.
Another time I was stealthing it on top of a little hill inside a bunch of laurel with a road nearby. About 3 in the morning I woke up in my tent and heard a police radio. A cop drove up and parked and sat in his car for several minutes before leaving but he never saw me or my tent.
One time I was bedroll sleeping under a big maple tree next to a church in the middle of a small town when around midnight shouting and yelling started a hundred feet away in some apartments and gunfire broke out. Pistol shoots. I scurried behind the big tree.
One time in Millers Creek, NC I was visiting a friend in a trailer court and set up my tent next to his trailer. A neighbor called the police as I sat next to my tent in yoga and a deputy spun gravel in a big donut around me and jumped out and yelled, "Where do you belong!!" I said, "You're looking at it!!" We worked out the details.
TWO KINDS OF CAMPS
There are two kinds of car-close camps, those near well known camping spots like on the AT or in the National Forest, and those in random brush and treelines which get no foot traffic, especially at night. One time I was hitching interstate 40 and it got dark so I moved a hundred feet off the road and into some trees around sunset. Set up the tent but other than the traffic noise I might as well have been in the middle of Glacier NP.
When the Rolling Couch Potatoes know about a spot, like on the AT with a shelter very close to the road, they come in with their usual useless detritus, litter, alcohol and noise and well, it's my least favorite place to camp. Maybe not as bad as under an 18 wheeler outside an airport in Sacramento, but bad enough to not seek it out. And you always know when the pitiful rolling couch potatoes are out and about, they leave their turd piles and stained toilet paper.
brooklynkayak
10-09-2009, 11:24
The most common problem is that drunk parties form in camping areas near roads. That means no sleep, possible vandalism or theft and rarely violent encounters.
These areas are also places where homeless people hang out, a small percentage have mental disorders that can lead to violence.
Examples that have happened to friends:
1) Shooting fireworks near the tent
2) Stolen stove fuel
3) Gun shots
4) Being woken up several times by people looking for booze or cigarettes
5) Name calling and threats
6) Waking up to the trash left behind
Camping near bodies of water can be a problem if power boats are allowed.Power boaters can be as bad as car campers.
Alligator
10-09-2009, 11:28
I had some locals running coon hounds while they drove up and down the road in their truck and later that night a gang of young people partying about 25 yards from me near a forest road in VA. I knew better but it was a late winter afternoon and I thought it best to stop.
Trailweaver
10-09-2009, 11:29
I camped near USFS 42 one night without knowing it and about 9:00 I heard a group of people - obviously drinking/drunk - come in and set up a camp below me. I was afraid they'd discover me later so I stayed very low profile until mid morning. I heard them pack up and leave a little later. I hiked on northbound and discovered where they had been - a campsite they'd made for themselves in one of the clearings along the road. It was covered in beer cans, food wrappers, etc. I'm so glad they never knew I was there. I was alone that night (I'm female) and there were at least 4-5 of them.
Many Walks
10-09-2009, 11:35
I recently posted the advice on another thread. While thru hiking we stopped for the night near a place where three roads met. Lots of great campsites there, but while we were leery it was time to stop so we took the chance. About 2:00 AM a car came by, spotted our tent and and backed up. They drove off the road about 50' to within 20' from our tent and parked there with their headlights shining on us. We waited for them to get out and approach or shoot at the tent, but after sitting for 15 minutes and doing nothing they just backed out and left. No real harm was done, and I've no doubt others have experienced much worse in similar situations. We believe it's just wise to avoid such places no matter how good the campsites look. Hope this advice helps someone in the future.
Tipi Walter
10-09-2009, 11:38
The most common problem is that drunk parties form in camping areas near roads. That means no sleep, possible vandalism or theft and rarely violent encounters.
These areas are also places where homeless people hang out, a small percentage have mental disorders that can lead to violence.
Examples that have happened to friends:
1) Shooting fireworks near the tent
2) Stolen stove fuel
3) Gun shots
4) Being woken up several times by people looking for booze or cigarettes
5) Name calling and threats
6) Waking up to the trash left behind
Camping near bodies of water can be a problem if power boats are allowed.Power boaters can be as bad as car campers.
The gas guzzling car-addicted drunks think they're getting their god-given nature fix by hauling out a case of beer into the woods for the night and so they dance around the fire in their mis-shapened chortling daze, but they are incredibly easy to avoid, mostly, just by pumping some nylon deeper into the woods. Most of the places I go backpacking would kill your normal inbred road-craving campfire loving drunk.
