Oh, you have to care about who owns the land in order to camp in the wilderness? Bummer.
But that is technically trespassing, and could get you shot or arrested. So you know, if you're going to do that, make sure you assess that risk carefully.
Downvoted because of the obnoxious tone of your comment. You could have made the same point in a more-engaging way.
I've lived and camped in countries with freedom to roam, and I've lived and camped in the US. I think that freedom to roam is a really cool notion, and also I think it's great that so much of the United States is owned by federal and state governments, rather than by individuals -- 40% according to one source [1].
In the UK, for example, only 8% of land is publicly-owned [2].
[1] https://www.summitpost.org/public-and-private-land-percentag...
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/apr/17/who-owns-engla...
I definitely understand the harm that inconsiderate travelers can do. Throughout Latin America ranchers are quite accepting of cyclists crossing their land, but the one thing you hear them complaining about is those cyclists not closing gates behind them.
Not only that, but much of that land is basically uninhabitable; there's a reason it's all managed by the BLM. It's not really a good place for hanging out in nature unless you can haul a LOT of water with you. It's far from civilization, much of it is arid, there isn't much cover if any. Even the roads aren't really fit for riding a bicycle (or even driving a car); you could use a full-suspension mountain bike I suppose, but that's not what bicycle touring is about.
But it is what “bikepacking”[0] is about, a term that over the last decade has started to crowd out “bicycle touring” among younger generations. People are intentionally searching for rough roads, even singletrack and hiking trails, and especially in North America! (But you overestimate the need for suspension.)
Water is indeed something one has to plan around. I have cycled several hundred km of rough roads in the American West and met quite a lot of people living in vehicles on BLM land, just moving every two weeks. They of course were able to haul in all the water they needed for days on end, while a cyclist on rough roads can carry no more than about 15 liters at a time.
You’re an American national?
I like how you take offense to my banter tone (obnoxious) and then bring up a national park squarage comparison out of nowhere. Just embrace the pissing contest.
All seriousness though, as a local I've found it impossible to get into many campgrounds during the summer because of the tourism. Sleeping Bear gets booked months in advance. North Manitou is dispersed camping though, so you can just kind of show up. I'm not sure the ferry was running this summer though, because when we showed up on my buddy's boat they were saying something about the water being too low. South Manitou is very much a regular campground.
And filled with yoopers, eh?
> as a local I've found it impossible to get into many campgrounds during the summer because of the tourism.
COVID revenge has made this problem much worse in recent years. Maybe next summer will be better.
It’s a nice bit of local color.
Where I live, there's islands which are not owned by anyone in the rivers. (Check your county's GIS map for which ones) You can just go camp on those, no problem.
In the Great lakes, there's islands which offer ferries to go camping backcountry-style. I highly recommend visiting North Manitou Island, which is an abandoned farming/logging/vacation community where you can see the ruins of old houses and homesteads. There's also a south island which I haven't visited, which is a little less wild. Ferry runs from Leland, MI. Probably one of the best camping trips I've ever taken, beautiful.
My advice: Download Google Earth Pro (now free!) and just scroll around until you find something. Then search for info about said island, and see if anyone owns it (if not, you can probably just find a way to get there and camp).
As always: Leave the place cleaner than you found it!