Free/wild camping tips

[reppans]

My wild/stealth camping routine

- Survey Google Maps satellite view for large block of densely wooded land
- I prefer public land/parks/preserves which you are allowed to be in during daylight hours.
- Load up on water late in the day before hitting camp. For me, 4L provides a shower, dinner, adult cocktail, B'fast, dental hygiene, and 1L to ride next morning.
- Use a stealthy tent (eg, forest green), silent alcohol stove, and low lumen (ideally sub-lumen moonlight mode) flashlight.
- Pack light and small, I can backpack my pannier and shoulder carry my Brompton for ~half km, and the bike fits inside my vestibule at night.
- Hike a foot trail a few hundred meters off a roadway, and then bushwhack off the foot trail until you are out of its sight. High ground will get you out of sight faster. The deeper you go, the more you can relax and take your time, and the better the wild camping experience will be.
- In public land/park where you are allowed daylight hrs., then you can enter early/leave late, do everything you need to (shower, cook, relax). However, the tent and bedding is what technically crosses the line so don't unpack that until it's rather dark, and they are also first to pack up when you wake.
- Use a trowel to bury poop, pack your toilet paper out, Leave No Trace Rules, obviously no fires.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I always try to be on the highest point of ground in dense vegetation, because people just don't look up.

 

[DanZac]

As above the most important thing is being prepared, scope out likely sites before dark then head back at dusk.
Know what your going to need kit wise and have it at the top of your bag, the last thing you need in your hidden spot is loads of messing about with lights looking for tent pegs or such like. Then kit out and into bed quick time, the highest chance of getting caught is when your up and about and making a noise, once it's dark and your still it's pretty hard to spot someone, it's the movements and noise that catch your eye.
Be flexible, I always carry a hammock, tarp and bivvy bag, which still weighs less than a tent (I tend to wild camp more when walking than on the bike so it's not quite so easy to move on) but that way there is always an option. This weekend I've been in the bag Friday night in the long grass at the edge of a field and in a lovely wooded spot in the hammock last night.
I try and avoid anywhere with "keep out" signs and fencing too, if someone's gone to the trouble of putting up signs and fences on their land it's a pretty good indicator that your not going to get woken up with a cup of tea if they find you!

 

[Ticktockmy]

Having wild camped for some 50 years, both backpacking or cycletouring, the rules are simple, Pitch late, leave the site early, use a dark coloured tent green or grey to to blend into the background or a similiar coloured tarp, find a site that shielded by hedges, undergrowth or find woodland that is dense enough to provide cover. I tend too spot a suitable site then go pass and find a pub or cafe or even shelter to cook my evening meal, then come back later set up your tent or tarp, into bed. In the morning take down the tent or tarp, move out early and find a suitable place to cook ones breakfast. However, you have work out if its safe to to treat it like a normal stye camp site or a stealth site.

 

[Blue Hills]

The film Deliverance is chock full of tips for wild camping.

Packing extra lube?

 

[Carsong57]

Most comfortable - a leaf filled moat around an Iron Age Fort
Smelliest - inside an old crane in an abandoned quarry
Weirdest - woken at 3am by loud voices. Peeped out of bivi to see two cross-dressing persons marching past in high heels. This was on Esk Hause in the Lake District, miles from the nearest road. Still wonder whether I was hallucinating.
Scariest - woken by an earthquake. Jumped out of my bag with the intention of running to safety before it dawned on me that you can't outrun an earthquake
Second scariest - wrong side of a dry but very wide storm drain with a thunderstorm rumbling in the distance. If the drain had flooded we could have been stranded for days without food or water.

Best ones have been on the shores of various Scottish lochs but they have been on canoeing trips where it's easy to carry lots of luxuries. We once had a game of table tennis on Loch Awe.

With reference to the Scottish lochs, be mindful of the dreaded Scottish midges................

 

[jongooligan]

With reference to the Scottish lochs, be mindful of the dreaded Scottish midges................

Always take someone tastier than you, bivi where it's breezy, light a smoky fire, drink lots of beer & whisky to disguise the CO2 on your breath.

 

[ColinJ]

Always take someone tastier than you, bivi where it's breezy, light a smoky fire, drink lots of beer & whisky to disguise the CO2 on your breath.

Hmm - I am the tastier one. I once shared a room with 2 others in Corfu and they didn't get a single mosquito bite during the entire holiday. I was getting 20+ a night! I don't like breathing in smoke, and I have given up booze. That's 'Wild camping in Scotland' crossed off my to-do list!

 

[Crankarm]

You going to bivvy bag, or rig up a basha?

The film Deliverance is chock full of tips for wild camping.

And friendly yocals.

 

[Crankarm]

With reference to the Scottish lochs, be mindful of the dreaded Scottish midges................

Apparently it is only the female midge that actually does the biting, up to 4,000 times a minute. And there are trillions of them. Some say they are the SNP's deterrent of choice to keep the English out.

 

[Blue Hills]

Apparently it is only the female midge that actually does the biting,

True? What's all that about? What are the males doing while all this is going on?

 

[saoirse50]

The male dies after mating. The female carries on laying the eggs so needs food to sustain her.

 

[saoirse50]

Wild camp spot choice is fairly common sense driven, I suppose, but there’s nearly always a compromise to be made. I like to wake up with a nice view, to be as close as possible to a water source, but not so close as to run the risk of flooding, to be sheltered, especially from early morning hot sun in summer, but not so sheltered as to be a haven for buggy biting things, to be as level as possible, but pitch head highest if this is difficult. Some of those can’t be compromised, the flooding one for example. I once camped up by a lochan, I think near Creag Meagaidh, a fair and, I thought, safe distance from the shoreline. Torrential rain for a whole day and night and woke up with the waves lapping at the foot of the tent.

I’m heading up to Dartmoor for a couple of days soon. Never been there before so that should be fun.

 

[Tin Pot]

My wild/stealth camping routine

- Survey Google Maps satellite view for large block of densely wooded land
- I prefer public land/parks/preserves which you are allowed to be in during daylight hours.
- Load up on water late in the day before hitting camp. For me, 4L provides a shower, dinner, adult cocktail, B'fast, dental hygiene, and 1L to ride next morning.
- Use a stealthy tent (eg, forest green), silent alcohol stove, and low lumen (ideally sub-lumen moonlight mode) flashlight.
- Pack light and small, I can backpack my pannier and shoulder carry my Brompton for ~half km, and the bike fits inside my vestibule at night.
- Hike a foot trail a few hundred meters off a roadway, and then bushwhack off the foot trail until you are out of its sight. High ground will get you out of sight faster. The deeper you go, the more you can relax and take your time, and the better the wild camping experience will be.
- In public land/park where you are allowed daylight hrs., then you can enter early/leave late, do everything you need to (shower, cook, relax). However, the tent and bedding is what technically crosses the line so don't unpack that until it's rather dark, and they are also first to pack up when you wake.
- Use a trowel to bury poop, pack your toilet paper out, Leave No Trace Rules, obviously no fires.

What’s an adult cocktail?

 

[Randomnerd]

light a smoky fire,

Or not.
Please don’t encourage new wild campers to light fires. That’s where we struggle to get a decent reputation. No fires ever needed.
Jungle Formula works for me.