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Stealth camping, shoreline.
- Thread starter inreb
- Start date
If so I would assume that would be negated by signage "No Camping / Fires" etc.
I get the feeling that every foot of Ontario shoreline is owned by someone or is a provincial park. Park camping fees here are crazy.
As long as it's not signed as no overnight/no camping, which unfortunately almost all crownland south of Algonquin Park is marked as. We tried to spend the night on crownland on scugog island a few years ago and the ministry wardens showed up twice in the latter part of the evening shooing us all out.
Unofficial camping is something I've been thinking of a lot myself as I was kind of interested in doing a few multi-day road trips with camping in mind. Back in our RV days while traveling across the country we did our fair share of overnights in Walmarts (a common and accepted practice) when we were between A and B and just needed a place to crash for some sleep, but an RV is a lot different vs tenting.
I think with some creativity it's entirely possible to find spots to pitch a tent quietly for a night, but my concern is the security (and obviousness) of your bike left by itself sitting where people are apt to see it - unless you're on an off-road capable bike, you can't take your bike off the road with you a few hundred feet into a forest to make yourself completely disappear...which seems to me would be the key to unofficial camping working vs attracting unwanted attention.
I feel I may be asking the impossible, ride up and pitch a tent, no walking in. If that existed, would somebody share it online? Not sure I would. Saw a thing on TV about tropic islands where locals, who go back many generations, can only access very small parts of the coast line. There was an uproar about that. My friend from Ukraine camped wherever he wanted. Now living in Ontario, he's perplexed by the efforts required to secure a camp spot. Homeless people don't seem to struggle with that. Maybe I should do the hobo thing. First step, get an old KLR650.
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Iceman
Well-known member
True stealth camping means pulling just before/after dark, sleeping and pulling out at first light. If your going to set up a campsite with a bunch of people and sing camp songs, you're going to attract attention. You can get away with it quite easily in most areas, and most crown land tracts anywhere in Simcoe County have two track access roads going in, if you can't ride a street bike a few hundred meters down that you should head for the Holiday Inn.
I'm looking for a Hennessey to help with quick and easy setup as I have a trip planned up north this summer in which we may be stealth camping. I've been looking for a used one before I ante up to buy new. Lol
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I'm looking for a Hennessey to help with quick and easy setup as I have a trip planned up north this summer in which we may be stealth camping. I've been looking for a used one before I ante up to buy new. Lol
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Fr33On2Wh33ls
Well-known member
^ It is true. I have heard of people rolling into parks after the office closes and rolling out in the morning before it opens...
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Ya, that's it. I just want to turn my all day rides into two day rides. I'm not looking for that authentic loaded down camping experience. In and out, preferably at seashore. I used to do Provincial Parks, don't like reserving tho.
Motorcycle Mike
Well-known member
Riding up to and camping on the shore in that area will likely be tough to get away with.
I'm trying to think of any spots along Huron that I might know... and the only secluded beaches are also ones that have big cliffs to get down to the shore. All of the areas with easy access have been developed and you will most likely get caught.
I got caught on the shore of the Georgian Bay just South of Tobermory... park rangers cruised the shore by boat right at dusk and saw us.
If you go slightly inland from the coast, however, it would be easy to stealth camp -- not legal, but easy. Just pick a forest patch when it is almost dark and use it. No one is going to notice unless you build a fire.
I've stealth camped up to the Yukon before. I just walked 100m into the woods, pitched my bivy tent, no fire, packed up by 6am and back on the road... I was hitch hiking so no need to hide a bike. The prairies had no woods to hide in, but the grass was tall enough that no one saw me. I was probably never more than 300m from the trans-canada.
The only time I had a hassle was the one time I got dropped off in the rain. Not wanting to bother setting up, I laid down and slept on a sidewalk outside a convenience store in Brandon, MB. At some point the clerk noticed I was there and called the RCMP. The officer who showed up offered to take me to a church where I could sleep, but as the sun was coming up I elected to just hit the road -- and was picked up by a group of Hutterites.
I'm trying to think of any spots along Huron that I might know... and the only secluded beaches are also ones that have big cliffs to get down to the shore. All of the areas with easy access have been developed and you will most likely get caught.
I got caught on the shore of the Georgian Bay just South of Tobermory... park rangers cruised the shore by boat right at dusk and saw us.
If you go slightly inland from the coast, however, it would be easy to stealth camp -- not legal, but easy. Just pick a forest patch when it is almost dark and use it. No one is going to notice unless you build a fire.
I've stealth camped up to the Yukon before. I just walked 100m into the woods, pitched my bivy tent, no fire, packed up by 6am and back on the road... I was hitch hiking so no need to hide a bike. The prairies had no woods to hide in, but the grass was tall enough that no one saw me. I was probably never more than 300m from the trans-canada.
