Dispersed camping Canada and Mexico ?

[offroad]

So does anyone have references on camping in these countries just over the boarder?

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

In Canada, "public lands" are called "crown lands".  Queen Elizabeth II being Queen of Canada.  

Non-Canadians need a non-resident permit to camp on crown lands.  The fee is $9.35 per person per night. 21 day limit on any site.

Google "Camping on Canadian Crown Lands" for more info.

Regards
John

 

[Almost There]

Unfortunately crown land camping is not like camping on BLM land or in forest service areas. It's mostly wilderness accessed by canoe. There are a few spots that a van or small vehicle could get to but a lot of it is accessed by 4x4 on old logging roads.

British Columbia has a slightly different set up in that they have a lot of Forest Service areas where they've put in semi-developed camping areas that are either free or low cost. BC Hydro also  has a few areas that they've set up camping areas. First Nations in BC also have set up some camping areas.

OffRoad, where were you thinking of exploring, perhaps I can help.

 

[offroad]

Just for the knowledge of it. Not this year. Just have not read anything about those areas.

 

[skyl4rk]

In northern Ontario and Quebec, there are large forests between the urban areas.  You can easily overnight in logging road turnoffs.  In Ontario, when you get north or west of Timmins it really opens up.  I just parked along side the road to overnight.  Maybe one car an hour during the day, one or two during the night on the road from Chapleau to Timmins, for example.  Timmins is the "big city" in northern ON.  I haven't been there but ON north of Lake Superior must be quite wild.  Thessalon to Chapleau is another very nice wilderness road.

Quebec is populated much further north than Ontario, with a lot of farms.  You can go to fine dining restaurants even as far north as Rouyn-Noranda, a very nice little town on the edge of civilization.  They also have great poutine.  If you keep going further north, north of Matagami, you enter the James Bay Region.  On the paved road between Matagami and Radisson, there is one gas station/convenience store on the main road (620 km).  There are several Cree villages on the coast, but you have to ride about 100km of gravel road to get to the coast from the main road. The Cree speak English, most everybody else speaks French.  Some French speakers don't speak much English. You should know how to say bonjour, souviplay and merci, you will be embarassed if you can't say the basic polite words.

Along the James Bay road, there are free campgrounds every 100 kms or so, usually near rivers and lakes.  There are also many two tracks headed off into the forest.

I did this trip in 2009, it was the best adventure road trip that I have ever done.  Remote wilderness, wide open spaces, almost no people, bears, empty highways, wild rivers and native villages.



There are not many people up there.  You might pass a car an hour on the main road.  

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sau...38eee2549c!2m2!1d-77.616743!2d53.792039?hl=en

http://wikitravel.org/en/Baie-James

 

[Almost There]

In northern Ontario and Quebec, there are large forests between the urban areas.  You can easily overnight in logging road turnoffs.  In Ontario, when you get north or west of Timmins it really opens up.  I just parked along side the road to overnight.

While you managed it safely, parking in logging road turnoffs could get you run over!

Active logging roads are privately owned by the logging companies under an arrangement with the provincial government. After the loggers are finished in an area the roads are allowed to return to nature. You're pretty safe if you pull in after dark and are gone before daylight again since the logging trucks don't run after dark but don't be parking there while you have your morning coffee. Those guys barrel along at quite a speed on those roads and braking with a full load of logs on, well, they'd rather run you over than have the logs come through the cab at them...

 

[skyl4rk]

Active logging roads are privately owned by the logging companies under an arrangement with the provincial government. After the loggers are finished in an area the roads are allowed to return to nature.

Good point, if there are active tracks, I would keep driving to a logging road that looks unused.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

if you are 100 miles north of the border in Canada you will not have any issue to find a spots to camp, 200 miles you will have even less. I am guessing but 85% of Canadians live within that range of the border, so there is a lot of vacant land north of there. Last year I travelled over 20,000kms in Canada and spent 120.00 dollars in six months on accommodations from Vancouver Island to Alaska and across to Northern Quebec. 2 years ago I went through Quebec to Labrador across the Trans Labrador hwy (1000kms of gravel road) through Newfoundland then Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, spent about the same on campgrounds maybe a bit more over 5 months but didn't have to, my wife wanted showers. British Columbia has some beautiful free camping the further north you go. Some of the best places I found to camp were on sections of roads that have been improved and left there to grow over or off bridges, by rivers, some of the rest stops in Northern Quebec and Northern Ontario are beautiful often by a lake and seem to be alright to camp at, we were never hassled. The next place I would like to see is Lac St Jean and the road up to James Bay then a there is a road that dead ends 500kms east of James Bay in Northern Quebec. Once you are bitten by the North it is hard to stay away.

 

[skyl4rk]

What vehicle did you take on the Trans Labrador Highway?

 

[flying kurbmaster]

The Kurbmaster
long sections without fuel or anything else for that matter, carried extra fuel but never had to use it.

the road is so new finished 2011, it is difficult to find campsites because very few spots to pull off the road, bridges usually had spots, but otherwise there is nothing, no rest stops, very few areas where you can actually drive off the hwy. When people got flat tires they pretty much just stopped in the right lane and changed it. Most people were getting flats because they were driving too fast on the gravel heating up their tires,  They are paving it very quickly and once that is done I imagine they will start to loolk at rest stops. when that is done, it will be a great road to slowly go along camp at will etc....It is a beautiful area but we were a bit disappointed in the lack of wildlife, lots of birds, a red fox a few beavers, but otherwise nothing no moose no deer no bears.

 

[skyl4rk]

I was worried about fuel on the James Bay Road, there are only three gas stations, one at each end and one in the middle. But if you follow the rule: fill up before you leave a gas station behind, it is not a problem.

I was also worried if my car broke down, would I have to abandon it. I don't know what towing costs are, but I expect it would be $thousands. The first time I tried to drive up to Radisson, I chickened out when I experienced the distances and the isolation, it is somewhat daunting and foreign to be in a remote wilderness. I drove to Chapleau, camped out for a few days and then went back home. A couple years later I went back with a newer car and made it all the way to Radisson.

I drove pretty slow, about 45 mph. In part to use less fuel, but also because it was hot and stopping meant no wind and lots of bugs. There was very little shade: short trees and no buildings. I got sunburned. You would think it would be cold that far north but I drove up in a heat wave, it was over 80F. So I just kept on driving slow until the sun got low in the sky.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

sounds like a great experience it is a bit of a relief when you get off a road like that but you sure build confidence in your rig after you complete it.

 

[akrvbob]

BC is full of free dispersed camping. This book does a great job of pointing it out:
http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Free-B-C...0&sr=1-8&keywords=camping+in+british+columbia

Along the Alaska Highway you can just pull over and sleep almost the whole way.
Bob

 

[Willy]

Yup, B.C.'s the place to go. None of that 'permit'/nightly fee BS on crown land here, save for some designated FS rec sites or provincial campgrounds. Many of the 'active' logging roads here are freely utilized by the public (have to know what you're doing on some tho) and plenty of abandoned loading areas to camp in.
I've been camping/living in the B.C. backwoods for decades now with no problems or, at least, none like others are describing. ..Willy.

 

[highdesertranger]

kurbmaster did you get to stop at the Moosehead brewery in New Brunswick? I would almost make the drive just to stop there if nothing else. highdesertranger