The hike may be fairly well traveled, with an easily accessible trailhead and an easy to follow trail, but it may not be managed by any authority, you may have no cell service and it could be many hours away from civilization.
Oftentimes a hike may start in the frontcountry before entering the slackcountry if the hiker continues far enough. BC has an abundance of hiking options to meet all definitions, but the most popular hikes almost always fall within the frontcountry and slackcountry. That being said, as hiking gets more and more popular, the frontcountry in particular is getting so busy the whole purpose of hiking, for me at least, is losing its appeal.
I hike to get away from crowds and enjoy nature for what it is. Backcountry Hiking vs. Frontcountry Hiking: What's the difference? Is this in the backcountry? The Hiking Journey. This is definitely a frontcountry hike. We will also go in depth into how to plan a trip to the backcountry. By the end of this article we will have introduced you to what backcountry camping truly is and how to get started.
In every section, I will make sure to point out how camping looks similar or different between the backcountry and front country. Anything you learn while backcountry camping will help you with front country camping.
The same can almost be said in reverse. When you go front country camping you typically have cell service, which means you can call in almost any emergency.
There are also helpful staff who are available to help you out at your campsite. In comparison, when you are in the backcountry you will be living remotely. Without a car, or cell service, you will need to approach emergencies differently. If you get significantly injured it will take longer to evacuate you. They can only reach you as quickly as they can hike to you.
The worst case scenario is one where nobody knows where you are and you are injured. The first thing to always do is leave a detailed itinerary at home with a trusted contact. This includes exactly where you are going, how long you will be away, and when you will be back. Find the park ranger on call through the park website, or the emergency hotline on the same site.
If you get lost, just hang tight exactly where you are. Since you have already made their job easy by leaving an itinerary, the search and rescue team will know what area to look for you. You might have scraped an elbow and twisted an ankle, but are otherwise unharmed. Patch yourself up, drink plenty of water, eat plenty of food, and hike out the same way you came in. If this were a front country situation where you got injured or lost, you would already be registered with the campground.
Instead of registering with a campground, register at the trailhead instead. The trail register shows that you signed in at a specific time with a destination in mind. Plus it shows how many people are using the trail.
This is how the trail crews decide if they can afford trail maintenance for that area or not, so make sure to sign it to help out! Packing well is going to set you up for success on your trip. Start by compiling all of the gear on this list. Then you will be able to find out personal preferences. The difference between backcountry camping and front country when it comes to packing is huge!
For one, notice how few items are on this list! If you were to pack for front country camping you would be bringing a suitcase stove for your kitchen, coolers for your food, and much heavier stuff overall. You will have an opportunity to use everything you pack in the backcountry because they are truly the essentials.
In the evenings as soon as it gets dark you can use your headlamp. Your knife will come in handy for all kinds of lunches. In the frontcountry you can use all of those things. There is one exception to the weight limit rule in the backcountry, and that is canoeing. If you canoe you can still bring extra stuff. Just, remember that the same safety rules apply as with backpacking trips. Solo trips can be scary, but rewarding. As long as you plan within your limits, this can be a very refreshing experience.
Or is this just a potentially elitist topic — like style — that classifies and divides outdoorspeople? I've always considered the difference between the two to be determined by the level of development.
Once you head down a trail and the only signs of development are trail signs, trail blazes, primitive shelters or primitive camp areas, I consider that back country. As far as a defining line, I guess that's subjective, but I would think anything past a trail head on a trail that takes you away from any developed areas as opposed to a loop trail back into a developed area and into wilderness would qualify in my mind.
Others may feel like traveling a certain distance from developed areas is in order, I wouldn't disagree with that either. I myself feel that minimum Backcountry is a remote or seldom used trail and or area located at a minimum of 10 miles from any developed or populated areas free of any road noise and light pollution at night, in some places this could mean getting above the tree line I tend to lean on the notion that if I see 1 person during the day I am still in front country or middle land, although middle country was not mentioned at all I truly believe there are the three distinct areas, so let me re-define my feelings on this Front country would be any well populated trails, trail heads, day hike areas, car-camp grounds areas with any modern facilities.
Backcountry is the body part that rests on the toilet seat. Well like that definition backcountry does have a smell test of sorts. Likewise any distance measurement like two days walk or ten miles out is an arbitrary construct. In any case, stating backcountry starts ten miles out precludes Mt Blanc and many extremely rugged sections of the Alps from such designation.
How one gets there is arbitrary too. There are vast tracks of Alaskan wilderness so remote practical access is possible only by horse, dog sled, four-wheel drive, snowmobile, or bush planes. Nor does difficult access alone suffice to label an area as backcountry. You can cross the Sierras on non-technical trails, yet canyons and peaks just beyond the trailhead may be extremely difficult to access.
A lot of backcountry endures light pollution; you can see the glow of Las Vegas from miles out in the desert. If seeing one or more persons a day precludes the backcountry designation, most of the Sierras would be relegated front country designation, at least during summer time. One could state backcountry has no permanent man made trails, but this would preclude vast tracks of land most would call backcountry. Heck if we have middle country, then perhaps areas like the Antartic should be called beyondbackcountry, since we are talking about an entire continent where man is basically only visiting on an extended basis.
Backcountry is where emergency medical rescues are carried out by the sheriff, military, park or forest service personnel. Backcountry is the place you arrive at when you think you have gone far enough to get away from it all. Backcountry is anywhere you can nude sunbathe, and not worry about the area being specifically designated as such, and not worry about being cited for going nude. In my mind, "True" wilderness and backcountry are things that barely exist today.
But I don't think using that kind of definition helps at all. With the exception of Extremely romote areas of Alaska, Eurasia, Canada, South America, Africa, and perhaps Australia, that kind of "backcounty" doesn't exist. To then label anything less as Front Country is, in my estimation, a maybe bit elitist and snobbish. I think Ed and Trout have it defined about as much as it needs to be. I know of several places in the Cherokee and Nantahala NFs that can be accessed by an "easy" hike, but that could kill you real quick if harsh weather rolled in.
By some of the definitions listed above there isn't any backcountry anywhere in the Appalachian Mountains.
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