You Brits are Lucky

[wizard]

Some states in the US have little public open land, there you are limited to state parks and perhaps a bit of federal land set aside. Others have large percentages of federally owned land that is pretty much open to anyone to travel to and enjoy.
Here in my state there is probably 80% land that can be walked through, camped on or hunted. That has always been a reason to stay here and enjoy the countryside for me.
The land is dissappearing though, it gets sold, traded or just ruined by overuse, by motor vehicles running amock or perhaps forest fires. 25 years ago there was an excellent granite crag just north of where I live. All the local rock climbers would go there and enjoy some good routes to the pactice their skills. East of here was another, both are still there today, they are now on private land or it was leased long term and the crag is surrounded by a resort hotel, golf course and swimming pools. There are still people climbing the wall, they are resort guests that pay a "guide" to take them rock climbing.
Many areas of my state are now closed because of development or some other reason. We have to fight to keep pristine areas from being grabbed for some resort or other developement and to keep the area intact as wilderness. Don't take me wrong, we have more official, designated wilderness areas in this state than most others but for those of us that have been here for decades, we are always seeing beautiful areas clear cut or plowed flat for building or some other method of infringement.
Not to complain, just a state of the state message I guess. Reading through this excellent thread just got me thinking about the good, the bad and the ugly! Cheers.

 

[Bushcraft4life]

I would love to live out there in the USA but being young and living in the worst city in the world, London it is hard to get away but when you do, boy it feels good. London is like a prison. On a trip to wales a few years ago by car, It took 3 hours to get out of the city and there was no traffic . Its like it tries to trap you. I don't understand why so many people enjoy London. Most land in the UK bar maybe Scotland is owned by someone or another. But yet they still allow the ruining of our forests by having big commercial campsites, its ridiculous. I went to the forest of dean in 1996 when i was 7 years old and me and my family wildcamped there for 6 MONTHS with no trouble from wardens or rangers(and made a lot of friends) . Two years ago i visited again to find that in the space of 8 years it was full with big campsites and adventure playgrounds and a lot of trees had been cleared. Talk about preservation of the national parks

 

[Klenchblaize]

I would love to live out there in the USA but being young and living in the worst city in the world, London it is hard to get away but when you do, boy it feels good. London is like a prison. On a trip to wales a few years ago by car, It took 3 hours to get out of the city and there was no traffic . Its like it tries to trap you. I don't understand why so many people enjoy London. Most land in the UK bar maybe Scotland is owned by someone or another. But yet they still allow the ruining of our forests by having big commercial campsites, its ridiculous. I went to the forest of dean in 1996 when i was 7 years old and me and my family wildcamped there for 6 MONTHS with no trouble from wardens or rangers(and made a lot of friends) . Two years ago i visited again to find that in the space of 8 years it was full with big campsites and adventure playgrounds and a lot of trees had been cleared. Talk about preservation of the national parks

I feel you’ve probably summed-up the real issue in this comment: Lots of beautiful and semi-wild places throughout the world but given of 21st century access and activity restrictions borne of, in no small part if I may be so bold, Man’s greed and lack of tolerance on all fronts. Any wonder some of us crave the past and even with the society of the day’s apparent lack of enlightenment.

Cheers!

 

[Bushcraft4life]

Cheers Klenchblaize. Its a shame also the fact that us brits do have to travel to deep parts of Europe or the USA when we have so much beautiful woodland here. Don't get me wrong the USA is a great place but we really shouldn't have to travel that far to really enjoy using the skills we strive to learn. To think that the only way Ray Mears can show us good british woodland is to use his celebrity status. I am pretty sure if we went to the same guys Ray asked to camp out and practice his skills we would get a big fat NO. Its a real shame.

If anyone has any Ray Mears DVD's notice that whenever he is in the UK he always tell us to make sure we get SPECIAL permission before starting fires or making a shelter. Yet when he is in the USA, Europe or Canada or anywhere else in the world bar Arnhemland you don't here a peep about getting permission. Now i know how the Hadza people of Tanzania feel when they say they have been pushed out by farmers and thats why they have no food. I feel like the same thing has been happening to us.

 

[addyb]

I live on Vancouver Island which is a massive expanse of sparsly populated land. I can walk five minutes from my house and be in a massive, heavily treed wilderness park that I can spend all day walking through and still not hit the other side. I can walk another five minutes in the opposite direction and be down next to the ocean, I go there sometimes when I need a quiet place to think.

I suppose that I do take this available wilderness for granted because I'll be flat out honest, my bushcraft skills, as proud as I am of them, simply pale in comparison to what "You Brits" can do.

Adam

 

[wizard]

Addyb, there is no place on this earth that I have ever been to that is more beautiful then the western coast of Canada, absolutely a perfect forest and most scenic area on the planet. You are very lucky!

 

[Geo.]

