“Every child begins the world again, to some extent, and loves to play outdoors, even in wet and cold. It plays house, having an instinct for it. Who does not remember the interest with which, when young, he looked at shelving rocks, or any approach to a cave.”
Henry David Thoreau
“Walden”
For some reason, I have retained a childlike love of sitting in my tent surrounded by miniature versions of all the comforts of home. My tiny stove and cooking utensils make me feel contented. My Thermorest sleeping pad, pillow bag stuffed with my down vest, and down sleeping bag are my bedroom. My Kindle Paperwhite provides entertainment. My happiness is complete when the peaceful sound of rain hitting the tent fly lulls me to sleep.
Home Sweet Home
It is amazing how quickly your tent starts to feel like home. On hot summer evenings things cool down quickly once the sun goes down. Unlike a house, which continues to radiate heat built up during the day, my tent adjusts to the ambient temperature. With the tent fly completely folded back on both sides, I can feel any breeze and have a view of the moon and stars. I am protected from insects by the fabric netting that forms the body of the tent.
Trespassing Across America
When I was first preparing for my bicycle journey, I wondered if I would be able to camp for free in fields and woods along the way. Obviously, every square inch of land is owned by someone. Unless I somehow obtained permission to camp, I would be trespassing. I decided that as long as I did not climb fences or ignore explicit no trespassing signs, I would give stealth camping a try.
No one will ever complain if you stop and have a picnic lunch near the highway. I spread my ground tarp and yoga pad on the ground next to my bicycle trailer. I set up my cooking gear and assemble my A-Lite chair. I am occupying about the same amount of space as when I set up my tent. Just about everyone thinks picnicking is just fine. The moment you set up your tent, however, you are on thin ice. Why the huge difference? You are trespassing either way. I suppose the tent suggests you are “moving in.” Basically, it looks “unseemly.” One time, I shared a meal with a group of homeless people and I floated the question to them. Surely, they would be experts on the subject! I was amused by their answer. Everyone agreed that the hotel-motel “cartel” was the underlying reason for anti-camping ordinances. They seemed to think I was a bit naive because I hadn’t figured this out on my own!
Things are quite different in other countries. In Finland, for example, it is perfectly legal to hike across privately owned land AND camp. Be sure to read the New York Times article “This Is Our Country, Let’s Walk It” by Ken Ilgunas for a thorough discussion of so called “right to wander” laws. (Appendix 5 contains a list of all the New York Times articles which have provided information and inspiration for my bicycle journey.)
I have read that the surveyors preceded the pioneers in the process of settling the United States. The pioneers were willing to purchase a covered wagon and supplies and embark on a dangerous journey because the government provided them with a clear path to ownership of a parcel of land. I doubt if the Native Americans could have conceived of such a thing. From their point of view, the vast landscape was simply there for all to share. How could a person possibly “own” a space which is occupied by all of us? (Great question, if you ask me!)
I vividly remember my first trip on an airplane as a child. I was amazed by the checkerboard pattern below. Yes, every square inch of land had been carefully measured and was undoubtedly owned by someone. Private ownership is, of course, the opposite of communal ownership. America is a lonely place. Could our obsession with private ownership possibly explain the origins of this loneliness?
The first time I tried stealth camping I was extremely nervous. I soon became comfortable with stealth camping, however, and now I rarely dwell on trespassing issues. It is amazing how many good, free camping spots there are. I pass dozens of good camping spots everyday. I stay in hotels an average of once a month, usually to avoid storms. I sometimes stay in state park or national park campgrounds. It is nice to socialize with fellow campers. For the most part, however, I camp for free near the highway. One reason is because it is free. The other reason is because I don’t have to plan a destination. I can just go until an hour or two before sundown and then look for a good spot. I also enjoy the challenge of finding good camping spots!
A Financial Bonanza
Camping is definitely a lot of work. It takes about thirty minutes of very hard work to set up my tent and put all my gear in its proper place inside the tent. It takes another thirty minutes of very hard work to take down my tent and carefully load my bicycle trailer each morning. It takes about an hour to set up my cooking gear, cook each meal, wash dishes, and pack everything away. For three meals and one night camping, I am working hard for four hours! Is all this effort worthwhile?
