Wild Camping at Steeperton Tor - Dartmoor National Park
In my latest blog post I embark on a wild camping adventure to capture photographs of Steeperton Tor on Dartmoor from dusk to dawn! See more photographs from that adventure and learn why I think wild camping is such an important right.
Supporting the Campaign to Protect the Right to Wild Camp
Before I get into the story and photographs from my recent wild camp on Steeperton Tor, I just want to highlight the issue of wild camping rights on Dartmoor National Park. People have been enjoying wild camping (backpack camping) on Dartmoor for decades, but a recent legal challenge puts all that at risk.
I’m not going to go into the well documented history of this legal case and what it means for those who enjoy wild camping responsibly, other than the loss of the right to wild camp responsibly would have a dramatic impact to the way many of us like to enjoy Dartmoor. It’s a critical issue regardless of if you wild camp or not. It’s an issue that could eventually impact how any of us access and use our countries wild spaces.
I recently saw a request from the Dartmoor Preservation Association for people to share their positive stories of backpack camping and what it means to them. While I am just one voice in a chorus of voices, I thought it was important to add my voice to that chorus, if only to make it a little louder. Here is the 30 second video I made while I was wild camping at Steeperton Tor.
As I said in the video, you can simply show your support by liking and sharing the video. However, if you can, please donate to one of the funds that are providing direct support to Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) to battle this case in the Supreme Court on 8th October 2024. I personally have chosen to donate to the Dartmoor Preservation Association who will use the funds to support the DNPAs legal case. You can find out more about their campaign and how to donate here.
Thank you.
Sunset Camp at Steeperton Tor
I had been looking for the right weather conditions for a photography wild camp on Dartmoor National Park for a few weeks. For me, wild camping gives me the opportunity to photograph some of Dartmoor’s most remote locations both at sunset and sunrise, without having to make a difficult or potentially dangerous walk to or from the car in the dark. To make a wild camp worthwhile for photography I therefore need good conditions at sunset and sunrise the following day.
This isn’t as easy as it might first sound. More often than not, you’ll get a good sunrise but not a good sunset, and vice versa. However, with summer coming to an end and September marking the start of Autumn, I decided to soften my requirements a little. i.e. As long as the sunset or sunrise would be good, I’d take a chance on the other.
Sunset at Steeperton Tor #1, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 14mm, f/13, 0.5 sec at ISO 64.
For the last camp of summer, I really wanted to go to Fur Tor, Dartmoor’s most remote tor, but for that to work, and to make the effort of getting there really worth it, the conditions would need to be pretty special. As it wasn’t looking that way, I decided to settle for Steeperton Tor. It’s a location I’ve wanted to shoot at both sunrise and sunset, and it was remote enough to make a camp worthwhile.
Sunset at Steeperton Tor #2, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 14mm, f/13, 0.5 sec at ISO 64.
The route I chose was to walk in from Belstone village along the western bank of the river Taw. It’s a flat and easy going. That is until you reach the base of Steeperton Tor and then it’s an uphill slog (with camera and camping gear) for around 150m of ascent! This wouldn’t have been so bad if I could have found the path up! But I made it eventually. Just a little hot and tired.
Sunset at Steeperton Tor #3, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 16mm, f/13, 0.8 sec at ISO 64.
After some refreshments I then spent a fair bit of time trying to work out where I would pitch my tent. Not normally a difficult thing for most wild campers, but I was trying to think ahead and not pitch my tent in a way that could compromise my sunset or sunrise compositions. I finally picked a nice flat area beside the military lookout point. The lookout huts ruin the viewpoint anyway, so might as well stick my tent there as well!
The great thing about wild camping on Dartmoor is that I never feel the temptation to leave early if I don’t think I’m going to get good conditions. You might as well hang about and see what happens because you are already at the place where you’ll be spending the night. Just as well, because about 15 mins after I would have normally gone home, I got the light I was hoping for.
Sunset at Steeperton Tor #4, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 17mm, f/11, 3 sec at ISO 64.
