Legality of parking and setting up camp on side of mountain roads in California near Los Angeles
I plan on living out of my car for a while, and was trying to find out about the rules/legality of pulling off on the side of mountain roads to setup camp; roads like the San Gabriel Canyon Road.
On the San Gabriel I know you can pay for a parking permit to park at the top, where many tourists/hikers venture, but I'm wondering about just pulling off much earlier than that without many people around.
I wouldn't be spending more than 3 or 4 nights in any given location, so as not to upset anyone.
Do I still generally need a permit?
Are these rules strictly enforced?
Are there other places around the LA area where this might be allowed?
I can't seem to find much information on this topic.
I'm ultimately just trying to find secluded places near LA that I can legally (or not get caught) drive to and spend a couple nights.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/6113. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
What you want to do seems to be referred to by the Forest Service as "dispersed camping," and you can find a lot of information by googling on that phrase. Different jurisdictions seem to have different rules, but this blog post has a nice attempt to summarize how the rules usually work in national forests and on BLM land. Basically what they seem to want you do to is this. Drive along a paved road to somewhere where there's a dirt road. Then drive at least 1/4 mile down the dirt road, and camp at least 1/4 mile away from any campground and 100' from water. Park your car on the side of the dirt road, not in a meadow, etc.
You can't camp for more than 2 weeks in any consecutive 4-week period. You can't leave your stuff at your camp unattended for more than 3 days.
They have rules about fires and poop disposal, but anyway IMO you should follow a stricter leave no trace ethic because it's the right thing to do. That includes burying your poop and taking your used toilet paper away with you (e.g., after you wipe, throw it in a ziplock bag that you'll take away). Toilet paper doesn't biodegrade well, because it consists of long-chain molecules that bacteria can only attack from the ends. Since this is one of the driest years in California since 1877, I'd suggest simply not making a fire at all.
You may need an adventure pass to park in certain areas. Court rulings have restricted the adventure pass system, but the forest service has interpreted those rulings in the narrowest possible way.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/6131. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
0 comment threads
0 comment threads