Consider the concept of implied income. Our government recognizes financial transactions when cash is exchanged. If you mow your own yard or cut your own hair, for example, you are receiving a service. This is definitely income but it is not taxed. Economists refer to this type of income as “implied income.” It is important to emphasize that implied income is just as real as any other income. If you earn money, pay taxes on your earnings, and then use the remainder to pay someone to mow your yard or cut your hair, you end up receiving exactly the same service. The only difference is that cash has been exchanged.
How much income is “implied” by camping and cooking three meals each day? An inexpensive hotel costs about $70 per night and substantial, healthy meals (if such a thing even exists when eating out) cost about $10 each plus the cost of ingredients. This adds up to $100 per day. This is nice, tax free income. You are working hard for about four hours to “earn” that $100. That comes to $25 per hour! For many of us, camping and cooking are less work than earning that $100 would be! Even an expensive tent pays for itself in about four nights! Looked at this way, camping is a financial bonanza!
The Great Affluence Fallacy
My bicycle touring lifestyle is relatively simple. Everything I own fits in my bicycle trailer. Nevertheless, I am amazed by my constant neediness. I need food and water. I need clean clothes. I need a bath everyday. I need a warm, dry place to sleep. It never ends! If I don’t pay attention, for example, and run out of propane, how am I going to cook my meals? No soap, no bath. No water, no anything. Virtually every morning, while I am cooking breakfast, I take inventory. What do I need besides water? Paper towels? Half & Half? Coffee? Olive oil?
When I return to civilization, it gets worse! Every additional material possession requires attention and maintenance. A car must be washed and requires regular oil changes. Grass must be mowed. Houses must be cleaned. It continues on and on in this vein like some exquisite form of madness! While I was pondering this grim state of affairs, I read an astonishing article in the New York Times by David Brooks entitled “The Great Affluence Fallacy.” Here is an excerpt from this article:
“In 18th-century America, colonial society and Native American society sat side by side. The former was buddingly commercial; the latter was communal and tribal. As time went by, the settlers from Europe noticed something. No Indians were defecting to join colonial society, but many whites were defecting to live in the Native American one.
This struck them as strange. Colonial society was richer and more advanced. And yet people were voting with their feet the other way.
The colonials occasionally tried to welcome Native American children into their midst, but they couldn’t persuade them to stay. Benjamin Franklin observed the phenomenon in 1753, writing, “When an Indian child has been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our customs, yet if he goes to see his relations and make one Indian ramble with them, there is no persuading him ever to return.”
During the wars with the Indians, many European settlers were taken prisoner and held within Indian tribes. After a while, they had plenty of chances to escape and return, and yet they did not. In fact, when they were “rescued,” they fled and hid from their rescuers.
Sometimes the Indians tried to forcibly return the colonials in a prisoner swap, and still the colonials refused to go. In one case, the Shawanese Indians were compelled to tie up some European women in order to ship them back. After they were returned, the women escaped the colonial towns and ran back to the Indians. Even as late as 1782, the pattern was still going strong. Hector de Cr vecoeur wrote, “Thousands of Europeans are Indians, and yet we have no examples of even one of those aborigines having from choice become European.”
This strange tale demanded an explanation! Not for a moment had I ever imagined, while watching the John Ford movie, “The Searchers,” for example, that Natalie Wood would have preferred for John Wayne NOT to rescue her! I suppose I had always blithely accepted the Hollywood version of American history. It was time to dig a little deeper. I highly recommend that you read David Brooks’ very fine article. (Simply search for “The Great Affluence Fallacy” on Google.)
As I write this chapter, I have been touring America by bicycle and living mostly outdoors for seven years. During my time on the road, I have come to realize that civilization is not all it is cracked up to be. It is the small things that are most telling. Since I use only two pots, one plate, two cups, and one spork while cooking, it takes me less than five minutes to wash dishes. There is no bathroom to clean because there is no bathroom. It never requires more than one load of laundry to wash my clothes because I only have three sets of clothes. I am used to cooking sitting down. When I return to civilization and cook in a normal kitchen, I am disheartened by all the walking back and forth! The waste of water at every turn is outrageous! Where is the fresh air? Why can’t I hear the birds? Honestly, I stress out at the mere thought of “retiring” from bicycle touring and returning to a more conventional life!
