Urban Camping!

[turil.livejournal.com]

Any suggestions for places within reasonably easy biking distance from Somerville that offer really cheap or free long term tent camping? I'd love to find a place to live for a while that is close enough to the Boston area that I could afford (with no income, alas). All I really need is a spot of ground to put a tent, access to a bathroom (outhouse/port-a-potty is fine), and maybe some access to water.

Alternately, anyone want to build me, donate the materials to build, and/or loan me a "mini-camper" bike trailer, so I could just park anywhere when it was time to sleep? (Something like this with a slightly bigger tent maybe, or this extra cute one, which would be heavier, but also more enclosed and less likely to bother the neighbors/police if I was sleeping in it.)

Comments

[makoshark.livejournal.com]

That whale is awesome.

[righteousness-1.livejournal.com]

I think sleeping in a car especially overnight is illegal. It's something about the possibility of being on the run. Not sure, you might want to check that out.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yes, being homeless is illegal. Kind of screwed up, isn't it?

Blue Hills and other ideas

[peregrinehill.livejournal.com]

I know there is camping available at the Blue Hills Reservation - it says so < a href="http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/blue.htm">here. Also, you can camp on some of the Boston Harbor Islands - it's $5 a night with a $10 round trip ferry fee. The trouble is that they have no water on the islands, so you'd have to haul your own out there, but that's not much problem if you're willing to schlep around on boats a lot (they are free, the water is probably not). The other trouble is that the maximum stay is two weeks, I think. But I met a guy on one of the islands who was staying the entire summer in exchange for photographing the island wildlife and offering it to some public organization or other.

A third thought is this - have you considered the joys of formal education? I don't know if you have any degrees, but unless you've got a doctorate, you can still go to school some more, and grad school frequently comes with the opportunity to assistant teach and pays enough to survive on. I've gotten a lot more out of school this time around than I did when I dropped out at 19.

Good luck!

Re: Blue Hills and other ideas

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wish I could afford $5 a night. That would be lovely.

As for the grad school thing, it's not for me, really. Too stifling an environment for my personality. (I had a hard enough time in art school!)

Harold Parker State Park

[bgum.livejournal.com]

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/harp.htm

It's in North Andover, less than 30 miles away. "Best in Tent Camping" gives it good reviews. I've never been, however.

Re: Harold Parker State Park

[turil.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I guess should have been more specific about what I meant by "urban" camping, and "an easy bike ride". I was hoping for something within a 5 mile radius or so. I want to be able to commute if I get a job.