As of: 10 September 2026

Wild camping at the Chammseeli

The Chammseeli everybody means is the pair of lakes at 2'155 metres between the Flumserberg and the Murgseen, in the commune of Quarten. From 15 December to the end of the ski season nobody is allowed in at all, and a strip of communal nature reserve starts 26 metres from the western lake. Outside both, no norm we could find bans a single night on the north-east shore.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in September 2026 · Published 30 July 2026, rewritten 10 September 2026
What do these mean?

Illegal A specific rule bans it, usually with a fine, and it can be enforced. Sleep somewhere else.

Not allowed No real place to camp here. A gated site, a developed area, or nowhere sensible to lie down, even if no fine is attached.

It depends You can sleep here, but there's a condition first: ask the landowner, book a spot, stay inside a set zone, or use a bivvy instead of a tent. The report says which.

Tolerated No rule clearly allows or bans it, but a single night is accepted in practice and nobody enforces against it. Normal for high bivouacs above the treeline.

Legal Camping one night is fine here. Either a rule allows it, or we checked every law and found nothing against it. Still: pitch late, leave early, no trace.

What "wild camping" means here: one night. A small tent or a bivvy bag, up towards evening, gone in the morning. Not a base camp, not a camper van. Most Swiss bans are written against camping; whether a single night also falls under them depends on the exact wording, so this article checks that wording. The full difference: wild camping vs bivouacking.

Which Chammseeli this is

Wild camping at the Chammseeli means, for almost everyone who types the name, the pair of lakes at 2'155 metres on the plateau behind the Murgseen, reached from the Flumserberg lifts over the Maschgenkamm, Hoch Camatsch and Erdisgulmen, or from the Murgseehütte in about an hour. The regional destination describes them as remote mountain lakes on a high plateau best reached from the Flumserberg, and that is the lake this article is about. Two basins, 107 metres apart centre to centre and joined by a neck about ten metres wide with a channel through it, both officially called Chammseeli, which is why the national gazetteer returns two entries.19

Two other lakes in the same sixteen-kilometre triangle carry the name, and because their rules are the opposite of each other it is worth one paragraph each so you do not carry the wrong answer up the wrong mountain.

  • Chammseeli, Glarus Süd (GL), 2'012 m, by the Leglerhütte. Inside the integral part of federal game reserve no. 12 Kärpf, where the federal ordinance prohibits free tenting and camping, CHF 150 on the spot, and the nearest reserve boundary is 1.7 kilometres away and seven hundred metres below. Not a candidate.10
  • Chammseeli, Mels (SG), 2'312 m, above the Siez, also called Siezseeli. Every federal layer empty, no cantonal or communal ban, in any season. If that is your lake, nothing in this article applies to it.10

Everything from here on is about the Quarten pair. One thing to hold in mind while reading: the Quarten lakes are the only ones of the three anyone has documented sleeping at, and the answer here is neither a clean yes nor a clean no. It turns on the date and on a distance measured in tens of metres.

15 December to the end of the ski season: nobody goes in

The lakes lie inside the wildlife rest zone Murgtal, no. 15.0, one of the zones the commune of Quarten fixed in its protection ordinance, and the federal portal lists it as legally binding with the regime "Zutrittsverbot", an entry ban. The ordinance does not forbid camping there. It forbids being there.1

"In den Wildruhezonen sind alle Wintersportaktivitäten sowie das Betreten und Befahren während der Zeit vom 15. Dezember bis Ende Skisaison untersagt. Der Zugang zu Bauten und Anlagen sowie die land- und forstwirtschaftliche Bewirtschaftung und die Jagd bleiben gewährleistet."Schutzverordnung der Politischen Gemeinde Quarten, Teil Landschafts- und Naturschutz, approved 1 March 2021, art. 18 para. 1 in the approved wording: in the wildlife rest zones all winter-sports activity and all entry and driving are prohibited from 15 December to the end of the ski season; access to buildings and installations, farming, forestry and hunting remain guaranteed. The PDF on the cadastre prints the sentence without the words "und die Jagd", which the approval added.

