Me and my friends have been exploring the Potomac River lately on a makeshift fishing boat (a canoe with a motor jury rigged on to it), and we have decided at some point we want to camp on one of the islands that run through the center of the river. The islands are permanent and rise a good 10 feet above the maximum water levels, and there are obvious camping sites already cleared on them. We've seen bunches of other people do it, but I can't seem to find anything that says one way or the other whether you're legally allowed to camp there or what problems it would cause.

I've googled but I can't seem to find a case where people were actually camping on a river, and not just on the bank, not to mention finding a case specific to the potomac. Can anyone help me out here?

This is centered on the exact place we would be camping, essentially near the end of this island:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.065415,-77.391922&spn=0.008497,0.01929&t=h&z=16

mcgriddle

United States253 Posts

August 04 2009 04:46 GMT

safety problems are all I can think of. Make sure to have a good light so other people can see you. As long as you have a boating license (which I doubt you would run in to any patrols...) I say go for it :D. If it goes bad you just have another story to tell us.

Manifesto7

Osaka27148 Posts

August 04 2009 04:52 GMT

Are there any signs? Are you in a national / state park?

Lokomis

United States72 Posts

August 04 2009 05:12 GMT

I'm not familiar with camping laws but in Maryland your boat needs to be licensed/tagged to be using it and you have to have a life vest on board for each person in the boat. That is boating law though which doesn't really help any with your camping questions.

sith

United States2474 Posts

August 04 2009 05:18 GMT

I've just been informed that we've been sneakily violating boating law by having a motor attached to the canoe (mechanical propulsion device), and we technically need a license to operate it, but I have a feeling if we saw any patrols we could probably just hide the motor in the boat, since a canoe by itself requires no license. And I've never seen a patrol....ever, nor am I particularly worried about that issue. And evidently we need a "fishing license" as well...good god are there enough regulations?

So far I've figured out a few things:
- The river falls under Maryland jurisdiction
- The park website that borders the section of the river we are on states that "Overnight boating is prohibited" (but we're camping).
- There is nothing I've found so far that explicitly forbids camping out on the river.

Manifesto7

Osaka27148 Posts

August 04 2009 05:27 GMT

Seems like you are ok to do it as long as you take reasonable precautions with your fire. (Don't make a bonfire otherwise people will call the cops).

Alizee-

United States845 Posts

August 04 2009 07:02 GMT

Poor Marylander, we can camp and do much of whatever we want in Missouri. Really though I wouldn't worry about the boating overnight thing if its docked. As far as camping, at least to my knowledge, as long as its not private property or anything of the sort no one can really stop you unless you're starting trouble which doesn't sound like that'll be the case at all.

ActualSteve

United States627 Posts

August 04 2009 07:50 GMT

Everything is fine.

Just be wary of the Banjos.

Asta

Germany3491 Posts

August 04 2009 09:00 GMT

In most European countries wild camping is generally prohibited. It's better to ask someone if you can camp on their private ground. I'm still looking for info about the US. There are actually big fines in Europe.

Imo it's so unlikely that anybody will see you, that it's safe enough. I did it a lot and nothing ever happened.

PS: Make sure you don't leave any traces whatsoever! Any other behaviour would actually justify a ban on wild camping.

WeSt

Portugal918 Posts

August 04 2009 09:19 GMT

#10

You should really try to know if it's legal or not before camping. I've done wild camping in Portugal/Spain/France plenty of times and there were 2 times we almost got caught by guards/police. We had to pack up everything in the middle of the night after seeing some lights and hearing a truck engine... not good. The fine was 600€ per tent or something.
On the positive side of it: there won't be any people in that area. Be careful about wild animals... many times I had to get rid of random snakes/big spiders getting inside your tent, not to mention the annoying mosquitoes. Nice camping! That island looks alright

poilord

Germany3252 Posts

August 04 2009 09:21 GMT

#11

On August 04 2009 16:50 ActualSteve wrote:
Everything is fine.

Just be wary of the Banjos.

Squeal like pig, weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

on topic: I don't think you will be the first ones to try hiding your motor in your boat, but it might work.
In terms of camping, if you get found it depends on the mood of the guys who found you. A couple of friends and mine and me were camping at a lake to celebrate a birthday although it was prohibited. The next morning someone called the cops on us (fuck him, who does that kind of stuff `_´ ), but he was very cool and just told us to put down our tents and not camp there anymore.

If he had been one of those tough guys, the situation could have worked out quite differently though, so I guess it depends.

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