TOP SECRET thread on stealth camping....SSShhhhh!

[Lorax]

Remember.....you saw nothing and you were never here.

I've been talking to a few friends of mine on the subject and have seen a few threads on various forums about it. Most have done it.

From time to time, I have camped in secrecy among the state forests due to a few factors. Either time constraints, small campground closures or seasons where the smaller campgrounds are closed up.
I have come across well established stealth campsites that have been used for years judging by the tent pad and fire ring. I have also walked up on a few.

I'll do it on a rare occasion, usually solo and practice LNT by not moving, cutting anything or having a fire. Sometimes there is just no other option for me, especially if I have one night free and can't see driving hours just to turn around and drive back the next day.

Anyone have experiences?

 

[ppine]

I have lots of experiences, but they are too secret to divulge.

I must recount the story of the Maryland Hillbillies again because it still makes me laugh. Four college kids in a Camaro drove to Miami from U of Md for spring break. We drove 22 hours and got really tired ending up in Key Biscayne. We found a nice park at night, set up the umbrella tent circa 1969, cooked chicken on the hibatchi and went to sleep. When we we woke up we were on the grounds of a large estate with a front gate. We left in a hurry at first light.

 

[Judy Ann]

I would be to scared of being discovered in the middle of the night, but I woke up one morning in a state park near Linville Gorge, NC with two separate groups stealth camping 50 yards from me right by the firewood pile. They were very quiet!!!

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

Can't really say that I've done stealth camping, although we did set up camp one nght on the Cranberry river about 10:30 in the evening (we left for camp after work) and woke to find the tent right under a big yellow and black "Campsite Closed" sign.

We vacated the area and found another site. I wish now that I'd taken a pic.

 

[oldsarge]

More often than not! Remember, if accused...admit nothing, deny everything, make counter accusations.

 

[Lorax]

There's a few lakes here with well established sites that have even been used by scout groups. nothing on the maps but they have been used for decades. I can think of quite a few of them. The state doesn't maintain them but they know they are there. It has just become its own little campground over the years.

Here's one example:
In WI, we have the Ice Age Trail that is 1100 miles long and camping is allowed dispersed in National Forests and in very few places (shelters with parking close by) in the State Forest.
If you're out for a ramble in any area other than those, or the shelters are booked (as they usually are by car campers through Reserve America), what is a backpacker supposed to do?
I asked this of the Mobile Skills Trail Crew when helping them build trail. "What good is an 1100 mile "backpacking trail' if you can't backpack on it?" Off the record they said it was standard practice to LNT stealth camp or they wouldn't have wasted the time building it.

 

[Grandpa]

Okay, that is just like any of the western wilderness' with no designated camp sites. Just hike until you find a nice place for the night. That is the norm around here. Only the National parks have dedicated sites and even some of those just have designated areas for or for not camping. Yep, this is my preferred way of traveling.

 

[DuctTape]

It is not illegal, as "stealth" implies however it doesn't mean camp anywhere. The LNT practice is to camp 150' or more away from trails or water when not in a designated camping area and when in an area which allows primitive camping. In fact, this (or a form of it) is the regulation in many management areas for primitive camping. Some management areas DO allow primitive camping along trails or within the 150' "rule". Some prohibit any form of camping except in designated areas. This even occurs in very wild remote places. One should know the regulations of any area before going there.

 

[Sagebrusher]

It is not illegal, as "stealth" implies however it doesn't mean camp anywhere. The LNT practice is to camp 150' or more away from trails or water when not in a designated camping area and when in an area which allows primitive camping. In fact, this (or a form of it) is the regulation in many management areas for primitive camping. Some management areas DO allow primitive camping along trails or within the 150' "rule". Some prohibit any form of camping except in designated areas. This even occurs in very wild remote places. One should know the regulations of any area before going there.

Yep, it all depends on where you are. I would not, for example, recommend camping out of your permitted zone/site and especially without a permit in Grand Canyon NP...they take such things pretty seriously, for good reason.

 

[ibgary]

I've done it a fair amount. Road tripping on the bike I usually just look for a secluded spot a little before sunset.
As a climber I'd just leave the parking lot and sleep somewhere out of sight.
With a hammock its pretty easy.

 

[ChadTower]

Heh, when travelling, I have spent too many nights sleeping in the driver's seat of my truck. Often just me in my pickup sitting in a line of big rigs waiting for a terminal ferry to open up. There's nothing quite like sleeping in a New Brunswick spring overnight fog when it comes to isolation. You can have people 15' from the truck and never know it.

 

[ppine]

I used to stealth camp all the time when I lived in the East. We would be traveling and need a place to sleep and it would be dark. We pulled over in lots of marginal places and went to sleep. Lots of flashlights in the eyes. It was the time of Easy Rider and a lot of tension in America. I thought hard about it, and decided to move to the West in 1972. Stealth camping here is much safer and less risky because of the all the public land.

