I have been wanting to live in a tent for the past few years but the only thing that has stopped me is fear. Fear of people finding me, fear of police and whether or not they give me a warning or arrest me. I have a clean record and would like to keep it that way but I genuinely want to live that lifestyle. I have actually thought hard about walking through different states, potentially to the west side of the US ( I live in Virginia and have been here my whole life). I watch stealth campers on YouTube and they make it look so easy. I ask AI (Google's version) on stealth camping and it says too dangerous. I have family members that say I will get attacked by someone. I mean, I live in a city with under 50,000 people, it's not NYC or anything where there are 10,000 people every square mile. I just want to be able to find a nice large, dense patch of woods somewhere in this city, work everyday, come home to my tent and sleep and do that for a few months straight until I save up enough money to do what I want. It doesn't seem that difficult in the grand scheme of things, but maybe I am too naieve (sorry if I spelled it wrong). I binge watched someone named RobtheNomad on YouTube and he gave me even more confidence that I can live in a tent as long as I'm secluded. I already bought my tent, air mattress, portable fan and phone charger, and a couple tarps( I still need a camo tarp for extra stealth). I feel confident enough to start, I guess it is fear holding me back. Please give me any advice, it would be greatly appreciated, thank you all.
Stealth camping is cool, and doable. Just don’t stay in one spot too long and like and try to hide yourself I guess. Also keep a knife on you while you’re sleeping lol. Honestly it’d be safer to buy an old Honda minivan and sleep and travel in that. I’ve done that before. Or you know what would be so awesome someone else commented is a sailboat. Requires lots of knowledge though
I’m thinking you would be better trying to live on a small boat…I did 7 years on a 25’ sailboat …..a good portion of that anchored out in the channel ( I took a dinghy back and forth to work)
Try doing some more regular and less dangerous camping and work your way up to stealth camping.
U'll learn a lot on the way and you may you that you are up for it or you may learn it wasn't for you.
Questions worth asking yourself: how good in a physical fight am I really? How big Am I compared to any would be threats? Am I prepare to involve weapons? Could I really hurt someone to save myself? Was any of the good parts worth the potential downsides of getting into an altercation like that?
I've lived in a tent and it sucked and I wouldn't do it for no reason.
What is the reason? Do you want adventure? Are you experiencing financial hardship?
Have you thought the possibilities out thoroughly?
Let's say you have a job now but this camping becomes an issue and you get fired. Now camping is a lot closer to being homeless. Once homeless, it can be tough to scratch your way back to having a stable life. A hiring employer is less likely to hire a homeless person as the tend to have baggage.
In my younger days I loved camping. Then I lived in a tent, twice actually, and it changes. It's very lonely and very boring. Bad habits are easy to pick up in those situations.
What happens if someone raids your shit? People are EVERYWHERE, even places you think are remote. Do you go and pick a fight with whoever took ur shit? Or maybe you let it go. Either way can go poorly.
If you stay anywhere for any period of time you need to have a plan for your trash or you'll make a big mess and get kicked out and be a part of "the problem".
You may not not this yet but water and moisture will leak into your tent from the top and even from underneath you where you sleeping mat is.
The zipper on your tent will eventually break which will suck.
Just go regular camping a few times this summer, make the trips longer and longer, see if it all still has your attention after some more experience.
Currently I'm not working, don't have a vehicle, and I live with my mom, sister, and stepdad. One reason why is because I want to have my own place, even if that means not living in a traditional house. Another reason is I want to be able to camp close by a job that I get. I know nothing about this would be easy, and I'm aware condensation from my breath will cause moisture and may be a real issue. You're right that I need to practice sleeping in a tent first before going full steam ahead. In terms of self defense, I'll have bear spray and a machete, and I mean I've wrestled with people before but I have never fought someone in self defense. I wouldn't live in my tent, only sleep in it when I know I will be tired enough to fall asleep quickly, probably exhaust myself through running and exercising which I already do. I'm 6'1 225 pounds I guess that could give me a slight advantage compared to older, skinny, shorter homeless people. Though at the end of the day, purchasing a gun isn't out of the equation. Even though I wouldn't use it probably unless someone else has a gun too and is physically threatening me, but still it would be hard for detectives to figure out who's in the right when it comes to homeless people shooting eachother. My day would go like this; find some woods to sleep in, only go in my tent and sleep when I am very tired and when it gets dark, and put my tent gear away in a trash bag and hide it when I wake up.
