Overview
- Officials recorded 260 fly‑camping incidents this summer, up from 160 in 2024, a 62.5% increase.
- Rangers reported family tents pitched by roads, barbecues and open fires in use, generators and mini fridges on site, and discarded gear and human waste.
- The backpack‑camping code permits low‑impact overnight stays out of sight of roads or settlements, bans fires, littering and camping within 100 metres of a road, and limits groups to six.
- The park plans to work with social media influencers next year to explain proper backpack camping and to direct visitors to farmer‑run ‘nearly wild’ sites.
- In May, the Supreme Court confirmed a public right to overnight camping on Dartmoor’s common land, rejecting landowner Alexander Darwall’s challenge.