That wording is stronger than any camping ban in this series, and cleaner. A tent, a bivvy bag, a snow cave, a walk to the shore to look: all of it is "Betreten", and there is no definition of camping to argue about. The last sentence was added by the cantonal office as a condition of approval, and its exceptions are for the farmer, the forester and the hunter, not for you.2

What it costs. The commune's power to draw the zone comes from art. 39 para. 1 lit. d of the St. Gallen hunting act, and the fine from art. 65 para. 1 lit. a of the same act: up to CHF 20'000 for anyone who intentionally or negligently disregards a prohibition in force in a wildlife rest zone. For light cases the canton has written a fixed penalty of CHF 100 into no. 22.1 of the annex to its criminal procedure ordinance, and art. 10 lit. b of that ordinance lets state organs, which includes the cantonal game wardens, issue it on the spot. So the realistic number is CHF 100 handed over on the snow, with CHF 20'000 as the ceiling if the case goes to the ordinary route.5

When does "the end of the ski season" arrive? The ordinance names no date, and the federal portal repeats the phrase. The only ski season above this valley is the Flumserberg's, and the lifts closed the 2025/26 winter on Easter Monday, 6 April 2026, after 134 days. Read the closure as early to mid April, and if your night falls anywhere near it, ask the commune rather than guessing: a zone that is "closed until the end of the ski season" is closed on a snowy 10 April, whatever the calendar says.9

The zone's edge is not far, but it does not help. The nearest boundary of the zone runs 314 metres south-east of the eastern lake, and it is the cantonal border: the wildlife rest zone ends exactly where the commune of Glarus Süd begins, across the steep Tristel slope. We mention it because we always say when a spot sits near a protection boundary. We do not recommend it: a winter bivouac across a cantonal border on a snow slope at 2'100 metres, chosen to be outside a wildlife rest zone by a few dozen metres, is exactly the kind of clever margin this series does not invent.1

Summer: open at the lakes, banned 26 metres from them

Outside the winter window the wildlife rest zone imposes nothing. Art. 18 has no summer measure, and the cadastre labels the zone "Wildruhezone mit Vorschriften im Winter", a rest zone with rules in winter. So the summer question is what else lies under the pin, and the answer from the cadastre is: a lot of categories, none of them with a camping clause.4

  • Agricultural zone under the cantonal planning act on the shore, open water on the lakes. Quarten's building reglement has no camping article at all.6
  • Geotope protection area and core habitat area under the 2021 ordinance. Art. 11 bans earthworks and changes to the water regime; art. 16 bans new buildings, roads, lifts, tourist events, motocross, off-road biking, model aircraft and paragliding take-offs. Neither article mentions tents, camping or overnight stays.2
  • The lakes themselves are natural object NO19 "Hinter-Chamm" in annex 1 of the 2021 ordinance, "a small lake consisting of two sub-objects", and art. 9 protects listed objects in their substance and appearance, bans anything that endangers them, and at ponds and small lakes expressly protects flora, fauna and the shore zones; art. 4 para. 2 bans in the immediate surroundings of a protected object every activity that impairs it. No camping verb here either, but it is the reason to keep a tent well off the shore vegetation rather than on it.2
  • Forest reserve Murgtal, a contract between the canton and the forest owner running from 2006 to 2072 that regulates felling and asks owners to remind visitors to be considerate. It binds the owner, not the walker, and at 2'155 metres you are several hundred metres above the trees anyway.10
  • BLN object 1602 Murgtal-Mürtschen and the UNESCO World Heritage Tektonikarena Sardona: the federal landscape inventory binds authorities when they plan and permit, the World Heritage label binds nobody at all, and neither imposes anything on a person with a rucksack.1

Then there is the strip. The cadastre draws a communal nature reserve, category "Naturschutzgebiet feucht A (unbeweidet)", as a 922-square-metre polygon on the south-west shore of the western lake, 26 metres from the centre of that lake and 71 metres from the centre of the eastern one. Larger polygons of the same category cover the flat wet benches 250 to 300 metres north and north-east of the lakes, and another the ground 200 metres west. The commune's own inventory from the 1990s lists the shore one as object N 61, "Chammseeli: a narrow band of silting-up zone on the south-west shore of the western part of the lake".34

Which text governs those polygons is the one genuinely tangled question at this lake, and the answer matters because the two candidate texts both ban camping but in different words. The commune adopted a new protection ordinance in 2018 and 2019 whose art. 5 bans "Lager, Zelten, Campieren usw." and fires in nature reserves except at designated places. The cantonal office approved that ordinance on 1 March 2021 for the landscape and habitat part only: geotopes, landscape areas, core and buffer habitats, waters, dry-stone walls, single trees and the wildlife rest zones. The nature reserves in the narrow sense, together with the hedges and the buffer zones, it expressly held back for reworking, and it ruled that for them the protection ordinance of 7 July 1997 remains in force. The cadastre follows that decision to the letter: every nature reserve polygon here cites the 1997 approval as its legal basis, while the geotope, the habitat and the rest zone cite the 2021 text.24

