Overlanding—Do I Just Leave Camp Set Up??

[DV LAWYER]

Hey everyone, I've finished buying everything I need to go away. I plan on doing a week or two in southern Utah, some Arizona, some Colorado, really wherever the day takes me, no solid plans. BUT...I have my entire kit with me, and I travel ridiculously comfy. That said, do I just leave camp set up and go enjoy the San Rafael Swell, or do the Moab trails, and come back to camp at night? Has anyone gotten things stolen from their camp, like chairs, stoves, all the stuff we use to set up? I hope to be perched on a bluff, overlooking beauty, and wake up and roll, do some trails, have some lunch, then come back and shower, eat, relax at camp, watch the stars. I'm just worried someone will steal my tent, my chairs, my setup. What do yall think?

Thank you in advance.

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[entropy]

Hey everyone, I've finished buying everything I need to go away. I plan on doing a week or two in southern Utah, some Arizona, some Colorado, really wherever the day takes me, no solid plans. BUT...I have my entire kit with me, and I travel ridiculously comfy. That said, do I just leave camp set up and go enjoy the San Rafael Swell, or do the Moab trails, and come back to camp at night? Has anyone gotten things stolen from their camp, like chairs, stoves, all the stuff we use to set up? I hope to be perched on a bluff, overlooking beauty, and wake up and roll, do some trails, have some lunch, then come back and shower, eat, relax at camp, watch the stars. I'm just worried someone will steal my tent, my chairs, my setup. What do yall think?

Thank you in advance.

Ive never been to those places. But in California I always do that. I leave camp set up and go wheeling. So far so good. I do worry about it sometimes. I dont leave valuables, and always, always, take the gun with me.

 

[crbrenny]

interested in this, as I've never done any camping like this out West, but would like to soon.

 

[DV LAWYER]

Ive never been to those places. But in California I always do that. I leave camp set up and go wheeling. So far so good. I do worry about it sometimes. I dont leave valuables, and always, always, take the gun with me.

Thank you, I appreciate it. Yea, about to do this long trip and I don't wanna have to break down daily, just to come back and set it all up again. I chose against a RTT for a few reasons, this being one of them. I guess just hope for the best and prepare for the worst. And I agree, I carry and know how to handle myself.

I hope I get some other responses, ideas, opinions, experiences.

 

[DV LAWYER]

interested in this, as I've never done any camping like this out West, but would like to soon.

I say just do it. That's what this is, I'm just doing it with my family. Last year I bought my JLU and took it to Moab and Colorado the first week of owning it, and loved it. After that, we did Sedona and loved that, but I realized just how much I was spending in hotels ($$$). So, we tried a KOA near the Grand Canyon and it was a distaster! Not the camping part, but the KOA part, so we re-grouped and approached it from another angle. We learned so much, and rather than forget it, we decided to try it out closer to home. So....we bought a tent and did a day trip to the beach (about an hour from here). We set up camp as if we were staying overnight, just to take a trial run. It was very comfy, and I saw what we did use, what we did not use, and what we ABSOLUTELY NEEDED. Glad we did it this way, so when we do our trip next month, we are better prepared.

I guess that's just the long version of what I live by—just get out there, cause the only thing we can't get more of is time. Live. No Regrets.

Hope to see you out there on your adventure—

 

[Overland Productions]

I pack up every day mostly because I camp somewhere new every day. I'm super paranoid about leaving items at camp. Read plenty of stories about this in all parts of the country. In Big Bend they watch from afar until you leave. Then pilfer anything they can and just walk away while you're gone. Multiple cases of this.

I camped on the cliffs above Hurricane last month and pretty much had the place to myself but there were some kids in an old sedan hanging out by the overlook with absolutely nothing to do. One is laying in the back seat puffing a cigarette, two are sitting on a box, one is kicking rocks. They rolled by later on the way out and I didn't leave anything out that night while I slept.

I think it's partly about your instincts and how comfortable you are with your surroundings.

Then there are other guys who swear it's never been an issue. Probably depends upon the season. I would think spring break is worse when everyone is off work and mid-October isnt as bad since every one is at home?

 

[JimLee]

I've had an entire 4 man hunting camp stolen, tents, tables, clothes, dishes, everything we left behind. Not covered by any insurance. Roughly 3k in equipment lost between all of us. So obviously my opinion is tainted by this experience. The only way I leave anything behind nowadays is if it's ridiculously hard to get into the area we are in, even then I'm twitchy all day until I get back.

