Wild Camp

How to complete Wild Camp

Sleeping outside a designated campground strips camping to its original form: you pick the spot, you carry everything in, and by morning nobody can tell you were there. It teaches self-reliance and land ethics in a way a numbered pitch with a shower block never will.

1. Check the legality first: wild camping is broadly allowed in Scotland, Norway, and Sweden, restricted in most of the US to dispersed zones on public land, and mostly banned elsewhere without landowner permission.
2. Choose a spot at least 60 meters from water and trails, on durable ground like gravel, dry grass, or forest duff.
3. Arrive an hour before sunset to pitch, and plan to leave early; late in, early out is the wild camper's rule.
4. Pack out every scrap including food waste, and bury human waste 15 to 20 centimeters deep well away from water.
5. Cook on a stove instead of lighting a fire, and before leaving, fluff flattened grass and sweep the site with your eyes for anything left behind.

Tips

• Do a practice run one drive-away-from-the-car night before committing to a remote spot.
• Tell someone your location and expected return; phone signal is not guaranteed.
• Wind matters more than rain for sleep quality, so pitch behind natural windbreaks, not on scenic exposed ridgelines.

What counts as done

You spent a full night camped outside any organized campsite and left the spot indistinguishable from how you found it.