Sleeping Is Illegal
Nothing is free, nothing is allowed, if someone doesn't profit. On the freedom to sleep under the stars, lead a self-determined life, and what that even means.
While planning my thru-hike across Austria and over the Alps, one problem quickly became apparent: sleeping. Sure, there’s an endless array of mountain huts and guest houses, but those do not, at all, conform with the intentions I’ll be setting out with: freedom, solitude, and wilderness (also, spending as little money as possible).
In Austria, and most of Europe for that matter, wild camping, i.e. sleeping in the meager remains of what, with only great imagination and goodwill, can be called ‘the wild,’ is illegal. In the US, the situation is similar: wild camping is generally forbidden, but allowed on (certain, not all) public lands ‘including national forests, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, and some state and local parklands.’ However, ‘most of the wild camping areas have a 14-day maximum stay policy in any given 28-day period, and your next site will need to be 25 miles away from your last one.’ Local restrictions can be much harsher than that, and most of the US is private…
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