Most homeless people like to sleep in town and under bushes or behind churches or up on a hill overlooking a town. They hardly ever carry any gear worth a good night in the woods although one time I was in the Conehead forest many years ago during a "backpacking trip" and stumbled in on an old homeless camp in the middle of a clump of rhodo. Chairs, an old foam mattress, etc.
Another time I was camping atop, yes, a hill overlooking a town, when in the middle of the night(it's always in the middle of the night), a homeless drunk showed up and didn't see me in my bivy sac under a bush. He yelled out, "God! Why don't you come to me!! Where are you!!" and a few seconds later I felt a wallet hit me in the face. He flung it threw the air in a fit of renunciation and it happened to hit me.
Tipi Walter
10-09-2009, 11:53
I had some locals running coon hounds while they drove up and down the road in their truck and later that night a gang of young people partying about 25 yards from me near a forest road in VA. I knew better but it was a late winter afternoon and I thought it best to stop.
What amazes me are the number of backpackers I meet in the middle of nowhere(i.e.wilderness)who are humping booze in one form or another. The two worst encounters I've had of late were in the Slickrock wilderness up at about 5,000 feet in the middle of winter storms.
FIRST GROUP OF MISCREANTS
The first group of about 4 came up in 10F weather and passed by my camp and then started arguing about how to set up their tents. Then one of them pulled out a radio with speakers and turned it on so I introduced myself and told them to pay attention and turn the stupid thing off. Be men and go w/o for a night, etc.
While all this was going on they pulled out their pacifiers and started nursing their whiskey and rum. And of course, it was an earplug night as they chortled, whined, yelled, screamed, and hollared into the cold air. The next morning I got up early and thought about making some payback noise like yelling and whining but it was too cold to do anything but cook up oatmeal.
SECOND GROUP MORE OF THE SAME
A group of six backpackers pulled into a high elevation camp after parking about 4 miles away and proceeded to pull out their alcoholic teats and start sucking. A blizzard with fierce winter winds came in but this didn't stop their all night heaving yells and screams. I woke up with all my hair pulled out, my ears chewed off, and one earplug pushed into my brain. Anything to stop the incessant baying of the inebriated mongolians.
Gray Blazer
10-09-2009, 11:57
What amazes me are the number of backpackers I meet in the middle of nowhere(i.e.wilderness)who are humping booze in one form or another. The two worst encounters I've had of late were in the Slickrock wilderness up at about 5,000 feet in the middle of winter storms.
FIRST GROUP OF MISCREANTS
The first group of about 4 came up in 10F weather and passed by my camp and then started arguing about how to set up their tents. Then one of them pulled out a radio with speakers and turned it on so I introduced myself and told them to pay attention and turn the stupid thing off. Be men and go w/o for a night, etc.
While all this was going on they pulled out their pacifiers and started nursing their whiskey and rum. And of course, it was an earplug night as they chortled, whined, yelled, screamed, and hollared into the cold air. The next morning I got up early and thought about making some payback noise like yelling and whining but it was too cold to do anything but cook up oatmeal.
SECOND GROUP MORE OF THE SAME
A group of six backpackers pulled into a high elevation camp after parking about 4 miles away and proceeded to pull out their alcoholic teats and start sucking. A blizzard with fierce winter winds came in but this didn't stop their all night heaving yells and screams. I woke up with all my hair pulled out, my ears chewed off, and one earplug pushed into my brain. Anything to stop the incessant baying of the inebriated mongolians.
Sorry, I didn't know that was you.
Tipi Walter
10-09-2009, 12:01
Sorry, I didn't know that was you.
Hmmm . . . .
Alligator
10-09-2009, 12:03
What amazes me are the number of backpackers I meet in the middle of nowhere(i.e.wilderness)who are humping booze in one form or another. The two worst encounters I've had of late were in the Slickrock wilderness up at about 5,000 feet in the middle of winter storms.
FIRST GROUP OF MISCREANTS
The first group of about 4 came up in 10F weather and passed by my camp and then started arguing about how to set up their tents. Then one of them pulled out a radio with speakers and turned it on so I introduced myself and told them to pay attention and turn the stupid thing off. Be men and go w/o for a night, etc.
While all this was going on they pulled out their pacifiers and started nursing their whiskey and rum. And of course, it was an earplug night as they chortled, whined, yelled, screamed, and hollared into the cold air. The next morning I got up early and thought about making some payback noise like yelling and whining but it was too cold to do anything but cook up oatmeal.
SECOND GROUP MORE OF THE SAME
A group of six backpackers pulled into a high elevation camp after parking about 4 miles away and proceeded to pull out their alcoholic teats and start sucking. A blizzard with fierce winter winds came in but this didn't stop their all night heaving yells and screams. I woke up with all my hair pulled out, my ears chewed off, and one earplug pushed into my brain. Anything to stop the incessant baying of the inebriated mongolians.This a camping near roads thread;).
