# How to not have a panic attack on a stealth camping trip.



## Punksasha (Oct 10, 2022)

How can I not have anxiety when going stealth camping anyone???


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## Section8 (Oct 10, 2022)

Punksasha said:


> How to not have anxiety when going stealth camping anyone???



Drugs and alcohol is the route I went.


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## koob (Oct 10, 2022)

Punksasha said:


> How can I not have anxiety when going stealth camping anyone???



I've had a few moments of pure terror whist stealth camping in secluded places far away from help. I never had any sort of mental strategy to overcome the fear it was just a kind of animal instinct for survival that got me through. At a certian point you kinda realize that nobody's gonna save you except you and that tends to kick my brain into gear. Or you can just get shitfaced and you'll feel pretty brave


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## The Toecutter (Oct 10, 2022)

My biggest worry is law enforcement discovering my camping spot. That's the most realistic and present threat. Having a place that is well hidden can buy a lot of peace of mind. That, and weed/alcohol.

I've used abandoned buildings as stealth camping sites. Just make sure no one sees you enter, and scout the place out before settling for the night to make sure no one else is there.


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## bikepaths (Oct 15, 2022)

Preparedness, experience. 
Preparedness builds good experience.
Preparedness often means visualizing in advance
what sort of situations you might encounter.

We learn that our our fears are often exaggerated.
Learn to defuse and deescalate problem situations.
We are often the cause behind many of our own problems.


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## AestheticTramper (Oct 15, 2022)

Punksasha said:


> How can I not have anxiety when going stealth camping anyone???



Choose the spot wisely - i.e. away from things that are anxiety provoking, whatever that means for you personally. Eventually just sheer experience of sleeping in public spaces mostly takes the anxiety away. Also, maybe the realisation that most people stumbling across your camp will probably be far more anxious about you than you are about them.


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## The Toecutter (Oct 15, 2022)

I knew an upper-middle-class privileged dirtbag that used to deliberately pick fights with homeless people at their own camps for fun. One of his victims got thrown off of a highway overpass and was rendered a cripple. Hoping the dirtbag got his faced stomped in, which is something I'd generally never hope to happen to anyone.

The anxiety associated with stealth camping is not without valid reason. There's not only more people like that dirtbag out there, there's worse people than that dirtbag out there.


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## Johny (Oct 15, 2022)

I've always found comfort in camping at places others either wouldn't or it's to much work to get to.
As in places you have to climb to or far away from homebums and the whole homeless/drug/drinking scene.
I avoid spots where other travels go ect.
Not because I'm antisocial, it's mainly because you don't want some tweaker walking into your camp at 2am , and all those ppl draw police attention.
I also generally try to fit in as in look normal not all dirty kidded out . Be the grey man and blend .
Avoid hanging out in your camp (I generally only go after dark to sleep) and do not trash the place.
Keep an eye on the "evidence" of you even being there or going there , leave no trace .
This keeps good Samaritans from either calling the cops or walking up on you.
Just stay low key and find a spot that is either so tucked away from everything or hard to get to nobody else bothers going 
I've also had great luck camping in plain site , such as I spent a month or two literally camped in the pawn stars parking lot in Las vegas , found a dumpster enclosure without a dumpster so I had a 10x8 concrete box with a gate that I broke a couple bottles around it (to hear crunching glass under foot when ppl walked by) you'll get the hang of it.


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## Johny (Oct 15, 2022)

...also avoid colors that clash with your environment (this is kinda obvious) don't use an orange tent and a blue tarp .
Don't bust out your Bluetooth speaker and jam out .
And I personally hardly ever bring anyone back to where I sleep .
I'll drink and hang out in your camp then go back to mine.
You never know how someone is gonna act ounce they get drunk in the woods and away from public view.
Just use common sense you'll be fine.


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## The Toecutter (Oct 15, 2022)

It's always other people that steal your stuff, which is one of the reasons I don't sleep in others' camps. Walking by a camp, I once saw a local legal-fiend(who in all probability was also cracked-up and barred-out because I knew his purchasing habits from the local house I bought my weed from) passed out with a legal blunt in his mouth. I stopped to light a spliff, about to share it with these people(I love sharing weed with strangers). One of his "friends" proceeded to go through his pack, wallet, and even took the legal blunt out of his friend's mouth and smoked it. Being that I knew none of these people personally, I stood there smoking my spliff and did not intervene, nor in this case, share, and walked off. I avoid associating with known thieves.

