For most people, going camping in British Columbia means going to the BC Parks website in the hopes of booking a first-class site in a provincial park.
Steve Wallis is not most people.
A quick scan of his YouTube channel shows that Wallis has an unusual idea for a perfect camping spot.
Earlier this month, in a video that was viewed more than 2.6 million times, Wallis took viewers camping to the center of a green Langford Parkway roundabout in Langford.
“How can you not want to camp there for the night?” Wallis asked CTV News in an interview this week before demonstrating how the bushes in the roundabout open in a dry, well-hidden place large enough to camp inside.
He calls this type of adventure “urban stealth camping”.
“I have a hard time explaining it without it sounding like I’ve lost my mind,” Wallis said. “It’s just a playful sense of adventure, which I think is pretty good.”
He said most of his viewers felt the same way, although it sometimes took people a while to “understand” him.
“When every new wave of subscribers comes up after a bigger video like this, there are people who will never know what it’s about and don’t have fun, and then there are others who get caught up and say, ‘Yeah, you know “What? It was great,” Wallis said.
On his website, he describes himself as a man with a mission “to return camping for the people.”
This does not mean that his approach is combative. He does not make dangerous stunts and always packs all his garbage and any other garbage he finds.
“Rather, Mr. Rodgers goes and breaks the rules in a circle,” Wallis said.
He knows that his hobby is illegal, but it is usually a minor offense that is subject to a fine, such as in the books for walking or keeping a dog on a leash. Besides, the question is not to get caught. That is why he never camped in the same place twice.
“I will not do it again,” he said of his stay at the roundabout.
“And I don’t encourage anyone else to do it.”
With files from Jordan Cunningham from CTV Vancouver Island
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