Yes, I certainly have had a bunch of great adventures by "volunteering" with my son's troop. Somehow I seem to have volunteered too much, and they went and made me Scoutmaster...

We're going camping this weekend, and it's a Boy Scout weekend for sure, rain in the forecast for Friday-Sunday!

Since I'm in the 51st state ( South Jersey ) I can't help too much with camping near where you live.

Down here there is primitive camping available in the Pine Barrens that didn't go up in the fire the past few days. Good hiking and fishing along with camping for very little $$. Look up Atison in the Pines Barrens.

I hope you find a couple of people to both go camping, and to practice your skills with!

Regarding camping, and practicing skills, look for "Backcountry Camping". While most parks will not allow you to have wood fires due to "Leave No Trace" guidelines or due to the threat of wildfires. However, most allow the use of a camp stove. I've run across a few that will allow such things as building debris shelters if you promise to completely dismantle and redistribute the structure before you leave. that or the ranger I talked to was being extremely nice.

Also, check the National Parks Service website and look at the parks in your area. A nearby park, Shenandoah National, has primitive campsites that can be rented that are less populated than the other designated camping areas, and some have fire rings where you are allowed to have fires.

As mentioned previously, if you can find a landowner that will allow you to camp on his or her property, perhaps for a small fee, then you might be able to have a fire. As always, check local laws regarding fires.

As was also mentioned, try the Boy Scouts. A lot of chapters lease land from the state, and are allowed to have fires, or so I was told by a father who was nice enough to let me grill him for about a half an hour while his kids sold Popcorn at the entrance to Wal-Mart. Yes, I bought some...

I'd volunteer for the scouts if I wasn't the farthest thing from a role-model any kid should ever have.

On our trip in July, in order to practice all of our skills including fire-making, we had to rent a private cabin and promise to use a fire bowl that would keep the fire off of the ground. We're also allowed to collect fallen wood on the property and can build a debris shelter as long as we take it apart and take the wood to the cabin before we leave. They're also lowing us to pitch tents and tarps on the land.

You really have to work these days to get "Back to Nature", but it's worth it when you can figure it out.

Best of luck!

Doh!
Being so long-winded, I forgot the reason I was posting...

If all goes well with this trip, we might plan a larger camping/survival/Primitive Skills trip for more people in the fall, which will be on a friends land somewhere in the wilds of PA (if the aforementioned friend finally pulls the trigger on buying the land that is).

If we get that one rolling I'll post about it here and if a couple of people from the forums would like to join us, we'd be happy to have the company.

I'm sure lots of guys here will take you up on your offer, me being one of them.

Cool beans.
That's why I mentioned it. LOL

Now, all I have to do is get my friend to buy the land. HAHA

Seriously though, if we can't use the friend's land because it hasn't been purchased yet, (I totally understand that buying 300 some odd acres is not something one does on the fly) we'll be able to figure something out.

Yep, I've been looking at the Pine Barrens, up till last week. Danged flyboys!!!

I agree that it is slim pickens, compared to playing in the Rockies in Colorado or the Cascades in Washington and Oregon that I grew up with. Maybe we can just pick a place to meet and start sharing on techniques and such, and look for a suitable place to put our new learnt skills to use.

My only problem with going public with teaching skills is trying to get remote enough that looky-loo passersby don't get alarmed when I pull out the big knife or some such and call the police on us. So far I've got a few good gawkers when I am running through the park near home with my desert pack on. LALOL!!!

There is still lots of the Pine Barrens that were not impacted by the fire. Mostly south of rt72 and east of 206 by Batsto.

91gdub - I spent a couple of weeks slogging around Ft. Dix when I was a wee lad in CAP. I'd love to get back there sometime, especially if they allow some real camping.

"Atison"... I'm not having much luck with google, can you give us any pointers to some info?

P.S. Don't eat too many unripe blueberries.

Are you anywheres near Manahawkin? I have friends that have a nice pool down there, thus I speand lots of weekends down there in the summer .