One of my favorite stealth camping spots was an abandoned school. It was a place that was out of the way from regular automobile traffic, and was easy to get my Raleigh road bike in and out. Aside from black mold on the walls and broken glass/needles littering the floor, it appeared to have minimal hazards. The toilets in the restrooms were still intact(even though there was no running water). It was possible to use fire to cook without anyone from outside seeing anything. I probably spent 15 nights over the course of a month sleeping there. Because my workplace office had a shower on the 7th floor, I could get cleaned up in the morning before work and put on my dress clothes without anyone in the office any the wiser.


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## Johny (Oct 15, 2022)

The Toecutter said:


> It's always other people that steal your stuff, which is one of the reasons I don't sleep in others' camps. Walking by a camp, I once saw a local legal-fiend(who in all probability was also cracked-up and barred-out because I knew his purchasing habits from the local house I bought my weed from) passed out with a legal blunt in his mouth. I stopped to light a spliff, about to share it with these people(I love sharing weed with strangers). One of his "friends" proceeded to go through his pack, wallet, and even took the legal blunt out of his friend's mouth and smoked it. Being that I knew none of these people personally, I stood there smoking my spliff and did not intervene, nor in this case, share, and walked off. I avoid associating with known thieves.
> 
> One of my favorite stealth camping spots was an abandoned school. It was a place that was out of the way from regular automobile traffic, and was easy to get my Raleigh road bike in and out. Aside from black mold on the walls and broken glass/needles littering the floor, it appeared to have minimal hazards. The toilets in the restrooms were still intact(even though there was no running water). It was possible to use fire to cook without anyone from outside seeing anything. I probably spent 15 nights over the course of a month sleeping there. Because my workplace office had a shower on the 7th floor, I could get cleaned up in the morning before work and put on my dress clothes without anyone in the office any the wiser.



We had a abandoned mental hospital in Denton Texas like that , even had beds still in it .

Me a a girl and another couple found a "clean" room and stayed there awhile in the winter , closed the door and heated the room with a few candles and a lantern.
Was a good spot till some tweaker lead the cops back there and blew it up for everyone


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## The Toecutter (Oct 15, 2022)

Johny said:


> Was a good spot till some tweaker lead the cops back there and blew it up for everyone



Damn, that is so lame.

Tweakers gonna' tweak though. I don't judge them on their drug use. I smoke meth from time to time, I just never made a habit of it. To me, it's a rare treat once or twice a year, and not a lifestyle. A large number of people have no self control though, nor do they think about potential consequences, and it ruins things for everyone, because government and law enforcement always decide to get involved, supposedly for our safety.

A lot of the hard drugs crowd don't even have the discipline to wait until they are settled at a good spot before they imbibe in their intoxicant of choice. Which leads to poor decision making, and even thievery. Which drags unwanted consequences in the direction of anyone near these people, especially people like ourselves that just want a place to be left alone. While it does make me a hypocrite since I like to do hard drugs myself, I make it a point to avoid hard drug users, your experience being one of the factors I can cite.

People doing stupid things on drugs is not the drugs' fault though. A lot of people fail to realize that, especially normies. Everyone is responsible for their own actions.


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## AyeAaron (Nov 27, 2022)

It gets to be really easy pretty fast, look for places that are difficult to reach, and be very cautious about bringing anyone back to your spot

When you have a good spot, scout out more spots and keep your camp orderly, ready to pack out. Shit happens and having a plan will help

When I was camping out, I'd actually camoflauge my tent. I've spray painted it with non reflective paint, covered it in brown tarp, at one point I had used a burlap hunters screen, and I'd actually drape branches all over it

My spot was ransacked by tweakers while I was at work, once over the course of a few years, when I got careless. Still didn't lose anything too bad, never left documents or real valuables

If you're afraid of bears and such, keep some bear spray and a knife at camp, maybe a mechete or an ax. You'll sleep better at night and who knows maybe it'll save your skin...

Not so sure about carrying an ax when you're on the road tho


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## Coywolf (Nov 29, 2022)

"Not so sure about carrying an ax when you're on the road tho"

Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker

I met this dude im Arcata before all of the shit went down with him and that lawyer. I still believe his story. Probably not a great idea to carry a Hatchet hitchhiking anymore.


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## AyeAaron (Nov 30, 2022)

Coywolf said:


> "Not so sure about carrying an ax when you're on the road tho"
> 
> Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker
> 
> I met this dude im Arcata before all of the shit went down with him and that lawyer. I still believe his story. Probably not a great idea to carry a Hatchet hitchhiking anymore.



