Wild camping at the Wichlenmatt
The Wichlenmatt is the most level ground at the head of the Sernftal, and all of it lies inside the Wichlen military shooting range. The operator prohibits camping there and allows civilians on roads and paths only. Parts of it close entirely during live firing.
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.
The layer nobody queries, and why this basin reads open without it
Run the usual check on the Wichlenmatt and it comes back clean. No federal game reserve at the pin, no BLN landscape, no wildlife rest zone, no mire landscape, no fen or raised bog, no forest reserve. Canton Glarus has no camping provision at all, and its fixed-penalty list carries no camping offence. The commune prohibits camping place by place rather than by boundary, and the Wichlenmatt is not one of the places it names.16
All of that is true, and it is still true today. It is also not the answer, because the thing that governs this ground is not a conservation instrument. The federal spatial plan for weapons and shooting ranges returns one feature at this pin, and it is the installation perimeter of the Schiessplatz Wichlen.2
That perimeter is not a proposal. Its coordination level is Festsetzung, its status is in Kraft, and it has been since 19 August 1998, from sheet 08.23 of the 1998 federal plan. It covers 13.94 km² of the valley head, and an exact intersection puts 100 per cent of the 1.13 km² named Wichlenmatt inside it. The nearest edge from the middle of the basin is 902 metres away on bearing 57.2
And the ground belongs to the Confederation. The operator's own document says so, "Das Gelände des Schiessplatzes Wichlen ist Eigentum der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft", and the cadastre agrees: the pin sits on parcel 807 of the Elm land register.3
What the range actually forbids
The operator is armasuisse, and it publishes a use regulation for civilians. It is a single sheet, mostly a map, and two lines on it decide this article.3
"Gebiet darf auf eigene Verantwortung nur auf Strassen und Wegen begangen werden, situationsbedingte Signalisationen sind zu beachten."Benutzungsordnung für Zivilpersonen, Schiessplatz Wichlen, 9 October 2023, legend for the range boundary. In English: the area may be walked, at your own risk, only on roads and paths; situational signage is to be observed.
Start there, because it settles the case before the word camping appears. Pitching a tent means leaving the path. The permission granted to civilians inside this perimeter does not extend past the roads and paths, so there is no version of a bivouac here that stays inside what is allowed.3
The word does appear, though, and armasuisse states it without qualification: "Auf dem Schiessplatzareal darf nicht campiert werden." Camping on the range area is not allowed. The same source records that two judicial prohibitions were obtained, one covering only the access road and one covering both parcels of the range site, and the use regulation tells civilian users in plain terms that they have to observe it: "Zivile Benutzerinnen und Benutzer des Schiessplatzes haben das gerichtliche Verbot einzuhalten und die Signalisationen zu beachten."3
What that costs. A judicial prohibition is the instrument of article 258 of the civil procedure code, and the fine it carries is up to CHF 2'000. One honest limit, stated because the rest of this article is built on documents I read myself: I could not read this particular decree. The Glarus gazette's portal does not answer a search from outside its own interface, so the case number and the exact franc amount published with it are not reproduced here. What is reproduced is what the landowner and operator publishes about its own ground.4
There is also the reason a range exists. Parts of the perimeter are closed while the army is training, and during those periods entry to the danger area is prohibited outright rather than restricted to paths. The slope south of the basin is named on the operator's own map as the Zielhang, the impact slope. This is not a place where the legal question is the most interesting one.3
Two more prohibitions in the same valley head, and where to sleep
The Wichlenmatt used to be described here as a pocket of open ground between two prohibitions. The geography is right and the count was one short: there are three, and the basin is inside the third.56
North-west, 1'054 metres away, the federal game reserve Kärpf begins. It carries integral protection, and inside it free tenting and camping is prohibited by federal ordinance at a fixed penalty of CHF 150, with no exception for sleeping without a tent. The Richetlipass and the Leglerhütte are both inside it, so a route that continues that way is a route to walk through rather than to sleep on.5
South-east, 5.18 kilometres up the same valley, the Panixerpass is on the commune's judicial-prohibition list, with a fine of up to CHF 2'000. Glarus Süd prohibits camping by naming places, and that pass is one of the names.6
So where does the night actually happen. The Martinsmadhütte SAC, 2'003 m, is 8.2 km east and sits outside the range perimeter and outside the Kärpf reserve, both checked at the hut itself. Elm, at the road head 7 km north-east, is outside both as well and has the ordinary range of rooms and a campsite. The Leglerhütte, 3.1 km north, is a roof but not a pitch: it is inside the reserve.7
There is unprotected ground north-east of the basin, outside the range and outside the reserve, from about 950 metres on. This article does not name a pitch there, for the same reason it names none beyond any boundary: the terrain there was not scanned for this piece, and "outside the line" is not the same as "somewhere you can lie down". If you want the Wichlenmatt itself, walk it in daylight, stay on the path, and check the firing calendar before you go.7
General rules for wild camping
They apply everywhere, and on ground like this the first one is not really a rule of courtesy: a shooting range has closure periods, and the only reliable way to know one is to look it up before you leave.