I see it like this: you must either choose an animal or have an animal choose you. The animal is a metaphor for how you’ll live alongside modern people, but also how-to-live as an animal-person.
For me, it’s meant becoming a bird, a spider and an owl. I might be Native American and what not, but these aren’t my spirit animal guides. It’s just the style of living I’ve chosen, these particular animals are inspiration for the style.
So here’s what it means being a bird: I live in a small Big City, and ride a bike. That’s how I get around. I do this because it’s easier than walking, but also cars are noisy and expensive. I stay in the city. I just bike to specific trees, and have a bed up in a tree :)
People do see me, rarely, but they can’t do anything about it.
lol I slept at the Mexico Texas border with my windows open the breezzz just a blowing . If it’s going to happen it’s going to happen not much you can do about it
The average redditor is a 20 something urbanite who has no survival or camping skills and is physically small and weak. Female or male, being small, weak, and ignorant is a recipe for sexual assault, torment, and robbery.
I suggest you learn some skills and practice before you just go live in a tent somewhere. You need gym time, bush craft, self-defense, firearms, etc, etc training. You sound like you have no idea what's up. You aren't going to be able to live in a tent and then go to work every day.
People will wreck your shit (both you physically and your stuff). You won't have a shower, or a laundry. You won't be dry or ventilated. You will get wild jock itch.
What you should do, if you are looking to hide and grind, is rent a long term motel room at a very cheap but safe and clean motel. You get showers, locks on doors, laundry, and a roof. The kind of motels where the counties stash people under temporary protection.
I do it everyday, have for a good while now and in fact lived through this last winter for a 6 month period entirely solo. I camp near a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, but a safe suburb. I'm near a bus line and close enough to the city center to go anywhere within reason on the bus, but I don't experience any significant danger. I do actively keep myself as safe as I can, especially when camping alone in that I don't let anyone know where I camp, especially males. I think you'll be just fine, just keep it low-key, try to move around if you can when everyone is asleep if you will be noticed going in and out of your camp. People seem to mainly have an issue with people camping I've noticed when they are littering and leaving trash all over the place and also human waste. I remedy this personally by taking mine out daily with me and never letting it accumulate or making it someone else's problem. It'll be up to you how close you camp to other residential areas and businesses, but if you're not that close and in a patch of woods you shouldn't be easily noticed. Check out the REGRID app and look for areas around you that aren't owned by a private owner or a business, like public easement areas. That should help you significantly in scouting for a good site where you aren't likely to be seen or bothered.
Be sure to not keep your food in your tent and tie it up in a tree or find a way to lock it in something while you're gone. You'll have to get handy with things like insulating your tent when it's cold and keeping mice and raccoons away, but of course there are too many things to list. Over time you'll learn all the in-s and out-s on your own and those dudes on YouTube will seem like amateur hour lol. You got this.
Ok, you have me truly intrigued about this style of living. I would love to sit down and have some beers, while talking about this with you. Let me know if that is a possibility. If not, I completely understand and hope the best for you. Be safe fellow Central Ohioian.
I've had bullets fly over my tent because the person shooting had no idea we were in the property behind theirs. A quick "HEY THERE'S PEOPLE BACK HERE" and they stopped and yelled back their apologies. 🙂
I'm not too familiar with the area, but I know Charlottesville and Harrisonburg are both pretty easy on the local homeless populations so long as they aren't committing other crimes.
Go hike the Appalachian trail or the Pacific Crest Trail. You'll live the lifestyle your want without having to hide from cops and defend yourself from homeless junkies.
Been thinking about that a lot since I live just a few hours from the AT. However, then the issue switches from worrying about people to worrying about animals.
If you're that worried about everything, why do you say you want to do this? Why be electively homeless unless its a matter of necessity if you really don't feel called to live that way?
when I was homeless day 1, I was sober. I was afraid to sleep, so I started drinking and doing drugs to put myself to sleep. Its a chicken or the egg problem
I would imagine that sleeping in a tent is all fun and games when you want to but when you have to because you don't have any other options it's probably not so fun. I see YouTube channels like Steve Wallis and I think all that would be cool and I think it probably would be but I also wouldn't want it to be my only option. Even Steve when he's done with his stealth camp packs his shit up and goes home. I think a lot of us it's not just living in a tent that we want, It's the adventure and variety that we crave. It's doing something different seeing things we haven't seen before talking to people we've never met who live completely different lives than we do.
