Stealth camping: For some bold moto-travelers, it’s a way of life. For others, it’s a scary idea, best avoided.
Personally, I’m all about stealth camping, but here in Canada, it’s pretty risk-free. There’s public land everywhere. and generally speaking, nobody in law enforcement cares if you’re camped there. You might run into opposition from friendly neighborhood Karens, either of the Not-In-My-Back-Yard persuasion or the Won’t-Somebody-Think-Of-Nature persuasion—but that’s never happened to me. Once you’ve ridden into rural areas, stealth camping isn’t really necessary anyway; when you see a local, pull over and ask them where you can camp. Most of the time, they’ll have a suggestion for free.
But that’s not true everywhere; not every region has such an easy-going approach. Laws around private and public land use, and attitudes around private and public land use, can vary wildly—and while you should always follow the law, sometimes you might find yourself in an unclear situation, and you need a place to sleep.
With that in mind, here’s bushcraft YouTuber TA Outdoors, leaving behind his usual topic of building shacks, shelters and shanties, and sharing some stealth camping tips.
Of course, this solitary video pales in comparison to Steve Wallis’ YouTube channel, which is a gold mine of stealth camping information, in all sorts of scenarios and weather. If you’re on your bike for a long-haul trip, check his videos out. They might save you a lot of money, or maybe even save your life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
Stealth camping advice from the forum
In the forum over the years, we’ve had plenty of inmates sharing their own tips for stealth camping—often learned the hard way: See some examples of that advice here, here, here and here, and there’s lots more, if you dig for it. Which leaves us to ask—what are your tips for camping on the down-low?
