DropBarFan

Yeah, once went car tent-camping in a South Virginia state park area: designated campground yet no fee, turns out it was sort of for equestrians so a fair amount of horse poop to walk around. Even on East Coast area huge National Forest/state park areas with AFAIK liberal camping policies. Was in late fall, only person I ran into was a local bear-hunter asking if I had seen his dog run by. Another time went auto tent-camping in mid-July to Adirondacks area with no idea about parks/policies but away from the closer populated spots & it was deserted. Drove up the parkway & picked a secluded spot to camp out. funny thing was that there was an actual toilet (in the middle of nowhere, outside) next to the campground. Must have been a hunters' area. Even near super-pricey Aspen CO I went stealth auto-tent camping in September in a (federal?) park & it was free of cost & other campers. Met a local hippie who gave a guided tour to the local history spots.

fourmajor

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I am feeling pretty good about our camping possibilities now.

As for why we are going to all of those places, we are trying to decide where to live, start a farm, physical therapy business, and family. Also looking for existing intentional communities. In short, looking where to spend the rest of our lives.

So, the route itself that Google chose may not be the one we actually take. But we'll probably go to most of those towns and cities. We'll probably also make a few detours to see some more beautiful areas.

iconicflux

Depends how close you are to the massive pot farms. They always have trees by them. Unfortunately, they usually have guys with guns too...

dmpstrdvr1962

I'll chime in, I did a bike tour through the Washington, from Tacoma area to Seattle, out to the San Juan islands. I stealth camped several times. Just look for grown over gate paths leading into forested tracks. Or logging roads, and then back off into the shrubery, out of sight, out of mind. I also stopped and asked a local farmer if I could spend the night on his property. He had no problems, his biggest concern being fires. I have stealth camped throughout Europe, never any problems, and in multiple states in the US. out of sight-out of mind

Bekologist

I'll add a little bit of info, chime in. I'm pretty familiar with the west half of Washington state by bike.

I had several favorite abandoned campgrounds I would camp at.

You'll have to sniff hard to search then out, ( there is an easy way to find them using maps) but there's a number of them scattered about on several key routes in Washington.

Some still have picnic tables in overgrown disarray to utilize.

staehpj1

+1 at least in the wetter parts of the state. The eastern portion is very different, being quite dry.
Also in a lot of the places I rode through there there were very few places that were even remotely flat in a large enough area for even my bivy. I am not a hammock fan, but if most of my camping was there, I'd probably use one.

LorenMiranda

I am currently stealth in Spokane Valley Wa. I have a few things to say... Stay low. Brush in. Be forever vigilant in security of self and your gear. Now being stealth is not the same as homeless... But locals civilian and law enforcement both will assume you are here if found. Politeness matters as well as sober judgement. Be safe and keep chasing them front spokes.

spinnaker

Six year old thread????

bbbean 

Don't trespass. Ask permission. How much simpler can it get?

spinnaker

Six year old thread! The OP is likely long gone.

bbbean 

There's never a bad time to remind people to ask permission before using private property. Besides, meeting farmers and rural property owners is a great way to get to know a place and get a feel for what goes on there. The vast majority of the time you'll not only get permission, but you'll get good info on the surrounding area, bits of local history, and offers of hospitality.
Trespass and you'll get a far less friendly reception, to say nothing of potentially damaging someone's property or blindly walking into some sort of hazard.

fietsbob

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam.. Northern-most Europe, Scandinavia, is better at this..



....

bbbean 

Assuming you don't respect private property rights, I suppose.

indyfabz

Think you missed that. The link discusses the lack of exclusionary private property rights in certain cases.

E.g., Like other Nordic countries Icelandic law contains a version of the freedom to roam, the right to access uncultivated land, camp there, pick berries, and in some months even light a campfire. "It is permissible to cross uncultivated private property without seeking any special permission, but landowners may limit routes with signs or other marks. State-owned land such as conservation areas and forestry areas are open to everyone with few exceptions. These exceptions include – but are not limited to – access during breeding seasons or during sensitive growth periods".[

mev

My take on this tends to be a compare/contrast between three fairly different places I've bicycled:

-- In Texas and much of the eastern USA, there isn't as much public land. Hence, even in areas that are sparsely populated it can be difficult to find impromptu places along the way to camp
-- In western states of the USA, there are more public lands such as that administered by National Forest Service or the BLM. While not all, some of this public land essentially allows light uses like wild camping. It then also becomes easier as a bicycle tourist to have impromptu places along the way to camp
-- While not mentioned in the article, in my experience bicycling across Russia it was fairly common both for myself and others along the way to camp alongside the road. My perception was that most of this land was also public lands - i.e. once owned by the state and even after private property rights were introduced, not economically viable enough to become restricted.

So while I respect private property rights and get permission before camping - I also like areas/countries that have public lands (i.e. no private property) and allow some amount of light use (*). I took the "freedom to roam" at least as much as advocating more lands that enabled this, than an explicit call to violate private property rights.

(*) Clearly that can get abused, but in those cases, sometimes additional rules come into play such as restrictions on ATVs or similar situations.

bbbean 

I didn't miss that, I just don't think their law fully respects private property rights.

Getting back to the OP, however, given that you are in the US, and that many (if not most) property owners believe they have a right to control what goes on on the land they own, it is best to ask permission. I'd go so far to say that regardless of legal status, it is impolite, unethical, and potentially immoral to use someone else's property without permission or extenuating circumstances. Asking permission or finding public land requires such a minimum of planning and effort in most cases, it's hard to justify not doing that.

BB

jonc123

You say to stay low and brush in, be vigilant and secure. Kind of sounds like your doing something wrong rather than right. What a way to live, always looking over your shoulder.

willibrord

All I can say is don't try it in Texas.