The 1997 ordinance was, when this article first appeared in July, not published anywhere we could find. It is now: the cadastre carries a scan of it, thirty-nine pages, filed under the commune's cultural-heritage objects because those too are still governed by it. Its art. 7 is unambiguous.3

"das Anfachen von Feuer, Lagern, Zelten, Campieren sowie das Überlassen von Standplätzen dafür"Schutzverordnung der Gemeinde Quarten, adopted 24 February 1994 and approved by the Baudepartement on 7 July 1997, art. 7 para. 2, among the activities prohibited in nature reserves: lighting fires, bivouacking, tenting, camping, and letting out pitches for it.

The same paragraph also prohibits entering a nature reserve off marked paths above 1'000 metres from 1 May to 30 September, and art. 8 extends the tent and camping ban to the buffer zones around the reserves, where the cadastre shows none at this lake. Art. 22 threatens "Haft oder Busse": the custodial half of that vanished from Swiss penal law in 2007, so what is left is a fine whose amount the text does not state. Note the words. "Lagern" and "Zelten" alongside "Campieren" means a bivvy bag without a tent is caught as squarely as a tent, and the 1997 text has no "designated places" exception at all, so there is nothing to look for.3

One thing is moving. On 5 February 2026 the Gemeinderat enacted an amendment to the protection ordinance, landscape and nature part, laid out for objections from 19 February to 20 March 2026. The cantonal office's 2020 remarks asked for the moor objects of the upper Murgtal to be realigned with the 2019 mire survey and for buffer zones around several of them, so an enlargement around wet ground is the plausible direction. As of 10 September 2026 no approval has been published, the cadastre carries no 2026 document, and the display files have left the commune's website, so we could not read what it changes. Until it is approved the polygons above are the ones in force. If your night is a summer one and you want certainty, the Bauverwaltung Quarten, +41 81 720 33 33, has the plan.2

So the summer picture is precise rather than comfortable. On the strip and on the northern benches: no fire, no tent, no bivouac, and from May to September no walking off the path at all. At the water and on the north-east shore: nothing, from any level of the state. The margin between the two is 26 metres at the western lake and about 140 metres at the pitch we describe below, and on open water a pin placed at the lake's centre by construction tells you nothing about which side of that line your tent is on. That is why the map section matters more here than usual.4

Whose ground it is, and what the sign at the hut means

The lakes lie in what the commune's own inventory calls the Alpgebiet Chamm, and the Chamm alp is the property of the Ortsgemeinde Quarten, the public-law corporation of the old Quarten citizenry. Its alp reglement of 29 April 2024, in force since 1 July 2024, opens with the list of alps it owns, and "Bachlaui - Guflen - Chamm" is the first entry. The corporation describes it as its highest alp, a young-cattle alp carrying 45 head, and its reglement sets the season: stock up from 1 May at the earliest, everything down by 26 September. Between those dates you share the plateau with cattle and a tenant.7

Nothing the Ortsgemeinde publishes bans camping on its alps. Its alp reglement regulates tenancy, stocking and work days, its older use reglement the same, and its website says nothing on the subject. So the ground-level route is the ordinary one for Swiss alp land: ask the owner. Ortsgemeinde Quarten, Bodenstrasse 5, 8882 Unterterzen, +41 81 720 30 80, office hours weekday mornings and afternoons. Ask for the Chamm tenant's number while you are at it, because the person actually up there in August is the tenant, and a yes from the office that the Senn has not heard about is half a yes. No one we could find reports a standing arrangement, a fee or a designated corner here, so we are not going to describe one.7

Then the sign. The Murgseehütte, the Berggasthaus at the upper Murgsee 2.3 kilometres west, publishes on its website a notice headed "Wildcampen verboten".

"Gemäss Beschluss der Gemeinde Murg ist das Campieren im gesamten Murgtal verboten. Dies schliesst die Region um die Murgseehütte mit ein."murgsee.ch, read 10 September 2026: by decision of the Gemeinde Murg, camping is prohibited in the entire Murgtal, including the area around the Murgseehütte.

