BLM Camping
We are going out west this summer and I am hearing about camping on BLM Land. I am not familiar with this. My research says it is BLM Land and they have some places with fire rings and tables that y...
Forum Discussion
GordonThree wrote:
Someday I hope to experience the Federal Forests of the PNW, they look beautiful on YouTube.
Here in Michigan camping on federal land is strictly controlled, maybe because there's so many people? It's also a crapshoot due to public land auctions turning the forest into a checkerboard of public and private side by side. The private folks bluff and put no trespassing signs and chains on public land too.
Most forest service roads have been co-opted by logging companies who have widened and graded the roads. This grading makes it impossible to pull off unless you want to dig out a berm some two foot tall and six feet wide of mud and tree stumps.
Areas that have been exploited in recent years (clear cut) are prime for camping before mother nature's scabs form by means of tall grass and weed tree saplings. Loggers are not required to replant areas they clear cut in Michigan.
There's a few small federal campgrounds here and there, now managed by a company American Land and Leisure. Ones that years ago were free now have an iron ranger demanding a pittance be paid for all the management services provided by the good folks at American Land and Leisure.
In the PNW, we also have state forests plus DNR land in Washington plus the equivalent in Idaho and Oregon. The Tillamook state forest in Oregon along the Oregon Coast and Capitol state forest near Olympia, WA are wirth exploring and there are dispersed sites plus rustic ones. There are remaining stands of old growth forest groves that you can wander around to nurture your sense of wonder.