I want to emphasize that I am not advocating that you attempt to become self-sufficient. Such an attempt is likely to require even more work! The efficiencies achieved by civilization are not to taken lightly! Do you really want to spend all your time trying to grow your own food? It is far better to embrace new technologies, in my opinion, especially when they offer opportunities for making our lives simpler and better. My lightweight tent, high tech bicycle clothing, and Kindle Paperwhite are indispensable tools for which I am exceedingly grateful! I am simply advocating that we are more likely to enjoy life if we spend more time outdoors. We are also more likely to enjoy life if we do our best to live simply with fewer material possessions.
Asking for Forgiveness
Remember that old saying, “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.” It certainly applies to stealth camping. In fact, it’s usually IMPOSSIBLE to ask for permission because you have no idea who the land belongs to. This works in your favor since no one will really be able to blame you for not asking for permission.
When asking for forgiveness, you have three possible arguments in your favor. The first argument is necessity. You were simply too exhausted to continue further. The second argument is safety. You can’t safely ride at night. The third argument is divine intervention. You had a flat tire or mechanical failure on this very spot. Don’t worry, you will never need to use these arguments. I mention them only to point out that they exist. I discovered these arguments by reading English common law cases. During the industrial revolution the volume of wagons and carts transporting various goods around Great Britain increased immeasurably. The wagon drivers were the truck drivers of the day. They annoyed landowners when they camped on the side of the road, fed their horses or oxen, cooked dinner, consumed alcohol, and made noise. The common law sided with the wagon drivers on the grounds of necessity. Where else could they rest?
About once a year I am busted by a vigilant land owner. It usually goes like
this:
Landowner: “What’s going on?” (Unfriendly tone)
Author: “I am very sorry to have bothered you. I am touring by bicycle and I stopped to rest. You have a beautiful place. If you don’t mind, I would love to camp here for one night. My name is Tom. I’m from Austin, Texas.”
Landowner: “You rode your bicycle all the way here from Texas?” (Amazed sounding)
Author: “Yes, I am retired and this trip was on my bucket list.”
A long conversation ensues and the landowner allows me to camp. Probably half the time I’m invited over for breakfast the following morning!
The secret is to be truthful and jolly. People love jolly. I always joke around a little. Here is a sample: “I thought everything was bigger and better in Texas until I saw these West Virginia hills. You have us beat, hands down!”
In five years, I have never had to pack up my gear and move. Bear in mind that this type of encounter is extremely rare because usually nobody even sees me. (That’s why it’s called “stealth” camping.)
A good example of a typical camping spot would be a tractor entrance into a farm field. After you enter the field, perhaps you can turn right or left and be screened from the highway by trees. I promise you that you won’t have any company once it gets dark. No one hangs out in the rural fields and woods of America once night falls (except me).
Without exception, homeless people camp near towns and cities. Technically, I actually am homeless. I often joke, though, that I am a CYCLIST who happens to be homeless and NOT a homeless guy on a bicycle (although I see plenty of the latter). Let me put it this way, how many homeless guys have you seen wearing bicycle shorts and a bicycle helmet? Exactly!
The United States Supreme Court Rules That Ordinances Prohibiting Camping Are Illegal
You can no longer be legally ticketed or arrested for camping on either public or private land. City of Boise vs. Martin, No. 19-247, was brought by six people in Boise, Idaho who said a pair of local laws violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. One law prohibited camping in streets, parks and other public property. The other law prohibited camping in any place, whether public or private, without the owner’s permission.
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled for the plaintiffs and struck down the laws, saying that laws banning camping outdoors are a form of cruel and unusual punishment that violates the Constitution. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the case, thus making the earlier decision the law of the land.
The Supreme Court typically understands the Eighth Amendment to address acceptable punishments rather than what conduct can be made criminal. In 1962, however, it struck down a California law on Eighth Amendment grounds that made being a drug addict a crime. Relying on that decision, and quoting from an earlier Ninth Circuit ruling, Judge Marsha Berzon wrote:
“The Eighth Amendment prohibits the state from punishing an involuntary act or condition if it is the unavoidable consequence of one’s status or being. As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people from sleeping outdoors on the false premise they had a choice in the matter.”
The case had been closely watched and the Justice Department under President Barack Obama filed a statement of interest stating that “punishing conduct that is a universal and unavoidable consequence of being human violates the Eighth Amendment.”