Read the register, because it decides what this is. There is no political commune of Murg; Murg is a village of Quarten. The "Gemeinde Murg" is the Ortsgemeinde Murg, the sister corporation to Quarten's, which owns the Murgsee alp at 2'000 metres jointly with the Ortsgemeinde Quarten and runs the hut through a company, Murgsee AG, care of the Ortsgemeinde Murg. Its decision is a landowner's house rule for its own ground, which is a perfectly good reason not to pitch a tent at the Murgseen. It is not a statute, it names no penalty, we found it published nowhere but on the hut's website, and it cannot reach ground the Ortsgemeinde Murg does not own. The Chamm alp is Quarten's. Whether the Chammseeli counts as "the entire Murgtal" is a question of property lines, not of the sign, and the property line is what we have just told you.78

What the sign does tell you is the mood of the valley: the people who own most of it and run its only beds do not want tents in it. That is not a norm and we do not grade on it, but you should know it before you ring Quarten, and you should expect the answer to be shaped by it.8

The pin is in the water, and where the ground actually is

Do not navigate to the published coordinates. Both gazetteer entries, LV95 2'732'787 / 1'210'415 for the eastern lake and 2'732'691 / 1'210'463 for the western one, sit on open water, 35 metres from the nearest shore on the eastern lake, because they are label anchors placed at the centre of the feature they name. Every legal statement above about "at the lakes" is a statement about the shore, and the shore here has sides that differ by twenty-six metres in the law that applies.1

The ground to use is the north-east side of the eastern lake. On a 25-metre terrain grid with the water masked out, the flattest cell within 150 metres of the pair is at 2'732'839 / 1'210'489, 2'159 metres, 2.2 degrees, 38 metres from the shore. Better, because the ordinance protects the shore zone of these lakes, is the ground a little further back: 2'732'822 / 1'210'559 or 2'732'864 / 1'210'514, 2'157 to 2'162 metres, under three degrees, 70 to 90 metres from the water and 30 to 40 metres off the marked path. All three cells are agricultural zone, 135 to 145 metres from the nearest nature reserve polygon, inside the wildlife rest zone and therefore closed in winter. Stay on that side.14

The ground not to use is the obvious one. The big flat bench 300 metres north of the lakes, at 2'135 metres and one to one and a half degrees, is the most inviting pitch on the plateau and it is the wet nature reserve: no tent, no fire, and between May and September no leaving the path. The south-west shore of the western lake is the N 61 strip. The corridor between the two lakes, which the first version of this article pointed to, turns out to be a neck about ten metres wide with the connecting channel running through it, less than a hundred metres from that strip; it was never a pitch and we no longer suggest it.34

Would anyone sleep here if the law let them? Yes, and people have. The lakes are three to five hundred metres above the local tree line, fed from the south and south-east and draining out of the western lake northwards towards the Murgtal, the marked path passes 114 metres north-north-east, and the whole plateau is the sort of place you cross on the Maschgenkamm to Murgsee traverse and want to stay. A photographer's account from August 2017 describes arriving at the two lakes, finding a spot for the tent immediately and being rained on; a GPS track from August 2024 shows an eleven-hour stationary gap on the plateau a kilometre to the north-east. Both fall outside the winter window, and nobody on record has camped here inside it. One detail hangs over the 2017 account: three years later a commenter asked the photographer whether he had had trouble camping in the wildlife rest zone, adding that he himself would not officially be allowed to, and that question never got an answer.10

Access. From the Flumserberg the classic line is the Maschgenkamm lift, then Zigerfurgglen, Sächserseeli, Hoch Camatsch and Erdisgulmen along the high path to the Chammseeli and down to the Murgseen, about six hours end to end; from the Murgseehütte the lakes are 2.3 kilometres east and 350 metres up. Water is not a problem in summer. Wind is: the plateau is open on every side.9

  • The Murgseehütte, 2.3 kilometres west at about 1'800 metres, a Berggasthaus rather than an SAC hut, 34 dormitory places under duvets, hut sleeping bag compulsory, no dogs, half board from around CHF 55 to 60 at early-booking rates. Hut phone in season +41 81 511 03 63, reservation through its website. It is what the destination itself pairs with these lakes.89
  • On the Flumserberg side, the Berghotel Seebenalp and the beds around Tannenboden, several hours away over the Maschgenkamm.
  • The north-east side of the eastern lake, in summer, with the Ortsgemeinde Quarten's yes. Outside 15 December to the end of the ski season, off the reserve polygons, on the owner's alp with the owner asked. That is the legal route this article found, and it is narrower than it looks on the map.47
  • Campsites are down on the Walensee. There is none in the Murgtal and none on the Flumserberg plateau.
  • Not anywhere on the plateau between 15 December and the end of the ski season, and not on the nature reserve strip or the northern benches in any season.

