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Posted by Bill S on April 6, 2008 at 7:42:04 pm EDT
In reply to Where to camp posted by MTB416 on March 29, 2008 at 6:18:01 pm EDT

Otto -

As far as I know, the principle of "all men's right" (if I translated it correctly - Alle mens recht?) is only in the Scandinavian countries. In the US and Canada, in many places you are restricted to camping only in designated campsites, except in some parts of the national forests and national parks, and a few state parks. In some areas of national forests, parks and other federal lands, and in some state parks, you can camp wherever you want, subject to the restriction that you must be more than a certain distance (varies with the land manager, but typically 30 to 100 meters) from trails and water (streams, lakes, etc). In designated Wilderness Areas, you are not allowed to take anything (meaning no picking of berries, collecting flowers or rocks, and especially no collection of archaeological or anthropological artifacts). The exact rules depend on the local land manager for public lands (national parks, national forests, Bureau of Land Management, Department of Fish and Game, State Parks Department for the particular state, and in some cases the particular city, county, or Open Space District). Some private land owners permit camping (including some forestry companies on their tree farms and some electric utilities around reservoirs for their hydroelectric plants). There is enough variation that you need to contact the land manager of the particular area to which you are going to find out the particular rules.

I should add that there are parks where you can pick wild berries. When Barb and I lived in Boston, we used to go up to Acadia National Park in the state of Maine each August and September and pick buckets of wild blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, mountain cranberries (similar to lingonberries), and red and black raspberries. The tourists traveling in their cars would look on in horror as we stuffed our faces as well as filling the buckets with the delicious and sweet berries. But, no, you can't do that everywhere.

It sounds very rigid and restrictive, but there is actually so much open space, especially in the Western US and in much of Canada, that there is a huge amount of area that you can camp wherever you want. You can sometimes go for days without seeing another party. Mexico has some similar restrictions, particularly along beach and other coastal areas, as well as in their National Parks (Parques Nacionals).

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