“We do things differently in Texas…”
After I learned about the Supreme Court’s decision in City of Boise vs. Martin, I grew more confident in selecting places to camp. Hiding places were scarce in the perfectly flat farm fields near Lubbock, Texas. I decided to camp in an unfenced cotton field that was lying fallow. I walked into the field about one hundred yards and set up my tent in plain view of the highway. Everything went smoothly until the next morning. I was busy taking down my tent and packing my gear into my bicycle trailer when I observed the arrival of two police cars. After exiting their cars, two law enforcement officers tramped across the field towards my campsite. The first thing they said was, “Do you have the owner’s permission to camp here?” I answered, “No.”
After a brief conversation, we agreed that I should continue packing my gear and be on my way. The officers were friendly and asked about my trip. They wanted to know what kind of bicycle I was using and admired my bicycle trailer. All in all, they were two very pleasant individuals. With my case amicably resolved, and with no further problems in the offing, I decided to entertain the officers by explaining everything I knew about City of Boise vs. Martin. I was emboldened by my knowledge of the case and by my conviction that I was on firm legal ground. After listening patiently to everything I had to say, one of the officers replied, “We do things differently in Texas.”
I wish I could report that I bravely responded along the lines of, “Last time I checked, the United States Constitution applies to Texas!” I decided to avoid further debate, however, and simply wished the officers well as I made my departure! I also silently resolved to resume being as stealthy as possible when camping in the future!
“Manners are more important than laws. The law touches us but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us.”
Edmund Burke
Stealth Camping Fundamentals
There is only one thing you really need to know about stealth camping. The only way to determine if a potential camping spot will work or not is to stop, get off your bicycle, and look around. How much work is going to be required to prepare the spot to accommodate your tent? Is it reasonably level? Is it screened from the view of passing traffic? The only way to answer these questions is to get off your bicycle and check things out!
I usually start looking two hours before sundown. One hour before sundown, I consider it to be urgent and my quality standards for a camping spot are reduced accordingly. Eventually, if I can’t find a spot, I will even use a wide shoulder or elevated shoulder along rural roads. Once it’s dark, you are pretty much invisible as long as headlights don’t hit your tent.
The route described in this book goes through many national forests. In general, primitive camping is always allowed in national forests unless there are posted rules to the contrary. National parks are a different story. Camping is allowed only in official campgrounds. That’s not so bad, however, because national park campgrounds are usually very inexpensive for the hiker/biker area. Also the hiker/biker area always has space available even when the campground as a whole posts signs announcing that it is full! Hiker/biker camping areas are also awesome because hikers and bikers are fun to talk to!
A revelation and a number of breakthroughs regarding camping!
- All the conveniences of civilized life conspire to slowly erode one’s core strength. Once you abandon chairs, tables, sofas, and comfy beds and start living at ground level, your core strength quickly rebounds. I am amazed by the way camping has increased my core strength and by the way improvements in my core strength have positively affected my cycling and swimming performance. Camping has contributed to my fitness improvements just as much as cycling has!
- Certain breakthroughs have greatly enhanced my camping lifestyle. The first breakthrough was abandoning my tiny ice chest and learning to live without refrigeration. I discovered that eggs, plain yogurt, and string cheese actually keep very well without refrigeration. I also discovered that cabbage, onions, roma tomatoes, and ginger root stay fresh without refrigeration. The second breakthrough was learning to cook breakfast and dinner in my tent. The third breakthrough was learning how to take a refreshing bath in my tent each evening. The fourth breakthrough was increasing my water supply from one gallon to two gallons. Together, these four “breakthroughs” made camping much more comfortable and sustainable!
A Magnificent Setting
One night, I camped in the Arizona desert behind an old, abandoned, single storied motel. The back wall of the motel had been ripped away revealing the interior rooms, a repeating sequence of room, bathroom, and closet. You could see how the headboard in one room was about eight inches from the headboard in the next room.
I could not help but wonder who would want to lie down in that cheap sheet rock hell when the outside world was so magnificent. Looking away from the abandoned motel, I surveyed the beautiful desert framed with pink and blue-gray foothills. I set up my tent facing away from the ruins of the motel. A little later, a dark sky dusted with stars calmly lit the ghastly motel ruins.
There is a great deal of truth to the Buddhist saying, “Four walls are incompatible with freedom.” Walt Whitman expresses the same sentiment in his great American poem “Song of Myself”:
“I swear I will never mention love or death inside
a house,
And I swear I never will translate myself at all,
only to him or her who privately stays with
me in the open air.”