Yeah I had him in mind lol, when he was arrested for killing that lawyer a few months later, can't say I was surprised. He was a little too gun ho about beating someone with a hatchet







Brings me back a ways


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## heathbar (Nov 30, 2022)

Punksasha said:


> How can I not have anxiety when going stealth camping anyone???



dont be a fuggin pussy 😂


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## Fidelisk (Nov 30, 2022)

heathbar said:


> dont be a fuggin pussy 😂



Well thats fuckin rude!


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## daveycrockett (Dec 2, 2022)

Man I ain't scared of shit but the ocean. Sharks will eat you and dolphins will fuck you. I'm not try to do either. So yeah fuck that. And fuck winter too and pants.


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## laughingman (Dec 5, 2022)

There seams to be a lot of good, practical advice on here for how to keep yourself safe while stealth camping. My normal thing is to camp far away from people in an area that is hard to get to. Over a small river or in a thicket of bushes or trees. As a rule the harder it is for you to get there with all your kit intact the harder that its going to be for anyone to sneak up on you. Find your spot just before dark after eating. Set up with that last little bit of daylight and only sleep there. Wake up and brake down at first light and be gone before anyone has light to see you by. 

As for how to get rid of the feeling of being afraid while sleeping alone in the woods. That is a very individual question. Ive slept outside a LOT a lot and I still get spooked from time to time. What I like to do during these times is to math it out in my head. How many square miles is someone searching to find me in the dark? laying in a bivi bag I take up less then 10 square feet. So what are the chances that someone is going to walk off the road in the middle of the night. Wander off into the trees.. In a random direction... Jump over that little stream..... fight there way though the tangle of branches...... only to trip over this exact 10 square feet where my nearly invisible set up happens to be at the time..... all without a light or making any noise that would wake me up? Normally by the time I get about half way though the back of the napkin math I'm already sleeping. 

If that doesn't work I think about search and rescue for a while. Whole teams of well trained and organized men and woman search hillsides and forests, even some relatively small parks. People who know the lay out of the land. Who spend all there time screaming and yelling for the lost person. All that manpower and effort for a person who is lost and WANTS to be found. S and R often times doesn't find who there looking for. So if your worried about a single bad actor. Searching for you specifically in a massive area there chances of finding you dwindle down to very VERY close to zero. 

If I've thought about all of this and still cant sleep. Its almost always for a good reason. Ive set up in a bad spot. The weather is not working very well to hide me ( like if there is a full moon) Or another factor all together. At that point you have a choice. Brake camp and move on to someplace you feel safer. Or stay and risk it. That choice is really where experience and instinct come into play. If your sleeping alone in the dark in some corner of nowhere and you get a little freaked out that's normal. If something genuinely dosnt feel right there is never any shame in moving down the road to some other place.

It all comes down to mitigate the risk your taking to a level that's acceptable for you. Some of us are more risk adverse then others. I for one would almost always rather put in the extra 20 or 30 minutes of my day to feel more safe. Some people will plop down in a bush behind a sign next to a busy road and fall fast asleep. The truth statistically is that your in a lot more danger riding in a car, getting out of a shower, or eating an unhealthy diet.


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## Johny (Dec 5, 2022)

laughingman said:


> There seams to be a lot of good, practical advice on here for how to keep yourself safe while stealth camping. My normal thing is to camp far away from people in an area that is hard to get to. Over a small river or in a thicket of bushes or trees. As a rule the harder it is for you to get there with all your kit intact the harder that its going to be for anyone to sneak up on you. Find your spot just before dark after eating. Set up with that last little bit of daylight and only sleep there. Wake up and brake down at first light and be gone before anyone has light to see you by.
> 
> As for how to get rid of the feeling of being afraid while sleeping alone in the woods. That is a very individual question. Ive slept outside a LOT a lot and I still get spooked from time to time. What I like to do during these times is to math it out in my head. How many square miles is someone searching to find me in the dark? laying in a bivi bag I take up less then 10 square feet. So what are the chances that someone is going to walk off the road in the middle of the night. Wander off into the trees.. In a random direction... Jump over that little stream..... fight there way though the tangle of branches...... only to trip over this exact 10 square feet where my nearly invisible set up happens to be at the time..... all without a light or making any noise that would wake me up? Normally by the time I get about half way though the back of the napkin math I'm already sleeping.
> 
> ...