- 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
Everything here is a journalistic assessment as of September 2026, from the sources linked below, and it is not legal advice.
This article was published as legal for a single night on 11 August 2026, on a check of the federal conservation inventories and the cantonal and communal statutes. That check was accurate and returns the same result today. It did not query the federal spatial plan for weapons and shooting ranges, which is the instrument that governs this basin, and the article was regraded to illegal on 10 September 2026 on that finding. If you read the earlier version and planned a night here, this is the correction.
The sanction figure is the ceiling of article 258 of the civil procedure code, the instrument the operator's use regulation makes binding on civilian users. I could not obtain the text of the specific decree, its case number or the franc amount published with it, because the cantonal gazette's portal does not answer a search from outside its own interface. The camping prohibition itself, the roads-and-paths restriction and the federal ownership are quoted from the operator's own published documents.
Closure periods change. Follow the signage and the published firing calendar 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
Is wild camping allowed at the Wichlenmatt?
Why did this article say it was legal before?
What would it cost?
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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.
Sources
- Official federal geodata and the national height model, queried 10 September 2026 at the Wichlenmatt, LV95 2'725'190 / 1'195'612, 2'047.5 m, commune Glarus Süd GL. The game-reserve, BLN, wildlife-rest-zone, mire-landscape, fen, raised-bog and forest-reserve layers all return an empty result set at the pin, with an invalid-layer control returning HTTP 400 rather than an empty list. Those empty answers are real and they are the reason a conventional check reads this basin as open. Terrain re-verified the same day on a 25 m grid within 300 m of the pin: 55 of 529 cells under 2 degrees, 161 under 5 degrees, flattest 0.2 degrees, the level ground all sitting between 2'043 and 2'046 m, median slope 8.9 degrees. It is the most level ground in the valley head, which is exactly why the correction below matters. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
- Sachplan Militär, installation perimeter "Schiessplatz Wichlen", federal layer ch.vbs.sachplan-infrastruktur-militaer_kraft, feature 08.203-32-M-2_p_cl1, queried at the pin on 10 September 2026: measure type Anlageperimeter, coordination level Festsetzung, status in Kraft, valid from 19 August 1998, described as "Objektblatt 08.23 des Sachplans Waffen- und Schiessplätze von 1998". The returned perimeter is a single ring of 101 vertices spanning LV95 2'722'604 to 2'728'823 east and 1'192'447 to 1'197'286 north, an area of 13.94 km2. Intersected against the swissNAMES3D area polygon "Wichlenmatt" (106 vertices, 1.13 km2): 1'812 of 1'812 cells on a 25 m grid fall inside, 100 per cent, and the pin itself tests inside. Nearest perimeter edge from the pin 902 m on bearing 57; exits on 24 bearings run from 950 m north-east to 3.4 km south-east. Objektblatt 08.23 (PDF), map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