 

[DV LAWYER]

I pack up every day mostly because I camp somewhere new every day. I'm super paranoid about leaving items at camp. Read plenty of stories about this in all parts of the country. In Big Bend they watch from afar until you leave. Then pilfer anything they can and just walk away while you're gone. Multiple cases of this.

I camped on the cliffs above Hurricane last month and pretty much had the place to myself but there were some kids in an old sedan hanging out by the overlook with absolutely nothing to do. One is laying in the back seat puffing a cigarette, two are sitting on a box, one is kicking rocks. They rolled by later on the way out and I didn't leave anything out that night while I slept.

I think it's partly about your instincts and how comfortable you are with your surroundings.

Then there are other guys who swear it's never been an issue. Probably depends upon the season. I would think spring break is worse when everyone is off work and mid-October isnt as bad since every one is at home?

I feel like you do. I swear, just leave other people's things alone. Down on the border, I understand the prevalence, but I do not condone it. I guess I will leave out what I don't mind losing, and packing up the rest. I plan on doing San Rafael Swell, some other areas, but I hoped to ride around and come back to camp. Some of it will be point-to-point, so I'll pack up and break down daily, but other areas, I hoped to go hit trails and come back "home" at the end of the day. I'll report back to yall when I return to see how things went, and how I felt in each area. Maybe we can all learn from this.

 

[DV LAWYER]

I've had an entire 4 man hunting camp stolen, tents, tables, clothes, dishes, everything we left behind. Not covered by any insurance. Roughly 3k in equipment lost between all of us. So obviously my opinion is tainted by this experience. The only way I leave anything behind nowadays is if it's ridiculously hard to get into the area we are in, even then I'm twitchy all day until I get back.

Can we get our stuff insured? I never even THOUGHT of that...

 

[JimLee]

Can we get our stuff insured? I never even THOUGHT of that...

I'm not even sure, funny thing is that vehicle insurance would have covered it had we lied and said it was all in our vehicles, insurance fraud isn't a place I want to go though.

 

[JimLee]

Can we get our stuff insured? I never even THOUGHT of that...

Also remember mine is only one bad experience, and although there are certainly others far more people camp trouble free I'm sure.

 

[entropy]

You could always camp with a small trailer. Leave everything locked inside the trailer and carry trailer insurance. Thats what I am gonna do. Of course, there can always steal the trailer. But at least it is insured, and you can do things to make the trailer harder to steal. At least youll avoid scavengers. With a tent it is a gamble. I take the gamble, so far so good.

 

[DV LAWYER]

Thank yall!!

Alright, seems like it's a gamble, one that many people take, and although it seems like most everyone wins, there are a few losses. I guess I'll try to minimize my losses by being smart (no one's accused me of being that!) and making good decisions.

And Jim, you're 100% correct, insurance fraud IS NOT where you wanna go!!

 

[geem03]

We always left our stuff (not valuables though) there at the camp.... so far so good....

 

[Reinen]

Hey everyone, I've finished buying everything I need to go away. I plan on doing a week or two in southern Utah, some Arizona, some Colorado, really wherever the day takes me, no solid plans. BUT...I have my entire kit with me, and I travel ridiculously comfy. That said, do I just leave camp set up and go enjoy the San Rafael Swell, or do the Moab trails, and come back to camp at night? Has anyone gotten things stolen from their camp, like chairs, stoves, all the stuff we use to set up? I hope to be perched on a bluff, overlooking beauty, and wake up and roll, do some trails, have some lunch, then come back and shower, eat, relax at camp, watch the stars. I'm just worried someone will steal my tent, my chairs, my setup. What do yall think?

Thank you in advance.

I'm in those areas all the time. While having your camp raided isn't unheard of, it's very rare. Keep in mind that local occupants of these camps are often armed. The vast majority of the time an unoccupied camp is respected and it's not unusual to find an unoccupied camp. I leave my camp for excursions regularly. That said, I would not leave tempting, easily grabbed items out in plain view. Especially if you camp close to civilization where a non-overlander in their junk FWD coupe can stumble upon your camp.

Your biggest problem with leaving camp unattended is usually the environment itself. You'll often find it impossible to drive stakes into the ground for your tent as you're on flat solid rock. I've returned to camp several times to find the wind has been, shall we say, rather inconsiderate. Which can be a big problem if you like bluff sites. So be prepared to make use of large rocks instead of tent stakes to keep everything where it is.

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