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which here means the north-east side in summer with the owner's consent. It is not legal text, it is decency and common sense, and on an alp with cattle, a tenant, a wolf pack in the next valley and a wet reserve a stone's throw away it matters more than usual.

  • No fire. An open fire has no place in the mountains. A gas stove is enough.
  • Pitch late, strike early. Set up towards evening, gone again early. A bivouac is one night, not a base camp.
  • Leave no rubbish. Everything you carry up you carry down, organic scraps and toilet paper included.
  • At least 50 metres from any water for the big business, so you do not foul what people and livestock drink.
  • Stay small and quiet. A small group, no speaker, no drone, dogs on the lead, and the alp staff's word goes.

Disclaimer

This article reflects my research and assessment to the best of my knowledge, as of September 2026. It is based on the publicly accessible and official sources linked below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement of the current legal situation.

The central points here are time-sensitive. The end of the wildlife rest zone's closed period is tied to the ski season rather than to a date, the nature reserve part of Quarten's protection ordinance was held back from approval in 2021, and an amendment enacted by the Gemeinderat on 5 February 2026 awaits cantonal approval as of 10 September 2026; when it is approved, the reserve polygons and the wording that applies to them may change. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself, check the fire warning, and follow instructions on site. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned camp. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and any consequences themselves. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made on the basis of this text, and call on no one to break applicable law.

Frequently asked questions

Can you wild camp at the Chammseeli above the Murgseen?
It depends on the date and on the metre. From 15 December to the end of the ski season the lakes are inside a wildlife rest zone that nobody may enter, under art. 18 para. 1 of the Quarten protection ordinance, with a fine of up to CHF 20'000 under the cantonal hunting act and CHF 100 on the spot in light cases. Outside that window no norm prohibits a single night at the water or on the north-east shore, but a communal nature reserve strip on the south-west shore of the western lake and the wet benches north of the lakes ban fires, tents and bivouacs year-round under the 1997 ordinance. The ground belongs to the Ortsgemeinde Quarten, which you should ask.
When does the winter closure at the Chammseeli end?
With the ski season, which the ordinance does not date. The closure runs from 15 December to the end of the ski season, and the only ski season above the valley is the Flumserberg's. In 2026 the lifts closed on Easter Monday, 6 April, after 134 days. Treat early to mid April as the end, and ask the commune of Quarten if your night is anywhere close to it.
Does the camping ban at the Murgseehütte apply to the Chammseeli?
Not as a matter of law. The hut's notice reports a decision of the Ortsgemeinde Murg, the corporation that co-owns the Murgsee alp and runs the hut. A landowner's decision binds on the landowner's ground. The Chamm alp, where the Chammseeli lies, belongs to the Ortsgemeinde Quarten, so the Murg decision has no property basis there, it names no penalty and we found it published nowhere but on the hut's website. It does tell you that the valley's owners do not want tents, which is worth knowing before you ask Quarten.
What is the fine for entering the Murgtal wildlife rest zone in winter?
CHF 100 on the spot in light cases, up to CHF 20'000 otherwise. The ceiling is art. 65 para. 1 lit. a of the St. Gallen hunting act, for anyone who intentionally or negligently disregards a prohibition in force in a wildlife rest zone. The fixed penalty is no. 22.1 of the annex to the cantonal criminal procedure ordinance, and art. 10 lit. b of that ordinance lets state organs, including the cantonal game wardens, issue it directly.
Why is the map pin for the Chammseeli in the water?
Because it is a gazetteer label anchor placed at the centre of the lake. Both official entries sit on open water, the eastern one 35 metres from shore. The usable ground is the north-east side of the eastern lake, flattest at about 2'732'839 / 1'210'489, 38 metres from the water, better 70 to 90 metres back at 2'732'822 / 1'210'559, and in every case 135 metres or more from the nearest nature reserve polygon. The tempting flat bench 300 metres north is the wet reserve, and the south-west shore of the western lake is the reserve strip N 61.
Leon Helg

Leon Helg

Swiss filmmaker and software developer. Spends his free time in the Swiss Alps and maps his favourite spots for Hikebeast. Posts as @leon.helg on Instagram and TikTok.

