Leebo

Lots of the US? Get out side of the city and not in someones yard or farm. State, local and fed lands. Lots of it. Some with rules, some not. Leave no trace. I do plenty of rides in NH, VT and ME, Woods everywhere. Enjoy.

mtb_addict

I was told in Tex, everything is privately owned. When I go outside of the city, there's fences around everything. Alot of ranches and farms. I see fences around everything when I drive down the highway. I don't think there's any state or federal land here, besides parks which you have to pay to camp.

indyfabz

You are incorrect. E.g.:


https://www.fs.usda.gov/texas


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._state_forests


https://www.allstays.com/Campgrounds-details/37899.htm


I could go on and on and on.

jamawani 

Texas does not have much federal public land.
Remember, Texas joined the Union as an independent country.
All the other states after the original 13, were created out of the public domain.

Most of the western states that have so much public land were required
to honor federal retention of lands in their state constitutions in order to gain admission.

Most of the federal lands that do exist in Texas were purchased
through programs in the Great Depression that tried to move farmers off badly degraded lands.
Also, significant land purchases for military bases - although you can't wild camp there.
Big Bend National Park was originally a state park - transferred to the NPS.

<<<>>>

So, your general observation about Texas is correct.
There is very little federal public land where you can wild camp.

Leebo

Ok, besides TX. One more reason to pedal elsewhere? Besides the heat and snakes. Try the Northeast, really nice. Set up my hammock on last years trip in VT, right in the woods near a day use picnic area. Nice swimming pond, bathroom, no one there at 8 pm. Just me, and the loons making haunting calls on the water.

reppans

+1. One of the main reasons my ultra -compact/-lightweight rig has rekindled my interest in short touring. I personally enjoy the densely populated Eastcoast for the diversity of things to see/eat/do within reasonable distances and public transport options, and that the woods are dense and knarly. Can't sightsee or survey camping opportunities efficiently by foot, and can't park a motor vehicle anywhere. But if you can effectively hike/'backpack' a bicycle rig deeply into the woods, you can be rewarded with efficient civilized touring by day, and near backpacking-quality secluded wild camping by night (incl. going in early, and sleeping late). Most of these spots are right on or near the ocean.



Rural/inland touring, I prefer a campervan or motorcycle and more often than not, use these over-priced campgrounds since I'm a spontaneous traveler. Reasonably priced state and federal campgrounds tend to booked way in advance, and even when you can get them, it's often next door to: drunken teens, screaming babies, barking dogs, generators, and/or downwind from campfires .

J.Higgins 

Well I must admit that looks really nice. I also got to say that the section of woods in these pics are FAR from gnarly. Want gnarly? Come up here and I'll show ya some gnarly woods!

reppans

Haha.. yeah, these shoreline woods are nothing next to the Appalachians through your White mountains - I meant just gnarly enough to keep regular foot traffic confined to established trails, and wheeled conveyances out (except what you are able to carry).

J.Higgins 

When I was a kid, I used to ride my bike to "the good side of the island," Acadia National Park. I lived on the other side. I'd set up my sleeping bag on the shore and just in the woods. There weren't a huge amount of people visiting the park - not as much now - and I just camped out under the stars.

These days - up here - you better have your full arsenal of gear, bug repellent, tent, bear spray and the whole bit. Ticks, horseflies the size of your thumb, mosquitoes, blackflies (in season), and deer flies. Eastern coyotes have wolf DNA, and they are larger and run in packs. Black bears. Mountain lions.

Dang... I forgot where I was going with this.

Anyway, your campsite looks nice.

reppans

I do most of my [backpack, ADVmoto, RV] camping in the Catskills, Adirondacks, and Green Mountains so am quite familiar with the area. Seen several small black bear cross the road while motoring, but not while backpacking or camping (other than scat). Don't believe in mountain lions in the Northeast, except the errant one hit by a car closer to me (in CT) than you. Coyotes - oh yeah, a pack lives right here in my neighborhood, I hear them go on yipping, barking, howling feasts a couple times a week, and seen groups of 2 or 3 while walking my dog at night. We have a serious deer infestation in southwestern CT... which is what scares me the most - I've hit 7! of them from motorcycles and cars (and they've mostly run into the side my vehicle ). Got a pretty good system for the black flies and mild skeeters, luckily I haven't come across bad horse/deer fly conditions since I was a kid... they are the worst!

