20 Stealth Camping Tips & Skills

Here are 20 stealth camping tips that just might help you out when trying to not get busted camping in the wild! From useful bushcraft tips, to wilderness survival skills and basic camping tips.

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#bushcraft #survival #camping #taoutdoors #skills

[SlaveToTheSwamps]

As an escaped convict currently in hiding this has helped thank you mate .👍

[Everydayguy]

One of the things you missed is how your white dog really stands out. Your going to need to paint him brown and green camo if your taking him with you.🤗

[dermathze]

Me, who has no intention of ever going camping: "Yes, this will prove useful at some point."

[mastercheif]

Great info, currently on the run from my wife and 3 kids in the backyard garden, but still have cell coverage so looking for survival tips.

[KyrosX]

Me: uses map, scopes out the place, perfect setup with camo, hole for fire, use minimal light, etc.
Also me: _snores loudly_

[artmoss]

Couple things I've learned about stealth camping: 1) just when you think you've found a great spot, someone will come by; 2) get up before dawn, and by on your way by first light; 3) remove any reflective material on your clothing or gear; 4) check out a possible camp site when it's still light out, because sites that seem stealthy in the darkness can be quite conspicuous at dawn; 5) avoid staying in one spot for more than a day, but if you do, have one place where you sleep and a different spot to relax or hangout.

[willbart]

In 1998, I did a 5000 mile bicycle trip from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale. Stealth camped most of the way. After riding all day, sometimes we would get stuck in places with no campground or anything around. I remember one night we were out in the desert on a highway, maybe New Mexico. There’s nothing but a gas station. And a short gravel road that ran behind the store for may be 500 feet and dead ended at the desert.. My girlfriend and I rode to the end of the road, and then walked way out into the desert. well over a quarter mile from the highway. Around 1 o’clock in the morning we hear a four-wheel-drive pick up truck that had driven out into our area and they were spinning around doing donuts in the dirt. We had an olive colored tent, and it was virtually invisible in the dark. I was just as worried that they would see us as I was that they wouldn’t see us and run over us. It went on for about 10 minutes and they left. My girlfriend was very pretty. It was really nerve-racking for me. We were extremely vulnerable. We got lucky that night. There were a handful of moments like that over the course of the whole trip, but we made it home safely. And we were on the receiving end of many complete strangers total generosity to us. We were invited to stay on peoples properties or in their houses multiple times. This one couple offered to buy us a dinner at a lodge in Yosemite just so they could hear our story. Anyways, we stealth camped in all kinds of places. In Texas we camped in a huge cow field with oil derricks. When we got up in the morning and were putting the tent away, I found a couple of tarantulas that had snuggledup against our body heat outside the tent.😂 In Biloxi, we camped in a huge graveyard, going back to the 1800s. We went out into the middle of it and pitched the tent under a big oak tree. Slept like a baby. Good times.
We stealth camped in Yosemite one night, and we woke up to a bus load of Japanese tourists. They were filming us like we were wildlife in the park. 😂The day we left the Grand Canyon, it was late in the afternoon, and my shifter cable broke on my bicycle. We decided to stealth camp because it was so late in the day. We literally brought our stuff right to the edge of the canyon. We woke up to an amazing sky before the sunrise. It was pink and purple. We were literally 25 feet from the edge of the canyon and we had the most amazing view. The tent was pitched, and our bicycles were leaning against a small dead tree. I stepped away about 50 feet of and got a beautiful photograph of our bikes and tent with the canyon and sky in the background. In California, I think it was around a place called Rio Dell, we stealth camped at a place called College Park. It was nothing but woods and trails. It was on the ocean, but there was like a 75 foot cliff. We found this one little spot where we had room to pitch our tent right on the edge of the cliff. It was almost dark, and foggy when we got there. We could hear seals barking all night long down on the beach. We woke up to another picture postcard view. Yeah, stealth camping beats a campground every time. OK I’m done.

[KeithOlson]

One advantage of the Dakota fire hole is that, after you cook/etc. with it, you can fill the hole back in and set up your tent over it. The heat that the earth has adsorbed will slowly seep up and keep you warmer.

[chrisbuckley]

That was insane how much a difference the camo tarp made to hide the tent. I knew it would make a difference but like that someone would have to be looking to find it.

[Lutz]

when you just wanted to go camping but everything is illegal.

[southronjr]

A tip on the Dakota fire hole is to dig the main hoke with a bell shape being wider in the bottom than the top. It creates a chimney effect that draws air through the air hole even faster making a hotter burn meaning less smoke. It also makes it easier to cook on, all you have to do is place a couple of decently large rocks on the sides of the hole and manure them so that you pot rests on them. You could also use green sticks but when they begin to burn they will give off smoke.

[Totonbo]

Me, who has never been camping in his life: "Yes, this should be good to know"

[radcyrus]

I have no idea why youtube thought I would need to know how to stealth camp, but I enjoyed this video 😊 thanks 👍

[AJGeeTV]

Have been stealth camping since the mid-1980s and the best thing I bought in 1993 was a Trangia meths-burning stove. I still use it regularly 30 years later. It's slower than gas but it's silent and you see no flames. You can also use this inside your bivvy/tarp or tent if you are careful. There is less waste, too, as I calculated that 1 litre of meths can cook as much as 5 gas cannisters.

[willisrcorson]

Thank you. I found it funny when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail (2023), I often heard hikers say they were going to do "stealth camping." But I would see them setting up their tent almost on the trail or in sight of the trail or within sight of a shelter. I agree with your method of remaining incognito in the woods.

[dio]

Important for safety: always look up and make sure you are not camping underneath dead trees or dead branches that could fall any time, be aware of things that could fall/roll off the hill above you and don't camp in the path of a possibly loose rock or dead tree, and be aware of animal trails to avoid running into boars or other big wildlife, especially when they have young. Enjoy your time outdoors!

[douglasfreeman]

Stealth camped a couple of years ago in a small wood and the farmers decided to come up the road and do some hedge trimming until about 10.30 p.m. That was a bit nerve-wracking. The previous year the police were chasing someone near our camp in a small wood. Helicopters, flashing lights. Heard a motorbike whizz by, saw flashing torches from my bivvy bag. I thought "Okay, this is when some psycho holds us hostage." On both occasions everything was fine and no one appeared to have spotted us. Didn't sleep well though. All part of the fun!

[punkyskunky]

Its great that you're sharing this even though I personally have no use for it as my country has something called "allemansrätten" (roughly translates to "all mans right")
It is a set of laws that let you as long as you're not on somebody's private property or breaking any other law hang out practically anywhere in the woods and harvest wild berries, mushrooms and flowers (with the exception of endangered plants) and you're allowed to set up camp basically anywhere as long as you're not lighting any campfires on top of cliffs (the heat from the flame can make the rock split in some cases and that is incredibly dangerous) or otherwise harming the environment or causing property damage

[granitecolorado]

During covid I built a bush shelter in the park near my house along the river. I made a circular lean to and covered it with grass and weeds and then braided a fence around it with grass and weeds. I camped in that shelter off and on for an entire year before it was found and moved into by a homeless man

[gmodlocus]

I followed all your tips and made my camp was amazingly well hidden :D. Unfortunately, I lost my camp after a quick trip to the river. I lost around 4000 dollars of equipment, but at least I know how well hidden the camp is!