In these days that have seen work from home become a necessity for so many, we were reminded of this piece from 2017 about how to work remotely from just about anywhere. Enjoy -Ed.
First, and while this goes without saying, it should be remembered that there are many different styles of and reasons for camping. Many times we’re looking to get deep and high into the backcountry, hoping to challenge ourselves physically, and trying to get far away from people and electric things, especially if they make lots of noise (the people or the electric things). Sometimes we just want to sleep under the stars by a campfire, but also with a group of friends and bottles of wine and really great food. Then there are the moments we fear that we’ll go completely nuts if we can’t just get out of the city, even for a couple days, so help us god, no matter where we end up, but since we’re buried in work, we’ll just have to bring our work with us to the outdoors.
That last one was me recently, so I did something I’ve never even considered before. I camped where I knew I could use the internet.
Not like a wi-fi-enabled campsite, mind you. Instead, I bought a mobile hot spot internet device thingy and made sure to find campsites that had a good enough cell signal so that I could work from the side of a river, a forest-ringed meadow, or by an alpine lakeshore. It worked great. Find a campsite with 4GLTE coverage (admittedly, these are typically roadside, but midweek they’re often near-empty), turn on my little internet brick, and presto, instant connection, turning my truck bed into a mobile office.
And while it’s true I couldn’t completely forget the evils of civilization while work-camping, I still felt like I was connecting with the wilderness in ways I simply can’t while at home.
Sure, you can use your phone for that if you have unlimited data, but 1) it eats your phone’s battery and 2) eventually that data is capped and 3) these hot spots are reliable and, in my experience, offer faster connection than linking up with your phone.
Oh boy, I think I might be hooked.
In the mornings, I’d roll out of the back of my truck, fire up a pot of coffee on a propane stove, and, just like I was home, go online to research and write articles (and buy stuff and waste time on social media and geek out on gear). During the middle part of the day, I’d hike a little or fly-fish or drive to a new campsite. In the afternoons and evening, it was back to work. Not really a whole hell of a lot different than my typical work schedule. The only real change was that rather than look wistfully out the window from home or a coffee shop and wish I was looking out at soul-stirring views of snow-capped peaks and a babbling brook, I lifted my head and actually looked right at those snow-capped peaks and babbling brooks. Then I went right back to working, soul sufficiently stirred.
This presented a quandary: I’ve always been a staunch no tech in the backcountry kind of person, completely against the intrusion of the digital world—well, GPS devices are okay—in the great outdoors. My little experiment forced me to transform myself from a poo-pooer of the bluish glow of a computer screen at a campsite to the guy sitting in a camp chair, or swinging in a hammock (difficult, but not impossible) while typing on an iPad.
And while it’s true I couldn’t completely forget the evils of civilization while work-camping, I still felt like I was connecting with the wilderness in ways I simply can’t while at home.
The really crazy part is that I know of spots deep-ish in the northern Sierra backcountry that somehow get crystal-clear 4GLTE cell signals. I could do this work from camp thing even when backpacking in some areas. I promise, however, that if I ever try this, I wouldn’t dream of doing so if I thought a backpacker camped across a meadow or lake from me could possibly see my screen. I’m not a monster.
Am I compromising something by bringing the internet—and work—into the wild with me?
Honestly, I’m not sure yet. This is a new experience for me. It may flame out terribly and end with me cleaving my iPad in two with a hatchet and striking off into the bush.
But for now, it’s an intriguing option to bring internet connectivity into the camping equation. It allows those of us with jobs that let us to work remotely and who have a deep love of the outdoors to connect the two in ways that were impossible just a few years ago.
Really need to stay connected no matter what? Take a look at the IRIDIUM Go! satellite hotspot for hikers or the Wideye iSaviIsatHub satellite hotspot.
Just need to send and receive texts every now and then, even off-grid? We’ve found great success with the Garmin inReach—our crew has purchased both the Mini and the Explorer+ and can recommend either.
I too am guilty of working while out there. I had a scheduled vacation to portrero chico but there was no one trained to cover my job. So I found the campground with the strongest wifi and set up a home office in…Mexico. My experience was very similar, wake up follow my usual workday routine, but on what would have been my lunch break instead I hustled up a few pitches and came back to answer end of day emails and re-sort my rack. After signing out I would manage a longer route and be down in time for a meal with a side of mezcal, from the source not from the dusty bottle I’ve been nursing since my last trip to Mexico. Sure having to work put a little cramp in my dirtbaggery but isn’t total wifi coverage what allows most of the dirtbag bloggers, videographers and mountaineers to send us a constant stream of stoke from the source. Without it I would have been looking at a missed season and photos of friends wishing I was there…
Makes sense, and if some don’t like it they don’t have to do it… I work from home 100% of the time, and I often think how nice it would be to do this if even just for a day trip in the local mountains. I agree though that you must be considerate of others. No speaker phone conference calls at the camp site. If it refuels you and clears your head, it’s all good…
I think this makes perfect sense. I had a job that allowed me to do this, and started to stay in state parks in Michigan rather than staying in hotels while visiting clients. Nothing better than leaving the campsite in a suit, well maybe turning in the $25 receipt on my expense report. Visit clients, stop at a brewery, back to camp to finish up my paperwork, then climbing a dune to watch the sunset on Lake Michigan. When it comes to a backpacking trips, or any trip specifically planned for getting away, I power down and leave it at home.