Most of the places I go backpacking would kill your normal inbred, road-craving, campfire-loving, drunk.
It's a good thing too. Wildfires near roads started by drunks are easier to extinguish and are more likely to be caught early.
Most people know what happens when fire and alcohol are mixed. Drunks forget. Beyond a certain point, they don't drive well either. Actually, there isn't much they do well, save for maybe make asses of themselves and cause problems for other people.
saimyoji
10-09-2009, 13:52
What amazes me are the number of backpackers I meet in the middle of nowhere(i.e.wilderness)who are humping booze in one form or another. The two worst encounters I've had of late were in the Slickrock wilderness up at about 5,000 feet in the middle of winter storms.
FIRST GROUP OF MISCREANTS
The first group of about 4 came up in 10F weather and passed by my camp and then started arguing about how to set up their tents. Then one of them pulled out a radio with speakers and turned it on so I introduced myself and told them to pay attention and turn the stupid thing off. Be men and go w/o for a night, etc.
While all this was going on they pulled out their pacifiers and started nursing their whiskey and rum. And of course, it was an earplug night as they chortled, whined, yelled, screamed, and hollared into the cold air. The next morning I got up early and thought about making some payback noise like yelling and whining but it was too cold to do anything but cook up oatmeal.
SECOND GROUP MORE OF THE SAME
A group of six backpackers pulled into a high elevation camp after parking about 4 miles away and proceeded to pull out their alcoholic teats and start sucking. A blizzard with fierce winter winds came in but this didn't stop their all night heaving yells and screams. I woke up with all my hair pulled out, my ears chewed off, and one earplug pushed into my brain. Anything to stop the incessant baying of the inebriated mongolians.
i never would have pegged you as a tea-totaler. :rolleyes:
Tipi Walter
10-09-2009, 14:32
i never would have pegged you as a tea-totaler. :rolleyes:
We're all addicts in one form or another. Nature-addicts, food addicts, couch addicts, gossip addicts, comfort addicts, ego addicts, etc etc. I was a non-backpacking booze hound back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but even back then my infant brain told me to stop. A little voice said, "You'll be dead by 35" and so I quit. I know, this has nothing to do with camping by a road. Or does it?
Tonight (I leave in about an hour) I'll be camping by a road: about 50' from a road that is now a parking lot for a MtBike trail. I have camped there many times before, its where I stay when working my weekend job at the fair for several reasons: I live 55 miles one way from work, It's quieter than staying on site, It's free.
I know it is not a through road. I know I'm well hidden. I know that even if they saw me, the people that use this lot won't bother me. I know the Rangers regularly patrol this lot/dead end road. I know its NOT a party site.
I still don't sleep as well as I do far from the road or in my back yard. In part because I am so close to the road, even taking in to consideration all I know above, it is still enough to put me on edge if just a little bit.
I have been camping in the exact same spot (same 2 trees) for at least 3 years, so I know the site well. Based on my experience there, I think I will never camp near a road that I don't know the area. Even if that means a longer hiking day to find a suitable spot to hang.
dreamsoftrails
10-09-2009, 19:54
The gas guzzling car-addicted drunks think they're getting their god-given nature fix by hauling out a case of beer into the woods for the night and so they dance around the fire in their mis-shapened chortling daze, but they are incredibly easy to avoid, mostly, just by pumping some nylon deeper into the woods. Most of the places I go backpacking would kill your normal inbred road-craving campfire loving drunk.
.
it sounds like you have something against beer drinkers.
some of the best parties my crowd had in high school was out near hawk mt, on the AT. not the shelter, but one of the clearings that the trail scoots by.
we had no more or less a right to go out there and hang out as you do on your yoga trips or extended hikes. its out there for people to enjoy so long as they respect it. a pile of beer cans hardly qualifies. the next group will get it.
your nylong humping trips are no more special than a group of high school kids enjoying the woods. get used to it.
dreamsoftrails
10-09-2009, 20:02
Most of the places I go backpacking would kill your normal inbred road-craving campfire loving drunk.
What amazes me are the number of backpackers I meet in the middle of nowhere(i.e.wilderness)who are humping booze in one form or another. The two worst encounters I've had of late were in the Slickrock wilderness up at about 5,000 feet in the middle of winter storms.
sorry, just had to point this out. sounds like your rugged adventures aren't so far off the beaten path afterall.
just pokin fun at ya pal.
