Your Ideal Campsite

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Let's say that cost, travel time and other practicalities are no consideration, and you may remove crowds, or add company as you wish. If you could have a few days camping, what would make your ideal campsite?
 
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Nobody else for miles. Sheltered glade with level spot for tent. Fresh water. No midges or mosquitoes.
I was thinking the idea campsite had to be at the edge of water with a glorious view.
 

Lean'n'mean

Settler
Nov 18, 2020
744
464
France
Somewhere open, desolate & wild, ( I much prefer the plains to woodland ) & where the nearest human being is so away I can forget they exist. I don't like to stay in the same spot for more than one night so I'll be moving around.
Of course, ideal & reality are two different things. ;)
 

Billy-o

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 19, 2018
2,039
1,027
Canada
Island in the Adriatic off the coast of Croatia ... bit bigger than 2 football fields. Access by sailboat. Pine trees and decent fishing.
 

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,672
McBride, BC
Odd but the very best of the campsites near here are set up to face the adjacent mountain side. The panoramic view is hidden beyond the trees at your back.
Next to a rushing mountain glacier melt-water creek. Dry stone monster of a stone fireplace. Long distance landscape viewsto rest your eyes.
ACROSS THE RIVER.jpg
Holmes1013A.jpg
 

Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,540
705
Knowhere
A paradox, toilet block and shower but devoid of other campers unless they are my close friends. What I mainly ask for is quiet, too many campsites are full of people with exemptions, who think such rules as no radios after dark and not getting drunk and loud do not apply to them. Quite apart from those considerations, a level site, not prone to flooding when the heavens open, is not a bad thing.
 

demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,762
786
-------------
I reckon I must be easy pleased cos mines pretty close to a road, its got loads of gorse bushes about so my kelly kettle has fuel. A beck beside it so water is close.
It catches the sun til late during summer and sometimes someone else rocks up and we get to talk to a random person.
It's flat enough for tents and if I'm up early enough next day I might see a hare.
Not sure about perfect but its close enough for me.
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,659
2,727
Bedfordshire
I have to admit, I do appreciate the availability of a sit down toilet with a roof. Flushing isn't necessary, but is nice. If I get some sunny weather every few days, and some privacy, I am quite happy to do without a shower block for a week.

I have enjoyed hammock camping much more than sleeping on the ground, whether that is just under a tarp, or in a tent, so ideal camp sites must have trees, and ideally enough choice of I can hang out of strong winds.

Gotta have great views, if not from camp, then not far away.

A lack of biting bugs is really good. I have camped at various times where there have been midges, horse flies, deer flies, sand flies, ticks and leeches, often working in shifts, and they all detracted from the enjoyment of the experience. ;)

A source of actually clean water is a real treat. Failing that, pretty clean (as in clear, but you want to filter it) water being readily available is great.

Actual camp sites I have been in that have some or all of these qualities:
Dano network camps on Stora Le, Sweden. Compost toilets, pretty clean lake water, lots of hammock spots, right time of year, plenty of privacy and quiet. Stunning scenery, wonderful sunsets.
IMG_0925.JPG
DSC01965.JPG


Curtis Canyon campground, near Jackson, WY.
DSC05496.JPGDSC05525.JPG

Granite Creek campground, WY (didn't know until day I left, but there was a hot spring up the gravel road from the camp, with heated swimming pool. Hot water overflowed into the stream. Could have used hot water for washing and shaving if I had only known!)
DSC05598.JPGDSC05575.JPG
 

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Dariet

Member
Apr 22, 2021
15
7
36
Copthorne, Crawley
I have to admit, I do appreciate the availability of a sit down toilet with a roof. Flushing isn't necessary, but is nice. If I get some sunny weather every few days, and some privacy, I am quite happy to do without a shower block for a week.

I have enjoyed hammock camping much more than sleeping on the ground, whether that is just under a tarp, or in a tent, so ideal camp sites must have trees, and ideally enough choice of I can hang out of strong winds.

Gotta have great views, if not from camp, then not far away.

A lack of biting bugs is really good. I have camped at various times where there have been midges, horse flies, deer flies, sand flies, ticks and leeches, often working in shifts, and they all detracted from the enjoyment of the experience. ;)

A source of actually clean water is a real treat. Failing that, pretty clean (as in clear, but you want to filter it) water being readily available is great.

Actual camp sites I have been in that have some or all of these qualities:
Dano network camps on Stora Le, Sweden. Compost toilets, pretty clean lake water, lots of hammock spots, right time of year, plenty of privacy and quiet. Stunning scenery, wonderful sunsets.
View attachment 74521
View attachment 74522


Curtis Canyon campground, near Jackson, WY.
View attachment 74524View attachment 74525

Granite Creek campground, WY (didn't know until day I left, but there was a hot spring up the gravel road from the camp, with heated swimming pool. Hot water overflowed into the stream. Could have used hot water for washing and shaving if I had only known!)
View attachment 74527View attachment 74526
beautiful views!
 

Minotaur

Native
Apr 27, 2005
1,624
246
Birmingham
I sort of agree with everyone here especially about the bugs.
That said, it is more the experience than the place a lot of the time.
 

Scottieoutdoors

Settler
Oct 22, 2020
889
635
Devon
So...I've never been to a desert before, closest I can imagine was in tenerife up in the ancient caldera of some obscenely large volcano where the whole thing looked like a moonscape...the stars were incredible (wife and I hired a camper to avoid the masses and camped up there)... but I'd love to camp in a desert...
But I also love woodland and rivers, so one of those spots just around the corner would be preferable, if we could throw a sea shore in front that would be great for kayaking and then a few 100 yards more level walking I'd like lots of snow to camp in on a mountain side at maybe 2500m altitude...
With a a 4x4 to get me from a-b and to store my various gear in, and no people other than wife + doggo..

...and some yummy food...

Demanding much?
 
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Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
8,490
8,369
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
Although I feel most at home in woodland in the UK, stepping into African scrub and desert feels like 'coming home' for some reason.

The sky in the desert at night is ink black and the stars are like LEDs shining back - truly awe inspiring. And, although I 100% agree that the ideal company would be my wife, we once spent a night in the Sahara with a competition piper - he played just one tune from the top of a sand dune at night - made the hairs stand on the back of my neck. Absolutely out of this world and almost a life changing experience.
 
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Van-Wild

Full Member
Feb 17, 2018
1,526
1,360
45
UK
Any campsite where there's noone else about...

I've camped in temperate, arctic tundra, desert and jungle, and all were special for different reasons. For me, there's nothing like the smell of a temperate deciduous woodland, the breeze in the trees overhead and the whoop of an owl. The Arctic for the absolute silence and the cold on the face. The desert for the smell of the air, there's no smell like it for me, warm and if you're near a village the smells of cooking and the activity of men. In the jungle, the sudden and total blackness that surrounds you, while if you look over the edge of your hammock at night, the ground looks like its glowing, a phenomenon unique to the jungle.

If I could only have one location, it would be jungle hands down. I thought I'd die in the jungle in my first visit, but in fact I thrived and I loved it.

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