- armasuisse Immobilien, Schiessplatz Wichlen. The operator's page states: "Auf dem Schiessplatzareal darf nicht campiert werden." It also records that after objections to the 2022 proposal the use regulation was revised with the commune of Glarus Süd for autumn 2023, and that two judicial prohibitions were filed, one covering "nur die Zubringerstrasse zum Schiessplatz" and one covering "die beiden Parzellen des Schiessplatzgeländes". The Benutzungsordnung für Zivilpersonen, Schiessplatz Wichlen, dated 9 October 2023: "Das Gelände des Schiessplatzes Wichlen ist Eigentum der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. Gewisse Gebiete im gefährdeten Raum werden zeitweise gesperrt und von der Armee zu Ausbildungszwecken verwendet. Während den Sperrzeiten ist der Zugang zu diesen Bereichen für zivile Benutzerinnen und Benutzer verboten... Zivile Benutzerinnen und Benutzer des Schiessplatzes haben das gerichtliche Verbot einzuhalten und die Signalisationen zu beachten." Its legend for the range boundary reads "Gebiet darf auf eigene Verantwortung nur auf Strassen und Wegen begangen werden", and the slope south of the basin is labelled Zielhang. Cadastre: the pin lies on parcel 807, Grundbuch Elm, EGRID CH456722786959. ar.admin.ch, Benutzungsordnung 2023 (PDF). ↩
- Schweizerische Zivilprozessordnung (ZPO), SR 272, art. 258 "Grundsatz", the instrument behind a gerichtliches Verbot: the holder of a property may ask the court to prohibit any interference and to threaten a fine of up to 2'000 francs for contravention. This is the ceiling of the instrument that the Benutzungsordnung makes binding on civilian users of the range. Stated limit: the decree published for this site was not read for this article. The Glarus cantonal gazette moved online in January 2021 and is authoritative from then, but its portal does not answer a keyword search from outside its own interface, so neither the case number nor the amount published with the decree is reproduced here. fedlex.admin.ch, amtsblatt.gl.ch. ↩
- Federal game reserve Kärpf, whose boundary lies 1'054 m north-west of the Wichlenmatt pin, bisected on the federal inventory layer. It carries integral protection, so VEJ SR 922.31 art. 5 para. 1 lit. e applies without a zone qualifier, "Das freie Zelten und Campieren ist verboten", and OBV SR 314.11 Anhang 2 Ziff. 12005 tariffs it at CHF 150. There is no exception for sleeping out without a tent. The Richetlipass, 1.11 km, and the Leglerhütte SAC, 3.07 km north, both test inside the reserve. map.geo.admin.ch, fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
- Cantonal and communal level, both re-verified on 10 September 2026 and both unchanged from the first version of this article. Canton Glarus has no camping provision in its statute collection and no camping entry in its fixed-penalty list. Glarus Süd prohibits camping place by place, by judicial prohibition on communal land rather than by drawing a boundary, and the named places are Muttenchopf and Muttsee-Limmern, the Oberblegisee, the Panixerpass, Tierfed and the Klöntal. The Wichlenmatt is not among them, which is what the earlier version of this article relied on. The Panixerpass is 5.18 km south-east of the Wichlenmatt, up the same valley, and carries a fine of up to CHF 2'000. A commune-wide Campierreglement was in drafting for 2026 and has not landed. gesetze.gl.ch. ↩
- Where to sleep instead, each checked against both perimeters on 10 September 2026. Martinsmadhütte SAC, 2'003 m, LV95 2'733'328 / 1'194'980, 8.16 km east: outside the shooting-range perimeter and outside the Kärpf reserve. Elm, LV95 2'731'854 / 1'197'705, 6.98 km north-east at the road head: outside both, with the ordinary range of rooms and a campsite. Leglerhütte SAC, 3.07 km north: outside the range but inside Kärpf, so it serves as a roof and not as a place to pitch. Wichlenalp, 0.97 km south, tests inside the range. Ground outside both perimeters begins about 950 m north-east of the basin at around 2'260 m; no pitch is published there because that terrain was not scanned for this article. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