Swiss Guide Wildcamping Checker Color Grading

Sources

  1. Official federal geodata and the national gazetteer, queried 30 July and 10 September 2026. Two entries, LV95 2'732'787 / 1'210'415 (2'154.9 m) and 2'732'691 / 1'210'463 (2'154.4 m), 107 m apart centre to centre, both on open water; the eastern pin lies 35 m from the nearest shore. Commune Quarten SG; the boundary to Glarus Süd runs 314 m south-east of the eastern pin (bearing 156). Protected-area queries at both pins with an invalid-layer control returning HTTP 400 and a positive control on a known reserve: wildlife rest zone "Murgtal (Nr. 15.0)", canton SG, status "rechtsverbindlich", regime R10 "Zutrittsverbot", period "15.12. bis Ende Skisaison", basis "Schutzverordnung", decision year 2021; BLN object 1602 Murgtal-Mürtschen; forest reserve Murgtal. UNESCO World Heritage Tektonikarena Sardona. No hit on the federal game reserves, mire, floodplain, amphibian, Ramsar, Emerald or military layers. The zone's main ring covers 25.95 km2 and its nearest edge lies 314 m from the eastern pin, coincident with the cantonal border. Terrain from the federal elevation model on a 25 m grid with the water masked by the OpenStreetMap outline, which draws the pair as one 15'482 m2 polygon narrowing to a channel about a metre wide at 2'732'733 / 1'210'442: flattest cells within 150 m at 2'732'839 / 1'210'489 (2'159 m, 2.2 degrees, 38 m from shore), 2'732'822 / 1'210'559 (2'157 m, 2.8 to 3.6 degrees depending on the grid, 72 to 89 m from shore, 34 m from the path) and 2'732'864 / 1'210'514 (2'161.6 m, 2.8 degrees, 73 m from shore); the bench 300 m north at 2'135 to 2'138 m and 1.0 to 1.6 degrees. Stream network: inflows from the south and south-east into the eastern lake, outflow leaving the western lake northwards. Landmarks: Chamm 0.61 km north-east, Murgseehütte 2.26 km west-north-west at about 1'800 m, Maschgenkamm 7.0 km north-east. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
  2. Politische Gemeinde Quarten, Schutzverordnung Teil Landschafts- und Naturschutz, adopted 17 May 2018 with a correction round of 21 February 2019, approved by the Amt für Raumentwicklung und Geoinformation on 1 March 2021 (file 19-7958). Art. 18 para. 1 in the approved wording quoted above, the last sentence added as condition 1 lit. b of the approval. Art. 5 para. 1 bans in nature reserves "die Nutzung zu Erholungs- und Freizeitzwecken wie Lager, Zelten, Campieren usw. und das Anfachen von Feuer, ausser an den bezeichneten Stellen" and leaving marked paths; art. 9: "Die im Schutzplan bezeichneten Naturobjekte sind in ihrer Substanz und Erscheinungsform zu erhalten. Massnahmen jeglicher Art, die die Objekte gefährden, sind untersagt. Bei Amphibienstandorten, Tümpeln und Weihern sind Flora und Fauna wie auch die entsprechenden Uferbereiche geschützt", with annex 1 listing the lake pair as Naturobjekt NO19 "Hinter-Chamm", "Kleinsee bestehend aus zwei Teilobjekten", at 732690 / 210466, parcel 56, local significance, and five Alptümpel NO20 to NO24 around it; art. 4 para. 2 bans in the immediate surroundings of protected objects all measures and activities that impair them; art. 11 (geotopes) and art. 16 (core habitats) contain no camping clause; art. 24 refers sanctions to the federal nature protection act and the cantonal planning act; art. 25 para. 2 lists art. 7 and 8 of the 1997 ordinance as repealed. The approval decision, however, approves the ordinance only for the landscape and habitat categories listed in its consideration 7 (geotopes, landscape and cultural-landscape areas, waters, buffer and core habitats, dry-stone walls, natural objects, single trees, wildlife rest zones), holds back the nature reserves in the narrow sense, the hedges and the buffer zones for reworking (consideration 8, order no. 2), and rules that for them the ordinance of 7 July 1997 remains in force (order no. 3). Amendment: cantonal gazette publication no. 00.246.247 of 19 February 2026, "Der Gemeinderat Quarten hat am 5. Februar 2026 ... erlassen: Änderung der Schutzverordnung; Teil Landschafts- und Naturschutz", laid out 19 February to 20 March 2026, status "Frist abgelaufen"; no approval published and no 2026 document in the cadastre as of 10 September 2026. Documents: ordinance text oereblex.sg.ch, attachment 17832; approval attachment 16289; amendment notice publikationen.sg.ch. ↩