indyfabz

For some dumb reason I never associated packs of coyotes with New England until I camped at Lone Oak in N. Canaan, CT a few years ago while riding from Brattleboro to Philly. They went off and on for hours. Reminded me of a couple of nights in places like Montana and North Dakota.

reppans

First time I heard it was in one of those photos above, woke me up from sleep, and was a bit scary - then I thought I was camping near a dog kennel. Then a pack moved to the neighborhood here last summer and I realized what it was and heard it regularly. Interestingly though, in all cases I've heard, they've only gone verbally nutz for a few minutes at a time, otherwise total silence. I have read some explanations that it's the pack sounding out a celebratory kill. Sadly lots of lost cat/small dog posters around .

indyfabz

Do you get screaming foxes? I heard one when I was stealth camping last fall to watch a meteor shower. Several years ago I camped at the campground next to the Lakota Wolf Preserve in Columbia, NJ. Awoke to wolves howling around 6 a.m. Very neat.


The preserve also has a few foxes that cannot be returned to the wild. The woman giving the fox tour told us that as more "city slickers" started moving into the area the number of 911 calls reporting women in distress ticked up. What the people were really hearing were the screams of wild foxes.

reppans

I really don't think so... very dog-like yipping, barking, howling (definitely not woman-screaming like) and sounds like a largish pack - at least 5+. We have a red fox around here too and I've seen him a bunch, but always alone, and I thought fox were very solitary animals. I've shined 3 coyotes at once with a flashlight right on my next door neighbor's driveway while walking my dog.

I invite bow hunters to my property to cull the deer and the first year they used a corn feeder on a timer. That brought a clan of raccoons over, which displayed a dozen glowing eyes hovering in the dark like a cartoon whenever you shined a flashlight there. They got into nasty fights though (sounds like screaming cats) and thought it might not be a good idea to so many of these cleaver animals so close to house - so no more corn feeders.

indyfabz

This is a great example. Starts around :25 of the video.

J.Higgins 

We have a family of these on our property. and my neighbor down the road has another family of grey foxes living in her old collapsed barn. We hear these little buggers wailing all the time. Our dog just ignores them now.

reppans

Nope... never heard anything like that (or perhaps mistaken it for crow).

This what all the yote howling I've heard sounds like.... and it's just about as short lived too:


EDIT: On the plus side, now that I can see how a single yote can vocalize so quickly/diversely, then perhaps it's not 5+ animals... maybe just the 3 I've seen.

Happy Feet

We have coyotes all around us but I felt very blessed to see a brown fox walk right through my campsite in Jasper last summer. First one in nearly 20 years. Also had a small herd of Elk bed down every day in the woods 100 feet away.

The national parks create campsites spread apart to allow better transit of animals through them instead of blocking the woods with a wall of people. On that trip I also rode past a black bear and several groups of mountain sheep/goats.

travelinhobo

If you agree to pay it, you can't complain unless there are absolutely no other options including free camping. I live on my bike and 99% of the time a place can always be found. Try these go-to places: churches, schools, parks, atHletic fields. Why would anyone pay more than $20 to sleep under the stars?? That's nuts!

fietsbob

there is 12 months of costs to bear, and only 3 months, Summer. to make the revenue to meet them..

350htrr

And, that's how you get around these high rates... Don't stay there...

Steve B.

Well, not really. In the New England area and upstate NY, the state campgrounds are closed up and winterized, mid October to April (later in some locations) typically. No costs associated with closed facilities for the most part, just time for the maintanence folks to do their thing. Yes the governments that own the facilities have some costs for year round employees, but a bulk of them are seasonal.

24/7biker

You should have tried the Army Corp campground at the yough outflow, just 10 miles from Ohiopyle. nice campground, right on the trail.

spinnaker

Confluence is another 10 miles. That could be a big deal depending on the person and the miles already traveled for the day.

fietsbob

Just saying the property taxes, Insurance, Private land, are for 12 months , paid annually..

States, like the federal government , cut the budgets for parks so users fees rise to compensate..

vote to change it?







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