Legality of Wild Camping in the US

[alastair humphreys]

Hi,
I'm writing from England where it's not technically legal to wild camp (camp away from proper campgrounds). However if you act with courtesy, common sense and discretion nobody minds at all and nobody even notices.

Next week I will spend a week doing a few different overnight microadventures around the Hill Country of Texas.

I'd like to know people's thoughts on wild camping there.
I don't want to cause problems, I don't want to offend people, I don't want to get shot. But nor do I want to sleep in a campground with loads of other people unless I have to…!

I would appreciate a steer to what is the 'right' thing to do in the US regarding wild camping.
Thank you.
Alastair

ps – anyone got any good tips of beautiful wild places to go vaguely within reach of Austin? (My hub for the week, though I will have a car).

[David Chenault]

Almost all the time, if you're on Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service land, you're good to go. Both of these are national agencies.

National Parks typically require a permit for backcountry camping. Some are free and easy to get, some are emphatically not in both respects. Often, especially in more traveled parks, you'll be required to camp in designated sites. In some parks these feel like proper campgrounds, in others they're nothing but a sign next to a bit of grass. In most parks you can camp in undesignated areas if you have a good reason for doing so. Just because usually isn't good enough.

State park regulations vary widely. Usually no wild camping as the park is very small.

Wild camping on, or indeed hiking on, private land requires the permission of the owner.

[HkNewman]

Generally out West there is more public land to wild camp on (BLM, National Forest). Major cities are Albuquerque, El Paso, Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Reno, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in the "Southwest" or "West Coast" . Most require a car, though some you can piece together public transport if not minding a bit of road walking (San Francisco/Marin counties excel at this but the rest of the above cities are trying to catch up at various paces). I try not to camp near areas easily accessed by cars but you may be comfortable with it. You still do not want to camp on private property without permission – even if seemingly unused there may be an armed overseer who will hold you until the sheriff arrives.

Once you go towards "the Great Plains" and "the rest of Texas", it's a different story as most of the surrounding land is private and agriculturally based. Productivity is key there and it's basically "industrial agriculture" on a scale that most Europeans are not used to (having gone to college and worked in "the Plains" and having visited southern Germany, I can elaborate further if needed). As Dave C stated there are state parks but they are likely small. It seems to be changing slowly as the states are starting to put together "long trails" to save depopulated rural towns (probably for tourism). I am not sure of the status as I am saving those trips for a temporary move to Dallas in several years. East of Oklahoma City, there's the Quachitas and the Ozarks north of that. Some info from BPL trip reports.

I am unfamiliar with the US east of the Mississippi River, except Chicago and Indianapolis (temporarily worked there for a month each), but there was some national forest south of Indianapolis I wanted to explore.

Also seasons. If visiting from Europe, you may want to explore the better areas in the US on either side of summer if you have limited time to camp. Summers further east can be humid and winters in the northeast/midwest/Plains/Rockies frigid. It's called a blizzard.

Add: There is a book from Lonely Planet called "Hiking in the USA" that gives advice for tourists visiting the US who want to 'wild-camp' from a non-US view. I would pick that up.

ed: br

[Amy Lauterbach]

Alastair,

The other folks have posted have alluded to different land management agencies in the US and availability of wild camping. The vast majority of public land in the US is owned and managed by the Federal government. Three main agencies have jurisdiction over land that the general public may access without too much trouble (The other agency holding major land areas is the Defense Department, and their holdings are almost all closed to public access with special permits.)

The Interior Department manages National Park, Monuments, Conservation Areas, and BLM lands. The Department of Agriculture manages National Forests. National Forest are generally open access and you can camp in most places without problems. Some forests or portions of forests require usually easy to obtain permits for camping in certain areas. The same goes for BLM lands, which may have other activities going on, such as resource extraction, grazing and so forth. But vast areas of the National Forests and BLM lands are without restrictions. As another poster mentioned, National Parks are the most restrictive and most if not all require some form of permit for camping, although in many of the parks, once you are away from the road, you can camp pretty much wherever you wish as long as you obey rules about clearance areas around lakes, streams and other sensitive locations.