Stargazing at Dartmoor National Park
With my sunset photographs captured I decided to retire to my tent. Despite Steeperton Tor being fairly remote, internet access isn’t an issue, and with around 10 hours to sunrise, I decided to settle down to watch a film on Netflix.
The Night Sky at Steeperton #1, Dartmoor National Park - Google Pixel 6 Pro
At around 11pm I decided to pop my head out of the tent to see if there were any clear skies and to my delight there were! Though I have captured photographs of the night sky before, I would never consider myself a night sky photographer, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to give it a go.
The Night Sky at Steeperton #2, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 14mm, f/14, 20 sec at ISO 6400.
My efforts aren’t going to win me any competitions, but that’s not the point. Not only was I having fun capturing photographs of the night sky, but I deny anyone to look at the night sky and see all those stars and not do so without a sense of wonder and awe. It was breath taking!
The Night Sky at Steeperton #3, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 14mm, f/14, 20 sec at ISO 3200.
Sunrise at Steeperton Tor
The wind picked up during the night and was still blowing when my alarm went off. I cautiously opened the tent but was pleasantly surprised to see blue sky. My optimism was short lived though. To the east, where the sun was going to rise, there was a large bank of hazy cloud that would be sure to block any soft light from the rising sun.
I thought if I gave it an hour though, the sun would eventually rise above the cloud and I would get some light on the landscape, but a bank of fast-moving low cloud from the southeast came in and covered the sky. That was the end of any chance of getting some good sunrise photos. There was a little gap in the distance which gave me a little light to work with, so I have a least one picture from the morning.
Sunrise at Steeperton Tor, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 120mm, f/8, 1/100 sec at ISO 500.
As I wasn’t in a hurry, I slowly packed away hoping that the conditions will change but unfortunately this wasn’t to be the case. Just to give myself some options should the conditions unexpectedly change, I decided to walk back via Oke Tor and Belstone Tor. As it turns out, leaving was the right decision because by the time I got to Oke Tor, Steeperton Tor has disappeared into cloud!
While the conditions for sunrise were disappointing (but not unexpected), I still walked home feeling great. I got some nice photographs at sunset, I’d camped under the Milky Way and most importantly I’d had an adventure. An adventure that I was free to do and didn’t require me to gain any permission or buy any permits. It was true freedom.
Photographing Dartmoor - Beyond Belstone
Sometimes the best landscape photography adventures are unplanned. In the blog this week, I unexpectedly venture further into Dartmoor than I’ve ever been before.
Not What I Had Planned
As I write this blog post, I look back on my day out on Dartmoor with a smile on my face. The happy memories of my time on Dartmoor were not the result of careful planning though.
My original plan was to head up to Belstone Tor to film the first part of a video about printing your photographs. I chose Belstone due to my familiarity with the location, but also because it was the only place on Dartmoor not to have 100% cloud coverage!
As spectacular as Belstone can be at dawn, it can also be wild and unforgiving. As I approached the summit the wind had picked to such an extent that it was going to take a lot of effort just to compose a landscape photo and keep the camera still. The thought of managing a second camera for video and audio just didn’t seem like a clever idea. A previous trip to Belstone to make a video on a windy day had resulted in an expensive repair bill!
With the idea of creating a video gone with the wind (excuse the pun), I was half tempted to head home (via Belstone Services for coffee and breakfast). That temptation soon passed though. I wasn’t going to waste an opportunity to explore a bit more of Dartmoor. I looked into the distance and thought of a new plan.
Belstone Tor
I’ve been to Belstone Tor countless times. I’ve even ventured a little further and made it to Oke Tor, but I’ve never been further than that. This was the perfect chance for me to push on and see what is beyond Belstone!
The weather, despite being very windy, was holding. Broken cloud, no rain, and patches of sunshine. It all looked good for a big walk.
I’ve got lots of landscape photographs of Belstone Tor but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to capture another. There’s always room in my Lightroom catalogue for another image of Belstone Tor.
