Another camping question ….managing personal belongings while camping

[Indigo Blue]

When car camping with campsites that are close or somewhat close together, to what degree should people be mindful of their belongings in their campsite if they leave the site for 30 minutes? Two hours?

I hope this doesn’t sound really dumb. 

Like, what do people do with their sometimes expensive sleeping bags, really nice foldable camp tables, camp stove, ……even bikes….if they want to hike or kayak? Do people just leave their things (except for things that you obviously wouldn’t leave such as money, car keys, etc.) and not worry? 

Dh thinks it’s a family area, everyone leaves their camping stuff, and no one will bother it. I’m not comfortable with leaving our bikes just sitting around. People steal stuff. Our bikes are nice and i think it would give someone an easy opportunity. I’d want them locked up with thick cable locks on the bike rack. And I’d be a bit leery about anything else of value. Is it necessary to unzip the tent and get the sleeping bags and Yeti cooler and lock then in the truck? 

How does the typical camper manage this?

[vonfirmath]

WE don't have bikes. Yes I'd probably want to lock up bikes. I don't typically have anything else out at the camp that is expensive enough to worry about. Valuables get left at home, locked in the car, or kept on my body (Car keys)

 

(And we keep food locked in the car to keep it away from animals/bears. I'm a lot more concerned about them going into the tent after the food. -- and at at least one campsite they had raccoons that could open Rubbermaid containers to get to food.

 

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by vonfirmath

[HomeAgain]

We lock our bikes when we go, either to a tree or the picnic table.  Dh's bikes alone are the cost of a used car, but we don't have issues with anyone taking anything in a campsite. There's a general agreement of personal space.

FWIW, there's always the thought that things are replaceable.  I'd miss my bike since it was a hard find to get one fitted to me, but it is just a thing, and if necessary I would replace it.

[bolt.]

We lock our bikes to a tree using a long cable and a padlock, and we keep the vehicle locked. We would probably lock a kayak too, if we had one.

Lots of things are just loose in the trailer though, and the trailer itself could be stolen simply by driving it away, given a bit of time to pack it up and hitch it on. Tables, chairs, camp stoves, etc. are all regularly left out (well, not stoves or coolers, in bear country). There's a lot of trust going on in a campsite, I guess. It's one of the few spaces where that's still true.

[Indigo Blue]

Thanks. This helps. We won’t need to worry about bears. 
 

Dh just seems more relaxed about it than I am. The bikes are the thing I would want to protect the most. Mine was in almost new condition at a bike shop, and I got it soooo cheap. It would be pricey to buy it again new, and I’d never find that exact bike for the same good price. I love it and, although I know it just a material thing, I’d be sad if I lost it. 
 

So I guess lock the bikes, lock any other thing necessary in the truck, and don’t worry about anything else. On the off chance it gets taken, yes, it’s replaceable. Seems like a reasonable approach.

[gardenmom5]

we usually leave clothes inside the tent, and chairs outside.  we're not putting them in and out.  coolers/etc. get stored in a car as they can attract bears.  (I so like the sites with bear boxes so I don't have to put everything back in the car)
but nothing was particularly valuable.  bikes - i would lock up to a tree.

and food needs to be put away - it's not just bears . . . I was napping IN THE TENT, and had a chipmunk run across my face . . . . while I was asleep . . .

 

[Melissa in Australia]

Here  at the beach cars are regularly broken into and people's phones stolen. The car parking are at the top of a cliff, the beach below. It is pretty easy for thieves to see if anyone is coming. 

[ScoutTN]

We have never had a problem, even with primitive sites that are less visible from the graveled pads. I would lock bikes or kayaks.

[Acorn]

I tent camp frequently. I would lock bikes to a table or tree and lock the car at night, and trust the world with the rest. 
 I have had only 1 bad experience with rude people in decades of trips. For that trip we were in a university class, with prominently marked university vans camping in the town of the supposed rival university. Some idiots did mess with our stuff, tried to steal beer, and then as they were being chased through the woods threw  the cooler in a stream. It was stupid college rival behavior.

[lmrich]

1 hour ago, gardenmom5 said:

 

and food needs to be put away - it's not just bears . . . I was napping IN THE TENT, and had a chipmunk run across my face . . . . while I was asleep . . .

 

NO! I am pretty sure that would be the end of me. 

Lock up your bikes if it worries you. We only brought kids' bikes when camping which I had picked up at garage sales so I was not concerned. Most of my camping stuff was from garage sales or the thrift store. 

I had a raccoon open my cooler that was left outside by mistake. The little bandit was a picky thief. He stole all the peanut butter sandwiches but left the veggies and hummus. 

[Carol in Cal.]

I’ve known bikes to be stolen, more than once over the years.  That’s not an issue for me because I never brought mine along, but I think it’s wise to secure them.

The more alarming thing I’ve known of, and this was just this year, is someone buried some live ammo in a campfire pit under the ashes and leftover charred wood.  When the next folks lit their campfire, after everything heated up the ammo exploded.  Thankfully no one was hurt, but there was a lot of damaged equipment and the blast was heard several miles away.

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, lmrich said:

NO! I am pretty sure that would be the end of me. 

