Free camping is best camping

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
09/06/2020 at 12:39 • Filed to: None

Bureau of Land Man agement is a great way to find free camping around the US. This area that I camped last night on the way home from Mammoth Lakes was in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, CA. The views here were excellent and despite the day time high of 106F, it was comfortable in the upper 70s overnight. Woke up needing my sleeping bag before sunrise so it got lower by morning. Anyways, here are some shots from my short time there:

Been a long weekend so far, kinda wished I could have stayed considering the weather at home. But either way, a great time camping in Mammoth Lakes Thursday night, doing lift served biking at Mammoth Friday, camping in Alabama HIlls Friday night, and then doing a long hike to Meysan Lake at above 11,000 feet on Saturday. Still have Sunday and Monday to enjoy before heading back to the grind. Post coming from the hike soon! Teaser pic:

DISCUSSION (18)

HammerheadFistpunch > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
09/06/2020 at 12:43

I wish everyone else didn’t know this in Utah. There is a LOT of BLM but all the good places are pretty well know. Well, MOST of the good places.

onlytwowheels > HammerheadFistpunch
09/06/2020 at 12:54

I am always reluctant to give information on some of my favorites quiet spots, because I don’t want them to become overcrowded and spoiled.

HammerheadFistpunch > onlytwowheels
09/06/2020 at 12:55

tag responsibly is the new leave no trace.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > HammerheadFistpunch
09/06/2020 at 12:56

That was an excellent find when I first went to Zion in 2018.

Kinja'd!!!

Shit, my car looks weird now to me with no roof rack. I was hunting for airbnbs like over an hour away because all the campgrounds were booked solid for months. Meanwhile BLM land right outside the park was perfect.

jminer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
09/06/2020 at 13:15

Beautiful! We have a fair bit of forestry service land here which is also great for camping. You do have to be careful there as a lot of it is speckled with homes and private property.

DipodomysDeserti > HammerheadFistpunch
09/06/2020 at 13:37

And that’s because people don’t know what “leave no trace” means.

DipodomysDeserti > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
09/06/2020 at 13:39

And don’t forget to bring a recently updated topo map with you, as there’s usually a lot more private land sprinkled around BLM land than there is with NF’s.

facw > jminer
09/06/2020 at 13:54

I’m strongly in favor of having Scandinavian-style right to roam laws, but I’ve got a feeling it would go over very poorly with a lot of people.

jminer > facw
09/06/2020 at 14:10

Not familiar with that, but can guess based on the phrase.

It didn’t used to be a problem here 20 yea rs ago. The rule was don’t cross a maintained fence, other than that you’re good as long as you’re not hunting .

Since then though people are a lot more touchy and violent about it. I don’t wander off public land anymore.

Even in places where there is a navigational right it’s a problem. For example here any land 30' from a stream or river is free to traverse on while boating, fishing and so on. I used to find public access to a stream (like at a road crossing) and then wander up or down it for miles fishing but people started to really not like that anymore.

There was even an instance a couple years ago where someone shot a couple people for trespassing while on the bank of a river during a float trip. They were being drunk assholes, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to die for it.

BeaterGT > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
09/06/2020 at 14:41

Can attest to that! Looks like a sweet spot. Makes me happy to see the Subaru doing its thing too.

facw > jminer
09/06/2020 at 15:07

Yep, it’s pretty much what you would expect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam

Different from country to country, but mostly comes down to being able to hike (and sometimes even camp for short times ) on private land, as long as you aren’t an asshole about it.

HammerheadFistpunch > DipodomysDeserti
09/06/2020 at 15:33

Exactly, its a lowered bar.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > BeaterGT
09/06/2020 at 15:45

I had considered camping right by the road since there were spaces but I figured Ive got AWD might as well go further! It was a short route around but it was funny because the only other vehicles I saw up there were proper off road rigs. I did have to navigate around a few dips and slipped a little bit in some sand but was otherwise fine. Would help if my tires had more tread left in them but Ill replace them when winter rolls around.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > jminer
09/06/2020 at 15:49

Yup thats often the problem in most places in California. But thankfully this is in the desert where not a whole lot of people want to live. The bigger concern is people not following the no trace rules and getting the areas closed off. I skipped the first campsite I came across due to toilet paper strewn about in the bushes.

DipodomysDeserti > HammerheadFistpunch
09/06/2020 at 16:00

On that note, I got to design my own southwest ecology class this year. They had to cancel the physics class because everyone signed up for my course. Unfortunately field trips are out, which was going to be a big part of the course.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
09/06/2020 at 18:23

Lone pine!? No graboids I hope!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
09/07/2020 at 00:54

That's where tremors was filmed? I shoulda kept a look out for ass blasters too. I guess i was camping on a road called "movie road" so I'm sure plenty of stuff was filmed there.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
09/07/2020 at 01:14

Well, not exactly there, but very close. There’s a film museum in lone pine with a tremors exhibit apparently. The actual set of the town in tremors was built here:

36°12'32.1"N 117°56'10.4"W

https://goo.gl/maps/fU6YSLWCZMj4mPih6

I really wanted to go there when I was down earlier this year on the Honda, but I just couldn't make it work with my schedule.