Middle Earth Ranger Forum

So I'm hoping to get out more often this year, doing some actual "ranging," and I'm wondering from those of you who do it on a fairly regular basis, where do you go? Is it just state parks as a rule? Or do you find other wilderness areas as well? Are you allowed to make a fire on the ground? Or do you have to sleep in a designated "campground?"

State Reservations and Parks, Wildlife Management Areas, Conservation areas, some pieces of private property (with permission). Ground fires are usually forbidden in state run land areas here, and are generally forbidden if the fire danger is high. We have no National Forests here in Massachusetts, but we do have the Appalachian Trail and Connecticut River, both of which have Historical significance.

I range wherever I can.

Eledhwen

I have a wonderful nature preserve that literally backs up to my developement, filled with marsh, woods and the Turnbull Bay so I truly have found Marshwoodbay!
The Dorris Lieper preserve is a private, very beautiful, lightly trafficked chunk of Florida, that I am privaleged to live close to. It is equestian friendly and right in the midst of horse country, teeming with wild life, and is surrounded by the water on three sides if one also counts Spruce Creek.

I can use a canoe or kayak to explore much of it, even out to the intercoastal and from there out to the ocean (so I have my escape route planned already in case of the Zombie Appocalypse).

I also do alot of my "trekking" in the Ocala National Forest, whose southern limits are not to far west of me. When I hunt, it is in the marshes to the south, very close to Canavral and the National Seashore, Merrit Island and down in the preserves in Brevard County.

Lots of waterfowl, gators(Marshdragons), hogs, deer(most very small), turkey and marine wildlife such as manatee, dolphin and sea turtles.

If this was the dark ages, I would have no trouble providing a bountiful existance for myself and my folk through fishing, hunting and using the crafting skills that I have learned Rangering.

Eärendur wrote:So I'm hoping to get out more often this year, doing some actual "ranging," and I'm wondering from those of you who do it on a fairly regular basis, where do you go? Is it just state parks as a rule? Or do you find other wilderness areas as well? Are you allowed to make a fire on the ground? Or do you have to sleep in a designated "campground?"

Where are you in Michigan? I lived in Michigan up until about 5 years ago, when I moved to Indiana. I've gone ranging with Greg from the forum at his work in Brown County, IN. However, I've done most of my hiking and camping in northern Michigan. I love the UP, but in the lower peninsula, I've found that the area around Alpena is overlooked by a lot of people, and therefore nice and uninhabited by people.

I'm near Chelsea - so Waterloo-Pinckney are a short drive, though I was trying to find other options as well. I have an aunt and uncle who have some undeveloped property (about 40 acres) in the Kalkaska area - except 40 acres is pretty small of an area when it comes to ranging. (Side note: near Kalkaska there is a place that does canoe trips that go from two hours to nine days long [with camping areas for the end of each day]- seems like a good idea for a moot!) I was hoping to see whether there were any significant avenues for ranging that I had missed (for example, I have never looked into "wildlife management areas and conservation areas," at least as being distinct from state parks).

I'm also trying to decode the Michigan rules for camping in state parks - I'll try to post a link later - but it seems to say that you can set up a rustic camp anywhere you please as long as you are a certain distance from water and from pre-existing campgrounds. Still trying to work out if it says fires are allowed or not though.

Also it's just cool to hear where other people go to range.

Eärendur wrote:I'm near Chelsea - so Waterloo-Pinckney are a short drive, though I was trying to find other options as well. I have an aunt and uncle who have some undeveloped property (about 40 acres) in the Kalkaska area - except 40 acres is pretty small of an area when it comes to ranging. (Side note: near Kalkaska there is a place that does canoe trips that go from two hours to nine days long [with camping areas for the end of each day]- seems like a good idea for a moot!) I was hoping to see whether there were any significant avenues for ranging that I had missed (for example, I have never looked into "wildlife management areas and conservation areas," at least as being distinct from state parks).

I'm also trying to decode the Michigan rules for camping in state parks - I'll try to post a link later - but it seems to say that you can set up a rustic camp anywhere you please as long as you are a certain distance from water and from pre-existing campgrounds. Still trying to work out if it says fires are allowed or not though.

Also it's just cool to hear where other people go to range.

I used to live in Ann Arbor, so did some kayaking at Waterloo; went deer hunting near Kalkaska.

As far as I know, you can back country camp without a special permit, and as you said, as long as you don't foul the water, I think you're OK. When I did such camping, I made fires, but with sticks that I could snap with my bare hands. Logs in a roaring fire, for me, are for fire places and fire pits.

State forests and National Parks are great places to explore the wilds, but difficult to use for our purposes. They are, more often than not, densely populated with the public during the seasons most of us want to be out in, and that tends to get you asked LOTS of questions.

I use Wilderness.net to look up places I'll be visiting to locate nearby Wilderness areas and look into their regulations. Essentially, if a locale allows backcountry camping and fires, you're set. Most states have provisions in their laws that allow for open carrying of larger edged weapons if they are being used as a part of a reenactment event, which technically covers us. We may not be in the middle of a Ren Faire when we go to the woods, but our intent is clearly of the same nature as far as the law is concerned...I've had direct discussions with Game Wardens on this subject, WHILE in the woods, WHILE dressed, and he politely said "All right, be safe and have fun!"