Lock up your bikes if it worries you. We only brought kids' bikes when camping which I had picked up at garage sales so I was not concerned. Most of my camping stuff was from garage sales or the thrift store. 

I had a raccoon open my cooler that was left outside by mistake. The little bandit was a picky thief. He stole all the peanut butter sandwiches but left the veggies and hummus. 

dh loves to tell how to torture a racoon.  give them sugar cubes.  They wash their food.

1 hour ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I’ve known bikes to be stolen, more than once over the years.  That’s not an issue for me because I never brought mine along, but I think it’s wise to secure them.

The more alarming thing I’ve known of, and this was just this year, is someone buried some live ammo in a campfire pit under the ashes and leftover charred wood.  When the next folks lit their campfire, after everything heated up the ammo exploded.  Thankfully no one was hurt, but there was a lot of damaged equipment and the blast was heard several miles away.

I hope it was a campground that required registration and they were caught with charges filed against them.

[Carol in Cal.]

6 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

dh loves to tell how to torture a racoon.  give them sugar cubes.  They wash their food.

I hope it was a campground that required registration and they were caught with charges filed against them.

I don’t know that the perps were caught.  Even though it was a registration campground, it was not clear that the immediate prior occupants were the perps.  However, the FBI was involved immediately.  This is extremely serious.  And it was not a remote campground, either—a heavily used public one, the kind that everyone complains is too crowded, with flush toilets and all night lighting by the bathrooms.  

[theelfqueen]

I've had a hammock tied to trees stolen from q campsite once. Only theft I recall in all my years of camping. I'd secure bikes. We tend to slide camp chairs, folded up, under the table when we leave due to high wind issues. I've never heard of anyone's sleeping bag being stolen. 

[gardenmom5]

9 minutes ago, theelfqueen said:

I've had a hammock tied to trees stolen from q campsite once. Only theft I recall in all my years of camping. I'd secure bikes. We tend to slide camp chairs, folded up, under the table when we leave due to high wind issues. I've never heard of anyone's sleeping bag being stolen. 

yeah - we stick camp chairs and other stuff over by the tables where they're not clearly obvious from the road.  but we also go to heavily wooded areas.

 

[livetoread]

I would lock up bikes and/or kayaks if I had them. I would also lock up any expensive cooler like a Yeti. I leave everything out because most of my stuff is decent but not really nice and I've never had an issue. No one wants my vintage green Coleman cooler, lol. I do have a nice zero gravity chair that I love and I often fold it up and put it against the picnic table just so it's not out in all its glory tempting anyone. I don't lock it in the car though.

[Wilma]

We are frequent tent campers (at least a trip per month) and have never had anything stolen, except food by racoons and wild pigs. We do 'tidy up' before leaving our campsite, but not really with an eye towards theft prevention. People don't really mess with tents, sleeping bags, etc. in the camping community.

[Indigo Blue]

6 minutes ago, Wilma said:

We are frequent tent campers (at least a trip per month) and have never had anything stolen, except food by racoons and wild pigs. We do 'tidy up' before leaving our campsite, but not really with an eye towards theft prevention. People don't really mess with tents, sleeping bags, etc. in the camping community.

Thanks. It’s good to hear this is your experience. We aren’t campers. I’ve just never been interested much. But we are empty nesters now, and vacations are so expensive. Some of our same age friends have bought nice campers. We don’t want or need to spend that much. Camping seems to be a fun, affordable option. It makes sense for us. Commercialized, crowded places are not a good fit for us. If I can just get my back to feeling better, I want to try it. I know Dh would do just fine with it. I’m hoping by spring we can go. 

[Faith-manor]

When we have bikes, we put them in the tail veil and close the windows/side vents so that no one can see them. But,  since we do mostly state park and national forest camping in campgrounds, we don't do a lot more than that because we have had no issues with theft. There are lots of people around and park rangers along with camp hosts running around all the time and making sure everything is okay. Michigan parks are super robust this way. We also camped at Cooper's Rock campground in West Virginia and it was very much the same way. If we dispersed camped, we would probably take the more expensive items with us in the mini-camper van if we were going someplace. Our kayaks are stored on top of the van, so they aren't super easily accessible, and well, hard to just walk off with. But again, we have never had any issues.

[Indigo Blue]

Thanks @Faith-manor. Those Michigan camping spots sound nice. I’ve always wanted to see Lake Michigan, but we will probably stay close to home. Maybe some day….

[skimomma]

We do a lot of camping in campgrounds that range from busy state parks to off-grid state forest campsites.  Our camper does not have a lock and we do leave all of our stuff in it.  We have never had anything stolen.  I do prefer to lock bikes but my family is terrible about that so it almost never happens.  We seldom even lock the car at night.  We camp with a large group on many occasions and some of them have very expensive bikes, stoves, SUPs, and coolers that they leave outside and unsecured.  Even large bottles of alcohol left out on picnic tables.  Again, no one has messed with anything.  I am personally not comfortable with that level of trust but it shows how little theft occurs.

We have had bears and raccoons break into everything....bins, coolers, tents, etc.....  In general, all food is either in the camper or car overnight but more than once we have forgotten to put a cooler in the car at bedtime only to find ourselves awaken by a rummaging animal later in the night.