Here are my suggestions/demands if you’re camping on crown land:

Clean up after yourself; if you can carry it in, you can carry it out! Just because there isn’t a ranger looming around to fine you/clean up after you, doesn’t mean you have the right to leave trash lying around. Not only does it make the site look like crap, it also attracts more animals and pests. To add, the fire pit is not a trash can.

There aren’t any outhouses/treasure chests, so dig a hole! Mark a path well away from the site and go at least 100m from the water source. You’d think “don’t shit where you eat” would be universally known, but I have come across a big steaming mess with a wad of paper only feet from the site more than once. To add to this (and I’m looking at you ladies), collect and burn your toilet paper. Every time you need to wipe, collect the used paper in a paper bag, and burn it. If this isn’t possible, at very least bury it like your poop.

Please just bring a water purifier of some kind; the risk of getting parasites might be small in pristine water, but purifiers are so convenient nowadays that it’s not worth going without. I have a Sawyer Mini filter, it weighs nearly nothing and I just fill a bag with water and hang it on a branch to drip (which takes a couple minutes). Chlorine or UV purification is even easier.

One of the best things about crown land is being able to camp where you like! Sometimes you just come across a very ideal spot, but sometimes you underestimated your plans and have to make do with what you can. If this happens, and you end up on a spot you don’t intend to return to in the future, don’t make unnecessary “improvements” to that site. Clear a spot for your tent, don’t cut anything down you don’t have to, and only build a fire if you need to - put that stove to use. If you had to build a fire, remove the fire pit and clean out the contents before leaving.

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