this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
164 points (89.0% liked)
Showerthoughts
28966 readers
533 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Posts must be original/unique
- Be good to others - no bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Am I crazy or is the weird thing actually where you drive to a national forest and “dispersed” camp in your car?
In my mind dispersed camping is when you maybe drive to a trailhead but then actually camp after hiking several miles into the forest.
If I saw a car parked in a parking lot I would not assume anyone was sleeping in it.
Maybe it’s a regional thing?
Dispersed camping is any designated campsite that allows you to show up and go as you please. In Montana, they're everywhere and frequently have spots to put your RV or car. "Dispersed" is a designation by the NFS for these sites
Not to quibble but technically dispersed camping, according to the USFS, is camping anywhere outside designated sites. The distinction is important because people believe they can't camp on USFS (or BLM) land for free, almost anywhere they want. In fact with relatively few exceptions and with a bunch of rules like time limits, proximity to water sources, fire restrictions etc etc, you can.
Yeah that's totally fair, I felt weird writing that because that was how I was brought up thinking of it. I suppose where I live, the dispersed camping is very clean cut and does show up on NFS listings, so I've learned to think of it differently recently. I suppose at the very least me and many other people just call any first come first serve camping "dispersed" because of this 🤷♀️
Whatever the case, it certainly doesn't need to be a backpacking spot.