backcountry campsite reviews

[McKee80]

Hi all,

I've benefited greatly from this site and others in planning trips. A little knowledge about going off trail a quarter mile from the campsite to a waterfall, or amount of shade in the summer can go a long way in improving a trip. I'm trying to create a site where people can go to get this kind of information from people that have been there. It is up and running now, I put a link in the resources section.

The amount of help it gives people is directly proportional to the amount of data in there for the sites. Several people have been generous with their time and provided reviews (@Outdoor_Fool and @wsp_scott in particular). A lot of you have been a lot of these places. If you have the time, it would be really cool if you contributed some knowledge. I've made it easier to write reviews.
1. Go into the campsite itself and write a review OR
2. Click the Quick Review link to write a review without having to navigate to the site on the map or in the list OR
3. Just type it into this google spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AnierxrSZua8KeV34NtL8tSJ6dH2uTvbqQM-MNbmnWU/edit?usp=sharing OR
4. Send me the information (site name, star rating, review) in any form you want, and I'll bulk upload it to the database

If nothing else, it is kind of fun to play around with. It lives here: http://bcsites.herokuapp.com

By the way, it is only in areas with designated campsite management strategies. See this thread for a good explanation:
https://backcountrypost.com/threads/backcountry-campsite-selection-opinions-please.8205/

Anyway, if you do get a chance to check it out, I'm happy to receive any kind of feedback for making it better. In the next couple weeks, I'll probably add some campsite to campsite distance and elevation change info. Glacier and GSMNP have the most reviews right now, if you want to see what they look like.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[DuneElliot]

While the idea is good in theory, once a review is out there and Googleable it then gets overwhelmed with people looking for it and using it...and not by the kind of people we have here, but the people who are lazy and don't take care of the good things.

 

[McKee80]

I understand your point of view. That conversation linked above is the reason all the campsites in this website are designated. They are on the park maps and the number of people using them is determined by the park through their permitting process.

 

[wsp_scott]

I mentioned this on hammockforums.net (https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php/152057-Backcountry-campsite-reviews) and a bunch of people seem to think this will lead to "the wrong people" coming around and ruining their secret spot. I've replied a couple times that there are no secret spots in a park like the Smokies, but there are some really nice campsites and some really crappy sites. If it makes someone feel better, feel free to not review the good/great spots and only review the crappy ones. As someone who has spent a lot of time planning a backpacking trip on the other side of the country, I appreciate all the information that is available online. Think of this as helping someone plan a once a year trip or maybe a once in a life time trip somewhere far from home.

The original thread mentioned reviewing campsites in parks/areas where people could camp anywhere. Myself and others pushed back on that because of fears of overuse. There was the suggestion that reviewing parks where everyone is forced to stay in specified campsites would be useful and @McKee80 took that suggestion and ran with it. I think what he has built has the potential to be really useful to a number of people.

 

[DuneElliot]

I understand your point of view. That conversation linked above is the reason all the campsites in this website are designated. They are on the park maps and the number of people using them is determined by the park through their permitting process.

I guess I didn't realize that. Fair enough then. I was thinking this was going to be a list for backcountry camping

 

[wsp_scott]

I guess I didn't realize that. Fair enough then. I was thinking this was going to be a list for backcountry camping

This is still backcountry camping, i.e. 5 - 15 miles from a road in the middle of Yellowstone or Glacier or Smokies. It is just National Parks that don't let people camp where ever they want.