Tipi Walter
10-09-2009, 22:21
we had no more or less a right to go out there and hang out as you do on your yoga trips or extended hikes. its out there for people to enjoy so long as they respect it. a pile of beer cans hardly qualifies. the next group will get it.
your nylong humping trips are no more special than a group of high school kids enjoying the woods. get used to it.
"The next group will get it" about sums it up for me.
I like beer drinkers... much better than people that can not handle their booze and condemn everyone that can. Not everyone acts like a fool w/ a little alcohol in them. Yoga? How do you do that with a can of beer in your hand? Semi-kidding !
dreamsoftrails
10-09-2009, 23:18
I like beer drinkers... much better than people that can not handle their booze and condemn everyone that can. Not everyone acts like a fool w/ a little alcohol in them. Yoga? How do you do that with a can of beer in your hand? Semi-kidding !
some of the best folks and best times i have had on the trail have been running into others sharing booze. i don't really see what the big deal is, and as far as i have seen its the norm.
i dont really fear the 'wild road craving boozers' at the road crossings.
some of the best folks and best times i have had on the trail have been running into others sharing booze. i don't really see what the big deal is, and as far as i have seen its the norm.
i dont really fear the 'wild road craving boozers' at the road crossings.
Well said,I agree with you 100 % . The self-important folks are the ones that really annoy me the most.
Tipi Walter
10-10-2009, 08:18
Well said,I agree with you 100 % . The self-important folks are the ones that really annoy me the most.
Let me get this straight. So if you're camping near a trailhead by the side of the road and in the middle of the night someone drives up and does donuts around your tent and fires off random gunshots while yelling and screaming, you'll most be worried about the self-important folks?
Hasn't anybody backpacked to a favorite campsite and found a smoking firepit filled with burning food and 12 beer cans stashed under a rock overhang?
Or went into a wilderness and set up camp along a pristine creek and walked upstream to find a totally trashed camp with a giant wad of clear plastic and a firering filled with wet clothing, a wet bag of Wonder bread, a couple Jim Beam bottles and other garbage?
These are all signs of the inebriated human interacting with the woods as if a visit to the outdoors is a perfect excuse to whoop it up and overindulge. Granted, there are some here and there that "drink responsibly", and I have met many solo backpackers who carry a flask and scurry away at nightfall to the warmth of their tent. It's when they gather in groups and add alcohol to the mix that the noise levels go way up. Am I the only one who has been kept up all night by the bellowing drunks around a firepit? I guess so.
Big Dawg
10-10-2009, 08:22
don't camp near Catpen Gap.:eek: nuff said.
dreamsoftrails
10-10-2009, 09:35
Let me get this straight. So if you're camping near a trailhead by the side of the road and in the middle of the night someone drives up and does donuts around your tent and fires off random gunshots while yelling and screaming, you'll most be worried about the self-important folks?
i definitely don't make a habit of this.
Hasn't anybody backpacked to a favorite campsite and found a smoking firepit filled with burning food and 12 beer cans stashed under a rock overhang? nope.
Or went into a wilderness and set up camp along a pristine creek and walked upstream to find a totally trashed camp with a giant wad of clear plastic and a firering filled with wet clothing, a wet bag of Wonder bread, a couple Jim Beam bottles and other garbage? nope
These are all signs of the inebriated human interacting with the woods as if a visit to the outdoors is a perfect excuse to whoop it up and overindulge. Granted, there are some here and there that "drink responsibly", and I have met many solo backpackers who carry a flask and scurry away at nightfall to the warmth of their tent. It's when they gather in groups and add alcohol to the mix that the noise levels go way up. Am I the only one who has been kept up all night by the bellowing drunks around a firepit? I guess so.
the only time i have been kept up by drunks is when camping near a road. it was my own fault for doing so. on that trip, i traversed 30 miles of trail and chose to stay at the one camping area where the road was. i asked for it.
however, didn't you say most of your trips took you where the 'road craving inbred' would die if he tried hike? because you sure have a lot of stories otherwise.
I hate a drunk, when I'm sober...when I'm drunk, I hate sober people.
MintakaCat
10-10-2009, 10:20
Tipi, let’s look at some of what you’ve said:
Rolling Couch Potatoes
gas guzzling car-addicted drunks
While all this was going on they pulled out their pacifiers and started nursing their whiskey and rum.
Could it be that maybe in some of these encounters these people sense your anger and are a little defensive? Just asking.
Let me get this straight. So if you're camping near a trailhead by the side of the road and in the middle of the night someone drives up and does donuts around your tent and fires off random gunshots while yelling and screaming, you'll most be worried about the self-important folks?
Hasn't anybody backpacked to a favorite campsite and found a smoking firepit filled with burning food and 12 beer cans stashed under a rock overhang?
