Tips for sleeping for free...
Tips for sleeping in your car and not paying for camping…
Tip number 1 - avoid organized, popular campgrounds.
After four nights of successfully NOT paying for camping, I got careless and got caught.
I went to Strathcona Provincial park. A fairly popular park (I assume, seeing as I’d heard of it before I came to BC). I was torn between just staying in the campground or if I should just stay in the day use area. So I went to check out the campsites and as I pulled in the warden yelled at me that I was driving too fast (I was going like 20 km an hour, apparently twice as fast as I should be). I said okay, sorry and he continued to explain to me that the speed limit was 10, and went on and on about why I had to drive slow. I mean the guy was talking to me like I was an idiot and a degenerate, not at all politely. I mean it wasn’t like I was going 80, I was going pretty damn slow…. Anyway I was a little annoyed with that, and I continued to drive around looking at the sites. When another guy screamed at me to go faster… that didn’t make sense, maybe he was telling me to go slower, but in anycase, I was going about 15.… But I mean seriously! Stop fucking yelling at me! I have never been yelled at so much since I came to Vancouver Island. I consider myself a nice, polite person, and as a result, seem to get treated likewise, but not here. I have a theory that they hate me because my license plate says I’m from Ontario. At least I hope that’s it, because otherwise I’m pretty unimpressed by how rude people are, I hope this isn’t the usual BC attitude and that they simply have something against Ontarians. (this theory started when the lady at the visitor’s centre at Pacific Rim made a crack about how people from Ontario want all the animals contained so we can see them, and that all of Canada hates Ontario… which was a joke, but not funny. I had gone in because I wanted to find out where a good spot to see some oyster catchers, (a type of bird).
Back to the story:
So that pretty much sealed it for me. No way I was going to stay in the stupid campground with all the jerks. Nope, I’m going to hang out at the picnic area and boat launch. It was on this mountain lake with a small natural beach area I could swim in. I made my dinner, made some tea, went for a swim and read my book for a bit, nobody around. When it started to get dark, I watched the rest of the movie I started the day before. When it was over I figured it was safe to go to sleep, that’s when the rangers pull up. And they have flashlights.
If you are going to do the stealth, sleeping-in-your-car thing, having a dog that barks at anything is not a good idea. Without him I could have pulled the covers over my head and pretended I wasn’t there. With him barking, it was kind of obvious I was. So they told me I couldn’t camp there.
Now, it’s not that I have a thing against paying for camping. It’s just that I feel that what I’m doing hardly qualifies as camping. I don’t set up a tent, I’m not staying long, I‘m not erecting elaborate tarp shelters; essentially I’m parking, overnight. I just happen to be in the car.
Defeated, and not able to argue my case (for the record, I didn’t even try, I just played dumb and said that I didn’t know I couldn’t camp there, even though the sign clearly stated it was for day-use only). I moved onto the campground. I found a quiet spot away from others and climbed into bed. Just as I was getting comfortable, the ever-persistent warden showed up again, this time looking for my camping fee.
He was very polite about it, saying it was safer here and more comfortable. Neither of which I entirely believed. I was pretty happy in the parking lot overlooking the lake and the mountains, and here in the campground I have no view of anything. Benny boy was doing a pretty good job letting the warden know we did not appreciate the constant interruptions. I let him growl because he was mirroring my annoyance at the situation, however, let the record show I was not annoyed at the wardens, they were just doing their job, and well. But seriously $15 dollars to sleep in my car! I feel cheated!
So here are my tips for sleeping in your car:
- Don’t bring a dog, unless that dog is a quiet, bark at nothing type who will hide out under blankets with you if needed.
- vans without windows work better than a many-windowed SUV
- avoid parks with wardens and campgrounds in them, or find campgrounds that allow self-registration and arrive late, leave early.
Tip number 1 - avoid organized, popular campgrounds.
After four nights of successfully NOT paying for camping, I got careless and got caught.
I went to Strathcona Provincial park. A fairly popular park (I assume, seeing as I’d heard of it before I came to BC). I was torn between just staying in the campground or if I should just stay in the day use area. So I went to check out the campsites and as I pulled in the warden yelled at me that I was driving too fast (I was going like 20 km an hour, apparently twice as fast as I should be). I said okay, sorry and he continued to explain to me that the speed limit was 10, and went on and on about why I had to drive slow. I mean the guy was talking to me like I was an idiot and a degenerate, not at all politely. I mean it wasn’t like I was going 80, I was going pretty damn slow…. Anyway I was a little annoyed with that, and I continued to drive around looking at the sites. When another guy screamed at me to go faster… that didn’t make sense, maybe he was telling me to go slower, but in anycase, I was going about 15.… But I mean seriously! Stop fucking yelling at me! I have never been yelled at so much since I came to Vancouver Island. I consider myself a nice, polite person, and as a result, seem to get treated likewise, but not here. I have a theory that they hate me because my license plate says I’m from Ontario. At least I hope that’s it, because otherwise I’m pretty unimpressed by how rude people are, I hope this isn’t the usual BC attitude and that they simply have something against Ontarians. (this theory started when the lady at the visitor’s centre at Pacific Rim made a crack about how people from Ontario want all the animals contained so we can see them, and that all of Canada hates Ontario… which was a joke, but not funny. I had gone in because I wanted to find out where a good spot to see some oyster catchers, (a type of bird).
Back to the story:
So that pretty much sealed it for me. No way I was going to stay in the stupid campground with all the jerks. Nope, I’m going to hang out at the picnic area and boat launch. It was on this mountain lake with a small natural beach area I could swim in. I made my dinner, made some tea, went for a swim and read my book for a bit, nobody around. When it started to get dark, I watched the rest of the movie I started the day before. When it was over I figured it was safe to go to sleep, that’s when the rangers pull up. And they have flashlights.
If you are going to do the stealth, sleeping-in-your-car thing, having a dog that barks at anything is not a good idea. Without him I could have pulled the covers over my head and pretended I wasn’t there. With him barking, it was kind of obvious I was. So they told me I couldn’t camp there.
Now, it’s not that I have a thing against paying for camping. It’s just that I feel that what I’m doing hardly qualifies as camping. I don’t set up a tent, I’m not staying long, I‘m not erecting elaborate tarp shelters; essentially I’m parking, overnight. I just happen to be in the car.
Defeated, and not able to argue my case (for the record, I didn’t even try, I just played dumb and said that I didn’t know I couldn’t camp there, even though the sign clearly stated it was for day-use only). I moved onto the campground. I found a quiet spot away from others and climbed into bed. Just as I was getting comfortable, the ever-persistent warden showed up again, this time looking for my camping fee.
He was very polite about it, saying it was safer here and more comfortable. Neither of which I entirely believed. I was pretty happy in the parking lot overlooking the lake and the mountains, and here in the campground I have no view of anything. Benny boy was doing a pretty good job letting the warden know we did not appreciate the constant interruptions. I let him growl because he was mirroring my annoyance at the situation, however, let the record show I was not annoyed at the wardens, they were just doing their job, and well. But seriously $15 dollars to sleep in my car! I feel cheated!
So here are my tips for sleeping in your car:
- Don’t bring a dog, unless that dog is a quiet, bark at nothing type who will hide out under blankets with you if needed.
- vans without windows work better than a many-windowed SUV
- avoid parks with wardens and campgrounds in them, or find campgrounds that allow self-registration and arrive late, leave early.
posted by Sarah at 12:40 PM
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