Kind of a silly, ridiculous question. But hopefully one that can be answered!
So I’m looking to go camping soon, and I’ve looked into a number of campgrounds. But all of them offer all the comforts of home, with an office, and a recreation area, and cable TV, etc. I want to go CAMPING - you know, get away from it all. Just me and the tent and the sleeping bag and nature.
How does one do that, without running afoul of the law and/or trespassing on some one elses land?
Do one of those “helicopter drop” gigs in Canada. They drop you off for a predetermined number of days and you’re on your own, baby.
Be careful, though. I have a friend whose friend did this and he was lost in the woods for months. He lost a ton of weight and was a little “off” afterward. I think he may have been attacked by a large animal, as well.
But that’s because he wandered around and didn’t leave a trail to lead him back to his camp. It was actually very bad. Everyone thought he was dead.
I depends on where you are. If you’re in a mountainous area, it’s not very hard to get on a back road and get to somewhere nobody cares about. To be sure you’re away from people, it’s good to get out and hike a few miles.
If you’re near a town, and you’re worried about running afoul of landowners or the law, you can ask the locals. Hunters and fishermen know everything. If the place you want to camp is on someone’s land, and you know it, you can always ask the owner. More often than not they’ll be agreeable.
Even though you want to get away from it all, I’d recommend that you either go with someone, or make sure someone knows where you are. Accidents happen.
Check for “primitive campsites” in your area, some State Parks have them (maybe called “Hike In”).
Yeah, where do you live? If you’re near the western Carolinas I can tell you about some places where you can be 30 miles from a road/house/anything.
In the U.S., the National Wilderness Areas are the way to go if you really want to get away from everything. My personal favorite is the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in western Montana and eastern Idaho. But the Rockies aren’t the only place to find them. Minnesota has our very own Boundary Waters (which we grudgingly share with the Canadians 
). It’s a popular place, but the number of people who are allowed in is limited each season, and the rules controlling what you can do prevent the area from becoming spoiled by traffic. One of the advantages of Boundary Waters is that there are many companies that will set you up with an entire set of rented gear.
If you go to www.backpacker.com there is a forum including the topic destinations. It’s a good place to start. Also the national parks website, www.nps.gov has links to individual parks which in turn can point you to some good backcountry hiking trails. Have FUN!
Get a really good map of your state.
Look for BLM, National forest, or National wilderness areas.
Make sure your car can make it and GO!
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/index.htm
http://www.blm.gov/nlcs/wilderness.htm
Enjoy!
Where are these “campgrounds?” That’s not camping at all!
I have camped recently at a number of state and national parks, none of which offer offices, recreation areas and cable TV. Specifically ask to pitch your tent far away from wherever they let the RVs park, because RVs have A/C and the noise is jarring and anachronous. (Also a lot of RV “campers” bring their TVs, which in my mind, defeats the purpose of camping.) Most state parks have designated RV areas, tent areas, popup camper areas.
Hell, you can camp in my backyard if you want. I’ll turn down the TV so you won’t hear it!
Canoeing works pretty well. You can carry a lot of gear but it’s easy to camp on a lakeshore that’s nowhere near anything. It’s best if the lake is in a state forest or park of course.
I’m fond of National Forest Service land myself. It isn’t as popular as the National Park service land, and sometimes will have all the ammenaties you need (USFS rated fire ring, and a plastic seat in the woods for, well, for what bears do it the woods). If you want more, I packed the wife/kid/dog up last year and headed to Gallatin N.F. in Montana last year. They have rustic (and I mean rustic) cabins available for a nominal fee. Not just cabins! Fire watch towers too! If you have a high clearance vehicle, I highly recommend the Round Lake cabin north of Cooke City. Be sure to take your running boards off of your wife’s truck, or she’ll keep reminding you of how you trashed them. Skip Porcupine Cabin in Livingston N.F. at all costs.
I’m going to Colorado this summer. Any suggestions from anyone? I’ve got a 4 year old, otherwise I’d Backpack into my favorite, Rawah wilderness. I need a drive-in at least for another year or two.
Kalhoun, he didn’t take anything GPS with him? or was this pre-GPS?
That was going to be my suggestion. If you’re just car-camping for one or two nights, and you really want to get away from the RVs and television noise, look in the campground listings for “no potable water.” That means you have to bring in a few gallons of your own, depending on how long you’ll be there and how many people are in your group, but that’s not such a big deal, and it will definitely weed out all the non-roughing-it people who can be so annoying as campground neighbors.
Find the closest National Forest to you, learn the camping regs, head into the woods.
I totally agree with the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area. The coolest camping I know of is up Warm Springs Creek off the Lochsa River. That said, there a thousands of remote hiking and camping areas in the west. Literally something for everyone. If you like boats, there are some great river/lake/reservoir trips with little chance of seeing anyone else for days. Wilderness Net has a searchable map if you want to find wilderness near you. There’s wilderness near everywhere – even on Long Island. Not in Kansas or Iowa, though.
I second Ghanima. You can legally camp just about anywhere in a National Forest. Occassionally, you have a problem with crowds, if you are pitching your tent on a major vacation route, or near a large city. So don’t do that.
If you would rather be able to shower, but otherwise do not want any amenities, sometimes state parks work well, also. We just got back from Ridegway State Park in CO. We were out of cell phone coverage, and walked a short distance to the camp site. There were about 10 sites, but for most of the time there was only one other tent. From there we explored the area around Ouray. Up by the RV area, about 1/2 mile away, there were showers and a laundry room, there were also toilets in various areas of the park. The tent area had a new fangled outhouse.
There’s quite a difference between “car camping” and “backpacking,” the latter of which I would consider to be real camping. First, get a good backpack and streamline your gear (light sleeping bag, backcountry tent, etc. - go minimalistic). When I lived in West Virginia, we spent lots of time in the Monongahela National Forest and backpacked in the designated “backcountry areas” (such as the Canaan Mountain Backcountry, Cranberry Backcountry and Spruce Knob/Seneca Creek Backcountry) and the wilderness areas (such as Cranberry Wilderness, Dolly Sods Wilderness, Laurel Fork Wilderness, and Otter Creek Wilderness). These are the types of places you want to go. Make sure you get the USGS topographical maps of these areas which will show you the trails. Get some books on backpacking. Go online to your closest national forest and check out their wilderness areas.
Have fun and good luck!!!
If you’re close to Minnesota, I suggest the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Simular to “Hike In” camps, but in this case its “Canoe In”. They are fairly stringent when it comes to what you can bring in, but that preserves alot the nature you go there to see. No metal food containers, all garbage goes out with you, etc… I’ve been there for a whole week and have not seen/heard another person the entire time.
Oops, forgot link.
NurseCarmen I couldn’t find the watch towers for rent, care to direct me?
Here near the Mississippi River, there is the “Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge” where you can camp on any island. You’ll get a lot of power boaters near the main channel, but there are a lot of backwaters where it is less crowded.
Brian