The only time I had a hassle was the one time I got dropped off in the rain. Not wanting to bother setting up, I laid down and slept on a sidewalk outside a convenience store in Brandon, MB. At some point the clerk noticed I was there and called the RCMP. The officer who showed up offered to take me to a church where I could sleep, but as the sun was coming up I elected to just hit the road -- and was picked up by a group of Hutterites.
Motorcycle Mike
Well-known member
I found your solution Bernie.... advrider tent space thread: http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/tent-space-map.776925/
There is a spot down by Highland Glen and another in Wiarton.
There is a spot down by Highland Glen and another in Wiarton.
Most provincial parks have first come first served availability so don't automatically discount them, and there's lots of private parks out there as well. The latter are more apt to accomodate you if they are otherwise full so long as you politely suggest that you're ok with just a quiet patch of grass somewhere and don't need a huge site all to yourself - often many have an overflow area.
In "pure" crown land (no developed camping facilities) I'd suggest that'd work just fine and would probably be something I'd consider myself, but doing that at any campground with developed camping is more difficult. Yes, you can roll into a provincial park or crown land camping area after the gatehouses have closed and pick a site for the night, but you're supposed to settle up in the morning for the fees. Scooting out beforehand is an option to avoid that, but depending on how loud your bike is you are not likely to make any friends starting and up driving out before daybreak.
If we're talking an undeveloped land tract (ie my example at the tip of Scugog, basically a boat launch in a forest), coming in after dark once the wardens have probably all called it a night, pitching a tent and going to sleep (no campfire or other BS), and heading out in the morning is unlikely to be a problem. Technically you can get ticketed for it however if it's placarded as no camping.I think the key is not attracting attention to yourself.
I know some people that travel on horseback that just stop at private businesses in rural areas and outright ask for permission to discretely camp on their property, typically without much problem. Be polite, be quiet, clean up after yourself, and say thanks and I'd suspect the odds are good that'd be an option.
It sounds like it's easier to camp on Yonge Street than in the northern wilds. Campsites in Ontario go for $40 to $50 a night. In the USA they are $5 or $10.
Horses are good, motorcycles are bad.
Also, while the horse is doing the driving at a few KPH the rider can be scanning for a spot. You miss a lot when you have to watch the road at 80 -100 KPH.
True, unfortunately. Cyclists do carry a different aura - everyone wants to come see my horse while we're out riding, but people tend to shy away from bikes.
Reminds me, there was a guy on Kijiji a few years back selling a book with supposedly hundreds or thousands of these sorts of "unofficial" camping spots in Ontario listed, along with details. Can't seem to find it anymore although might just not sell them during the winter. I'll dig around.
Should have searched first...I think this is the book, guy apparently has a website now though.
http://www.freecamping.ca/
$26 and the site is a little light on details on the amount of content. Hmmm.
Looks like there's a crowdsourced site as well:
https://freecampsites.net/#!Ontario&query=region
Here's the official crown land locator. Problem is I'm not sure it details where and where you can camp..but my experience is that crown land in any sort of urban area (as mentioned, much anything south of Algonquin) is almost always listed as no camping.
http://www.giscoeapp.lrc.gov.on.ca/CLUPA/Index.html?site=CLUPA&viewer=CLUPA&locale=en-US
http://www.freecamping.ca/
$26 and the site is a little light on details on the amount of content. Hmmm.
Looks like there's a crowdsourced site as well:
https://freecampsites.net/#!Ontario&query=region
Here's the official crown land locator. Problem is I'm not sure it details where and where you can camp..but my experience is that crown land in any sort of urban area (as mentioned, much anything south of Algonquin) is almost always listed as no camping.
http://www.giscoeapp.lrc.gov.on.ca/CLUPA/Index.html?site=CLUPA&viewer=CLUPA&locale=en-US
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statsman
Well-known member
I don't think the owners of most private property have a problem with people "stealth camping" overnight on their property.
What they do have a problem with is the mess such people leave behind.
Haul out your trash and dig a hole to poop in, then fill it back in come morning.
What they do have a problem with is the mess such people leave behind.
Haul out your trash and dig a hole to poop in, then fill it back in come morning.
Problem is the Crown land locator is notoriously out of date and in accurate. We deal a LOT with as an ATV club and there are tracts of land shown as crown that the MNRF, (back then it was the MNR), sold off DECADES ago but never bothered to update. We constantly get people arguing that an entire area is crown land when perhaps 30% is still actually crown land the other 70% has been sold off as hunting camps or is on long term leases to forestry companies. Once it is leased to a forestry company it is no longer "crown land", for the duration of the lease. Some leases can run 99 years.
I "heard" that beach trespassing is a problem. Years ago I read a newspaper piece about this issue all along shore north of Wasaga beach. I'd imagine it be a concern anywhere. I pick up a vibe when sightseeing/stopping Lake Erie shore.
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