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Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Campsite Selection - Guerilla Camping 101.2

Draft originally posted at The Guerrilla News Network. Included here with GNN commentary courtesy of the GNN Archive.

R90686
4 years ago
Aguirre

I can’t get enough of these guerrilla camping stories. Soon as this semester is finished, I’m heading for the hills. Good work again blackpack.


R90729
4 years ago
ShiftShapers

no gullies to route water underneath you

think small, but also think big. washes and drainages are often large, especially in the canyons of the desert country, where flash floods are a common occurance. look for plant matter built up at the bottom of trees and bushes, and even rocks. this is a good sign of a flash flood zone:


R90730
4 years ago
ShiftShapers

your advice is good for those who wish to avoid the drama of urban squats, ect. squatters can be awfully territorial. but they can also be awfully generous and sharing. it all depends, i suppose. on what, i am not sure.


R90742
4 years ago
HowardWCampbell

Another great blog, thanks!

While I avoid cities, I haven’t had much problem asking people if I can camp in their fields. You’re right, it usually takes a couple though.


R90838
4 years ago
BlackPacker

Shift Shapers, Good call. I should have through to mention that. Alot of flood plains can look like simple meadows until a good rain comes alog (Thanks to murphy’s law, always at two in the morning on a moonless night). Another good way to spot flood plains is looing in the crocks of trees for collected rocks, branches and displaced plant matter.

As for Squatters, I have ocassionaly stayed at squats and had a great time, but usually, finding squats is a haphazard premise, reliant on running into somebody who recognizes you as a traveler and invites you home. When I say avoid other homeless, I’m not refering to the homeless by choice, like myself and many on here, but the derelects found on skid row generally due to drug and/or alcohol problems. I don’t discourage staying in those locales due to the homless themselves, but because of the breed of people who prey on them, the dealers, pimps and hustlers, as well as the drunk frat boys who boot party on their way home from bars. A friend of mine was someplace in Arizona, camped out on skid row in a bivy sack. He got woken up at 2 in the morning when some frat boys returning from a local bar decided to take out their wrath on what they thought was another frail, starving, homeless guy. Imagine their shock when he jumped out of his sack and maced them. All 280lbs and 6’3 underneath some dreadlocks even I find a bit scary. When he told me this story I told him the next time it happens, he should pull out his camera first, because the looks on their faces were probably hilarious.

I just jumped around on the net for a minute looking for info on squatting here in the US. Didn’t find much. Anybody on here have a link, or some knowedge to kick down?


R90865
4 years ago
ShiftShapers

R90867
4 years ago
ShiftShapers

i live where the canyon lands of the deserts meet the san juan mountains, in el valle de las animas perdidas, the valley of lost souls. down in the canyons, a flash flood can happen when the sky above is clear. 800 ft down in a desert canyon like the one linked to the image above, there can be storms up on the mesa that you can’t even see, yet you are in the drainage of.


R91382
4 years ago
hagcel

Hahaha. Even when city camping you must be wary to avoid floodplains. No, this is not a morbid Nola joke.

Back in the mid-ninties, I often hitched into Nashville to spend the weekend hanging out with the hundreds of down and out street musicians who made the place so amazing. Often, I would sleep in parks and bushes along the banks of the Cumberland river on Saturday night.

I think it was a saturday in Mid August. The city was packed, and the girls were wearing alot of skin in the southern summer humidity. That night, I slept with my backpack as a pilow with a wool blanket bed on a sandy bank of the river under a railroad bridge right by downtown. I was far enough to avoid high tide, but not high enough for high tide and the wake of a fast moving tour boat. I was woken the next morning as the river washed over my legs, soaking me from the chest down. At 7am it was already 75 out I think, so it was more humerous than uncomfortable.

Shiftshapers,
The thought of camping in a dry desert valley would NEVER cross my mind, although growing up in LA, I certainly know where to find dry spots in one. I’ve woken up on islands in the “desert” during run offs from storms.

Some things also to take in mind when making “home”:

Weather; Learn a bit about how mountains and valleys convey winds, fog and storms.

Trees: Know that even in North America, heavy tree canopys in humid areas become rain forests as the moisture collects in trees. If you are going to sleep under the stars, sleep under the stars. Having to move your sleeping bag at midnight = no fun, having to close your rainfly at midnight = less fun.

Avoid valleys and hilltops. Since cold air sinks, valleys can get quite a bit colder than the hill sides around them. Hilltops, although usually warmer since the sun has been baking on them all day, offer no protection from the wind, and anyone who has had a tent come down around them in the middle of the night knows how much fun that is

This is fun.


R91393
4 years ago
fennec

awesome blogs, great writing, thanks


R91499
4 years ago
silverback

has anyone ever had three in the top ten at one time before? not that it matters, but i am really proud that these kinds of blogs are being recognized. fascinating writing BP. thanks for your time and wisdom.


R91567
4 years ago
ShiftShapers

maybe your not a perfectionist, blackpack, but i noticed guerrilla in your blog title has only one r = guerilla


R91568
4 years ago
ShiftShapers

silverbacki – there’s only one logical explaination. he cheated. (just joking)


R91600
4 years ago
fennec

“Guerilla” is also a correct spelling.


R91633
4 years ago
BlackPacker

I was originally going to call it gorilla camping. But notice. It is also the guerrilla news network. (Look at the page title).

Thanks for the recognition, Silverback. I keep grinning when I see the top blogs. Can you believe I failed creative writing?


R93734
4 years ago
guerillaman

One “r” is acceptable alternative spelling of guerilla according to my dictionary.

1 comment:

  1. Great blog....
    Real informative post....these are the things i never knew about camping...Thanks:)

    Camp Stove

    ReplyDelete