Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

landcamp.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 236 posts

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#211

Post by JohnFen »

pard68 wrote: post #204
s1artibartfast wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my understanding is that most allow the discharge of firearms, for fun or hunting.

I live in a national forest. At least here you're right. But I assumed OP just meant it's not smart. If you go into the national forest around me and a warden or ranger finds you shooting a gun you will be charged for poaching.

Yes, this is why I said "generally". Discharging firearms is on the Forest Services list of generally prohibited actions, but it's pretty easy to be able to do so legally. Have a hunting license for something that is in season, for instance.

As a rule of thumb, if you're shooting guns in the NF and aren't engaged in legitimate, licensed hunting, you will be suspected of poaching.

This is also a thing that can vary a lot, depending on the specific area you're in.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#212

Post by JohnFen »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #150
JohnFen wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can camp for free in all unimproved areas of US national forests that aren't designated wilderness areas or otherwise designated as off limits for dispersed camping. This is something like 98% of the forests. The exact rules can vary a bit from place to place, so always check with the ranger station in that area (don't rely on the website!) for anything special. You usually need to have a permit if you're parking…

I am guessing there would be restriction on fires, sometimes, if there are risks of starting a forest fire.

This is one of the reasons that you should call the local ranger station. The baseline rule is that campfires are allowed -- but (especially in the last few years) it's not unusual for fires to be restricted during the dry months.

Always call to be certain that you are aware of special restrictions like this.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#213

Post by yencabulator »

kortilla wrote: post #192
alistairSH wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s news to me. VA/WV has the George Washington National Forest, Mt Rogers National Recreational Area, Shenandoah National Park, multiple Wilderness areas (Dolly Sods, etc). Abundant state parks with a mix of established campgrounds and backcountry camping. We don’t have the huge swaths of BLM land. But outdoor access is still pretty great (at least from the DC/Mid-Atlantic urban corridor).

Those come with significantly more restrictions though, so it’s not useful to point those out there in the context of places where you can camp with few restrictions.

Public lands even in the west get more restrictions in the places where too many people start ruining them. It really all comes back to population density, and that shouldn't surprise anyone: nature is easier to access in less populated places.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#214

Post by JohnFen »

tastyfreeze wrote: post #59
solardev wrote: post #9

For anyone looking for actually free, no strings attached (and no subscription) camping, check https://freecampsites.net/ instead. It's a community wiki of free camp sites, usually on federal lands of various sorts (National Forests and BLM lands often have primitive campsites with fire rings and not much else). It's great for travel around national parks, especially. But please do leave no trace, pack out what you b…

Not sure if this is true in other states. In Alaska you are allowed to camp on State of Alaska land for 7 days in one location. Often state land is within a few miles of a community. State Parks on the other hand often cost a few bucks a night.

This is very common in the western states (I don' t know about the others). In general, the rules for state forests are similar to the rules for the national forests -- but there can be significant differences.

Fortunately, while the NF websites tend to be poorly updated (which is why you shouldn't rely on them), the state forest websites are much more reliable for current information.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#215

Post by solardev »

edgineer wrote: post #205
muti wrote: post #35

1 host = 1 credit looks like a problem, similar to how it can be hard to build up ratio on well established private torrent trackers. The distribution of credits will not be even with many hosts building up credits for some nebulous future trip. How do those actually travelling around earn credits past the first 3 complimentary? Bonus point systems or just ignoring ratio solved this from my pov for trackers, the 1 to…

The problems associated with this credit system were famously analyzed after the Capitol Hill Babysitting Co-op ran into, and resolved them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Babysitting_Co-op

How were they ultimately resolved? It seems like they created a hyperlocal currency (or time bank[1]) but then ran into market problems of supply and demand, and a bunch of people analyzed it and proposed solutions, but it was unclear what ultimately happened.

Plus, at a measly 20 families right now, all in DC, it's unclear whether this model would work for bigger or more heterogenous groups. Probably at a smaller scale, the expectation of reciprocity alone would be enough; at larger scales, "financiers" would probably try to game the system and skew exchange rates. In my (limited) experience, this sort of thing only works when a group is both small enough and homogenous enough that the primary driver is community and mutual respect, not any real sort of economic game theory. At that scale members don't tend to hyper-optimize for individual "wealth" over collective gain (yet).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-based_currency

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#216

Post by JohnFen »

Aachen wrote: post #194
m463 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: Japan - Japan teaches this early, Japanese students clean their own schools.

Dutch too in high school. Is that not everywhere? Though I've never questioned why that wasn't the case in primary or tertiary education here, so maybe it's also not that normal for us. It's somewhere between annoying and a punishment, not seen as taking care of your own stuff, maybe that's different in Japan / elsewhere in general. At work I feel weird about cleaning personnel, as though we consultants are above vac…

> Dutch too in high school. Is that not everywhere?

I've never heard of this in US public schools.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#217

Post by rambambram »

1231112315123 wrote: post #203
rambambram wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an active host on Couchsurfing, I want to thank you and your former teammates for one of the best initiatives ever. I've been hosting people from all over the world for some time now, and I really like the community! It's bringing me so much joy to host a world traveler from Poland one day, and a transgender Iranian guy on a bicycle trip the next day.

Is Couchsurfing still alive? When they blocked access for free users, my impression (after paying) was that very little of the community remained.

Alive and kicking! Well, at least for me and the five people that I hosted in the last two months.

I happily pay 1.99 euros a month, if only for supporting the idea.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#218

Post by pard68 »

JohnFen wrote: post #211
pard68 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a national forest. At least here you're right. But I assumed OP just meant it's not smart. If you go into the national forest around me and a warden or ranger finds you shooting a gun you will be charged for poaching.

Yes, this is why I said "generally". Discharging firearms is on the Forest Services list of generally prohibited actions, but it's pretty easy to be able to do so legally. Have a hunting license for something that is in season, for instance. As a rule of thumb, if you're shooting guns in the NF and aren't engaged in legitimate, licensed hunting, you will be suspected of poaching. This is also a thing that can vary a…

Yup. Honestly, the chances of being caught is very low. National forests are very large and mostly uninhabited. Most federal NF employees are not LEOs and won't bother you even if they do find you. But it's still best to be safe and legal, poaching charges are not a joke and I'd rather not be risking my rights.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#219

Post by coding123 »

jacurtis wrote: post #83

I love paying $100 annually to get something "for free". Jokes aside, I think this concept is cool and I'm not even upset that there is a membership fee to keep people engaged and to support the software component that coordinates this. But $100 per year? This feels like $50 per year TOPS! Really I feel like this should be closer to $20 per year. I think it is going to be tough to get people to pay $100 subscription…

I joined Boondockers Welcome back in 2018 when it was $30 per year. Totally worth it even if I was just going to camp one time (which most new users will do).

But this? This is a money grab (as was boondockers welcome) but $100 is a HUGE money grab. I think the owner of this just expected to put this page out and get rich. The submitter didn't even reply to a single person. Total scam I hope no one "signed up".

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#220

Post by jupp0r »

xwdv wrote: post #200
jupp0r wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are further than 1h away or bunk beds in Hostels (which I wouldn't consider Hotel rooms). Source: I desperately tried to find a hotel there for next weekend.

Why not just camp?

Camping inside the valley is very hard to find too. My personal reason is that I'll be hiking the John Muir Trail for 3 weeks - camping in the wilderness for 20 nights - on Monday and want to have one last night of relative comforts :)
Post reply on HN