Stealth Camping
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You are currently reading a thread in /trv/ - Travel
You are currently reading a thread in /trv/ - Travel
Does anyone here have experience with stealth camping?
Planning a motorcycle trip and motels would blow my budget. I'll probably stay at campgrounds if possible but I'd rather just find a wooded area to set a tent up for just a quick rest.
pic not me but related
>>1107908
bump
interested in this
pic semi related but mine
>>1107954
For some reason a rice rocket takes the majestic and adventurous feeling out of a stealth camping picture.
what kind of bike is that?
>>1107908
I've done it on a cross country motorcycle trip. What would you like to know?
>>1107908
I did with bycicle
Pic is mine.
>>1107908
If you drive a km away from any major road you'll easily find a place to stealth camp. Set up your tent at sunset, wake up at sunrise and no one will ever find you.
Of course this depends where you live, some places are much more difficult than others. In the western US you can find places super easily.
>>1108077
Not op but looking into this as well. I'm travelling around the gulf of mexico and western florida.
OP, just basically go where it's dead. Sometimes you can be just off a highway in between a bunch of trees/bushes. If anyone catches you, just tell them about your trip and then most times they'll be cool with letting you stay the night. It's weird to me that people look for campgrounds when you can literally camp anywhere in most places
>>1108115
Exactly. The only thing you have to watch out for is signs that say no camping or areas which close for the night.
I would still suggest heading off a little bit further away from a main road, even if there are good spots not far from a highway. This just gives you more privacy and less of a chance that someone will find you in the middle of the night. If you're in a wooded area with logging roads, those are often good places to turn into for the night. It's likely that no one will use logging roads after it turns dark.
Question for solo traveller:
How do you manage your security when do you sleep in a tent alone in the middle of a countryside?
Dogs, drunks, gypsies...
>>1107975
I'm this person, here are my tips from my 14 day trip on my motorbike across the U.S.
>Pack light, you can buy anything you feel like you need, but I brought too much and ended up shipping a lot home at a post office on day 3
>Padded shorts, have a some nice ones
>don't wear anything on your back like a backpack, etc.
>have easily accessible water, maps, music, money, ID.
>Plan ahead for places that you could stop. You can legally camp on a ton of land in the western U.S. with no issues. National Forests, BLM, National Grasslands, National Monuments, and so many other public lands allow free camping. When you're in a legal area it's so much easier to sleep well.
>If going stealth, pick your spot in the daylight, then go cook and hangout somewhere else. After dark, roll in, set up, and leave before dawn.
>In a pinch, approach friendly looking folks and ask for tips. If you get a bad vibe, move along, but I had multiple people tell me about legal legit camping that I wouldn't have known about otherwise
>check out couch surfing sites for backyard camping, it exists
>use facebook/social media to connect with friends of friends and distant family, I stayed in beds a few nights because college friends knew folks in towns I was near
>If called out camping somewhere be cordial and most people/police/vagrants won't hassle you too much. Be upfront about needing a place to crash for the night and planning on cleaning up after yourself and move along and they will usually at worst tell you to leave
>don't do anything illegal, if you plan on carrying (I didn't) have a permit where required and follow the laws in places you go. If you don't know the law, stop and call the sheriff for guidance
That's about all I can think of. I carried a knife and had it tucked away accessible at all times, but never needed it other than general knife duties. I kept my money and ID accessible but had an emergency stash separate in case I was robbed or something.
>>1108151
There are fewer of these than most people imagine. I got spooked a few times by wild animals, but only because when everything is dead silent a raccoon can make a lot of noise.
Keep yourself either obvious in legal areas or completely out of sight in less than legal areas and avoid the trouble the best you can.
One more tip I forgot, whenever I would stay somewhere I felt any hesitation about I would send a friend GPS coordinates and tell them to call the police if they didn't hear from me the next morning. Gave me and my family a little bit of peace knowing I wasn't going to drop off the face of the earth.
>>1107964
What are you on about?
>>1107998
Nice tents.
>>1108176
Why no backpack? I use pic related a lot for bike trips, far prefer it for weight control & aerodynamics than my topbox or panniers. I know YMMV, just curious why you counsel against backpacks.
>>1108180
GPS co-ordinates safety measure is a solid idea for really sketchy places.
>>1108413
I recommend against backpacks because after 8-10 hours on a bike it really starts to compress your back. I started out wearing just a camel back with 2L of water and some snacks, but the weight gave me some pretty good pain after a day or two.
I strapped my camel back down behind me on my seat and used it as a back rest starting day 3.
>>1108483
Yeah my backpack is quite well designed with support straps, especially the hip & chest straps take a lot off your back & shoulders. I know a simple shoulder-strapped backpack is really gonna fatigue your back after a few hours, but I've found my back is straighter & holds better posture with this particular backpack vs without. Gotta admit the fluoro yellow isn't quite in keeping with OP's stealthy intentions though...
The camelback is a really good idea. Do you keep the straw inside your helmet? Or just poke it through your open visor to sip?
>>1108861
It was connected to the shoulder strap and hung in front of my chest when I wore the backpack. I could grab it and put it up through the bottom of my helmet while I was riding pretty easily.
Once I took the backpack off, I just used it during stops, which would end up being once every 120 miles or so because of the range on the bike I rode.
Not OP but slightly related.
Which countries have the law saying you can basically access all private lands
>>1108940
>access all private lands
None. You're thinking of the 'Everyman's Right' in Scandinavia, but it's still forbidden to stay on private property.
>>1108944
People's yards are off limits, otherwise you can camp for a night everywhere.
capitol reef national park