This is all great advice, I would like to add to it though.
Don't do the "bum explosion" and I'm pack all your stuff and scatter it out.
You want to be able to pack up quickly and in the dark or find things like headlamps, flashlight ECT in the dark from memory with little or no effort.
Keep your boots where you can find them ECT.
Last thing you want is some angry property owner or cop telling you to move and it's taking forever.
Or some meth crazed local homebum blowing up the sit because they stumble into you and your camp by chance.
Also if you're going to be in a particular area for an extended period of time have more than one camp chances are better for you if you move from time to time.
It's good to not be to comfortable as it keeps you more aware.
Always keep an eye open for a better camp


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## laughingman (Dec 5, 2022)

Johny said:


> This is all great advice, I would like to add to it though.
> Don't do the "bum explosion" and I'm pack all your stuff and scatter it out.
> You want to be able to pack up quickly and in the dark or find things like headlamps, flashlight ECT in the dark from memory with little or no effort.
> Keep your boots where you can find them ECT.
> ...



Thank you Johny that is a very good point also. Keeping things packed small organized and ready to go has lots of advantages. I always associate the term "stealth camping" to mean " sleeping someplace I'm not supposed to while traveling. Largely because that's how and why I stealth camp. So I never have a reason to camp in the same place twice. Honestly most of the places I sleep while traveling I would struggle to find again. If your sleeping in one spot for a while my advice is not going to be very helpful.


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## Johny (Dec 5, 2022)

laughingman said:


> Thank you Johny that is a very good point also. Keeping things packed small organized and ready to go has lots of advantages. I always associate the term "stealth camping" to mean " sleeping someplace I'm not supposed to while traveling. Largely because that's how and why I stealth camp. So I never have a reason to camp in the same place twice. Honestly most of the places I sleep while traveling I would struggle to find again. If your sleeping in one spot for a while my advice is not going to be very helpful.



I'm normally constantly on the move when I'm camping also .
But definitely keep my pack organized and know where everything is so I'm not fumbling in the dark for something I need.
Recently I was camping in the woods next to a Lowe's in north Ashley SC (Charleston) and didn't want to use a light and draw attention.
I can find anything I need in my pack in the dark.

....also slightly off topic, DRY BAGS are a life saver lol


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## laughingman (Dec 5, 2022)

Dry bags are in fact awesome. Are you working out of a backpack? Do you use a large pack liner or smaller dry bags to keep things sorted? When I'm on a bike all my bags are basically giant roll tops. For a pack on foot however I like to use one massive pack liner. Normally a trash compactor bag which is twisted at the top to water proof it. Its a light weight minimalists approach but ill admit its a pain.


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## Johny (Dec 6, 2022)

laughingman said:


> Dry bags are in fact awesome. Are you working out of a backpack? Do you use a large pack liner or smaller dry bags to keep things sorted? When I'm on a bike all my bags are basically giant roll tops. For a pack on foot however I like to use one massive pack liner. Normally a trash compactor bag which is twisted at the top to water proof it. Its a light weight minimalists approach but ill admit its a pain.



I use two in a 90ltr , one for sleeping bag ECT other clothes


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## laughingman (Dec 6, 2022)

Wow. That's a lot of volume. Sounds like your kitted out.


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## Johny (Dec 6, 2022)

laughingman said:


> Wow. That's a lot of volume. Sounds like your kitted out.



I am


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## Forth (Jan 4, 2023)

The more you camp the more desensitized you get to the fear of being discovered. The harder you work to get to your spot, the less likely you will be discovered by other humans in the dark.


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## The Toecutter (Jan 4, 2023)

Forth said:


> The more you camp the more desensitized you get to the fear of being discovered. The harder you work to get to your spot, the less likely you will be discovered by other humans in the dark.



While I haven't tried this one, I think an abandoned shopping mall or abandoned grocery/large retail store could have some interesting camp spots, provided there isn't any sort of regular police presence in the area. Consider the amount of effort it can take to get into such a building if it has been sealed, since you'll have to work quite hard at it relative to other potential locations.


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## Forth (Jan 5, 2023)

The Toecutter said:


> While I haven't tried this one, I think an abandoned shopping mall or abandoned grocery/large retail store could have some interesting camp spots, provided there isn't any sort of regular police presence in the area. Consider the amount of effort it can take to get into such a building if it has been sealed, since you'll have to work quite hard at it relative to other potential locations.



I would have more paranoia being inside some 'private' property than I do just passing out by a river somewhere. I know that's not the option for people in urban areas all the time. I purposely stick to low population areas. That said, I had no trouble finding a secluded spot in forest park when I was kicking around St Louis.


