Boondocking And How It Is Affecting Cities

By Michael Stewart


Back in the day, people simply camped where night fell on them, choosing a location that had some shelter, perhaps near water. The ones who did this had to do it when traveling to farther distances, and when traveling through territory not built up with many towns or cities. Also, horses and bullocks could only go so far in a day, especially when carrying horse or bullock loads of stuff.

Life in the mythic tones of the Wild West may have influenced a new kind of trend that has echoes of throwback to those days and even older ones. Boondocking is the name of this trend, and this might be something practical in the many isolated or wilderness parts of the country. Free spaces abound and a lot of people are proud of their camping skills.

The practice of simply stopping at places on the road that look like good places to set up camp is not that far out. Lots of people simply pull over their cars, RVs and mobile homes and set up what is called a dry camp. But untenanted brush and wilderness will not have any kind of civilized facility.

However, an unhealthy aspect of the current practice is that the wilderness can be urban or commercial in nature. For instance, there are those who will not think twice about dry camping on empty parking lots, truck stops and Wal Mart. Boondock was derived from a word that meant mountainous places with dense forest cover.

A lot of folks could still do dry camping on untenanted land and other free places, those with no fences or signs prohibiting the practice. For cities, however, the practice can be considered illegal in certain localities. There have been news items recording camp outs right by busy streets with RVs abandoned right where they stopped.

The nomadic life is all about the freedom to do your own thing at any place you might go to. Gypsies still abound in Europe, and this kind of life may be attractive to some people, and in the land of brave counterculture descendants, it has not gone out of fashion. Isolated farms may even go so far as offer travelers like these free water or electricity for providing a bit of security out by the front pasture.

The most interesting places to camp can be national forests or preserves, with their rolling acres of parkland and well tended forests. However, the law says that camping in these places can only be done on designated spots for a fee or that the campers should be legitimate bird or wildlife watchers. However, the boondockers need only strap on a pair of binoculars and use bird whistles to qualify.

Government may not be very strict on campers that may not have a choice at all. There are those who will not know any other kind of life. Boondockers may belong to a class who do it professionally, like squatters do, and these will know how not to get caught while enjoying all the amenities or spaces in a place where they should not be.

This may not be the worst of it, but this system may now be under the watchful eye of police authorities. But so far, there have not been a rash of crimes that have been attached to the practice. And also, authorities should do well to study the profiles of people who do this, since they may have good reason for doing so.




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