If you're looking for a quiet place within a State Forest, I'd honestly recommend not following a specific trail...particularly during the busy season. Hiking on trails is good for the sake of not destroying the land, but a single person on a single trip will not mar the land, nor cause anything the land can't heal on its own. Now, not following a trail can cause another problem...the whole "I don't wanna get lost" scenario, so my recommendation is finding a creek drainage. Follow the creek, and you'll encounter lots of cool stuff to explore, ad you'll have a clear path well-marked for you that won't be loaded with people.

To get more specific in answering your question directly, let's see...

Colby Trail, CA
Big Dalton Canyon, CA
Angeles National Forest, CA
Azusa Canyon, CA
Mt. San Antonio, CA
Lake Berryessa, CA
Knoxville Wildlife Area, CA
Cedar Roughs Wilderness Area, CA
Lagoon Valley Park, CA
Yellowwood State Forest, IN
Explore Brown County, IN

That about covers everywhere I've gone dressed like a weirdo thus far.

I have some national forests near me that i go ranging at. You are allowed to camp almost anywhere in them.

Private land and conservation areas. I don't do it in garb yet tho. I'm a skill over gear over garb guy. got the skill, got most of the gear... getting closer!

I keep wanting to read through this with more attention so that I can ask a couple questions of my own, but every time I start I get distracted. Therefore, I'm bumping this with the hope that the next time I log in it will be active, so I won't forget to post, haha.

Aloha, this is the front desk calling with the friendly reminder you requested.

My sincere thanks, Greg!

This is an interesting thread to me. I'm always fascinated to know where others like to trek and explore. And I'd love to share some of my own favorite ranger haunts....

But here's the thing. I've been fairly open about this during my time here on the forums, but the sad fact is, I don't camp much. The most "camping" I've done lately was a few years ago when I was weekend camping at my local renaissance festival while I worked there over the summer (which, honestly, doesn't really count). Beyond camping, I don't even go hiking much (a fact that saddens me, and that I need to remedy). And naturally, since I don't do much of the above two activities anyway, the following revelation should come as little surprise: I have never actually been trekking in garb, as a "ranger." All in all, the most I've ever done in-garb and in-character is visiting the renaissance festival.

This is something I've wanted to change for quite some time. Even if I don't get to actually go ranger-camping anytime soon, I'd at least like to find some time to go ranger-trekking, if only for a few hours. I just NEED to finally get out into the woods in my gear, test it out, live it up a little, and really just immerse myself in the fantasy.

With that in mind, I've been having trouble finding places to do so (and for that matter, people to go with). What I'm ideally looking for is somewhere that would allow me to, at the very least, hike through carrying my bow, arrows, sword, knives, etc. without being harassed or told to leave my weapons behind. That's just for a start though. What I'm really wondering is, if I were to actually set up a small ranger camping trip here in CO (like I've been wanting to for over a year at least), what sorts of areas would actually allow us to do things like archery practice? If I'm bringing my bow along, I'd very much like the opportunity to actually shoot it.

Of course, each state differs in many ways, but I thought this crowd might have some good suggestions as to where I can start looking. That Wilderness.net site looks like a great resource for that, incidentally, so thanks to Greg for posting it! But beyond that, does anyone out there have any suggestions of where to start with this sort of thing?

Manveruon wrote:What I'm ideally looking for is somewhere that would allow me to, at the very least, hike through carrying my bow, arrows, sword, knives, etc. without being harassed or told to leave my weapons behind. That's just for a start though. What I'm really wondering is, if I were to actually set up a small ranger camping trip here in CO (like I've been wanting to for over a year at least), what sorts of areas would actually allow us to do things like archery practice? If I'm bringing my bow along, I'd very much like the opportunity to actually shoot it.

Of course, each state differs in many ways, but I thought this crowd might have some good suggestions as to where I can start looking. That Wilderness.net site looks like a great resource for that, incidentally, so thanks to Greg for posting it! But beyond that, does anyone out there have any suggestions of where to start with this sort of thing?

I quoted your post with the specific intent of re-iterating Wilderness.net...but now that I cropped the unrelated text, I see it's already there. Poo. Well, consider yourself double re-reminded.

I'm fortunate to make it to nearby woodlands and a friends large acerage. I do however range south for a few days for an annual faire. But I dwell in the heart of a city so I have to await weekends to go venture.

HERE IS A QUESTION...

In Arizona, most of the land is either Military, or Indian Reservation or National Forest or Cattle Ranches. There isn't much left save some desert that is privatly or city owned. Note that each city in Arizona incorporates maybe 5-6 miles of desert around the actual city to a) give them room to grow but mostly b) prevent some subdivision from incorporating and keeping property taxes for themselves.


For obvious reasons, we do not want to Range in military gunnery ranges.
Ranchers are afraid that you will hurt their cattle thiniking it is a 12-point elk (it happens).
Indians are so jealous that even the sheriff is afraid to go there... Indian cops love to arrest white cops who think that they have the right to go wherever they want and even the border patrol stays off the Reservations.
So that leaves National Forests.

Now we can legally hike and camp on the Federal lands (obey fire restrictions) but if I am caught carrying a bow by a Forest Ranger, his first words will be "show me your hunting license" (or else). I can get away with a sword so long as i am in garb "found another crazy medievalist today, I let him go."
If I explain that I am simply stump-shooting, he will reply "show me your arrows" and they had better be target points. ANY broadhead or blunt kicks back to the 'hunting license' argument and poaching is the accusation even if I have no animals with me... they will simply say that they caught me before I killed a deer...

So do you all have similar concerns or problems to solve?
with all the IR and spyware the boys-with-badges have, hiding is no longer an option.