  3. Gemeinde Quarten, Schutzverordnung, adopted by the Gemeinderat on 24 February 1994, public display 16 March to 14 April 1994, approved by the Baudepartement on 7 July 1997, with supplements approved on 19 November 1998, 20 January 2003 and 25 March 2003. Published on the cadastre as a 39-page scan filed under the commune's cultural-heritage objects (official number 2021-4131), read by OCR. Art. 7 para. 2 prohibits in nature reserves, among other things, "das Anfachen von Feuer, Lagern, Zelten, Campieren sowie das Überlassen von Standplätzen dafür" and "das Betreten des Naturschutzgebietes während der Vegetationsperiode vom 1. April bis 31. Oktober und über 1000 m.ü.M. vom 1. Mai bis 30. September ausserhalb markierter Wege"; art. 8 extends the tent and camping ban to the buffer zones; art. 22: "Verstösse gegen die Bestimmungen dieser Verordnung werden mit Haft oder Busse bestraft." The annex, Verzeichnis der Naturschutzgebiete, lists object N 61 "Chammseeli: Schmales Band einer Verlandungszone am SW-Ufer des westlichen Seeteils" and objects N 57 to N 60 on the Chamm alp as fen complexes "mitten im Alpgebiet Chamm". The 1997 approval letter is attachment 8734. oereblex.sg.ch, attachment 17830. ↩
  4. Cadastre of public-law restrictions on landownership, canton St. Gallen, extract for parcel 56 Quarten (EGRID CH330777887781, 21.10 km2), fetched 10 September 2026 with geometry, 343 surface objects audited point-in-polygon. At both lake pins: "Hinweis Gewässer" in the zoning layer, "Geotopschutzgebiet GeoS", "Wildruhezone mit Vorschriften im Winter WiW" and "Lebensraum Kerngebiet LR K" under the protection ordinance, all in force with legal basis 2021-4130, plus the forest reserve Murgtal and transitional water space. At the east-shore pitch: "BauG Landwirtschaftszone" and the same three protection categories. No nature reserve at the pins or at the pitch. Nature reserve polygons "Naturschutzgebiet feucht A (unbeweidet) NFA", each citing only the 1997 approval (1997-4130) as legal basis: 922 m2 at centroid 2'732'669 / 1'210'419, 26 m from the western pin and 71 m from the eastern; 5'795 m2 at 2'732'679 / 1'210'746 and 6'420 m2 at 2'732'907 / 1'210'707 on the benches north and north-east, 245 to 305 m from the pins; 4'099 m2 at 2'732'414 / 1'210'445 to the west, 204 m from the western pin. Distance from the north-east pitch cells to the nearest reserve polygon 135 to 145 m. The zoning plan mirrors the reserves as "Grünzone Naturschutz". oereb.geo.sg.ch. ↩
  5. Jagdgesetz des Kantons St. Gallen vom 17. November 1994 (sGS 853.1, version of 1 April 2024), art. 39 para. 1 lit. d: "allgemein verbindliche Schutzmassnahmen, insbesondere Wildruhezonen. Die politische Gemeinde kann Wildruhezonen festlegen"; art. 65 para. 1 lit. a: "Mit Busse bis zu Fr. 20 000.- wird bestraft, wer vorsätzlich oder fahrlässig ... ein in einer Wildruhezone geltendes Verbot oder Gebot missachtet". Strafprozessverordnung vom 23. November 2010 (sGS 962.11, version of 1 May 2026), annex no. 22.1: "Missachtung geltendes Verbot oder Gebot in einer Wildruhezone in leichten Fällen (Art. 39 Abs. 1 Bst. d und 65 Abs. 1 Bst. a)", CHF 100; art. 10 lit. b authorises the organs of the state to issue the fixed penalties of the annex. gesetzessammlung.sg.ch. ↩