Camping is great, because the distraction of cell phone reception & wifi is gone. No constant checking of the phone or passing time with mindless internet swiping. With this said, if I had work that could be done while at a campsite (and the boss gave the approval) I would jump on this train.
“Camping is great, because the distraction of cell phone reception & wifi is gone. No constant checking of the phone or passing time with mindless internet swiping.”
I guess you’ve never met my stepdad….
Hum, I am highly suspicious of this. To me the example is as follows. A TV producer may need to watch TV for their job, but that is rarely the case for most people. If you telecommute, and work at a campground, by all means, connect. For example a journalist covering a demonstration in a remote location, may need to upload an article while at a campground. But I believe that the internet is an addiction, and connecting at a campsite is not much different then an individual watching satellite TV inside their RV at Yellowstone.
I think the whole question of electronics outdoors depends on why you’re outdoors to begin with. I mean, even before the Interwebs you’d inevitably find someone who hauled in a boom-box to the backcountry (typically their buddy hauled in the beer-laden ice cooler too). Or, I’ve been in campgrounds where the neighbors set up satellite TV to watch basketball playoffs until late into the night. The only thing separating me from their TV was a thin veil of canvas or coated nylon tent.
I first encountered campground-wide wi-fi in 2011 at a Louisiana state park of all places. http://www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-parks/frequently-asked-questions/index#WiFi
Since it got dark around 6 p.m. or so on that winter trip, we watched a streaming movie in our tent.
I teach college. For a little extra cash I often teach a 4-week “Maymester” class online. In the past I’ve taught it from “on the road” camping, but had to stop at coffee shops and the like to keep up with my class. Usually that meant not straying too far from wi-fi connected coffee shops which are typically in more suburban/urban areas. With today’s more ubiquitous Net access it’s easier to teach from more off-the-beaten path locations like Douglas mentioned and I can be out camping in May before it gets too hot here in Texas. So, Justin, rock on with your wi-fi connected self.
I’d suggest “Wilderness” is used here too broadly to be useful. Car camping is not wilderness. Car camping with a computer may be fine, if your goal is to get work done in a natural environment (but, yes, sensitivity to the aesthetic desires of fellow campers is important—to some people camping on the side of the road is as close to wild country as they’ll ever get and seeing fellow campers on laptops could erode their sense of communing with nature).
To us nature geeks, and those that care about precision of language, wilderness means the backcountry. It’s here that computers, phones, anything with screens, contaminate and diminish our experience. We all need quality time away from tech to be healthy and if we can’t get that in true wilderness we might as well give up and plug our technology-addled brains into the matrix for good.
As long as you know the difference between “going away to work” and “working while you’re away,” and then do the former in full consciousness, it’s ok with me.
I just spent a week work-camping in northern Michigan. The campground was on a bike trail that was ~3 miles from a small town with a coffee shop. Wake up, head to work (coffee shop), work until lunch, then off to play for the remainder of the day! It was glorious and I will definitely do it again. I just need to sort out the mobile hot spot thingy so I am not tethered to the nearest wifi spot.
At our company that does week long backcountry bike trips we often times give the pre trip speech to our guests about respecting others space in the out of doors. Many use their cell phones as cameras only which of course is fine, but when the phones start ringing around the campfire or calm sunrise coffee time, is it crossing the line? Some folks totally understand and talk in privacy, but others don’t seem to have a problem with it. With cell service getting “better & better” there’s fewer places we can go to truly escape their reach. Of course you can always shut them off and claim no service. A week long #digitaldetox is a very powerful and rejuvenating cleanse. I highly recommend it.
Good for you Justin! You get to experience the best of both worlds at the same time! Get a cellular booster kit for your truck to expand your work horizons.
I live and work (my own cellular/wireless telecom business) in a wilderness setting in the mountains off the north east shore off Lake Superior in Northern Ontario. I get to spend more time outdoors since I am usually connected with my big 6″ Nexus phone. When I don’t want to be connected I go into do not disturb or just turn my phone off.
Sure beats my former life living in downtown Toronto working for AT&T.
Can you recommend a cellular booster kit?
