Magic in the Mountains

This blog originally appeared on FarOut’s Blog, which you can read here.

At the end of a long day on trail, there’s no better feeling than rolling into camp, pitching your tent, and sinking into your sleeping bag. But when the miles stack up, the last thing you want is to stress about where you’ll sleep. With FarOut, it’s easy to pick out the perfect campsite, site unseen.

Selecting a Campsite: What Strategy Works Best for You?

Hikers tend to approach campsite selection in a few different ways:

• Planning out every campsite between town stops
• Picking a target site each morning before leaving camp
• Deciding around lunchtime or mid-afternoon where to stop
• Simply stopping when a site appears

After thousands of miles on the AT and PCT, I’ve learned that I prefer making a loose plan in the morning for where I’ll camp that night. I use FarOut to aid in my selection process. Here’s what my day looks like when it comes to deciding where I’ll sleep.

Morning: Picking a Campsite to Aim For

While eating breakfast, I open FarOut and begin looking at where I’ll end my day. The first thing I consider is how many miles I’d like to do. I typically have a loose range in mind. For example, if I’m aiming for 20ish miles, I’ll look for campsites anywhere from 18–22 miles away.

Once I know my mileage range, I start scanning for the tent site icons within that distance. When looking at the details of each icon, I consider the following questions:

• Is there water nearby? If not, how long will my water carry be to reach camp? Am I prepared to dry camp? How far until water the next morning?
• How many tents can fit? Am I just looking for a site for myself, or am I hiking with a group that needs multiple flat spots?
• What’s the elevation? If a campsite sits at the top of a big climb, I might adjust my mileage expectations to account for the elevation gain.

During this process, one FarOut feature I especially appreciate is the fact that, when viewing a point on the map, FarOut shows the distance to the next point of interest, water source, and tent site. For example, from the tent site at mile 587.5, there is a campsite 4.8 miles behind, and another one 6.6 miles ahead. This helps narrow down which site aligns best with my daily mileage goal.

What Are Other People Saying About This Campsite?

Once I’ve identified a promising site based on the data above, my next step is to read the comments for each campsite I’m considering. The comments are often full of useful, up-to-date information: water availability, tent capacity, or notes about overgrown, sloped, or tricky-to-find sites. Another helpful feature on FarOut is filtering the comments based on what you’re looking for. You can filter for comments about water, connectivity, camping, conditions, and more!

Related Post: “Everybody’s Talkin’: How to Effectively Use Comments on FarOut”

After I’ve assessed my options and picked the site I’m aiming for, I can start hiking knowing I have a rough idea of how my day will unfold.

Midday: Reassessing

Around lunchtime, I usually check FarOut again to reassess my target campsite. Some days I cruise faster than expected; other days I reach lunch knowing there’s no way I’ll hit my original goal. Flexibility is key.

Occasionally, I reach camp early, feel strong, and decide to push on to the next site. That means the selection process begins again.

Evening: Arriving at Camp

After putting in an honest day’s work of hiking, there’s no greater satisfaction than arriving at camp. But every once in a while, disaster strikes and you roll in to find the campsite already full. This has happened to me more than once, and it can feel defeating at the end of a long day, especially if you pushed big miles to get there.

This is one of those classic “embrace the suck” moments. In this scenario, you have two options:

1. Try to squeeze in, sometimes in a less-than-ideal spot that’s slanted, uneven, or uncomfortably close to a widowmaker, or
2. Press on and hike a little farther. A bit of night hiking never hurt anyone!

Situations like this are reminders of why flexibility is so important on a thru-hike. Even the best-laid campsite plans sometimes require a last-minute pivot.

Other Helpful Considerations When Selecting a Campsite

Camping With a Group

I hiked the PCT with a trail family, and we relied heavily on FarOut to find sites that could hold all three of our tents. Many tent-site icons include a number in parentheses indicating approximate capacity, but it’s always worth checking the comments for recent updates since conditions can change. 

Chasing Epic Views

The comments section is also the place to look if you’re hoping for a campsite with a view. The PCT is full of unforgettable spots. More than once, I pushed a few extra miles because someone wrote, “best campsite on trail!” Nine times out of ten, the comments don’t lie.

Check Icons Other than Campsites

Sometimes, water sources, dirt roads, or other locations on the trail are home to glorious campsites. While they may show up on the map as something else, hikers can often find stealth sites near other icons. For example, Golden Oaks Spring (mi 583.3 on the PCT) is listed as a water source on FarOut and can be identified by the water source icon. However, numerous comments are raving about the campsites around the spring. This can be quickly accessed by filtering the comments for “camping”.

Make a Custom Route 

I’ve found it useful to create a custom route so I can track my progress throughout the day. This is also a great tool for viewing the elevation profile and assessing how much climbing or descending I’ll be doing. Elevation stats often determine what’s a realistic mileage goal for the day.

Related Post: “How I Use Custom Routes to Make Thru-Hiking Easier”

It’s Okay to Change Your Plans

If you walk up on an outstanding campsite, it’s okay to call it a day early. Every day on trail is different and unique, you have to take advantage of a little trail magic when you can. Maybe it’s a sweet spot by a lake, or a site with a pristine water source in the middle of a dry section of trail. Thru-hiking teaches us to be flexible and go with the flow. You can always make up those missed miles tomorrow!

Using FarOut to scout ahead for campsites is a no-brainer. It removes the stress of hoping to stumble upon a perfect site and lets you focus on crushing miles. Some of the best moments of a thru-hike come from not hiking at all. Memories are made just relaxing and hanging out at camp. FarOut helps you find the perfect place to pitch your tent every night.

You can’t blame the app if you pick a slanted site, though…