View Single Post
  #7  
Old 02-26-2015, 09:31 PM
purgatory.sv purgatory.sv is offline
Banned
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 5,296
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by schmedlap View Post
Assuming that you are talking about "rough" camping, and not where you can park your 5th wheel ...?
If you just get some good back country maps, do a little planning and observation, and if you just want real solitude, pick a remote area, take some time to go down all those back trails (with due caution for not getting trapped), and you will find some truly amazing and beautiful places to set up, very far from any other human occupation. Back when I had such ambitions, and slept in the back of my old Toyota 4x4 under the canopy, my friends and I found some truly amazing sites. Some could be accessed with "ordinary" vehicles. A couple of my favorites could only be accessed with good 4x4's - my absolute favorite was up to 3 winches across bogs on a seismic line, 2 kilometers off a very "back" trail, but the site on a hillock overlooking the creek, in the foothills, was unbelievable - I'm not sure anyone other than the original seismic crew or the odd hunter had ever been there, and the stars at night - hard to describe . Another required fording a significant river, at a point 1k from any "road", up a cliff-cut over many large wash out humps, and 5-6 kilometers down seismic lines with some very boggy spots - then a 2k hike into the target creek down vehicle impassable lines (we were fishing, and the farther away from civilization ...?). There were many others - just loved to see where we could go.
We did not find such places quickly off the maps. Much time spent, on some occasions, with the maps spread out on the hood of the truck. Had to be a little "intuitive", and analyze contours, etc. Time spent towing each other out of the worst holes. On a couple of occasions, time spent hiking out to find someone else with a good 4x4 to come to the rescue - hell, we survived. Actually, the "exploring" was as much or more fun than the fishing. Many weekends spent 90% on the exploring end, but the relatively brief time fishing was usually worth such effort.
If you are just off a real road, you have to find a way to get your vehicle all the way off it. There are no "parking lots" for such places. Some of such roads have lumber truck and oilfield truck traffic which will potentially devastate your vehicle otherwise. And nowadays one has to be concerned about pure thievery, regardless of how far back in the bush one is. I would not ever leave my vehicle out of sight of my camp now, as we sometimes did many years ago.
True.
Reply With Quote