I live and work in a city. This quarantine and subsequent ‘work from home’ period has led me to ditch the city and work in a place where my windows open up to views I’d actually care to see. The effect on my mood, productivity and clarity is immeasurable. So, I could see this being an awesome way to work, especially if you have the mobile hot spot. I’m usually against tech while outdoors, but that’s me. I generally say live and let live, enjoy the outdoors the way you’d like – so long as it doesn’t affect the experience someone else should expect to have. Doing this at a campsite, or on the side of the road, I can’t think of a negative. Backcountry? Wilderness? Yeah, obviously a different story, but this setup you detailed looks like something worth exploring if the leniency of working remotely continues “post-Covid.”
Would you work online inside the Sistine Chapel?
No?
Then why would you work online at the rim of Crater Lake?
Ha! Because I had to! One of the things about working remotely is when your wife says – hey, I have two weeks off, wanna drive to Oregon for a camp trip? but you don’t have two weeks off, you can say “yes” and then when she hikes around Crater Lake, you can work while she hikes.
This is why I don’t have a cell phone or laptop. I go camping/hiking/backpacking/riding/whatever to distance myself from the contraception failures and other rejects I have to deal with every day, not be exposed to their bullshit even more.
It’s really sad and pathetic that American companies have grabbed their workers by the balls to tightly that nobody can separate their work time from vacation time anymore.
It just seems pretty counterintuitive.
Well, see, the whole point is that I wasn’t on vacation! You can work from a forest, if you want. Seems a lot better to me than my apartment.
Only in America….
Well, see, the point is, If you want to go to work, then go to work. If you want to go camping, then go camping. Mixing the two creates an unhealthy and hazardous condition and sets a bad example for people who can’t think for themselves. Americans need to break this postmodern mentality of 24/7 availability and learn to properly seperate their professional and personal lives.
And the rest of the world wonders why Americans are constantly angry and why this is such an unhappy, mentally ill country.
Nevertheless, I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one and let it stand.
Really? I think you fail to realize that many people are working from home 100% of the time.
So given this situation, you would rather stay in your home all day and “commute” to your second bedroom/office than go to a new and interesting location in nature every week or so?
I’m sorry, but work is where the wifi is. If you have wifi at Crater Lake, then going there to work “is” going to work. I’d rather commute to the Teton Mountains than commute to my second bedroom.
This is not camping. This is nomadic living. Camping is still what you do on weekends when you unplug at these locations.
After reading this I thought it was one of Brendan Leonard’s “Adventure(y) Journal” posts from a few years back. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
I recognize that it’s a losing strategy for me to sit here and type out an argument for why I don’t like this article. After all, we all have the freedom to do what we like, and if there is internet at a campsite (or you create your own) then you have every right to use it. Plus, I am consuming the content that you are creating while sitting around a campfire “connecting with nature”.
However, your post (which I must have missed when it was originally published) did not sit well with me for a few emotional reasons – not logical reasons.
The first reason is that you are normalizing tech in the outdoors. Sure, sitting by yourself at a KOA is one thing, but that’s not where it stops – you must have seen the recent High Country News article titled “The Park Service is selling out to telecom giants”. Your personal opinion on tech in the outdoors even seems to move towards working from the backcountry within this very article. You start out saying that you’re at abandoned roadside campgrounds midweek and end by saying there’s a good chance you’ll be on your tablet deep in the Sierra Nevada. Now, like I said, you have every right to do that. But…really?
The second reason is that I’m just tired of the van life/van dweller/home is where you park it/remote work/blah blah blah blah blah. It’s been clogging my Insta for years, bro.
The third reason is that you have a link to Amazon in the article. I know AJ isn’t getting paid in any way to promote Amazon. But, get that outta here.
The fourth reason ties in with the second. Now, I will preface this by saying that I know I am being hypocritical because, like I stated before, I am consuming your content. I also mean no offense to you as a person or AJ as a publication. Having said that, I find it to be increasingly exasperating that people who have jobs that are not actually vital to society (I mean ACTUALLY vital) are getting paid more than those who do and are able to do them from wherever they want. This is driving up outdoor rec user numbers (and all the impact that comes along with that), this is driving up housing prices in areas that have no real industry, this is widening the wealth gap. Also, during this damn virus, those with vital jobs generally have to physically go to work, exposing themselves to health risks.
Anyway, I know that AJ is a responsible company – hell, you tell us all the time! I guess I’m just tired of the pervasiveness of technology – it’s everywhere man. Plus, I had to post this here because the editor of my local paper never publishes my letters.
Hey, I get it. I don’t really feel as though this needs defending, but my entire job is remote. All I need is an internet connection. There’s little reason to work indoors if I don’t have to. I also mention that I’d never bust out a tablet deep in the backcountry if I thought somebody else would see. If I have the opportunity to work from the mountains in a tent as opposed to my apartment, I’m going to take that chance every time. Wouldn’t you?
I’m curious, if you had a job that was 100% online work, what would you do? I mean seriously try to imagine and describe your daily routine.