RedRider2009

Out of curiosity, I'm wondering how many people are camping vs using other forms of shelter/lodging.

How many people are using sites like warmshowers.org
How many people are stealth camping
How many people are camping at legit campsites

Please post some info about your habits when you settle down for the night while on tour.

Gus Riley

Warmshowers, Churches, fire stations, city parks, legit camping, and a couple motels over 100 days of touring during this 2012 tour season (May through August). No stealth camping planned...but anything can happen.

My vote goes to legit camping because that is what I will mostly be doing this trip...with city parks, fire stations and some of the church stays...camping is usually the order of those stays.

SweetLou

What is a "legit campsite"?

10 Wheels

neilfein

I use a combination of legit campsites, warm showers, and friends' houses. Sometimes there's a hotel room in the mix.

Machka 

You should have set up the poll so we could select several choices.

Although you've got "other" which includes a lot of things, you might have included "hostels" and "motels" and "family/friends" as individual choices as well.

On my tours I have stayed at:
-- campgrounds (of various sorts)
-- family/friend's places
-- motels
-- hostels
-- inns/hotels
-- other miscellaneous places that seemed like good places to camp

It all depends where I am that night, what's available, and where I feel like staying.

rodar y rodar

So, camping outside of TX is illegitimate? Like camping with Garp?

staehpj1

+1
I doubt that many of us only do one of those choices.

Also Legit camping could include anything in your list. Stealth proponents say it is legal and perfectly legit.

I voted "other", but I do a mix of the lot. I like to use hiker/biker sites when available. I enjoy hospitality when offered. I use Warmshowers.org occasionally. I stay in small town park picnic areas frequently. I like state parks and forests in some states and also national parks and forests. I practice dispersed camping in national forests or on BLM land. I stay in private campgrounds when there isn't much else. I free camp quite a bit in plain sight, but only stealth camp as a last resort.

Oh, and yeah I sometimes get a room. That varies from trip to trip though. Some trips I get a room once a week or so, others not at all.

Aushiker

Campsites such as found on the Munda Biddi Trail, wild camping (so called stealth camping), sometimes caravan parks, sometimes motels.





As I had to select one option for the poll I went with stealth camping, however, it is not really stealth camping here; wild camping is more appropriate term.

Andrew

wahoonc

All of the above...

Selected "other" in the poll.

Aaron

RedRider2009

Ooops I guess I missed a bunch of other places to stay...

By "Legit Campsite" I figure it would be legal, with permission, or in a designated campground.

Laws of stealth camping would vary state to state I would imagine, so it's a bit tough to narrow that one down too.

SweetLou

Well, stealth camping is a technique, not a location. It can be done legally or illegally. Since all of my stealth camping is done legally, I am still unsure if I should choose stealth camping or legit campsite. But if you only mean designated campground, then I would have to rule out legit campsite.

BigAura

the entire milieu

Machka 

And in addition to all the places I mentioned, I missed the most obvious one ... the one we use most often for our hub-and-spoke tours:

Cabins in the caravan parks.

Here in Australia caravan parks contain a designated area for tent camping, an area for caravans, often some fixed caravans which they might rent out (although those are getting rarer), and a set of cabins of various sizes.

We usually stay in a smallish cabin.

Big 4, for example, is one of the biggest chains ... although you'll often find better prices (and more tent camping selection) at some of the smaller non-chain caravan parks. However, it's a good example of an Australian caravan park:
https://www.big4.com.au/

From that main site, let's grab Victoria Holiday Accommodations and Apollo Bay (a nice beach town along the Great Ocean Road)
https://pisces-holiday-park.vic.big4.com.au/

If you click Cabins, you'll see you can get various levels of luxury. And as soon as the summer holiday season is over (early February), the price for the Ensuite Cabin (the most basic one they've got), drops to $85/night, which is quite reasonable.

reed523

All of the above. I am amazed how many connections you can make with friends/family and their friends/family once you put the word out about your route. This was good for 10% of my overnights on a cross country (all the while never going more than a couple miles off route), and I don't even facebook

Warmshowers has made the most impact on me. Met some awesome people and turns out, most of them are fabulous cooks!

Bekologist

despite the aboveboard intent, the name 'warmshowers' evokes quite the disturbing imagery of swingers, bodily fluids, and videocameras.

I can't say I'll ever utilize that resource. more 'warm showers' for the rest of you! I'll be grovelling under the shrubbery.

neilfein

Almost everyone I've met through Warm Showers has been kind, generous, and interesting. It's nothing like that. You can look at someone's profile before letting them stay at your house (or vice-verse).

I've arrived at host's homes where they ask me very pointed questions after having read my Crazyguy journals. At first, I thought that was a little strange, but now I find it flattering.

There are also hosts who let you camp in their backyard, which is also very nice. One of the best campsites I ever stayed at was a Warm Shower host's yard, on the way from Boston to New York City. They had two ferocious-looking dogs that were actually amazingly gentle and friendly, and a cat that curled up outside my tent for the night.

aenlaasu

I said other since I camp legally, but not at established camp sites. Gotta love Sweden for that... and many other reasons.

rodar y rodar

I have to agree with that even though I`m a member.
And it doesn`t sound any worse than Couchsurfing, mind you!

znomit

These are often around 15$ a night in NZ. Hard to say no to that after a day on the bike.

wahoonc

We have those to a lesser extent in the USA. KOA has a variety of cabins and "lodges". I have used them a couple of times in the past when I hit a run of foul weather. However in many parts of the country they are as expensive, if not more than many hotels. Overnight stays in the US are getting cost prohibitive if you go with the commercial campgrounds, even state parks are getting expensive, some I have used in the past are hitting $30usd a day now.

Aaron

staehpj1

Seriously?

skinny matt

I picked "stealth camping." I don't tour, but do the occasuinal s24o. I camp in open space preserves and state forests, not private property. I think it's mostly tolerated, but I keep a low profile and am careful not to leave a trace. It's free and has worked out well for me so far.

EriktheFish

Another "other" vote, since there's no multiple choice options.
Camping, warmshowers, occasional hotels, Never Stealth camp.

zomarzi

In the UK and on the continent we have "Campinmygarden.com" for a nominal fee you get to camp in a private household garden and have the use of toilets and washing facilities. Globaly there is Couchsurfing.com I have used this to stay in Spain, France, Malaysia and recomend it.

https://campinmygarden.com/