I did a tour of the US perimeter in 2022/23 and one of my main plans was to stealth camp as much as possible. Being on a bike for almost a year, campgrounds and hotels can get expensive real quick. Out of the 323 days I was on the bike, I stealth camped about 250 nights and never had an issue. There were times when I knew I was skirting the laws but that's what stealth is. I never trespassed on marked property but I'm sure some areas were iffy. No matter where I stayed, I used the "leave no trace" ethos. With stealth camping you don't want to have bright colors and reflective material showing. Yellow or red bags stick out like a sore thumb, same with tentage. Because I knew I was going to stealth camp a majority of the time, all my gear and bike are blacked out, except for the typical reflective parts. It took me two years just to acquire the gear just for that purpose. My tent is the Nemo Dragonfly, which has no reflective material on it and is a very dark green with a low silhouette.
The thing with stealth camping is you need to be comfortable in your own skin. You're going to have animals wander through the area and the nearest area for any type of safety can be miles away. Nightime in the middle of nowhere, all alone, can be unnerving for a lot of people. Expect not to sleep well for the first few nights, every sound you hear you think is sasquatch.
The last thing is the type of bike. I used a carbon gravel bike for my tour, with big ole 47mm tires on 650b rims. Rolling through wooded areas or places with obstacles was a breeze. Rolling a loaded 700c 32mm tire through those places could be a issue.
Bag everything that has a smell, food, toiletries, etc., and toss it 50 feet away. I used OP sacs inside drybags for that, and never had anything happen.

Middle of nowhere Oregon

Blacked out and down for business

I do not mind tents that are not stealthy because I generally have not tried to be stealthy.

I like a light colored tent, inside it is much lighter and easier to see things in daytime. And on a hot day in sun, it is not quite as hot inside the tent with a light color fly.

The only downside was when I was in Iceland in June and July, it never got dark out which made sleeping a bit more difficult.

Sometimes I use a tent light, photo below is one of the tents I use for backpacking. It was night, I had a small tent light inside the tent.



My tent light shining on the fly on the inside made it quite a bit brighter inside than it would have been if that was a dark color fly.

Tent below is the tent I have been using for bike touring since 2017. Single wall roof/ceiling. That orange sidewall is not very stealthy. Light color roof/ceiling made it quite easy to see inside the tent in daytime.



Decades ago I camped with a forest green color fly on a double A frame tent, it was really dark inside and quite hot in the sun.
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Since I generally am not trying to be stealthy, I prefer these lighter colors. But you are correct, an olive green or dark green tent would be much more stealthy. And, if you are trying to be stealthy, you probably have your tent up only a bare minimum of time when the sun is up.

I lived in Gillette, Wy for 6 years in the late 70's, early 80's.
That I-90 is (was) a long stretch (70 miles) of nothing.
One certainly gets an appreciation for the wide open plains.
I rode to Buffalo a couple of times to bike camp in the Bighorn mountains.
Good thing I was young and could knock out the miles.

Leave No Trace!!!! ------ Ding Ding Ding We Have Winner!

I like to think...
They don't know when I am there!
They can never prove I was there!

Man that climb over the Bighorn mountains almost did us in. We were going west to east. The uphill side coming from Ten Sleep (what a name lol) was bad enough, but the downhill side coming into Buffalo, you expect to enjoy a nice downhill, but no, there's as much climbing as there is descending. However the final big descent into Buffalo is admittedly nice. And they even have a bike path leading from the foothills into town, although it looks rarely utilized.

Gillette had terrible tasting salty tap water. Even the fountain soda at the Hardee's fast food restaurant tasted bad because of it. Was it like that when you were there or is it a new thing they are struggling with? Maybe due to drought and ground water loss?

Stealth camping does not require "going full military camp-concealed...". There are methods to minimize one's presence and visibility by using the terrain, landscape, equipment positioning along with ambient & back lighting along. It does not require going full "men with green faces".

Doug64's post and photos are a good, low key example of hiding in plain sight without the need of going "military" or fearing the police.

Camping in plain sight is often a good tactic.

We were stopping for the night in Carey Idaho. There was a nice city park and we thought about camping there for the night. While I was working on the bikes a city employee drove up, and came over to talk to us. She asked where we were staying, and I asked her about staying in the park. She said it was not a good idea because the water sprinklers came on about 10 PM. She told us to pitch our tent just outside the park at the far end. We checked it out after she left, and it was pretty tough camping back there because of the sage brush.


We looked across the road at what appeared to be a small fair grounds.


There was a good spot in the fair grounds close to the road with a nice tree to provide a little shade. As we were setting up, a car stopped and the driver invited us to attend the Horse Club's practice session in the nearby arena.


So when we finished our chores and cleaned up we went to the "show".


It was a great spot and no one bothered us.

Heh. A maintenance worker told a cyclist at the Twin Bridges Bike Camp to move his tent because of sprinkler activity. (The camp in in a city park.). Inside the building there was a map instructing people where to pitch to avoid getting wet.

Pro tip for anyone staying in a city park: Always close up the tent. I met a guy who was hanging out at the city park in Lander, WY. His buddy had crashed coming into town and was in the hospital. During a visit with his buddy he left his tent fly open. Came back to find his tent with a inch of water in it and everything inside soaked.