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Is Three Nights Too Long?

Andy | July 10, 2012

When I go camping, I rarely stay at a campsite more then 2 or 3 nights. After a while, staying at a single campsite tends to become boring, and uninteresting, after you’ve explored all of the land around the campsite. Camping should be a break from the routine, not a repetition of the same experience over and over again.

You need a camping permit if you plan to stay at the same site more then 3 nights in a row in NY State. Which is fine, especially because I never really reach that level. I am always traveling and going to new places, because frankly staying in the same campsite more then a couple of nights is real boring.

I would much rather travel and go place to place, rather then spend all night in same old campsite, night after night. New vistas and new experiences are more important, then the temporary inconvience of breaking camp, the reassembling camp, in the next state forest or wild forest I am camping in.

Maybe I’m just young and like to ramble. But I also get tired of same repetition, and are always seeking new vistas and places to explore, and not the same old boring experience.

Bring Those Longjohns

Andy | December 30, 2011

Probably the number one thing I forget to pack when fall, winter, and spring camping (and hiking) is my longjohns. I literally have like 10 pairs of longjohns, because I’ve had to go out and buy more pairs when I forget them and I’m a long ways from home.

Longjohns may seem silly. But they really do much to keep you warm. Yet, they aren’t something that’s normally visible to the public, and as such they are out of site and out of mind.

Yet, as soon as you get out in the woods, and start to have cold legs, you realize how nice it would be to pack your longjohns. Sure, one can get another cheap pair of cotton longjohns at any Walmart, but one would be better of it they just remembered to pack longjohns from the get go.

It’s always a good idea not to forget your longjohns!

Public Parks vs Occupy Movement

Andy | December 23, 2011

I am concerned about what the Occupy Movement means for our public parks. Public parks are the commons in our society, the places where anybody may go to gather and to recreate. Public parks belong to us all, therefore private individual organizations must not be allowed to have exclusive use to them.

Inherit in the concept of a public park is that man is just a visitor, and that nobody resides there permanently. Parks are places where men dwell only temporarily for fellowship or solitude, it is an escape from the private places we normally reside in.

When kayaking on a lake or hiking a mountain, one may stop to enjoy the view. You only stop for a few minutes to enjoy the view, and then you move on. Your experience is non-exclusive, anyone can walk by when your there, or come by five minutes after you’ve left in solitude. Laws prevent you from building a house or setting up long-term residency there, you must move on an allow others to see what you once saw.

Campsites are same way. Whether in a DEC Campground or a back-country site, one can only set up a campsite and camp there for a set amount of time. Typically this is limited to two weeks except during Big Game Season. When your time is up, you must pack up your gear, and leave the site cleaner then you have found it.

When your camping, a campsite becomes your temporary place of residency. You unpack your gear, you make a fire, you set up your tent. You cook your meals there, you camp there, and you probably do your business in an outhouse or in woods a short ways from there. For all purposes, you live there and campsite is like your house for a short period of time.

A campsite is never an exclusive site. Campsites can get elaborately set up, with lots of canopies, tents, lanterns and other gear. Some people hang Christmas lights and drive in large RVs to campsites. You may dwell there for a while but after a number of days you must pack up and leave. Others may then use your campsite, enjoy the views and benefits the public lands provide for all that wish to use them.

Public parks are excellent places for individuals and groups to get together and discuss public business. They are good places to get together and protests. Many parks are large, and can accommodate large groups of people. Many parks are appropriate for camping and other recreational pursuits.

Yet, we can not allow any individual or group to remain in a park for too long of a period. Individuals must remain visitors, those who come only for a short period of time to enjoy the land in solitude or fellowship. Two weeks, needs to remain the maximum use for a piece of land, except in very narrow exception.

… Allowing people to stay too long in a park, only serves to undermine the concept of public lands and the commons.