One camping option that many new bicycle touring cyclists hear about is Stealth Camping. This type of camping involves setting up camp in the dark without lights, keeping your camp hidden and getting up as the rising sun appears so that you can leave camp prior to people generally being around to see you.
This type of camping requires quiet, no lights or campfires, generally you don't cook at the camp and camoflage gear is usually quite helpful. So why do it?
Stealth camping practictioners like to mention a number of reasons for Stealth Camping as follows:
After stealth camping you will likely find State/Provincial parks to be completely lifeless and less interesting compared to before your experience. My first time stealth camping led to me experiencing the sudden erupting noise of the woods as the sun set followed by absolute silence as darkness replaced it.
I saw a red fox wander down the center of my camp and I experienced the eery sense of being under careful observation. What sounded like claws being scraped along tree bark worked very well to making me a bit more tense and nervous.
I also developed a greater appreciation for the woods I was travelling through. Much more careful attention was paid to food storage and when I left in the morning my campsite was only visible to a trained tracker.
For me, it's true that Stealth Camping left me in greater touch with the woods around me.
This camping technique involves selecting a place off the trail where you carefully and very stealthily set up camp for the night. If no one knows you are there then by this very definition it implies a lack of fees for services etc so Stealth Camping can assist a tour financially by significantly reducing the amount of money being spent. It's no secret that camping fees at commercial campgrounds can be anywhere from $4.00 for a hiker/biker site to $30.00 for a full service campsite (sometimes that might be the only type of site available at the end of a long day).
One consideration should be what would happen if you were discovered and made to leave behind all your stuff as you exited the property. All of a sudden the financial savings might not be as great!
When you look at maps and campground guides it becomes easy to see that campgrounds are not always located in the most optimal place for bicycle tourists. A car camper doesn't mind travelling up a hill and over three roads to find a spot to rest for the night. The same location could easily involve an hour or more of travel that action takes a touring bicycle in the entirely wrong direction from where the cyclist would like to go.
Stealth Camping allows you to select a convenient spot to stop that's along your direction of travel. Depending on where you are stealth camping locations may be very easy or very difficult to find. In my experience the closer you are to urban areas the more difficult it is to find locations where you feel it will be safe to camp.
Bicycle touring is an endurance type activity where you pedal as long as your body is willing. To maintain the stealth part of Stealth Camping you usually need to rise with the sun and find a place to camp just before the sun sets. This means that you could easily be out on the road for the entire daylight hours. Since many stealth campers are trying to take advantage of financial savings as well it's not uncommon for them to put more hours into forward motion rather then stopping at a roadside cafe for something to eat. Instead quick snacks, peanut butter sandwiches etc will do.
The reasons listed here are the most common ones that I've heard for going bicycle touring with stealth camping as your main camping method.
Tell A Friend about this page!
Copyright © 2004 - 2009James Noble All rights reserved.