Wild camping private forum/thread - suggestions?

Pat Mustard

A camping thread has been previously suggested and subsequently shot down, due to lack of traffic in the Outdoor Pursuits forum, generally.

However, I am interested in Wild Camping, usually in areas where there is wood to burn a fire (usual leave-no-trace policy, etc.).

Every once in a while, I look in on the Outdoor Pursuits forum and I see the odd post about Wild Camping. There is usually not much new there regarding locations to camp. There is one poster who has various tales of dogs and security in Glendalough. Those sort of posters are unhelpful, hard to believe, and are best kept out of the mix, if at all possible.

Realistically, people keep their Wild Camping spots secret in this country. Those spots take work to find. After all of the hassle of scouring OS maps for suitable places, followed by eliminating unsuitable places after checking them on the ground, you don't want to announce your work to the entire world. So you keep the information to yourself, and the only way to discover new places is by your own work and/or observation, and that of your friends.

So I got to thinking. I wonder if a private Wild Camping forum was established, or, given lack of volume of traffic, a private Wild Camping thread, would people be willing to exchange ideas and locations?

Any thoughts?

Donny5

The Mustard wrote: »

There is one poster who has various tales of dogs and security in Glendalough. Those sort of posters are unhelpful, hard to believe, and are best kept out of the mix, if at all possible.

On the whole, your idea has merit, but I think that guy was legit. I personally and a few of my friends have seen or been moved on from the Knockree valley by security on foot or in a 4x4.

Pat Mustard

Donny5 wrote: »

On the whole, your idea has merit, but I think that guy was legit. I personally and a few of my friends have seen or been moved on from the Knockree valley by security on foot or in a 4x4.

Fair enough, but I think that guy has a personal agenda, so I don't trust his posts.

Anyone else interested as well?

Donny5

The Mustard wrote: »

Fair enough, but I think that guy has a personal agenda, so I don't trust his posts.

Anyone else interested as well?

Yeah, definitely. He was so adamant that he was impartial, too.

Planet X

Yeah, I do a bit of cycle touring and wild camp a bit down the country. One nighters and move on. Lake shores are good. Great views.

loobylou

Having seen the damage done by some campers, I never suggest wild camp sites over the internet.
Once the info is out there its just s likely that the "bad" campers will use it as will the responsible ones.

Pat Mustard

loobylou wrote: »

Having seen the damage done by some campers, I never suggest wild camp sites over the internet.
Once the info is out there its just s likely that the "bad" campers will use it as will the responsible ones.

I try to camp in places that are more remote or less easy to access, which makes it less likely that others will use those places. There are several reasons for this.

In some of those camping spots, I have noticed old hearths of fires, some of which had been used relatively recently, one of which was overgrown and had not been used in years. There was no rubbish or damage in any of these places.

My point is that I would regard the type of people who leave a big mess behind them as being lazy, inconsiderate people, who would be far less likely to bother carrying a heavy rucksack over difficult terrain or over a long distance, when they could choose an easy option, camping on some beach.

If we are exchanging ideas on remote or somewhat inaccessible camping spots, the litter/noise problems are far less likely to arise.

Of course, not all good wild camping spots are remote or inaccessible, so you make a point.

In any case, what I have suggested is a private thread, to reduce the chances of the information becoming too widely available.

Do I take it that you are not interested?

Pat Mustard

If more people show interest, I'll put in a request for a private Wild Camping sub forum (off Outdoor Pursuits).

Daithi2004

Unfortunately some campers do leave a mess on the lower end of the mountains. I think this has been covered by other contibutors.

There is a wild campsite forum mainly in Northern Ireland but I do contribute being from the South. They talk about wild camping and some of them get together for some trips. I am assuming they are responsible people because they have talked about litter and damage being done to the mountains. Here is the website. www.ni-wild.co.uk/.

Here is their poster

littleredspot

I wonder is it worth suggesting a camping sub forum again and maybe take it from there? I've often looked for camping information to little avail.

Pat Mustard

Daithi2004 wrote: »

Unfortunately some campers do leave a mess

This is true. There are bad campers - people best avoided. They probably fall into the category of "car-campers" much of the time, as described on the website to which you linked. I don't think these guys wander very far from their cars.

Daithi2004 wrote: »

There is a wild campsite forum mainly in Northern Ireland but I do contribute being from the South. They talk about wild camping and some of them get together for some trips. I am assuming they are responsible people because they have talked about litter and damage being done to the mountains. Here is the website. www.ni-wild.co.uk/.

It's a nice website. I've seen it before, but I never paid much attention to it because I can't remember seeing anything within a two-hour drive. I must check it out again.

Pat Mustard

littleredspot wrote: »

I wonder is it worth suggesting a camping sub forum again and maybe take it from there? I've often looked for camping information to little avail.

Thanks for this.

The Camping sub forum suggestion (as opposed to what has been proposed here) had its merits too. I think it was shot down due to a doubt that there was enough traffic for it and a fear that it would split the already light traffic in the Outdoor Pursuits forum.

