Public/private

The AT and C&O are the only extended public corridors I know that offer their travelers free, unregulated lodging.

On the C&O, lodging means a cleared space with a fire ring, picnic table, and a portajohn; on the AT, it means an open shelter, a fire ring, and a walless pit toilet. Rudimentary, but with absolute permission to make this public, federal space your own for a night—or as long as you care to stay.

In the rest of our lives, making a home means you either have to procure (rent/buy) private space or break rules and make space home at your own risk, as the homeless do. The uncontrolled invitation to camp for free is an anachronism in an over-owned country.

The invitation also is complete: when staying in that campsite or shelter, it does become home. Fully public and open—by the main road, available to all who chose to stop at that mileage that night—the spot becomes more confidently yours as the night goes on: your campfire, your tent, your food on your picnic table. Sometimes by morning, it is disquieting to see the early users of the trail speed by while you still are dressing or cooking breakfast, in what you feel has become privacy.

I have accumulated a similar sense of ownership over other public property—most notably parking meters or street signs that have become my regular locking posts. I have even been offended when other cyclists have locked to the street signs in front of my boyfriend's various apartments that I considered my private posts.