Dispersed camping etiquette

General Discussion
#1

So I am just curious to know if my common sense or logic is correct. It seems to me that when I’m in any national forest and I am dispersed camping, that a person coming behind me after my campsite has been established should not intrude on my campsite I don’t believe I’m wrong on this topic, but please correct me if I am wrong.

I was recently in a dispersed camping area in the Washington national forest in Arkansas, and granted the campsite was quite large, but it was at the end of a road. I did not have any problems with anybody coming into the campsite as the minute they pulled in and turned the corner. They could see that I had already established a site there and you could see them turn around and leave, however anybody that was cruising the area and one of those obnoxious razors just came right into the camp parked their vehicles next to each other, got out and walked over to the stream right next to my sight mind you and acted as if it was perfectly OK to do so.

I try to remain calm and calmly walked over to them and asked them if I could help them as they were looking at a map. They said they were looking for a waterfall which happened to be at the campsite that I was at, but was in active because the only time the waterfall is active is after a rain. We were in the middle of a drought giving them the benefit of the doubt I told them about some other waterfalls in the area but I doubt they wanted to go because you could not get to the waterfall in one of these obnoxious open wheel vehicles. I also told them that it is frowned upon to drive into someone else’s campsite and they responded that this was dispersed camping and that they could go wherever they wanted and that I could call arranger if I wanted to and quite frankly, I probably would have after that comment, but there was no cell signal where I was.

After all, this was said and done, and I got back home. I did bring up Google maps and on the map there was a named waterfall in my campsite. The question really is does this to give them the right to come through my site.

I would like to know what you guys think and what would you have done.

#2

Common courtesy would dictate they stay out of your established campsite but common courtesy doesn’t seem to be so common any more. We’ve had issues with people not respecting boundaries in developed campsites.

As for your situation, as you aren’t paying for use of the space and there were really no set boundaries for your site, there really isn’t much even a Ranger could have been able to do.

#3

Agree with all you said. It will be the last time I choose a spot that I think may be a POI for people out exploring. So much for common sense but what is even more disappointing is the lack of common courtesy.

#4

It can be a bit outside the lines when in a dispersed area. There are no set campsites and boundaries and depending on the area, history of use and things like waterfalls and swim holes, trails, grassy fields; one can find themselves in a group camp type setting where it is share and share alike.

We’ve been in many situations and have had to be adaptable. Some times it’s been far from private but very enjoyable. Sometimes the “best” spot is also the most prone to people accessing the creek/waterfall/swimhole/ trail/beach and that is the price of setting up camp there.

I think showing kindness and respect to each other and being aware that public land is just that; public is key to enjoying the adventure.