I had assumed that if the same forum request was made again, that it would get shot down again, for the same reasons as before, insofar as nothing has changed.

Regarding general camping gear, the answers on the Outdoor Pursuits forum are quite helpful anyway.

However, what is really lacking is a place to exchange ideas about Wild Camping locations. In my view, that won't work unless it's a private forum. Wild Campers are circumspect types.

So, at the moment, I'm still inclined to opt for a private Wild Camping sub forum.

I'm still open to suggestions though. If enough people are in favour of a simple Camping sub forum, I'll stick in a request for that instead.

Whatever gets the job done, really.

Tabnabs

There are private forums on Boards. Trouble is, I'm not a member of any so can't say how they are set up or by whom? Maybe worth asking admins?

Pat Mustard

Cheers for that. I'll throw a query up on helpdesk or whatever it's called these days.

Pat Mustard

I did a bit of checking and posted a private forum request - see link.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056778549


I've pasted in an abbreviation of the voting rules below, if people are interested in following the link and giving this forum request a "+1"


At the end of 6 weeks the number of *clear* votes of support or opposition will be counted up.

What counts as a clear vote?

thanking a post is not a vote. thanking a post is just that, a thanked post.

posting +1 is counted as support.

Posting a reason that clearly shows support or opposition is counted

If the final tally ( votes in favour - votes against ) is greater than +18 then the forum will be considered popular enough for consideration.

BigBoi83

This is a great idea, wild camping is something i come on here regularily to try and get info on and for obv reasons people are very reluctant to say anything....got to go during the summer with my bros and we had a great night, itl def be a memory ill look back on in years and id love to add to it

thehomeofDob

I've added my vote. Might be a good idea to throw up a post on Survivalism & Self Sufficiency.

feck sake lads

stupid question but if these sites are secret how will anyone else find it,
don't get me wrong i think it's a great idea anything new is always worth giving it a go;)
i do a bit of cycle touring but wild camping heem i don't know to be honest i like a shower at the end of a days cycling ,and how safe is your wild camp:eek:

Tabnabs

gps coordinates, grid reference, range and bearing from a fixed object

feck sake lads

i was going to say not everyone is good at reading gps or maps:D:D

Pat Mustard

feck sake lads wrote: »

how safe is your wild camp:eek:

The remoter the safer, generally. Campers who run into difficulty are people who park their camper vans in lay-bys or other easiy accessible areas. Scumbags tend not to go to great effort in their endeavours. Did you ever meet a scumbag wearing a pair of hiking boots, a couple of miles from the nearest road? I didn't. Scumbags are lazy, predictable, and rarely travel far from their car.

Pat Mustard

thehomeofDob wrote: »

I've added my vote. Might be a good idea to throw up a post on Survivalism & Self Sufficiency.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll do just that.

feck sake lads

http://www.tgomagazine.co.uk/imagesvideo/video/Choosing-a-camp-site

amazing how we think ,he's demonstrating how to pitch your tent in the ideal wil camping spot, we are thinking how to avoid scumbags.;)

HellFireClub

Isn't it possible for any user to just set up a private discussion on the site?

Donny5

The Mustard wrote: »

Did you ever meet a scumbag wearing a pair of hiking boots, a couple of miles from the nearest road? I didn't. Scumbags are lazy, predictable, and rarely travel far from their car.

I have, minus the boots. You come across scumbags and their in relatively difficult to get to places all over Wicklow, sometimes two or three km from the nearest road. I'm ever surprised at how far people will carry slabs and air matresses from Argos.

Pat Mustard

HellFireClub wrote: »

Isn't it possible for any user to just set up a private discussion on the site?

I must look into that.

HellFireClub

The Mustard wrote: »

I must look into that.

I've just set up a private group for Wild Camping, as I've never tried using this before, I've set it up as invite only, drop me a PM for an invite. I've invited some folks on thread via PM.

feck sake lads

HellFireClub wrote: »

I've just set up a private group for Wild Camping, as I've never tried using this before, I've set it up as invite only, drop me a PM for an invite. I've invited some folks on thread via PM.

so does this work.

HellFireClub

feck sake lads wrote: »

so does this work.

Seems to, only 3 members so far, sent you an invite!

feck sake lads

but how will this work , do you invite members to wild camp at your secret place ,and do you wild camp in winter months as well ,
i camped in tollymore pk last winter jesus i nearly died with the cold :D:D i only have a alpkit summer down bag big mistake :eek:
are you lads backpackers ,i'm not cycle tourer.

HellFireClub

feck sake lads wrote: »

but how will this work , do you invite members to wild camp at your secret place ,and do you wild camp in winter months as well ,
i camped in tollymore pk last winter jesus i nearly died with the cold :D:D i only have a alpkit summer down bag big mistake :eek:
are you lads backpackers ,i'm not cycle tourer.

I dunno, I only created the group to see if it was possible to set up what is in effect a private discussion forum! Sure throw up a post and see how it goes!