Hello all.

One thing I cannot wrap my head around is if its safe or even typical to to set up camp and then go explore the town. The reason I ask is that some friends and I are going on a few day tour and one of the days is a low mileage day and we will camp in a campground and there is a cool little town down the road.

So I wanted to know if you all would recommend setting up camp and then going into the town to explore.

Thank you all.

Guys here would be able to tell you I'm sure.

I put all my stuff inside my tent, zip it up, and leave my campsite all the time. It's only on very rare occasions I've felt "a vibe" that leaving my campsite unattended would be a bad idea. Chatting with your neighbors is a good idea to let them know your circumstance. It's not to have them be responsible, but just to keep a "neighborly eye". I've never lost anything to theft at a campsite or touring for that matter.

People who camp in formal campgrounds are not prone to stealing. The unwritten rule being to not enter someone's campsite unless invited.

Never had any problem myself. In fact, in one campground, when I returned, I found a bag of sandwiches and a bottle of chocolate milk beside my tent for "the homeless man." (Above rule violated.) Would you eat food left by a stranger? I didn't.

I second BigAura's post.

I third it!

I would not want to get to the point where I was so paranoid about leaving my bike or campsite unattended that I would not go out and enjoy some of the attractions in an area. That is what bike touring is all about for me.

Early one morning while camping in a Swiss campground my wife and I zipped up our tent, locked our bikes (including my wife's custom built Co-Motion) to a rickety wooden fence, and walked the 3 miles to the train station. I was a little bit more leery about leaving them at the train station. We then took 3 different trains to get to Grindelwald. We spent 3-4 hours there and eventually got back to the campground at dusk. We locked our netbook and some other things in a small locker available at the campground. I was a little anxious, but it would have taken us 2 more weeks of riding to get to a place I really wanted to see. We wanted to get out of Switzerland because 3 more weeks there would have had a major impact on our finances!

Would I do this in Southern California? Heck no! It depends on the location and how I feel about a place.

The "rickety" fence.


On the other hand, we were riding through Cleveland, Ohio when we stopped at a diner for lunch. The waitress told us to bring our bikes inside, because they "will not be there when you come out". I didn't leave my bike out of my sight until we were well clear of the city

Bottom line is that it depends on the situation.

I have a tiny padlock on my tent zipper.
Minimal protection of course, but makes me feel better.

Depends on the ethics of the camp ground.. Ie your 'fellow travelers'..

Depends on what type of camping you're doing? Campgrounds or stealth camping?

Stealth camping as it implies relies on stealth so you're camp should be somewhat hidden from prying eyes and the biggest hurdle you'll probably have is trying to find your stuff again depending on how well you hid them.

If you're that nervous about it, you can just take all your stuff with you and just leave the things you set up (tent, tarp, etc.) or just hide it away from your main camp with some leaves.

My bicycle was stolen from directly in front of our tent ... a mere few feet away from the tent ... while we were in the tent, at about 11 pm one night.

I don't feel 100% comfortable in any campground of any sort anymore.

I have faith in the goodness of the human race, but also recognize there are meth-heads all over america looking for things to sell for drugs. I will always lock my bike up at night and short trips into a store, etc. There will be a Ring lock on the next heavy touring bike i build up.

Always lock your bike up at night. You don't want to end up like Machka.

As to leaving stuff in a tent at an organized campsite, i try not to worry about it. There's not much market for dirty cycling clothes or a tent. I have heard anecdotes of entire campsites disappearing on people, but that's bound to be quite rare.

Don't leave electronics, money, or valuables in the tent, and ride into town to enjoy it.

Riding into a cool town for an afternoon of lounging about, drinking coffee under a shade tree, chatting up the locals, visiting used bookstores, consuming entire pies to the astonishment of waitresses....... some of the joys of bike touring. I caught "Grindhouse" the movie in an old Grindhouse in Portland on a swing thru there a few years ago. Catching a movie in an air-conditioned theatre on a hot summer day is a pleasant respite on a bike tour.

Don't let the fear of your gear being stolen get in the way of experiences like these.

ditto.

I've been camping since the '60's and the only thing I've ever had stolen was some firewood. You'll never be completely safe from thieves, but generally people in campgrounds don't steal things. Having said that, I always lock my bike when not riding it!

What have you changed since that happened? Anything you do different now?

Thank you all for your help.

what??? leave your campsite unattended?? are you crazy???


first thing i do after i set up the tent is switch into my cammies. then dig a couple foxholes
and set up a perimeter. you know, set some flares and some man-traps, clear the brush
for about 100 yards in all directions. well, except for one strategically placed shrub to use
as a latrine.

paranoid? maybe. but you never know when another camper is gonna start plinking away
on his banjo, and then you'll be glad you're prepared!