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## koob (Jan 6, 2023)

Something that I've found helpful in my last few trips is the versatility that using a bivy as opposed to a tent offers. A tent is a lot more noticable than a bivy, especially if it's brightly colored which a lot of tents are. Just for peace of mind, I've found it nice that with a bivy I can lay down right in a thicket and be pretty much invisible whereas it's a lot harder to set up a tent in a spot like that. That said, if you're in a more permanent spot having only a bivy is pretty miserable. 

If I'm planning on staying somewhere for a few days, I usually find a spot in a small forest/thicket just outside of town, and build a shelter out of the natural materiels around the site, and sleep under that with my bivy. If your shelter is constructed out of natural materiels, it'll blend really nicely with the surroundings and it's a lot less likely that you'll be spotted. 

I also try to never have light on when I'm at my spot. Especially at night, lights are a dead giveaway. I also used to never have fires at my spot, but that really sucks in the winter, so I started using Dakota fire pits. Dakota fires are lit in a deep pit which is fed oxygen from underneath by another connected hole. This way, the light of the fire is concealed by the walls of the pit, and the fire is almost completely smokeless because of some fancy physics which I honestly don't understand. If you're still worried about people seeing the light off the fire, you can build a heat-reflective wall in the direction that you think you'll most likely be spotted from. That serves as both extra camouflage and more heat. 

As a lot of other people have already said, the chances are still pretty low of being found while stealth camping if the right percautions are taken. That said, if you're not getting good sleep because of the fear of being found, take every measure to put yourself at ease. Good sleep is super important, so going the extra distance always pays pays off 🙂


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## Forth (Jan 6, 2023)

Something that I've found helpful in my last few trips is the versatility that using a bivy as opposed to a tent offers. A tent is a lot more noticable than a bivy, especially if it's brightly colored which a lot of tents are. Just for peace of mind, I've found it nice that with a bivy I can lay down right in a thicket and be pretty much invisible whereas it's a lot harder to set up a tent in a spot like that. That said, if you're in a more permanent spot having only a bivy is pretty miserable. 

I totally agree with this. Some guy at work was just telling me wild boars will eat you if you go down into parts of arkansas? I got sick of setting up a tent. Snakes and critters are spooky but are way more scared of me where im at. Curious if anyone has an experience using a bivy that involved a wild animal. I had a rat jump off of my head in the middle of the night sleeping in peoples park with just a bivy. College kids would stumble on me quite a bit and some people i freaked out on came to my camp and threw up gang signs one night. nothing ever happened. Ive gotten really used to waking up with people around me, but i wonder how much i actually miss when im fucked up. im tattoeless, and i think maybe some other homies gave me a single stick and poke dot on my forehead. its darker than a freckle maybe im trippin.

i guess what im saying is dont fall asleep around people you just met lol


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## koob (Jan 6, 2023)

Forth said:


> Something that I've found helpful in my last few trips is the versatility that using a bivy as opposed to a tent offers. A tent is a lot more noticable than a bivy, especially if it's brightly colored which a lot of tents are. Just for peace of mind, I've found it nice that with a bivy I can lay down right in a thicket and be pretty much invisible whereas it's a lot harder to set up a tent in a spot like that. That said, if you're in a more permanent spot having only a bivy is pretty miserable.
> 
> I totally agree with this. Some guy at work was just telling me wild boars will eat you if you go down into parts of arkansas? I got sick of setting up a tent. Snakes and critters are spooky but are way more scared of me where im at. Curious if anyone has an experience using a bivy that involved a wild animal. I had a rat jump off of my head in the middle of the night sleeping in peoples park with just a bivy. College kids would stumble on me quite a bit and some people i freaked out on came to my camp and threw up gang signs one night. nothing ever happened. Ive gotten really used to waking up with people around me, but i wonder how much i actually miss when im fucked up. im tattoeless, and i think maybe some other homies gave me a single stick and poke dot on my forehead. its darker than a freckle maybe im trippin.
> 
> i guess what im saying is dont fall asleep around people you just met lol



Hahahaha maybe I just need to look tougher and nobody'll mess with me lol. The first time I ever stealth camped I unknowingly slept in a bullfield, and the trampled down grass that I saw as a great sleeping spot was in fact one of the places where the cows would lay down to sleep. Got woken up in the middle of the night by an inquisitive bull, but it didn't seem to care very much about me and ambled away, although I nearly shit my pants when I saw it. At the time I had only a sleeping bag and a tarp although a tent wouldn't have helped much if that thing had decided to kebab me with it's horns


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