  6. Canton St. Gallen has no camping or bivouac prohibition of general application, established by enumeration in July 2026: all 731 acts in the cantonal collection were fetched and searched, and the only cantonal act banning camping anywhere is the ordinance on the Klosterplatz in the city of St. Gallen. The cantonal fixed-penalty catalogue's camping line, no. 21.6 at CHF 80, sits under breaches of communal reglemente and requires both a communal rule and public ground, and Quarten has no such rule: it publishes 26 enactments on the cantonal platform, none of them a Polizeireglement or a camping rule, and its Baureglement, consolidated to 31 December 2022, contains no camping, tent or overnight provision, and its art. 10 assigns the "Grünzone GN" to nature reserves without adding a rule of conduct. Building reglement: oereblex.sg.ch, attachment 17750. ↩
  7. Ortsgemeinde Quarten, Alpreglement Quartner Alpen, adopted by the Ortsverwaltungsrat on 29 April 2024, referendum period 20 May to 30 June 2024, in force since 1 July 2024. Art. 1: "Die Ortsgemeinde Quarten ist Eigentümerin folgender Alpen: a) Bachlaui - Guflen - Chamm ... d) Nüchen - Murgsee (Murgsee zusammen mit der Ortsgemeinde Murg)"; art. 7: the Ortsgemeinden Quarten and Murg each own half of the Murgsee alp; art. 8: "Die Alpen dürfen frühestens am 1. Mai bestossen werden. Bis spätestens 26. September muss alles Vieh wieder abgetrieben sein." The corporation's website describes its territory as running over the Murgsee and the Rottor "zur höchstgelegenen Alp Chamm" and the Galtviehalp Bachlaui, Guflen, Chamm as carrying 45 head; neither reglement nor website contains a camping rule. Contact: Ortsgemeinde Quarten, Bodenstrasse 5, 8882 Unterterzen, +41 81 720 30 80. og-quarten.ch. ↩
  8. Murgseehütte, Berggasthaus at the upper Murgsee, about 1'800 m: notice headed "Wildcampen verboten", "Gemäss Beschluss der Gemeinde Murg ist das Campieren im gesamten Murgtal verboten. Dies schliesst die Region um die Murgseehütte mit ein.", read 10 September 2026; 34 dormitory places, hut sleeping bag compulsory, no dogs, hut phone in season +41 81 511 03 63. The Ortsgemeinde Murg, one of five Ortsgemeinden within the political commune of Quarten, lists the Murgsee alp at 2'000 m among its alps, run with the Ortsgemeinde Quarten, and its tenant-search notice of 2026 for the Berggasthaus is signed "Murgsee AG c/o Ortsgemeinde Murg". No decree, penalty or publication of the camping decision could be found on the Ortsgemeinde's website or in the cantonal gazette. murgsee.ch. ↩
  9. Destination and season sources. Heidiland Tourism's page for the Chammseeli, read 10 September 2026: "The Chammseeli are remote mountain lakes on a high plateau, accessible from the Flumserberg ... ideal for hikes, which are often combined with an overnight stay in the Murgseehütte", naming the Maschgenkamm, Hoch Camatsch and Erdisgulmen route; the page contains no camping, bivouac, fire or rest-zone statement. Bergbahnen Flumserberg AG, press release of 6 April 2026: "Nach 134 Tagen Wintersportbetrieb endet am Flumserberg am Ostermontag, 06.04.2026 die Wintersaison 2025/26." heidiland.com. ↩
  10. Ground truth and the two other lakes. A photographer's blog entry of 19 August 2017 (0816fotograf.com) describes walking in from the Murgsee car park via Alp Erdis, pitching a tent in a hurry on arrival at the two Quarten lakes and being rained on; a reader's comment of 3 September 2020 asking whether there had been trouble because of the wildlife rest zone, "dürfte ich offiziell nicht", went unanswered. A GPS track of August 2024, read in July 2026, shows an eleven-hour stationary gap on the plateau 934 m north-north-east. Tree line 270 to 550 m below the lakes; marked path 114 m north-north-east of the eastern pin. Forest reserve Murgtal: contract between the canton and the forest owner for parcels 56 and 63, term 2006 to 2072, servitude in the land register, clause 8 asking owners to make visitors aware of the consideration due to sensitive species. Chammseeli Glarus Süd: inside the integral part of federal game reserve no. 12 Kärpf, art. 5 para. 1 lit. e VEJ (SR 922.31), fixed penalty CHF 150 under annex 2 no. 12005 OBV, nearest boundary 1'746 m away at 1'313 m. Chammseeli Mels, also Siezseeli: no hit on any federal layer, no cantonal ban, Mels' protection ordinance ban tied to named objects the nearest of which is about 3 km away; verified July 2026. hikr.org. ↩