Or went into a wilderness and set up camp along a pristine creek and walked upstream to find a totally trashed camp with a giant wad of clear plastic and a firering filled with wet clothing, a wet bag of Wonder bread, a couple Jim Beam bottles and other garbage?
These are all signs of the inebriated human interacting with the woods as if a visit to the outdoors is a perfect excuse to whoop it up and overindulge. Granted, there are some here and there that "drink responsibly", and I have met many solo backpackers who carry a flask and scurry away at nightfall to the warmth of their tent. It's when they gather in groups and add alcohol to the mix that the noise levels go way up. Am I the only one who has been kept up all night by the bellowing drunks around a firepit? I guess so.
It is quite obvious you hate acohol for some reason,and yes I would rather be around somone under the influence of rather than some self-important fool.:rolleyes: Alcohol drinkers are much more honest than the ego dudes by far. You can be anyone you want on the internet or the trail,who is there to prove you wrong?
Wise Old Owl
10-30-2009, 10:46
Another time I was camping atop, yes, a hill overlooking a town, when in the middle of the night(it's always in the middle of the night), a homeless drunk showed up and didn't see me in my bivy sac under a bush. He yelled out, "God! Why don't you come to me!! Where are you!!" and a few seconds later I felt a wallet hit me in the face. He flung it threw the air in a fit of renunciation and it happened to hit me.
Tipi if you were steath camping and you replied at that moment with something like....Stop yelling son...Can't you tell I'm busy?:-?
Mudcap, I can honestly say folks at bars that are social drinkers do not like drunks.
Must be a southerner thing. I've camped by roads dozens of times in NJ, NY, CT, MA, VT and NH.
Jester2000
10-30-2009, 11:48
It's a good thing too. Wildfires near roads started by drunks are easier to extinguish and are more likely to be caught early.
Most people know what happens when fire and alcohol are mixed. Drunks forget. Beyond a certain point, they don't drive well either. Actually, there isn't much they do well, save for maybe make asses of themselves and cause problems for other people.
This is why I do all of my drunk fire juggling near roads.
. . . Hasn't anybody backpacked to a favorite campsite and found a smoking firepit filled with burning food and 12 beer cans stashed under a rock overhang?
Or went into a wilderness and set up camp along a pristine creek and walked upstream to find a totally trashed camp with a giant wad of clear plastic and a firering filled with wet clothing, a wet bag of Wonder bread, a couple Jim Beam bottles and other garbage?
These are all signs of the inebriated human interacting with the woods as if a visit to the outdoors is a perfect excuse to whoop it up and overindulge. Granted, there are some here and there that "drink responsibly", and I have met many solo backpackers who carry a flask and scurry away at nightfall to the warmth of their tent. It's when they gather in groups and add alcohol to the mix that the noise levels go way up. Am I the only one who has been kept up all night by the bellowing drunks around a firepit? I guess so.
Sorry about the Jim Beam bottles.
Actually, they're all just signs of people with no respect for the environment or other people. And I've met many people like this who don't drink. It's a fallacy to find one common thread in some of your experiences (because I'm sure you've found poorly treated campsites where no alcohol bottles were present) and use that as proof of causation. There are jerks who drink. There are jerks who don't. I've met both kinds close to and far away from roads.
I could regale you all with tales of my friends and I getting (slightly) more drunk than planned (probably due to altitude) in the Sierra far from any road, and how we bothered no one. But this is a thread about roads, so here's my take:
Camping near roads is, generally speaking, a bad idea. There may be times when you choose to do it -- because you want to nearo into and out of town, or because you're exhausted and there happens to be a road close to the end of your day.
But if you're the kind of person who complains about the many, many times you've been kept awake by people near roads, then you're also the kind of person who chooses not to learn.
Two experiences:
Heading into Kent, I stop for a moment at the last shelter before the road. There's no gear there, but there's an unattended fire right next to a tree with a sign on it saying "No Fires Allowed." So I put out the fire. As I hit the road I see two cars, and people unloading gear, getting ready to haul it up the hill. These people weren't drunk, at least not yet. But they were morons. I was glad I wasn't staying at that shelter.
While Southbounding the Long Trail, two other hikers and I were tucked away in the back of Governor Clement Shelter, starting to drift off to sleep after a long day. Three cars and a truck full of teenagers and two kegs pulled up and started unloading. We emerged from the darkness of the inside of the shelter and unintentionally scared the crap out of them. After explaining that we were exhausted from a 25 mile day and asking if there was some other place around they could party instead, the teens apologized, packed up, and moved off to a spot far enough away that we weren't bothered by them (but close enough that they invited us to walk over to it if we wanted a beer).
