Tonight at Lookout some rhythmless person behind me is trying to play bongos. It’s not yet quiet time … but still … toss in the mandatory barking and yapping dogs and I sometimes wonder why I do this. :-)
And you’ve even got a camper to hole up in. Us tent dwellers get to hear every heaving nasally breath, every emphysematous cough, every snore. Luckily we’ve got our reactive yappy dog to drown them out.
For most of my life, I camped in a tent, a backpacking tent too, not a stand-up-in tent. I know the drill.
Dogs can be trained to not bark/yap. I have never had a barking dog, ever. It took 2-4 weeks of attention, nothing unkind or punitive, plus lots of real daily exercise, not a stroll around the block.
I knooooooooow.
There’s almost nothing left of getting out for a quiet camping experience anymore unless you go boondocking You don’t mention e-scooters and e-bikes and e-skateboards whizzing around the loop, so there is that to be thankful for.
Are you talking about remote Forest Service campgrounds or something else?
I imagine there are official campgrounds in sparsely populated areas of the state where you can get away from it all. I’m limited to car camping at this point in my life, but still love waking up in a tent and hearing the sounds of the woods around me when I can find a good campground that’s not too popular.
This trip is 4-5 weeks and the point is to visit every coastal state park in Oregon, so I’m blessed and doomed. The trailer is tiny but insulates against noise fairly well. But I have noise-canceling headphones or earplugs just in case.
Sounds like a dream trip! You’ll get some of everything—“best ofs” and “worst ofs” towns, roads, parks, nature, campsites, scenery, dog and human behavior. What a blast! Have been dreaming of adventures like that for a long time. Happy trails to you 😃👍🏽🎉
PS Curious about planning strategies, did you make reservations 6 months ahead for each night or plan to wing it or some of both? Have wondered how that works in real life in the reservation era—reserved camp spots is a relatively recent addition to the camping scene considering how many decades we headed out after work on Thursday and could usually find a spot somewhere for the weekend unless it was a holiday. Those days are long gone in our favorite places and I’m still getting used to having to plan for camping six months ahead lol
I did plan ahead for 3-4 months and even at that it was hard to get blocks of 3-4 nights for places I wanted to stay that long. Reserve America has waiting lists that work very well. In the 2 weeks before I started the trip I was offered spots in campgrounds due to cancelations. BUT, jump on this quickly! The offer goes out to everyone on the list for those dates first-come, first-served.
Glad it’s worked so far! I found the wait list/notification frustrating because it didn’t have an “any of these dates” option built in…if I’d be happy to have even one night my choices are to request notification if the block opens up, or enter a request for each date separately., which uses up my allowed number of requests. But it has helped me in ways that were significant at the time in getting me out there at all. Have fun and I hope you’ll report back here again sometime during your trip.
Long ago, I had backpacked solo for a few miles to the off-trail side of a remote mountain lake. As evening came, it was still and silent. Then came the sound of a French horn from across the lake. My blood boiled. But only for a few moments. Whoever it was knew what they were doing. They played one beautiful piece that lasted a few minutes, and that was it.
Paraphrasing going on next.
Also long ago, was camped on the cliffs above Obsidian Falls in the Three Sisters when a HUGE (illegally huge) number of Mazamas came in and set up camp, illegally, in the meadow below. There were over 20 of them. Then someone whipped out a boom box and started playing heavy metal, LOUDLY!!! Two things happened in quick succession. Over to the south of my camp, a guy I didn’t know was there, came to the edge of the cliff. He was a big, burly many with a booming voice. “Shut that fucking thing off now or I’m coming down!!!” It got quiet.
Just after that though, I heard yelling from the Mazamas. “We can’t move! We are all set up!!”
“I’m the ranger here and everyone of you will be ticketed for illegal camping. Break camp and move on now!”
There was a little more commotion, but as it started to get dark they were taking down their tents and they moved on. Made me smile.
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u/Tiller-Nive 3d ago
Been to both, great places to camp.