The politics of camping

Thoughts on living outside...

www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-confounding-politics-of-camping-in-america

As I get older, I'm finding more and more how many things I took for granted are politically charged. As a kid, my family car camped often. It never occurred to me that the very act of doing so, for recreational purposes, was an expression of privilege. I never realized how much of a rift there was along racial and economic lines when it came to outdoor recreation.

I admire the UK's (among other countries) "freedom to roam" laws, but that's an idea that seems quite literally foreign in this country, or at least very much in my home state of Texas. I believe Texas has one of the highest percentages of private land ownership, and lowest of public, in the nation. Our 4th highest peak, for example, is privately owned. There are a handful of municipalities that offer limited free camping, but that is a relative oddity.

As an illustration of the divide in philosophies, I'll recount something that happened to me. I was at a local city park with my family. When leaving the car to enter the trail, I noticed there was a sign that specifically forbade camping. That got me thinking how great it would be if there was free camping anywhere in the city, somewhere I could get a quick night under the stars with the kids. I knew it was a long shot, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask the local police department. I drafted an email that specifically mentioned the no camping sign and asked if there was any place where it would be okay to camp. When the chief himself replied, the answer was negative. No big surprise there. What did catch me off guard was the tone of the reply. He said camping could be done on private land (another privilege many don't enjoy). He also seemed to think I was trying to report a crime, saying he would "check it out".

I suspect your police chief's concerns are reflected in the second paragraph of the article, "Early campers didn’t wish to be mistaken for actual vagabonds, and the line between the two was easily smudged."

And I deleted the rest of my comments as they are too easily misinterpreted in an online setting.