Got a good night's sleep, and bumped into Baltimore Jack heading northbound on the AT the next day. We stopped and got pleasantly drunk together on the trail in the middle of the day.
Wise Old Owl
10-30-2009, 11:52
Must be a southerner thing. I've camped by roads dozens of times in NJ, NY, CT, MA, VT and NH.
Yep... No I won't do it... I need a stream and 500 feet from the trail.
Here in PA.NJ.NY.MD
sheepdog
10-30-2009, 12:22
Must be a southerner thing. I've camped by roads dozens of times in NJ, NY, CT, MA, VT and NH.
Yep, the only thing you have to worry about is people dumping dead bodies, :eek:
Yep, the only thing you have to worry about is people dumping dead bodies, :eek:
Ain't never been a murder on the trail north of PA :rolleyes:
Wise Old Owl
10-30-2009, 15:24
Can't post one word answers.... YET!
Camping near a road does have it's benefits.
http://www.youtube.com/v/7XsaCuGFy9M&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param
:)
Wise Old Owl
11-15-2009, 23:16
This thread was so wrong on so many different levels......................... now for the one level that wasn't mentioned- two words Politics and Mrs Cliton.... oops forgot to run the spell check.
I know better....I know better than to camp near a road. On the AT, we were so careful. In Arkansas, we are so careful. Last weekend, our hiker group of women were inthe Mark Twain National Forest in southwest Missouri and camped miles from anything but near a gravel road a a tiny campsite at a trailhead. Friday night, kids in a pick up. Apparently pretty funny but I slept thru it. Saturday night, at two am, unnerving and scary since it was men in a pickup and angry cursing. I had a bad feeling about that place. I would never have camped there alone. But we got careless in a group. Never. Again.
TimeSnake
11-16-2009, 23:15
Deffinately do not camp near roads, especially in the south. Also avoid powerlines, for trucks and atvs can usually have access. In PA at a shelter near near some lines we had some midnight visitors back roading, blaring their sound systems. Bottom line is avoid camping near roads, or atv accesssable intersecting trails as well as short side trails to trail heads and roads.
ShelterLeopard
11-17-2009, 01:06
it sounds like you have something against beer drinkers.
some of the best parties my crowd had in high school was out near hawk mt, on the AT. not the shelter, but one of the clearings that the trail scoots by.
we had no more or less a right to go out there and hang out as you do on your yoga trips or extended hikes. its out there for people to enjoy so long as they respect it. a pile of beer cans hardly qualifies. the next group will get it.
your nylong humping trips are no more special than a group of high school kids enjoying the woods. get used to it.
I'm pretty much with Tipi on this. Drinking on trail is totally fine by me, if people can control themselves and not be total ********. (And if they share ;) ). But seriously, a bunch of drunken idiots who set fire to the woods or leave trash everywhere do not have as much of a right to be there, because they don't respect the area or practice any semblance of LNT and they disturb everyone else.
Quiet, clean well behaved drunks who respect hiker midnight are fine.
Sir-Packs-Alot
12-13-2009, 13:26
Interesting how our perspective changes to that of the animals in the woods after hiking a few weeks, huh? With that, I mean - I'm not afraid of the trail, woods, bears, etc. - but I am a bit afraid when I come to a road crossing alone at night and a pickup truck full of drunk local kids screeches to a halt and starts rapidly backing up towards me. I hike quickly across the road and up into the woods out of sight as if I were a deer! If the shelter or campsite is close to a major road and you are alone in fairly comfy weather - think twice about perhaps moving on a bit further into the woods.
Tipi Walter
12-13-2009, 14:51
Interesting how our perspective changes to that of the animals in the woods after hiking a few weeks, huh? With that, I mean - I'm not afraid of the trail, woods, bears, etc. - but I am a bit afraid when I come to a road crossing alone at night and a pickup truck full of drunk local kids screeches to a halt and starts rapidly backing up towards me. I hike quickly across the road and up into the woods out of sight as if I were a deer! If the shelter or campsite is close to a major road and you are alone in fairly comfy weather - think twice about perhaps moving on a bit further into the woods.
I wish I had the quote on hand, a good thing by Doug Peacock of grizzly fame who spent months at a time around the Yellowstone. He carried a white sheet so when he was backpacking in the snow and a plane or helicopter flew over, he ran to a bush and covered himself and his gear with the white sheet.
Of course, he was a piece of work. An ex-green beret and Nam vet(medic), he used to say he never told people where he was headed in the woods cuz he didn't want to be rescued.