Belstone Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 16mm, f/8, 1 sec at ISO 64.
Oke Tor
My first and last visit to Oke Tor had been a positive one but I’d never managed to make it back there. It’s about a 45 to 60 minute walk to Oke Tor from Belstone, and it’s rare that I have that much time to spend walking to a location. But today I had lots of time for a walk.
The weather had indeed held and the light on the landscape was better than the golden hour that morning. There was still a big bank of clouds to the south, but the area where I stood was covered in scattered light from the low winter sun. Parts of the landscape were in shade, and others were illuminated. It’s the way I love to see Dartmoor.
It was still a challenge to hold onto the camera in the wind, but I was feeling inspired and most importantly I was enjoying myself.
Oke Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 18mm, f/13, 0.4 sec at ISO 64.
Steeperton Tor
As I left Oke Tor and headed south I realised this was the furthest I had ever ventured into Dartmoor and away from civilization. In all my years exploring Dartmoor, this was the first time I felt like I was going somewhere remote. I was out here on my own.
I wanted this walk to be a circular walk and as I checked my OS map, I could see that I could walk parallel to Steeperton Tor and then loop clockwise and follow the military road via East Mill Tor and back to Belstone. However, Steeperton Tor was calling me! I had often seen this tor from Belstone and wondered what it would like to be standing on top of this 532m high hill. I decided to make a diversion by jumping across the River Taw at Steeperton Gorge. Not as grand as it sounds given the low water level.
It was a steep ascent up to Steeperton Tor, but the views were outstanding!
Steeperton Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 20mm, f/11, 1/5th sec at ISO 64.
Steeperton Tor is deep within the Okehampton Firing Range and all around the area, you’ll find military buildings dotted about. While not particularly photogenic, they are part of the landscape, so I thought it was worth capturing an image of these remote buildings.
Steeperton Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 21mm, f/11, 1/200th sec at ISO 800.
Steeperton Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 21mm, f/11, 1/200th sec at ISO 800.
East Mill Tor
After enjoying the views from Steeperton Tor and trying to have a conversation in the howling wind with a wild camper, I headed west, then south to start my loop back to Belstone. The walking was a lot easier in this direction as I could benefit from the military roads. As the road ran close by the foot of East Mill Tor it seemed rude to not make a quick ascent.
At first, I wasn’t that inspired. I’d been walking most of the morning so perhaps I was feeling tired. It wasn’t as if the composition I had picked out was a poor one, it was just that the light was flat. However, experience has taught me that on days like this the light can change for the better very quickly for the better, and for worse.
Rather than wait for the light I decided to get my camera and tripod setup, so I’d be ready to shoot. Just as I was extending the legs of my tripod the sun broke through the clouds and I captured the last image of my walk.
East Mill Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 21mm, f/11, 1/200th sec at ISO 800.
A Glorious Morning
Leaving East Mill Tor, I soon joined back up with the parts of Belstone Common I was more familiar with. I started seeing more people, animals, and cars. It was nice to be back somewhere familiar but my long walk into a more remote part of Dartmoor had inspired me. Not only did I want to walk this route again, but I also wanted to explore more of these remote Dartmoor locations. I enjoyed that sense of remoteness. The sense of wilderness. Even if I hadn’t taken my camera with me, that was a walk to remember.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my unexpected adventure and seeing the photographs I captured. Next time, time and weather permitting, I’ll be sure the video it so you can see more of how wonderful Dartmoor can be when you venture just a little bit further.
Landscape Photography with the Google Pixel 6 Pro
Just a quick footnote to this blog post. I recently purchased a Google Pixel 6 Pro phone and I decided to take it with me on my adventure. I took it because it’s a phone and a GPS device, but it’s hard to ignore the camera specs on this device. This adventure seemed the perfect chance to put the camera to use so here are a few of the processed raw files from the Pixel 6 Pro. If you want to see more images from this camera or for me to make a video on it and how it handles as a landscape camera, let me know in the comments below.