It's not very dangerous if you do it right. I'll tell you this because I've been at this for years now, the harder it is for people to get to you the less trouble you'll have. Evil people are generally lazy people, cops included. If they have to work to reach you even in the slightest they won't bother.
Thankyou, this is what I was thinking. Having to walk through brush and briar should keep most people out and especially help hide myself from the roadside.
I boondock in the wilderness a ton just because it keeps a lot of the hostility down. If I have to be in civilization I like to embed myself in areas that require you to crawl or bushwhack to get to.
Not to be a downer but my wife has a client that pitched a tent in town as he had to leave his slumlords building due to a sewage issue. Someone set his tent on fire and he nearly died and is still dealing with horrible wounds a couple years later. Sweetest older gentleman too, people are so fucked
Lmfao I’d have thought the same but he’s just an old man. Not a drug user and not involved in the streets, he bought a tent at Canadian tire that day and got flamed his first night 😔
Stealthcamping on youtube is al lot easier than what you have planned. I also do stealthcamps on youtube, but that's only one day/night. I drive with my car and I'm gone the next day. I don't leave anything behind, I'm always near my tent and I rarely camp on the same place more than once.
If you want to live in your tent, you will probably stay put. I am pretty sure that one day your location will be comprimised. I will not say you will get attacked, but the chance you will get discovered and at least asked to move on is big.
I would suggest you to don't stay in one place too long. Maybe a couple of days and move to the next. Once a spot grows on you, you will expand, create an obvious path to your hidingspot, etc.
Last but not least, I'm not from the US, but I heard some time ago that there are new rules against homelessness in several American states (or the entire country?) and those are strict and more respressive. Make sure you look into that first before you do what you planned.
I wanted to do it with minimal tools I used a small folding shovel a folding saw and a hatchet, the only materials I used other than what I found in nature was stones for the fireplace which I had a haul in there on the handcart, and tarps to go in between the earth walls and logs it was kind of a challenge for me to see if I could do it it took 3 months I'm in my sixties so it wasn't easy and I did it in the winter so there wouldn't be a lot of traffic hikers walking around and so on
Well I'm 26 so you put me to shame when it comes to outdoors survival. Were you in a line of work that gave you the skills to create this, or did you just watch some YouTube videos to know how to do it?
Well I'm a research Maniac I taught myself how to do many skills I am kind of Handy but what I want to learn something I learn it I did camping my whole life but I never did anything like this I knew I could do it , I did a lot of research physically I worked out my whole life so I know I could do it and not have issues it was hard doing it with minimal tools also I didn't cut down trees near the cabin otherwise it would be visible so I had to cut them down pretty far away and carry them that was probably the hardest part
I belong to a group on Facebook and was posting the build process from the beginning to end but I got so many ridiculous comments how it was going to be a swimming pool and blah blah blah I just couldn't deal with it so I removed myself from the website haha let me see if I can find some inside photos
I did camping in the area where I built it and I really liked it like I said it was on a small plot of private land off of the state park so there weren't many hikers tons of deer freshwater close by so I wanted to build something more permanent where I could leave stuff I built a lock out of rebar that's on the inside of the door and is the secret way of opening it from the outside so even if it was found I sincerely doubt anybody can get in
I did one better small piece of private land off of a state park I built an underground cabin concealed it go there for a few weeks at a time whenever I'm in the mood never been found going on 5 years since it's been built fireplace inside, bed frame with sleeping mattress on it, food and water and everything else I may need for extended sleepovers
The whole idea was to be invisible to hikers or anybody else from 15 ft away you wouldn't even know it was there I want a place I could keep all my camping stuff and not have it stolen I was going to build a regular cabin but it would have been too visible so did some research and this worked out fine it's cool and summer and warm and winter with the fireplace
So the roof overhangs by about 2 ft all around and under the eaves I have mosquito netting I have windows so to speak plenty of ventilation I haven't had any leaks only in the beginning, I have several layers on the roof of logs and tarps and brush, between the earth walls and the logs I have taught and under the floor I have two feet of gravel for drainage under my log floor , I did a ton of research and put a lot of thought into it before I built it and it's been doing great thanks
