Does anyone stealth camp?

[Maverick1]

Really nothing to do with homelessness. Plenty of public land around here that has no camping allowed on it...Campgrounds suck if you do not want to be surrounded by fellow 'campers'. Then there is travel and/or having to short stay in an expensive place..I would imagine the 'urban' stealthy camp is something of a challenge, the doggie certainly would need to be obedient to a T.

ymmv

I’d be less concerned about the doggie in an urban setting, most likely because I don’t have a pooch. One should be more concerned about the turtle rapidly coming out of its shell in the morning and having to make a mad dash while trying to mask oneself as the phantom duker. YMMV.

 

[Spoony]

The only reason I can think of that privilaged people stealth camp is money. Or clicks. I cant inagine people bragging that they slept in a median or round about.

The reason I do it is because I want to be close to the fishing or hunting and I do not want other people to find my honey hole or it is illegal to camp.

 

[*zap*]

If properly stealthed you would not need to mad dash...dogs tend to bark at noises in the night. At least my terrier does.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Your personal YouTube algorithm is showing.

 

[*zap*]

As long as camp is hidden its OK.

 

[FLATHEAD]

I've been watching Stealth Camping with Steve Wallis for quite a while.

 

[MattB]

How do you know that there aren't homeless stealth campers? Good luck proving that one! There could be 10 homeless stealth campers for every one you see!

We have found some, it is a thing.

 

[2muchhp]

I think the supertarp would rule out the homeless thing

 

[Traveler]

Since when did sleeping in a vehicle in an urban setting become camping?

If you are on the ground in an urban area, I just don’t get it.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

I do a little stealth camping around Portland

My tarp blends right in with the others, no one even notices me!

 

[Mikido]

I would like advice for sleeping in my car while driving cross country. Motel parking lots?

 

[darcytribe]

I would like advice for sleeping in my car while driving cross country. Motel parking lots?

I’ve done this. I ask the front desk for permission and they usually say yes.

 

[svivian]

I would like advice for sleeping in my car while driving cross country. Motel parking lots?

I usually stop in a church parking lot. Lots around and usually decent places

 

[Nickofthewoods]

If any stealth campers want a real challenge check out Kauai. Last year my wife and I arrived in the middle of the night and decided to sleep in our rental car for a few hours before my in-laws arrived and we could all make the drive across the island to our rental house. First we got woken up and kicked out of the Wal-Mart parking lot by Wal-Mart employees who then told us to go sleep in a park a few miles away. At the park we got woken up by the police who seemed flabbergasted that we didn't have any lodging for the night. After running our ID's they said we could stay but recommended that we turn around and back into the parking space in case we needed to leave in a hurry. Ok. Wait, What?! So I didn't get much sleep after that thinking we were going to get robbed. In summary, Kauai should only be attempted by experienced urban stealth campers.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

If any stealth campers want a real challenge check out Kauai. Last year my wife and I arrived in the middle of the night and decided to sleep in our rental car for a few hours before my in-laws arrived and we could all make the drive across the island to our rental house. First we got woken up and kicked out of the Wal-Mart parking lot by Wal-Mart employees who then told us to go sleep in a park a few miles away. At the park we got woken up by the police who seemed flabbergasted that we didn't have any lodging for the night. After running our ID's they said we could stay but recommended that we turn around and back into the parking space in case we needed to leave in a hurry. Ok. Wait, What?! So I didn't get much sleep after that thinking we were going to get robbed. In summary, Kauai should only be attempted by experienced urban stealth campers.

It almost seems like they need a law over there or similar to the Wyoming wilderness. You should probably be accompanied by a resident or hire a guide for stealth camping in Kauai

 

[Macintosh]

I heard or read somewhere that some guy had a book or magazine article or youtube channel or something about not just camping, but doing longish backpacking trips in highway medians, the rationale being that NOONE ever goes there. Apparently he found all sorts of wildlife becasue those little hidey holes got zero people traffic, even from homeless. Maybe it's this guy up there^^?? Sounded interesting, cool even, but did not make me want to plan a trip.

I dont think it's "stealth camping", but plenty of long climbing trips in my younger days where I had gas money, money for the trip, but only if I camped for free. It was always easy to find a place to camp if there was any blm or forest service land around, and many small to mid-size towns had free little campgrounds in town parks at the time (this would be late 80's/early 90's) where there was room for a tent or two, a fire ring and picnic table, and a sign that just said "camping allowed, 1 or 2-night stay maximum, clean up/littering law enforced" or something like that. They were always clean and well cared for and seemed like those towns appreciated having people come in and buy gas, maybe some groceries, etc on our way through. All up and down the east side of the sierras, around the intermountain west, I never got hassled by anyone, local or law enforcement, despite having longish hair, out of state plates, obviously "living" in my vehicle, etc. Travelled all over northern canada, alaska, australia away from the coast, and it was always very easy and "normal" to simply pull over and pitch a tent on a flat spot or pulloff. But man, some places it was like everyone wanted nothing more than to have visitors like me stay away. Tried to sleep in our truck in a parking lot in santa cruz one night and got hassled by police repeatedly. Broke down in Wall, south dakota one trip...managed to limp into town at midnight friday night of memorial day weekend in the midst of a torrential multi-day rain storm, pulled into a gas station and actually asked a cop--literally, "my car isnt running, everything is closed, is there a parking lot or something we can crash in even if its the police station parking lot until we can find a hotel room tomorrow?", and the asshole actually told us to go away, there was nowhere to go and we also couldnt sleep in our car. Found a dirt road outside of town (at greatly reduced speed) and crashed there anyway and had another cop roust us. So we went back to the gas station and sat in our car until it opened (cop#1: "you cant park here". Me: It's a highway gas station, the car is broken & limited to 4 mph, where would you like us to go?" Cop#1: " "), then proceeded to watch it rain from inside wall drug for the next 3 days (despite generous advertising they actually are quite stingy about giving free donuts to skiers and all the other groups they promise them to) until a mechanic opened who proceeded to financially rape us...unfortunately all the parks, etc were fully closed from the flooding so not many other options.

Guess with that sort of a welcoming committee I dont see the attrraction of trying to camp where I'm not welcome.

 

[Dos Perros]

Wait, sleeping in your car counts as stealth camping?

 

[EastHumboldt]

I used to do it when I was poor. Out of necessity. Now that I’m financially OK I don’t see any fun in it at all.

More memes please…

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I would like advice for sleeping in my car while driving cross country. Motel parking lots?

Walmart allows overnight parking/sleeping in most towns.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Wait, sleeping in your car counts as stealth camping?

If you camouflage out your vehicle and park in dense bushes. But knocking down the bushes for access could prove to be problematic.