Hi, interesting thread. I've lived in New Zealand for many years (originally from the UK) but have had some experience of the outdoors in NZ, the USA and the UK.
(Mexico to Canada along the PCT, hiked the length of the UK off road as much as possible and hiked the length of NZ's north Island along with various parts of the South Island.)
My impressions of the three countries as far as the outdoors goes, is that NZ has some really remote and beautiful areas that are easily accessible and because NZ has the same land mass area as the UK but only 4 million people, you can 'go bush' for probably as long as you like without seeing a soul if you chose your area. The downside to that of course, is that the density of the bush or remoteness and altitude of some spots, along with NZ's fickle weather can combine to bite you in the bum if you're not careful.
The UK was a little disappointing in that I found a lot of areas were 'built up' or unavoidably close to inhabited areas and it was a bit difficult getting the 'away from it' feeling when you were continuously in transit. Parts of the Scottish Highlands reminded me of NZ, but again, with 60 million plus folk living in the UK, you were never far from habitation or people. The real upside to the UK was the tangible historical aspect, ranging from early man right through to modern times. e.g., the wander along the Pennine Way section with its Hadrian's Wall was interesting.
The US was my pick though. There really are vast tracks of 'wilderness' available there, along with the bonus of some interesting wildlife to spice things up.
One of the plus's for the States (I went up through California, Oregon and Washington) was the weather - their weather patterns seemed much more stable than NZ or the UK, probably because of the large land mass area and I think you could live comfortably outdoors there all year round if you kept south in winter and wandered north in summer.
The pity is, that wilderness everywhere is finite and the majority of folk either don't really have much interest in it or else want to make a dollar or quid by exploiting or destroying it. Suppose that's a fact of life, or maybe I'm just a bit cynical.
Cheers, George

 

[xylaria]

I would love to live out there in the USA but being young and living in the worst city in the world, London it is hard to get away but when you do, boy it feels good. London is like a prison. On a trip to wales a few years ago by car, It took 3 hours to get out of the city and there was no traffic . Its like it tries to trap you. I don't understand why so many people enjoy London. Most land in the UK bar maybe Scotland is owned by someone or another. But yet they still allow the ruining of our forests by having big commercial campsites, its ridiculous. I went to the forest of dean in 1996 when i was 7 years old and me and my family wildcamped there for 6 MONTHS with no trouble from wardens or rangers(and made a lot of friends) . Two years ago i visited again to find that in the space of 8 years it was full with big campsites and adventure playgrounds and a lot of trees had been cleared. Talk about preservation of the national parks

That sounds so horribly familier. I was hauled out of life in Irish seaside village at the age of five and spent the rest of my childhood in that urban prison. My childhood survival stratergy was to hide in those places that are only know to cats and small children. I would make camps in hegdes in parks. A teenager hiding in hedge does not get bothered, everyone thinks you're a hoody and therefore dangerous.
My first introduction to bushcraft was when I put my foot through an invisable shelter in hampstead heath. The scottish bloke that lived there turned up nearly instantly and said that was his house, and realising that I was terrified joked that he could build another one in hour. I just thought what cool way to live. OK the bloke was homeless, and had the air of ex-special services, but he was living like that in middle of london.

 

[weaver]

America is a land of vast differences. Even in the state where I live you can go from the mountains to the ocean in a few hours.

People vary more than the land. Most City people could care less if they ever saw the woods, they are happy to go to work, the museum, sports, concerts and such. Then there are those who live out in the country and do all the things you practice in their everyday life so it is nothing for them to speak of in any glamorous way.

I think it is in the smaller towns where you find people who live in suburbs, work in town and still like to go out on the weekend to fish, hunt, hike, camp, canoe and enjoy just being outdoors. Even within this group there are so many differences it would be impossible to draw them under one umbrella.

We don't have to concentration (meaning population density of interested people) nor the focal issues to make your style of Bushcraft popular here.

Then there are the political groups who actively seek to destroy the lifestyle Bushcrafters enjoy. PITA wants to stop hunting and fishing. Other groups want to close the nation forests to backpackers and campers. Some want to outlaw all guns. Some even want to disband the Boy Scouts. Others want restrictions of every kind, they are small groups and most are not taken seriously. But together they have dampened the desire to go out to the woods for more than an afternoon walk.

Still there are many who do the things you enjoy, practice the skills, learn the plants, crafts, history and philosophy. They don't have a collective name for what they do and few do the same things in your organized way. There is no Woodlands Idol to look up to and emulate here. No persona to draw them together.

We have our Davie Crocket and our Daniel Boone from earlier times and there are many who live the rendezvous lifestyle as a weekend hobby. Perhaps this group is closest to what you have.

 

[Voivode]

Then there are the political groups who actively seek to destroy the lifestyle Bushcrafters enjoy. PITA wants to stop hunting and fishing. Other groups want to close the nation forests to backpackers and campers. Some want to outlaw all guns. Some even want to disband the Boy Scouts. Others want restrictions of every kind, they are small groups and most are not taken seriously. But together they have dampened the desire to go out to the woods for more than an afternoon walk.

These groups are often the result of an all-or-nothing mindset; Since some people abuse wild areas with poaching, reckless ATV piloting, and mindless destruction the answer is to ban all such activites. There is often no such thing as "responsible use" to these groups. Most of the time, it's people that don't perform these activites that want to restrict them. In Canada, there has been huge pressure to disarm the populace because of urban gun crime. The rural farmer in Alberta with his longarm isn't part of the problem, but he's swept up in the "solution".

There is definitely three different approaches when it comes to the wild out here. There are those who you describe in the beginning of your post; the wilds are an abstraction to them. Then there are those who wish to preserve it untouched and uninfluenced by all human activites (often overlapping with the first group) or at very least absolutely minimize human impact by isolating the people from the environment as much as possible (the rules in our National Parks are designed for this). Lastly, there are those who actually interface with the outdoors, in the bushcraft style.

I think regulation has its place, but the wilderness isn't as wild as we think it is. All environments on earth have been touched by humans and influenced in varying degrees of subtlety. Many of these groups are mistaken in their assertion that the only good place is an untouched place.

 

[addyb]

Addyb, there is no place on this earth that I have ever been to that is more beautiful then the western coast of Canada, absolutely a perfect forest and most scenic area on the planet. You are very lucky!

Thanks, Wizard. It's a beautiful area to live, that's for sure.