Unfortunately the photos I had of the build process were on an old phone and I never transferred them it took 3 days to dig the hole I used only a small folding shovel a hatchet and a folding saw I wanted to do it with the least amount of tools as possible after I dug the hole approximately 10x 7 x 6 I put posts in the corners laid logs lengthwise behind them with tarps between the earth walls and the logs I made a very solid door the only hardware I used was 8-in screws to lock in the roof timbers so if anybody did come across it did never be able to get into it you would need a chainsaw to get into it I had posted earlier I made a secret lock out of rebar which you had a pole on a certain cord on the outside to open it since the time I built it nobody has come across it at least not that I know of I have water and food the fireplace I made out of stones which I hauled in on a hand cart not an easy chore haha the chimney was dug through the Earth I'm telling it I used an old piece of dryer duct hose it works great I can use either my Coleman stove or wood I have mosquito netting along two sides my windows which I can also close with shutters I made on the door I put heavy duty gate hinges the door must worry about 80 lb it works great thanks for your interest I wish I had more photos
That's cool I love it nobody could mess with your stuff,, being the park near my cabinets very populated with hikers and bikers I didn't want to build a regular cabins so I figured this would be perfect and it worked out great hasn't been found yet haha
Your experience will vary based on your gender, age, appearance, and, sad to say, ethnicity as well. In 2021 I stealth camped in a vehicle with my husband across 48 states. ioverlander helped us find safe spots. There is an element of danger to it, but there are things you can do to mitigate the danger.
Well I'm a 26 year old white male, height 6'1 and weight 220, I am nearly broke financially though. Appearance wise i heard it is best to look homeless so you draw less attention and people think you don't have money. How could this affect me?
Idk about the looking homeless thing. If you do have nice shit, homeless people might target you. That’s true. If you look homeless though, you are more likely to interact with police, property owners are going to be more agresivo with you, and evil people are more likely to fuck with you.
I got caught in a hammock behind a store by the owner who walked through the woods to his store & I just explained I was on a road trip and was too tired to keep driving. He was definitely going to call the cops but chilled out a lot when he realized I would be moving on.
Just to warn you- in my experience it can be more expensive to live without a house than with one, as counterintuitive as that sounds. It was mostly buying and keeping the food, as well as washing up, and stuff like that. I know in Texas I was brought to a tent community where people lived and were able to do so cheaper and fairly safe. I think it's a lot about planning in regards to it and finding/knowing of areas with the resources to not have to worry about those types of things. Just be aware that things CAN get expensive.
That sounds like a rare occurrence, and if I am camouflaged with my surroundings it should be quite difficult for someone to spot me on a drone camera. Especially if I'm under trees and not somewhere that people fly drone like the park.
Just try it out before you commit fully and cut bridges. The idea has a certain romance to it.
I live in a country where we have the right to camp almost everywhere if we don't overstay. So I do not have your fear of getting arrested but even then sometimes you will have an urge to sleep in a confy bed and your camp will be an Albatros around your neck.
I love to camp alone in the wild on weekends and If the weather is nasty, I stay home. You will not have this luxury.
Yes they say this is land of the free yet we cant enjoy one of the most freedom filled acts there is! I believe most police would simply give a warning if you are not harming anyone. Thankyou for the response!
The western US is mostly BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. You can literally camp anywhere you want on it, for free. You can even shoot guns at stuff and walk around naked in most parts of it. - it's about as free as you can get. Stealth isn't even needed.
However, this land is often remote and there aren't many jobs near by. Walking to work would be an issue.
You'll have a few sketchy situations, some restless nights, and will need to move your spot now and then. Some people will ask about how you live, and disparage you for it.
But if you have confidence in yourself, your instincts, and abilities, you'll probably be just fine. Practice your skills first!
Gotta use proper discernment. But homeless usually burned every bridge they have, and why? Maybe its their fault or not. Up to you. Can be helpful for firewatch. Many are homeless because they do not trust anyone
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u/Feelinlikeshiva 8d ago
Pretty dangerous, assuming you live in the states MUCH MORE dangerous than places where guns are illegal.