“Security is when everything is settled. When nothing can happen to you. Security is the denial of life.”  ~ Germaine Greer

Campsite Selection

The approach to camping as a soloist in remote areas is (or at least should be) somewhat different than group camping.  My strategy to deal with this was as follows:

1.      While in Grizzly Country, if at all possible camp at an established campsite populated with other people.

2.      If unable to camp at an established and populated campsite; camp close to the route while remaining semi-hidden.

3.      Never leave gear or food unsecured.

While in Grizzly Country, if at all possible camp at an established campsite populated with other people. 

Going into country with a heavy grizzly population was a new thing for me, so I came up with a camping plan which, at minimum, gave me some piece of mind at night.  This sometimes (actually more than sometimes) meant I had to ride further than I had planned to make this happen.  In Canada, Montana, and Wyoming (before the desert), I only camped at two campsites where I was totally alone.  Aloneness in one campsite was relative to the Togwotee Lodge that was less than a quarter mile away and the other was in a remote, rugged, place where I stopped and dropped because it was dark, raining, and cold.  Yeesh.  Once I crossed into the Divide Basin and beyond, lone camping became more common.

My theory was to utilize bear boxes (big, steel, bear proof canisters at campsites), suspended bear bags and camping near other people to keep the bears away at night.  As far as I know, it worked in all cases but one…which was a sketchy campsite in Canada where I found bear tracks next to my tent the next morning. 

If unable to camp at an established and populated campsite; camp close to the route while remaining semi-hidden. 

This strategy only really applied from south-central Wyoming south, when I moved out of grizzly country.  Artie from Georgia, who I met along with his wife, Sherry in a campsite south of Steamboat, CO verbalized our common thoughts in a great way.  “I don’t like paying to sleep on the ground.”  He also coined the term “Stealth Camping” which I immediately adopted.  Well, from southern Wyoming through Colorado and into New Mexico, ‘stealth camping’ became the standard more often than not.

When stealth camping, a couple of extra processes had to take place that wouldn’t normally be done in an established campsite.  One was to pull off the trail (usually a USFS, BLM, or county road) far enough and deep enough that someone coming through at night (which oddly enough was very common, especially in NM) wouldn’t notice me but close enough that if someone was looking for me, or what was left of me, they wouldn’t have to try too hard.  Unless weather was an issue, I stealth camped in concealed defilade.   The second was to do a thorough perimeter sweep of about 200 meter circumference of the camping area before setting up camp.  I landed at about a half dozen ‘good’ improvised sites that had a recently gutted deer/elk carcass hidden nearby that some hunter had ditched before pulling out.  Having meat predators in my campsite at night wasn’t an ideal situation in my book.  I moved on and camped at least a quarter of a mile away or more in all cases.

One topic related to this that needs to be discussed is moving though private land areas.  When leaning forward in route planning, it is important to keep yourself from ending up, late in the day, in an extended area of private land.  Stealth camping is cool on BLM and USFS land, but not on private land.  I only camped on private land once without permission, and that was due to being unexpectedly pinned down by a gnarly, extended, electrical storm late in the day and running out of light to ride it out.  These areas are more or less clearly marked on the ACA maps.

Never leave gear or food unsecured. 

This should seem like common sense, but it actually required a bit of forethought and planning.  When coming into a populated area or campsite area, I tried to get all my stuff done with the gear still lashed all up to the bike.  Once I got to my campsite, I intended to stay there until exit the next morning.  This included, at minimum, locking my bike to a tree all night, even if I was stealthed out in defilade in the middle of nowhere.  Somebody steals you bike at night while you sleep, its doubtful they will be around to give you a ride into town the next morning.  I also kept ALL my gear, except for food, in my tent at night.  Small critters like to run away with stuff at night as well.

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