I put together a simple ~40mi/65km day trip to test out bike camping! Things went pretty well all things considered, getting out of the city and back is always the hard part in the ol US of A. I really couldn't have asked for better weather.

Lessons Learned:

  • 3 4.25 L was just enough water for me to cook with and have on the bike ride to and from the campsite when the weather was nice 75f/25c.
  • I need a little camping stool, I got 10 ant bites right on my waist line from sitting on the ground while cooking lol.
  • Using two rocks to prop of my pan over sticks to cook worked surprisingly well but I should probably get a camp stove just in case things get wet or I camp somewhere sticks aren't around
  • The few miles of gravel road SUCKED. I would not recommend anyone ever do something like this on anything smaller than a 32mm tire

Open Questions:

  • What do you do with all of the dew? This time it was easy to put away the tent wet and dry it out at home, but on a multi day trip that wouldn't be an option at all!
  • Do you just deal with everything being wet all of the time?
Sun rise pobscured by partially obscured by trees with a shitty Walmart tent and a decent old bike in the foreground
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[–] 2 points 1 week ago (1 child)

Do you free camp or is this at a camp ground? My problem is there nowhere I can bike to and camp near me.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 week ago

    This was on TVA land at a designated free camp site relatively near me but it was still ~40 miles one way to get out there. If you have any sort of dams near you it is common for them to own the shores of all of the rivers and resiviors and they tend to be pretty permissive with land use especially in the more rural places.

    I didn't think there was anywhere I could bike to and camp near me before I widened the search to include lands that were managed by state-owned enterprises in addition to state parks and national forrests. Sites like freecampsites.net/ are useful but far from exhaustive, and in southern states lean a lot more RV focused in my experience...

    I hope you can find something! It is very therapeutic to be outside on a bike, and doubly so when you get to wake up early and watch the world wake up around you

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