[Tagging] Tagging established, unofficial and wild campings

[John Willis]

I think a nice, scenic spot with a creek and some trees to block the wind 25km from the nearest parking lot in the middle of 4000m mountains a visible only on foot or by donkey is very different than a turnout on the side of the road, or a spot inside a large camping complex made around a car entrance for a state park. 

Especially when the only one doing the designation is the tagger themselves - they are just informal spots that happen to be good - nothing that is labeled on a map from the park service - as you are allowed to camp wherever you wish anywhere in hundreds of square kilometers - knowing that there is a good spot near the trail one lake further to the north or further down the trail is useful - though not official or "designated".

I have spent a lot of time in my youth looking at topographic maps and looking at guides for backcountry/trekking routes, and most of the places I have gone start at these more official camps - but the best spots I have gone back to time after time are just sand under a tree or a flat spot near a cave in the desert - and mapping them for other Trekkers would be useful only if they are not confused at all with all of the other, more substatial or easily accessed spots in a camp or along a road. 

Javbw

On Mar 14, 2015, at 1:14 PM, David <dbannon at internode.on.net> wrote:

>> " I would like another value of camp site added - a trekking campsite."
> 
> Do you think Item two does not fit ?
> 
> "Designated campgrounds (camp_site=designated) - areas that are made available for camping on a non-commercial basis, but that are equipped with no or few facilities and charge no or a nominal fee;"
> 
> David
> 
> .
> 
> johnw <johnw at mac.com> wrote:
> 
>> I added some comments to the discussion page - 
>> 
>> I would like another value of camp site added - a trekking campsite. 
>> 
>> There needs to be a very hard separation between a spot where camping is “suggested” (perhaps by people who know where some good places to make camp) when trekking vs  a clearing near a road for people to crash on a road trip, a campsite for thick canvas tents on a wooden platform (like a boy scout camp or a city park camp in Japan), a place for you to roll up with the minivan and a 6 person tent, and a place for a full-on caravan. 
>> 
>> I feel this proposal takes care of the latter, but the Backpacking/trekking sites is very murky - it may be informal, but to use the same iconography of something that has any services whatsoever, or might be chosen because of proximity to access (along a roard or a quiet spot near a town) - a trekking site will be very inaccessible and the only amenities are probably trees and a stream, and a soft place to pitch a tent on, and that’s it.
>> 
>> So I propose a value just for places where it’s the most ideal spot in a wilderness area to pitch a tent (not everywhere possible, of course). 
>> 
>> I can think of 2 or 3 camp sites I used when trekking that were the ideal camping spot for an entire lake or area, and I’d like to mark them to suggest them to future trekkers - but I don’t want to fool people into thinking there is some source of water or a bed or a roof, or anything besides a good spot to pitch a dome tent - so I suggest that iconography be different (a dome tent vs the standard triangle tent) to show this drastic difference. 
>> 
>> 
>> Javbw 
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