He had a good description of attempting to cross the main tourist road thru Yellowstone. He would wait and listen for the dreaded RVs. Then, when the coast was clear, he'd scramble across like a sapper. Good training for stealth campers and guys wanting their privacy. Nothing worse than being spotted by the Rolling Couch Potatoes or the Incoming Dayhikers.
Chaco Taco
12-14-2009, 09:22
Someone in another thread advised the OP not to camp near a road in order to avoid being harassed by non-hikers/campers. For the record, I totally agree. I've had to camp near a road before and was concerned about it all night, despite the fact that nobody payed me a bit of attention. I was wondering, though, if any of you have had an actual run-in with some unsavory character or have had some otherwise unpleasant experience while camping near a road that you would be willing to share...?
PA, state game wardens handed out citations to a bunch of people camping with us for drinking next to a road and for being on state game lands. The lesson, dont camp near roads if you are partying somewhere. Just go further into the woods
Graywolf
12-16-2009, 16:56
I wish I had the quote on hand, a good thing by Doug Peacock of grizzly fame who spent months at a time around the Yellowstone. He carried a white sheet so when he was backpacking in the snow and a plane or helicopter flew over, he ran to a bush and covered himself and his gear with the white sheet.
Of course, he was a piece of work. An ex-green beret and Nam vet(medic), he used to say he never told people where he was headed in the woods cuz he didn't want to be rescued.
He had a good description of attempting to cross the main tourist road thru Yellowstone. He would wait and listen for the dreaded RVs. Then, when the coast was clear, he'd scramble across like a sapper. Good training for stealth campers and guys wanting their privacy. Nothing worse than being spotted by the Rolling Couch Potatoes or the Incoming Dayhikers.
Doug Peacock is a lengend to bear lovers..His work and study is by far one of the best...His work includes "Grizzly Years: In search of the American Wilderness", "Walking it Off", and one with his wife, "the Essential Grizzly"
By far a legend in his own rigth.."Walking it Off" was done after his friend, Edward Abbey, died..He went to the Southwest Deserts and lived off the land in the same fashion he did in Yellowstone... Awsome...
That said, and to stay on topic..I hate camping by roads..to me it opens doors for danger..Put me on top,, on top the mountain, that is..
Graywolf
a bunch of drunken idiots who set fire to the woods or leave trash everywhere do not have as much of a right to be there, because they don't respect the area or practice any semblance of LNT and they disturb everyone else.
I'm just curious -- who has defined and has control over, and is allowed to tell someone, "Your right to be there is less than others' right to be there"?
The way I see it, there might be man-made laws about causing fires and littering, but fire-starting, littering people still have every right to go where they want on public land. Also, in most places, LNT is not law, it's merely a philosophy.
I'm just sayin'...
Graywolf
12-22-2009, 17:17
I'm just curious -- who has defined and has control over, and is allowed to tell someone, "Your right to be there is less than others' right to be there"?
The way I see it, there might be man-made laws about causing fires and littering, but fire-starting, littering people still have every right to go where they want on public land. Also, in most places, LNT is not law, it's merely a philosophy.
I'm just sayin'...
Not to be critical but reading your statement, looks like you areagainst LNT...
People don't have every right to go wherever whenever they want on public land. Resource mangers in some instances have the authority to close public land to access by the public when they deem it necessary to protect resources thereon or for other reasons specified by the laws which give them this authority.
Not to be critical but reading your statement, looks like you areagainst LNT...
I won't be disrespectful to the Earth but millions before me have used the Earth and left their mark with no harm done.
I'm not against LNT; I'm not gonna litter or nothin', but if I leave a fire ring or ashes from a fire or a small pile of unused wood or holes in the ground from tent stakes or what-have-you, and/or someone can tell I pitched my tent someplace and that I Was There, I ain't gonna fret over it because while I may leave some trace that I was there, I'll know I haven't destroyed anything.
Back to the rights of being there issue -- if a person isn't going to practice LNT to the point CSI can't see you were there, they still have every right to be there. The arsonist and litterbug also have the very same right to be there that you do... they just shouldn't be breaking the law. Unless they're caught and it's constitutional for a judge to ban them from going where others are allowed to go, even after they commit those crimes, they still have every right to go where you're allowed to. Their rights aren't automatically lessened because they commit those acts.
harryfred
12-23-2009, 04:42
I have stayed at shelters near the trail in PA & MD so far no problems. I have cleaned up after the party animals at Birch Run shelter. IMO hunters are just as bad. I would never tent near a road. Many, many moons ago I use to travel all over and sleep under the tail gate of my Jeep, at rest stops pull offs or what ever and the most problem I had was with cops I was even cuffed and stuffed a couple of times the south was the worse FL and VA have no sense of humor. This is not to dis cops just sayin' I really do have a lot of respect for the law I just tend to break it on occasion.:D
BTW Zooma has a point just read what he is saying.
