Author Topic: Whats the attraction of wild camping?  (Read 4737 times)

watershed

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #15 on: 15:22:56, 04/06/20 »
I must admit that I only originally started wild camping as the walks I wanted to do got more adventurous.
I wanted to explore remote areas and not be restricted by accommodation location.
 I realised that the only way I could do this was to wild camp.
I have only camped out about thirty to forty times now but must admit that the camping side of the walk and the positives that other contributors to this thread suggest have started to get a hold of me.

SteamyTea

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #16 on: 15:36:29, 04/06/20 »
Price and the challenge.
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vghikers

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #17 on: 15:57:34, 04/06/20 »
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I have wild camped in the past, and may return to it, but at present I don't.  In the meantime, I will freely admit to enjoying a shower and a beer at the end of a day's walking, not because I am "terrified" of not having these, but because they are nice things to have. We are all different, and each to their own.

Well maybe slightly harsh, it's all a personal thing after all, but that is the impression I've built up over years of reading forums here and elsewhere: the disconnect really is that bad, that not having all the modern facilities is absolutely unthinkable even for a night.
It ties in roughly with the prevalent idea nowadays that everything must be tamed to the point of being sanitized, as if people can't abide the idea of (relative) wilderness with a modicum of self reliance or challenge within our shores.

archaeoroutes

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #18 on: 16:49:37, 04/06/20 »
It depends how you interpret the OP. It could be taken as 'why on earth would you do that?', but I took it as a conversation starter about why individuals particularly liked it.


I personally feel connected with nature enough to not need to wild camp to be more connected. I do enjoy wild camping in remote places, but I also enjoy spending a night in a hostel or a hotel. Each has its own positives and negatives.
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WhitstableDave

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #19 on: 17:07:17, 04/06/20 »
It's a sad state of affairs that people are so disconnected from the natural environment that the question needs to be asked  :(

1. Independence and being self sufficient with everything I need in my pack for days (and nothing I don't need). No mental baggage.
2. Seeing the landscape fade in the evening and wake up at dawn, often in the best light of the day, an experience as much felt as seen.
3. In mountainous areas, the only way to intimately know a mountain is to pitch on it and sleep with it.

It amazes me that when planning a multiday walk, so many rigidly restrict their schedules around B&Bs etc. It seems they are terrified of not having toilets, showers and a bed to sleep in - why?. They are not necessary and make you dependent on external factors, it's all encumbering baggage and it can all be jettisoned. You'll feel empowered and far better off without it.

I'm sad, but not at all amazed, that you seem to think there's something wrong with people who don't share your preferences. People walk for many different reasons and enjoy many different aspects of this leisure activity. For me, fitness, health and exercise top the list of reasons I walk, with more aesthetic reasons very close behind. Sleeping rough doesn't come into for me.  ;)
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Mel

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #20 on: 17:40:14, 04/06/20 »
Getting further away from the madding crowd.

Being in the environment rather than just a visitor.

Traveling away from the roads, towns etc.

Getting just a little bit back to how we all used to be.

Just for the fun of it.

To wake up in the mountains.


^^^ this is the attraction of wild camping for me.


....not that I do it mindst, but those are the reasons, if I did.


I'd rather do it than stay in a youth hostel or bothy.


I see it as a separate / different experience to staying in paid for accommodation. 








pleb

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #21 on: 17:44:30, 04/06/20 »
It depends how you interpret the OP. It could be taken as 'why on earth would you do that?', but I took it as a conversation starter about why individuals particularly liked it.


I personally feel connected with nature enough to not need to wild camp to be more connected. I do enjoy wild camping in remote places, but I also enjoy spending a night in a hostel or a hotel. Each has its own positives and negatives.
Twas a genuine question. Camped one night in my life on a campsite in Scotland, one night too many.
Beefy once told me in person I was "missing out on so much" by not wildcamping, the other evening I was sat out in the back garden listening to birds twitter....the thought of sleeping out crossed my mind.
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BuzyG

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #22 on: 17:59:48, 04/06/20 »
...and as a means of gaining access to a mountain that you could not climb in a day from the road head.


There are a few such mountains in Scotland - A'Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor to the east of Torridon spring to mind. Wonderfully remote. Walking in (14 miles) pitching your tent and then tackling the hills the next day offers the complete mountain experience, as far as I am concerned.


