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How old do I have to be to backpack on my own legally?

I love the outdoors and the wilderness, and I've grown up around things like backpacking and high adventure wilderness activities. I'm a boy scout, so I know everything I need to to go backpacking with a backpack full of provisions just from that, but I have also had extensive training in wilderness survival and first aid. Suffice it to say, I could go trekking with nothing but a knife and I'd be just fine. But anyway, I'm fourteen, and, my friend and I were talking about him flying to my state, Wisconsin, and gong on a backpacking trip on the Ice Age Trail. We want to do a two day trek, covering about twenty miles, but I haven't looked into what kind of terrain I'll be dealing with. My friend, Nick, knows alot about forestry as well, and we have all the gear we need, and trust me, I know what I'm doing. But, although I could hold my own in the wilderness better than most adults, I'm a minor, and my parents are worried that it would be illegal. Does anybody know if any laws exist that state that a fourteen year old can't go backpacking on a public trail in Wisconsin?
Rant:
It really, really, really, makes me soo mad, how the world is today. Back in biblical times, people could become a hermit and go off and live alone in the wilderness. Now, it's robably illegal. And back then, if parents wanted to send their kid on a trip into the wild and he got hurt, they wouldn't be punished by the government. This is God's earth, not the government's. We can't even go out and trek on the earth in it's true state anymore. It just makes me so mad...

Public Comments

1. 18 just like anything else

2. I'd call the place you want to camp/ backpack at...

I really doubt you have to be 18... and with an adult who is going to stop you? Or give a shit for that matter.

3. i agree with you entirely kid. what you have to do is grow up under the radar, if you dont hassle the government, they wont hassle you (...as much)

i also admire your enthusiasm and respect your knowledge. A+ for you.

in terms of legality, check through http://www.legis.state.wi.us/statutes/Stat0027.pdf

as far as i can see there is nothing legally stopping you.

have fun, take care