 

[Cappy]

For me stealth was always solo. Load my canoe, or load my 4x4 pick up or strap on a pack and drop off the grid. No schedule no itenery no one knew where or what and just disapear for 2 weeks to a month. That was the way i rolled for years. When Peg came into my life things changed though getting older with more responcibility i started telling neighbors and bringing my cell phone. ThATS THE ONLY WAY IT CHANGED. sO i GUESS WE STILL PRETTY STEALTHY. The stories and adventure tales are almost countless. 45 years of adventures will take a while to tell. not only that but then they wouldnt be stealthy any more.:tinysmile_tongue_t:

 

[ghostdog]

"I'm not presently disposed to discuss those operations…I am unaware of any such activity or operation - nor would I be disposed to discuss such an operation if it did in fact exist…"

I don’t cross a closed or forbidden boundary lines such as in a National Park where camping is not permitted. I get a permit but in most cases of legal camping...Let’s just say it will be an amazing feat if one does come across any of my camps. Sure it is possible but has not happened yet…

And like ppine says, there is a lot of space to do it out here. When I walk off from my camp and leave several thousand dollars worth of equipment as we explore for the day, I like to see it all there when I get back in after dark.

 

[Bojib]

I used to stealth camp quite a bit. Around the lake nearby to were I grew up camping was allowed in "designated campgrounds only". Dad would take me out on the boat, and we'd find a nice spot beside the lake and set up our camp. I always thought that was a lot more fun than camping at the camp grounds.

I continued as I got older, much like Cappy talked about above. I never stayed out months at a time, but sometimes a week or two. I'd load up a 4x4 or ATV and just go out and have a fun time. There are even a couple of hiking trails that are good to stealth camp on.

I didn't know what LNT was at the time, but I was raised to always leave a camp spot as good or better than I found it, and it's something I've always done.

I haven't done so in a while, but if the chance come up I wouldn't care a bit to do a little stealth camping.

 

[ChadTower]

And like ppine says, there is a lot of space to do it out here. When I walk off from my camp and leave several thousand dollars worth of equipment as we explore for the day, I like to see it all there when I get back in after dark.

This is the main issue in southern New England. There is just not much public land that is not fully used park. Any large swaths of forest are private property with NO TRESPASSING signs clearly marked every 20 yards around the perimeter. Hundreds of miles of Atlantic coastline and very little of it is accessible to the public. Most of that privately owned coastline is used two weeks a year when the owners decide to open up the vacation house. It's all gated off half a mile from the ocean so that typical people can't even walk in the area.

 

[Lorax]

I don't think I'd ever do it on private land. I'm talking about the years we did it when my house backed up to 43000 acres of state gamelands that was used two weeks a year for deer hunting. We thought nothing about heading out for weekends of hiking on old logging paths barely visible back to wild stretches of trout streams away from any access.

The same goes for State Parks. We have one that 220,000 acres here and I really don't have a problem using it like a National Forest and utilizing LNT techniques. I don't need a fire when the stars are out and leave every place with a glance to see if anyone would even notice I was there before I walk away.
With limited time, I can only get away for quick overnighters right now. If this is what I have to do to keep my sanity, it's better than dreaming about it.

 

[ghostdog]

This is the main issue in southern New England. There is just not much public land that is not fully used park. Any large swaths of forest are private property with NO TRESPASSING signs clearly marked every 20 yards around the perimeter. Hundreds of miles of Atlantic coastline and very little of it is accessible to the public. Most of that privately owned coastline is used two weeks a year when the owners decide to open up the vacation house. It's all gated off half a mile from the ocean so that typical people can't even walk in the area.

Check out this Night Sky Image

Click on North America and see how East is so much different than West. It illustrates your point. In places over there it looks like a contiguous city. Out West you see vast dark areas that is National Forest, BLM lands and National Park. Much of it offers legal dispersed camping. A tiny bit of the very high traffic areas have some restrictions but even the National Parks we frequent allow dispersed backcountry camping. You must hike in about a mile for that and can go much further if you want unless you want to stay in the designated campgrounds (which we don't find appealing with all the wild country just beyond).

 

[ChadTower]

Check out this Night Sky Image

That's a good piece of data showing why I need to move away from this part of the US. Just too damn many people. You can't rake your yard without a permit and a hearing.

 

[Grandpa]

That's a good piece of data showing why I need to move away from this part of the US. Just too damn many people. You can't rake your yard without a permit and a hearing.

Crowded here too. Used to be able to go out the backyard onto the forrest and ride a snowmobile 60 miles in a general (snakey) straight line without crossing a road. Now they have started plowing the snow off the one gravel road half way through.