Exactly why I will probably wild camp again.  I have camped a fair bit in my youth at sites and on the moors.  Never just me and the mountain though.  There was always MrsG or friends or team members involved. Never been camping with the kids.  ;)  I do enjoy walking alone.  So if/when the opportunity comes I will likely get out their again.

veracocha

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #23 on: 18:11:57, 04/06/20 »
Quite a few people at work asked me what the attraction was when they saw some of my pictures camped on Place Fell one night. I asked many of them if they had ever stood on a hill and watched the sun come up on the horizon. Not one had ever done it which shocked me. That sight itself is worth the effort, a gift to behold. On a good clear night the stars in the sky are another sight rarely seen amongst the cities, another gift and all for the price of a walk.   

April

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #24 on: 18:29:18, 04/06/20 »
It's a sad state of affairs that people are so disconnected from the natural environment that the question needs to be asked  :(

 :o  Vghikers don't you read pleb's trip reports? You will find he is very well connected to nature  :) Everyone is different; some people would hate to be out in a tent and doesn't mean they don't enjoy nature.

My response will be repeating what some others have said but here goes....

Wild camping extends the time you are outside on a fell.

By evening you are normally on your own up there (unless you can't think of an excuse fast enough to say no to Karl)  ;)

Sometimes you have a fab view of a wonderful sunset with a glass of wine or a wonderful sunrise with a cup of tea.

You can see stars when it gets dark.

I love being in a tent, for me it gives me a feeling of freedom.

It is exciting and challenging at times camping on the fells, you have to plan well and be able to change plan depending on the weather.

I'm going to stop there because I'm starting to feel fed up because we still can't go out and do it  :(
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vghikers

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #25 on: 19:31:19, 04/06/20 »
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Vghikers don't you read pleb's trip reports? You will find he is very well connected to nature

Of course, I read and enjoy them all.

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I'm sad, but not at all amazed, that you seem to think there's something wrong with people who don't share your preferences.

What?. It was clearly (to me anyway) a comment on the state of disconnect with nature of people in general nowadays, not the hikers here, not people's choices and certainly not people on this forum. I am a bit ASPY and keep forgetting people's tendency to read things into written language that are not actually there. Ok, point taken, more linguistic rigour required in future :)

Almost everyone (non-hikers) we've met, when we casually tell them we're off backpacking in the hills, assume we are overnighting in a hotel. They are literally open mouthed when we tell them we are up there in our tent - and that's in summer. The stunned silence is even longer when we say we are off in winter. I mean, why would anyone do that in this day and age? How can anyone do that?. To them the whole concept of being without modern amenities does not compute.

One exception might be the DOE outings, I think people are vaguely aware of their camping activities, but probably regard it as a rights of passage type of thing for the young and soft to harden them up a bit, not for sensible adults!    :)

barewirewalker

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #26 on: 20:02:45, 04/06/20 »
The term wild camping for the best part of a decade on walking forums seems to, on balance have been the traveller (on foot) who camps at dusk and breaks camp at dawn. The person trying to connect with nature is looking for some thing more is there as case to provide additional terminology to separate these two underlying motives.
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Lee R

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #27 on: 20:22:03, 04/06/20 »
I've camped many times in the past especially as a child but I've never "wild camped"


I did start a thread a few weeks ago a starting out in wild camping though so the thought is there somewhere......


For me, it would be extending the time spent in the area. Last couple of times we've done the Brecons I've booked two nights in an Airbnb to make a long weekend of it. Photography opportunities of sunset/night skies/milky way/sunrise. And, the experience of it especially if it's shared with someone else.

Dovegirl

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #28 on: 20:33:01, 04/06/20 »
I understand why people like wild camping, but for me it doesn't have an appeal.  But I feel very well connected with nature and I experience that connection the most when I'm in solitude in the countryside, and I find that solitude without going camping.

karl h

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Re: Whats the attraction of wild camping?
« Reply #29 on: 20:37:23, 04/06/20 »
 
By evening you are normally on your own up there (unless you can't think of an excuse fast enough to say no to Karl)  ;)



I don't actually like wild camping but it's worth the hundreds of pounds I've spent on gear to occasionally spoil April and beefy's night  :-*


 

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