Question about "illegal" camping

[dr_wu002]

I have a serious question about the definition of camping. I'm not trying to piss anyone off it's just something I wondered about:

One time I hiked through Thoreau Falls somewhat early in the AM. I noticed there were "no camping" signs near the falls. Now when I got to the falls I saw that two people had basically dropped their packs and slept on the rocks on blankets. They had no tent or even sleeping bags and only had small packs. Is this illegal? I know technically they camped but also, they didn't do more then just sit there from what I can tell. I'm just not sure if this is kosher or not -- not that I want to camp there anyway -- and I was wondering if someone knew better than I.

My girlfriend and I ended up pumping water there and I believe we cooked breakfast on our stove thingy (pocket rocket) while at the falls. Is this illegal? We didn't "camp" but we did "camping" activities as far as I can tell. We certainly didn't pour anything in the water -- both of us are obsessively clean but in retrospect it might not have been the thing to do. This was actually my first backpacking overnighter (we camped somewhere else the night before) so I wasn't at all sure of the rules.

-Dr. Wu

 

[pbernard]

I would say that you did what needed to be done without any adverse impact on the environment or others. That's cool with me, kind of like the golden rule philosophy. Be good and peace.

 

[Rick]

This subject came up back around 2001 or so. I recall, I even got a little heated about folks minding the rules and not playing games with them.

I remember it became an extremely heated discussion about what constitutes 'camping'. I think the peak in discussion was Wright Peak. The discussion was something like "If you head up at x:xxpm and get to the summit by x:xx AM and decide to take a 'long break' there, is it considered camping, and how can a ranger justify a citation if you are bending the definition a little.
I'll take a sideline seat this time to watch the fireworks

 

[dr_wu002]

This subject came up back around 2001 or so. I recall, I even got a little heated about folks minding the rules and not playing games with them.

I'll take a sideline seat this time to watch the fireworks

I think I can delete the thread since I started it so if it gets crazy I'll just pull it. I don't want it to get heated. But I can see your point about "oops, I was just sitting here (all night)" causing some tempers to rise.

I guess basically, whether you're right or wrong staying somewhere like Thoreau Falls, you don't want to encourage others to do it. Enough people do it and eventually you'll get someone who brings a tent... the next guy will poop in the falls and so on. I don't know -- I had just been curious since I saw those people staying there (not that I want to camp there anyway) but I can see how it can start a fight...

-Dr. Wu

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Pushing the rules, and trying to get technical about things is what brings in the lawyers, and more complicated restrictions. 90% of people don't need rules & regulations, they just need guidelines. It's the other 10% that necessitate all the regulations.

(How's that for a broad sweeping statement)