I used to be very trusting, figuring that generally people in campgrounds don't steal things ... Easter 2010 taught me differently.


I don't camp much anymore ... and when I do, I don't sleep much. And of course, lots of locks. One place in Germany, we locked the bicycles up, and then tied them to the tent.

So yeah ... once you've had a bicycle stolen, you get a bit paranoid.

Van camping is OK because everything can be locked into the van.

We camped in a busy city park and twice left during the day with no problems.

Here's my setup, see the tent... behind the airstream

I have camped only once in last 30+ years of stay in the US and it was in a private campground in Lancaster Cty, PA. My towel hanging outside the shower stall was stolen while I took a shower. So, I guess nothing is guaranteed.

I too have never lost anything in a campsite. However, there have been a few places where I've chose not to leave my valuables unattended. Usually associated with nearby or within cities. You don't often see professional thieves working national parks and national forests campgrounds.

Since I normally 'stealth' camp I can't speak much for what I do around a campground. I would have to generally agree with most though that I probably would trust everything enough to set up camp and then venture into town. If I had anything of any true value with me I would end up taking it with me and carry it in a daypack or something like that. Having said that since I normally 'stealth' camp I generally am not setting up camp until after sunset anyways. Pretty much anymore I head off for the business district and camp out behind businesses or in town parks more so than anywhere else. I use Google Earth to find the wide open spots around town where there aren't much in the way of homes close by the access point. If no one sees you go in, no one can call the cops on you and in the case of the question you are asking...for future reference, if no one sees you go in, more than likely no one will know you are there and no on will bother your stuff. You just have to have the right location where you won't be spotted coming and going.

Thus far, with maybe one exception last year...trying to remember if I ever did lock my bike up on the trip I was on last year or not, I haven't locked my bike up at all while travelling. I watch where I stop and normally I'm always stopping at locations away from cities in more rural communties or flat out convience stores at highway intersections aka basically in the middle of nowhere. When I stop to hop online at a McDonalds or someplace like that I'm pretty much able to look right at my bike/backpack and I can see if anyone is messing with it...again just watch where you stop. If I'm stopping at a Wal-Mart/grocery store...thus far, I haven't thought much about it. The traffic flow is so high plus with all the hidden cameras facing the parking lot generally most people wouldn't think of stealing the bike. I park it right beside the front door anyways to make it more visible and more noticable if anyone does decide they want to run off with it.

I carried a lock with me last year on my trip and I may have used it once. I don't ever carry a lock with me around home and I'm stopping at stores, libraries all the time. I do live in a smaller community area, for clarification. The only trouble I've ever had was some stupid punky kids that like to knock my bike over when they were taking their bike out of the bike rack Naturally they were too lazy to set the bike back up. They did that twice in about a week or so period at one of the local libraries...short thereafter since they couldn't keep their mouth shut in the library they got kicked out of the library and haven't been a problem anymore.

Since I'm a full-time commuter, I go into Walmart almost weekly. I carry a lightweight ABUS Combiloop, which I use to lock up against one of the sign posts or cart stalls in front where there is a good view of the cameras. I'll take anything of high-value into the store with me.

If I'm touring, I'll slip some zipties to bind the handles of the panniers to the racks to discourage someone from snatching a pannier off the bike as they walk by. None of this is strong security, but it discourages the opportunistic thief; i.e. someone who is not necessarily looking for something to steal, but may be tempted by a soft target.

I leave my bike unattended a lot, but NOT unlocked. Sometime you just have to be resourceful. We were staying at a hotel with a low security parking garage and bikes not allowed in rooms.



I fabricated these 3/32" security cables for my Classic Ortlieb Roller panniers. It is similar to the ones they sell for the Packer Plus series. They will not stop a professional thief, but they will discourage the opportunistic thief. Sometimes if we are going to leave camp for a long time we will cable all the panniers together, which make for a pretty unwieldy load. My wife and I both have these on our panniers, but we hardly ever use them.

I made Up a 10 foot long double loop cable out of hardware store parts ,

to extend the size of things I could lock-up to, at Night.

One thing I did before, and do more dilligently now, is to take anything of real value with me when I leave the campsite.

Our tent, sleeping bags, and well-used clothing can be replaced relatively easily (although it would be a pain and something of an expense), but there are other things like my camera and all my photos that cannot be replaced that easily. So that comes with me.

Talk to police and park officials and you'll find that its not even always safe to leave stuff in a locked car and go off exploring for the day! Disappointing - but apparently part of life.

I either take everything with me, leave it with park officials, or have friends in the area I'm visiting and use their address as a base camp. No bad experiences but lots of good ones!