# 2026-07-30 - How To Camp Without Google
       
       Reginald Farrer wrote a book about his botanical expedition to Tibet
       titled On The Eaves of the World [1].  In Volume 1 he wrote about
       what he packed:
       
       > ... the rest of the year (1913) was spent in agitated ponderings
       > over what must be taken and what might be omitted.
       >
       > ... to my own thinking, almost everything is omissible once one
       > makes up one's mind to it, and it is wonderful how simple life can
       > become when resolutely resolved into its bare essentials.  In my own
       > case, I find it reduces itself to the materials of washing and the
       > works of Jane Austen; of the two, at extreme need, it would be the
       > washing materials that I should jettison.
       
       An American might not prize the works of Jane Austen so highly as
       that.  Below [2] are example pack lists that i have collected.
       
       Where i live, now these checklists are obsolete.  The Rogue River
       National Forest has switched to only cashless payments for its
       campgrounds [3].  You pay using the recreation.gov app on your
       smartphone.  You must also keep your smartphone on your person as
       proof of payment when the ranger patrols the campground.
       
       Both to install this app, and to process your payment, you will need
       an Apple or Google account.  This leaves digital detoxers on the
       wrong side of "You Can't Sleep Here" [4].
       
       My favorite workaround is what i call "scratch camping," also known
       as "wild camping" [5].  But not everyone is up for purifying their
       own drinking water and shitting in a hole in the ground.
       
       Here is another way it can work: Drive a mile past the campground to
       that turn-off in the road and set up camp there.  When you do your
       morning constitutional, walk to the campground, refill your water
       bottle, use the toilet, then walk back.
       
       Look ma, no Google!
       
       p.s.
       
       This is not about money.  If it were, i wouldn't be complaining about
       Uncle Sam being unwilling to take my "legal tender for all debts".
       Recently i bought a topo map and a gift at a ranger station.  What i
       resent is encroachment of corporate overlords on public land and
       recreation.
       
       tags: outdoor,political,technical,travel,versus
       
       # Footnotes
       
       [1] On The Eaves of the World by Reginald Farrer
       
 (HTM) Volume 1
       
 (HTM) Volume 2
       
       [2] Example pack lists
       
 (TXT) Backpacker's Checklist
       
 (TXT) Quick Checklist
       
 (HTM) How to Pack for a Camping Trip (Wikihow)
       
 (HTM) [3] USFS Scan & Pay
       
 (HTM) [4] You Can't Sleep Here by Edward Newhouse
       
 (TXT) [5] Wild camping (wikipedia)
       
       # Tags
       
 (DIR) outdoor
 (DIR) political
 (DIR) technical
 (DIR) travel
 (DIR) versus