State Forests vary in their rules, but are often the largest pieces of public lands in the non-western states, although there are some largish National Forests in the east as well.

Your best bet is to get a land use map for the areas you wish to visit and by seeing who owns what, can make reasonably accurate assumptions about where you may legally camp.

And then there is always stealth camping…

By the way, Amy and I have backpacked extensively in Great Britain and have much appreciated of the live and let live attitudes about camping in England, Scotland, and Wales. We have never been hassled and have generally just discreetly put our tent down wherever we ended up for the day.

James for Amy

[Jim Colten]

I'm not a Texan but have family there so I know a little.

Texas has relatively little public land (relative to most non-eastern states).

There are a few national parks, national monuments and national forests in TX but none within what I'd call microadventure distance of Austin (yes, I'm familiar with Alaster's concept of microadventure).

Four national forests (Sam Houston, Davey Crockett, Angelina, and Sabine) are 120-260 miles east of there and there's a Caddo-LBJ National Grassland northwest of Dallas-Fort Worth.

There is the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge approx 30 miles or so northwest of Austin: http://www.fws.gov/refuge/balcones_canyonlands/. Just be aware that significant parts of the land within the designated boundaries of the refuge are not public land. Here's a map: http://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/BalconesGeneral-2008_508%281%29.pdf

Everything else I know about is far to the west of Austin.

It might be worthwhile contacting the folks at Gossamergear.com … they are based in Austin.

[Marc Cryer]

Most of the land in Texas where I was born and spent a lot of time roaming about is private. If you know that you are on federal government land of some sort you are probably OK but even if you aren't you will just be told to leave (that's been my experience). Beyond that the legality of camping anywhere without permission or permit is a tricky subject in the the US and I'm an attorney and I still can't always figure the rules out. When it doubt about federal land I'd call and ask the land supervisor or ranger district with jurisdiction but I wouldn't necessarily show up to ask because sometimes they add a ton of restrictions that seem to come out of nowhere and are not listed in written form in any source of legal or administrative regulation that I can find even with the assistance of a paralegal. Having said that asking by phone will give you the lay of the land in terms of the rules and then you can decide what you want to do from there. In TX if you have time the Big Bend National Park is worth a visit but it isn't close to Austin and you'll really need to pack for the dry climate.

In national forests and grasslands and on Bureau of Land Management lands I've rarely ever run into anyone of authority off trail so I think you are pretty safe on federal land as long as you watch your fire.

[Michael Gunderloy]

Heck, around here I've almost never run into anyone of authority *ON* trail either. I assume this is due to the Forest Service not having a decent budget. Whatever the reason, the last time I stopped by our local FS office for a map, they spent 30 minutes quizzing me about trail conditions because they hadn't had anyone out on them since last year some time.

[Marc Cryer]

Yes I had the same experience at a ranger station in CA responsible for part of Emigrant Wilderness they spent a lot of time asking me about trail conditions for the Eastern part of my trip. Obviously they hadn't been there in a while. They also spent a ridiculous amount of time warning me of all the dangers likely to befall me along in the wilderness falls, bears, rock slides… For many years I wondered whether rangers had become an endangered species since I hadn't actually seen one off or on a trail in years! But recently I did meet a ranger on a trail near Sespe Hot Springs in the Los Padres National Forest (I think that's a national forest). He was having a hard time with some very rough characters lighting fires and firing guns in random directions. I didn't envy him at all.

[Justin Baker]

DO NOT camp on private land without permission.

Look for "state parks", "national forests", and "bureau of land management". You can usually google the area you want to go and find specific regulations. They can really vary.

If you decide to stealth camp (illegal camping) be wary that your vehicle doesn't get towed from leaving it in the parks parking lot over night.

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