This is the fourth piece in a series on no-frills wild camping (also known as free camping). It covers one of the most simple camping techniques, one that really takes you back to the basics. A great form of low-budget adventure travel, it puts you right into nature’s path, gives you pure, natural you-time and follows Extreme Environmental Experiences in the UK, Short Wilderness Breaks and Suntastic Sensations. Read on to learn more about this type of adventure travel, the best free camping locations in the world and how to go about it.
Sahara Desert by Zanifi Omar
It’s when you traverse variable environments such as the trek up Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador that bivouacking comes into its own. Situated on Ecuador’s knobby volcanic Andean spine, Cotopaxi is the second highest mountain in Ecuador and the highest active volcano in the world. What makes it all more interesting is that although acclimatisation is vital the climbing is not as technically difficult as one might expect from a 5,897m peak.
The first night is still relatively warm. Not far from Quito, days have the benefit of the intense equatorial sun. If reassurance is needed there’s a second easy stage just above the tree line by a refuge. However later stops, such as the penultimate at around 3,000m require trekking through powdered snow. Battling through this is hard, but even though you end up cold wet and tired, continuing to the volcano’s lip is well worthwhile.
Simon Edrich describes why; “After bivvying in snow through most of the day we made a last push for the summit. Despite acclimatization at about 5,000m we were really tired from the altitude and it was difficult to find the energy for the last bit in the dark. A change in incline indicated we were approaching the lip at the same time as we started smelling sulphur. Dawn broke just as we arrived, revealing a perfect snow-capped cone and cavernous crater. Then, as if to emphasise our achievement, a big passenger jet flew out from Quito. It was above the clouds but still below us and seemed so close that we could almost see passengers though its windows.”
Bivouacing on mountains requires particular preparation. While survival kits are an obvious choice, spare thick woollen socks are a must; not just for your feet but because they can double as mittens.
Or try:
The Grand Canyon where a bivvy is lightest and best
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand for a weekend on the wild East Coast.. close to vineyards
The Brandwine Brew Trail in British Caledonia, where there’s a hut in case you change your mind
In the Moroccan Sahara on an authentic Berber trail
The next article in this series is Boondocking Basics
