Here's the scenario:

You intend on staying two nights on a lake that has two obvious campsites. The next lake is farther than you intend on traveling that day but decent and doable with some effort. It only has one mediocre campsite.

One of the two sites on this lake is awesome with a big front porch and 4 great tent pads but it's beat (over used). The other kind of sucks with four obvious tent pads, one good, the others progressively less so and the landing is a challenge so it's rarely used and in rather good shape.

Both are open and within sight and earshot of each other and you know there is a big group behind you although they were far enough back that all you can make out is four identical canoes and a number of figures moving around.

Q: As a solo or two person group, do you leave the nicer campsite for the bigger group and take the less desirable site - or take the better one - or move on and hope for the best?

You can only choose one answer but members might be able to delete and/or change it. (I think) I set the "Time limit for deleting vote:" to 30. I'm assuming that's days and I expect I can change it if it's hours or minutes - we'll find out together eh?. No-one can see the results until the poll is closed. Will someone please remind me to close it mid May?

How do you work this thing anyway?  

I voted.  But I think it would be a better poll if you told me the time of day when I was making this decision.  If it is 1 PM I might make a different decision than at 4:30.  Just a thought.

I presumed that making the next site didn't pose any risk other than an extra hour or two of travelling.  One wasn't going to be forced to set-up in the dark or cross open water during a thunderstorm.  That the worst case was asking to share the next site if occupied or set-up on the portage or other less than ideal location for one night.


Move on, take my chances.  Mostly because of the noise that tends to come with groups of 4+ people.  Though there may be other circumstances that make the added security of a group near attractive, kinda rare though.


Ideally I would chat the group up and find out where they intend to camp if the opportunity presents itself.  If they mention the same site I'm bound for, mention that there's a race on.  I've pulled up to sites at the same time as others before with that awkward moment before one group grows a pair and stakes a claim.

In my experience the etiquitte is that if you know there are folks behind you and another site ahead of you, leave them the closer & more appropriate site for their group.  This is mitigated by the solo paddler needing to TCB & if you're out-pacing tandem folks - you rock & they suck.  Solo changes my priorities a little from allocating based on what's appropriate to making sure I'm safe.

One should be prepared to share their site for the night if there aren't *any* other sites that can be gotten to before sundown.  Fault & poor planning be damned when the sun is setting an folks need to make camp.  Something I find is missing from some contemporary trippers.  Often folks behave like they've founded a nation when they make camp.  Back in the day any port in a storm was the norm and the occasional shared firepit respects the people & the land.

I voted for moving on. However I wouldn't put my personal safety at risk in doing so.

I use a hammock.  Anywhere I can land the canoe (in Quetico) is fair game for my campsite... presuming I can find trees.

Jimbo