Mr. Underhill
12-23-2009, 19:47
The guide books are pretty good about shelters and sites to avoid. I had one experience where some locals came by to party as we were getting ready to unpack. We had some nice conversation but we decided to move on to the next camping area. Rest was more important at the time than a bottle or two of beer.
sheepdog
12-23-2009, 20:38
The AT is not wilderness it's a recreatoin area.
If you want to get away from people go to the wilderness
I think the tickets are about vagrancy and/or public drunkenness or open container laws.
I think camping near a road is high risk, from two-legged predators and because of the vagrancy laws. I don't know what the vagrancy laws are exactly but why risk it?
Besides, two-legged predators are much more dangerous to humans, than any other predator.
Graywolf
12-24-2009, 18:25
I think the tickets are about vagrancy and/or public drunkenness or open container laws.
I think camping near a road is high risk, from two-legged predators and because of the vagrancy laws. I don't know what the vagrancy laws are exactly but why risk it?
Besides, two-legged predators are much more dangerous to humans, than any other predator.
Vangrancy laws?? At a campsite??? Now thats a new one!!!
Graywolf
12-24-2009, 18:28
Read a bicycle tour journal once and the guy stated that when he pulled into an area, such as a town park, that had a sign "No Camping" he would just park the bike and streatch out on the ground..Not setting up the tent..If anyone asked he would just reply, "I'm just resting.." he never had an issue..except with the town drunks..
Graywolf
mweinstone
12-25-2009, 15:14
i was with chaco that night we got tickets for drinking near a road. i think the story needs to be told cause it points out how dumb we/ or the rules can be. and for the record, bag'o tricks stopped atv heads from leaping a state constructed barrier made to keep the atv people out witch resulted in the policeing of our beer missgiveings. the atv riders , confronted by a polite but non budging bag 'o tricks, called the police for our quiet beer drinking witch was actually 12 thrus listening to coosecoose play classical gitar.
The AT is not wilderness, it's a recreation area.
There are places where according to law it is wilderness. Most public land is managed for multiple uses, only one of which is recreation.
The many parcels of land which comprise the AT serve many other purposes too which are at least as important. These include among others timber production, wildlife habitat and watershed protection.
If hikers aren't going to practice LNT, they still have every right to be there. Unless they're caught and it's constitutional for a judge to ban them from going where others are allowed to go, they still have every right to go where you're allowed.
Those who fail to adhere to generally accepted practices whether codified or not can expect to be on the receiving end of peer pressure and it's likely to detract from their own experience in proportion to the extent it impacts upon experiences of others.
Theres a great campsite on the AT at NH25A near Wentworth, NH. It has everything: a stream, pine needles to camp on, nice level spot. The only problem is that it is about .1 miles from the road. I got there on a Sunday night this past summer so I figured that I wouldn't have any problems. And I didn't.
But I once camped in PenMar Park, MD years ago when it was legal on a Saturday night across the street from the park and near a road. When the bars closed down in Thurmont, MD, a bunch of cars drove up to High Rock and made a point of driving around where we were camping and woke us up.
So I think it depends where and when if you have to camp near a road.
Graywolf
12-25-2009, 20:41
Those who fail to adhere to generally accepted practices whether codified or not can expect to be on the receiving end of peer pressure and it's likely to detract from their own experience in proportion to the extent it impacts upon experiences of others.
Can you give me an equation on that please....
http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/party/party0033.gif (http://www.mysmiley.net/freesmiley.php?smiley=party/party0033.gif)
Graywolf
Can you give me an equation on that please....
http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/party/party0033.gif (http://www.mysmiley.net/freesmiley.php?smiley=party/party0033.gif)
Graywolf
Those who would need to use it had they paper and pencil couldn't do the math anyway. The best we can hope for is the message registering at some point as the volume increases.
Is that critter of yours doing the Hula?
Graywolf
12-26-2009, 12:06
Those who would need to use it had they paper and pencil couldn't do the math anyway. The best we can hope for is the message registering at some point as the volume increases.
Is that critter of yours doing the Hula?
http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/party/party0033.gif (http://www.mysmiley.net/freesmiley.php?smiley=party/party0033.gif)http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/characters/character0029.gif (http://www.mysmiley.net/freesmiley.php?smiley=characters/character0029.gif)
http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/party/party0042.gif (http://www.mysmiley.net/freesmiley.php?smiley=party/party0042.gif)
Yeah, cant you feel it!!!