Is it Safe to Leave Your Campsite Unattended?
Yes, it is generally safe to leave your campsite unattended, leaving your belongings behind at your site. However there are several factors that come into play, or might make it unsafe to leave your belongings behind, but there are several key components to look out for. Using the few observations listed in this article has allowed me to leave my campsite for full days and come back to a site exactly as I had left it hours ago.
The two all-encompassing aspects to whether it’s safe to leave your campsite unattended are human interaction concerns (theft) and wildlife concerns.
Wildlife Interactions
A concern in addition to human interactions, is the potential for wildlife interactions while your campsite is left behind. Two main aspects of wildlife concerns are predators and nuisances.
In areas of large predators, like in Bear Country, there are several precautions you should take.
- If there are “Bear Lockers” for your food, food prep materials, and scented items, use them.
- If you are in Bear Country, but there are no Bear Lockers, take the food with you
- Do not leave food or scented items behind at the campsite unattended.
- When bears begin to associate human campsites with food, they pose an increased risk to campers such as yourself.
- In these times, if the bear is not able to be relocated, they may need to be destroyed by Rangers.
For more “Bear Aware” info, check out the US Forest Service’s Page:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/know-before-you-go/bears
In addition to predatory concerns, there are also simple nuisance concerns to leaving your campsite behind, like squirrels, birds, and other rodents.
Something to keep in mind is not all animals can tell scented food items from scented non-food items. Mice have 1,200 different types of odor receptors in their bodies, as opposed to human’s 350.
If there is something that smells good to a rodent, like toothpaste or nice smelling shampoo, left behind in your tent, don’t be surprised if a mouse chews its way into your tent while you’re away!
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/smell-danger
Added Precautions To Take When Leaving Your Campsite Unattended
- Preparations are weather dependent. Check the weather.
- Preparations for excessive wind will be different than preparations for excessive rain
- Make sure your tent and canopies are secured down with tethers or stakes
- Prevents wind from blowing them away
- Break down small items that could be blown away, like folding down your camp chairs or a susceptible folding table
- Move non-weatherproof items into your tent
- Helps further weigh the tent down
- Protects weather vulnerable items like electronics or cast iron
- Keeps valuable left unattended out of sight to not entice probing eyes
- Tie down and secure any small loose items
- Few things are more embarrassing than coming back to your campsite and seeing your trash has been blown around others sites
Human Interactions (Theft)
With human concerns (theft), there are several quick and easy tale-tell signs to know if it’s safe to leave your belongings behind at a campsite.
Other Camper’s Gear
One is evaluating the state of other campers’ gear.
I won’t lie, evaluating other campers like this is “judging,” but it is doing so by collecting as much information as you safely and discreetly can, not “judging” with prejudice.
But first, note that there is a difference between gear that seems regularly used, vs gear that is regularly neglected. Much of your own gear is likely regularly used. Scuffed, dusty, frayed around the edges, but does every item of yours seem neglected? Abused?
Evaluating your surroundings this way includes evaluating, from your own campsite, others tents, canopies, camp chairs, etc.
For instance:
- Are your neighbors’ tents holed and faded?
- Are their canopies haggard, broken, or excessively damaged?
- Is there other gear, like camp chairs or stoves, in decent condition?
These are signs of people that do or do not take care of their own belongings, the camper that excessively cleans their tents, patches their canopies, and replaces their broken equipment is less likely to steal from your unattended campsite than the alternative camper.
Additionally, if you observe, as I have, that your own gear seems to be the lowest quality in the campground, is your gear really at risk of being taken by others around you?
If everyone near you is using decent looking and average priced equipment, equipment that looks like they’ve taken care of, they are not likely to risk a criminal charge in an attempt to take your camping gear when you’ve left your site.
Other Camper’s Vehicles
Another good sign to look out for is other campers’ vehicles.
- Are the vehicles in the campground 30+ years old in terrible condition?
- Or were they mostly made in the last 10 years, and seem to be taken care of?
- Do any vehicles seem to be “stuck” at their site?
- Or do all vehicles seem to be able to function and drive immediately?
- Are there excessive dents, scratches, or holes in the vehicles?
These, and others, are signs of the type of car owners your neighboring campers are.
Campers that have the means to take care of their own vehicles and take at least a little pride in their possessions, regardless of the vehicle’s age, don’t typically pose a risk to your campsite or your belongings if you leave it for a day-long hike.
Again, vehicles showing regular use is different than vehicles that have been neglected for years.
Additional things to keep in mind in relation to your neighboring campers:
- Are the campers friendly?
- What does it seem their intention in the campground is?
- Does it seem like they’re trying to enjoy the weekend with their spouse, kids, on their own, etc.?
- Does it seem like they just want to keep to themselves?
- Are they overly involved with their own neighbors?
- Or does their intention in the campground seem unknown?
- Why do you think it’s difficult to decipher?
- Are their campsites tidy?
- Are they friendly, overly friendly, or unfriendly when they walk by?
You’ll need to evaluate your neighbors and surroundings holistically (as a whole) to get an accurate understanding as to whether or not your campsite is safe if you leave it alone.
Not one of these on their own will be able to tell you, but I hope you can see how making a few quick and easy observations can give you a lot of extra information to make a sound decision.
Again, I make these simple evaluations every time I camp, from my own campsite, and have left my gear unattended for 12+ hours at a time before, and have never came back to any missing or damaged equipment.
In a neighboring article, “Is Solo Camping Safe (Let’s Make It Easy)” I talk in detail the effect campground hosts can have on the safety of the campsite:
Another reason why State Parks and National Parks are a safe option to solo camp as a beginner, is their proximity to neighboring towns. While there’s not going to be a large metropolitan complex nearby, there will likely be a small town within 15-30 miles of an established State Park or National Park Campground. This means that there are often some emergency services relatively nearby if an emergency does occur.
A final reason State Parks and National Parks are a good choice for solo camping, is the fact that they often utilize Campground Hosts. Camp Hosts are often found at the entrance of different campgrounds in State and National Parks. They hold a variety of functions depending on the park and its needs, but most camp hosts help campers check into their site, clean and stock restrooms, answer basic park questions, walk the campgrounds, and provide Ranger and park personnel with information related to visitors, maintenance needs, wildlife sightings, etc. Most of the time camp hosts are RVers or utilize camper trailers as they often sign season-long contracts with the Park Service to live and work at that specific campground. While they don’t directly intervene in situations that would require a law enforcement response, their presence is a deterrent to rowdy behavior and unsafe camp practices as they have the means to contact Rangers and Law Enforcement quickly.
https://campfirecompass.com/2024/03/05/is-it-safe-to-camp-alone/
For info on evaluating how safe a campground is before you book, check out my post here:
Conclusion
In conclusion, the observations you make in the first 15-30 minutes at your campsite should be enough to determine how safe it is to leave your campsite unattended. Additionally, if you have Rangers or a camp host patrolling the grounds semi-regularly, this acts as a strong deterrent to crime as people wanting to commit theft will seek easier opportunities elsewhere. Using the few basic observations listed above has allowed me to leave my own campsite unattended for several hours at a time.
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