this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2025
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You can camp for free in national forests. Just drive out to the woods and set up a tent. Some rules apply (For example, in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, you can't create new campsites or roads, or clear ground by cutting vegetation.)
Also in the high country. I frequently drive up into the mountains in the middle of nowhere, hike as far as I can that day, camp, wake up, and hike as far as I can again before camping again. Backpacking is a very edifying activity for me, and the further I can get from civilization, the better it is.
Wait this is actually true? I always felt like it changes from forest to forest, and I usually avoid anywhere it doesn't explicitly say so. Gotta do some more research I guess.
There are some rules, but generally speaking there are spaces where you can camp up to 14 days. Probably call before you set up camp. 🙂
Yeah I immediately went and read the rules, very nice. It's annoyingly hard to get a place to camp for a couple days near me and it's fun to test out my new hiking gear. Thank you!
Car camping is for the birds. Go backpacking and experience the wonders of seclusion.
Depends, this isn’t universally true. Some popular areas (near national parks, etc) have restrictions on them. But otherwise it’s usually fair game. So worth double checking but it’s often true.
BLM land is the same way though I have been shot at by rednecks there so keep in mind some areas can be a bit lawless.
A national park isn't a national forest, they're two distinctly different things.
Yes but there’s often overflow camping from them into national forests, so the USFS controls camping more strictly near these hugely popular parks.
What's BLM, for those of us not in the group?
Bureau of Land Management.
It's government-owned land but it's generally free to use for camping. The USA is very big.
Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management. Basically after the US stole all its land and distributed the useful areas to farmers, national forests, parks, etc. anything that didn’t have an obvious use was left with the BLM. So it’s lots of empty places that no one goes, mostly in the west. And you can usually camp there, but as with USFS you’ll want to check each local area to make sure.