Pick the pitch by what the bike can get out of in the morning, not by the view. A loaded touring bike that rolls into soft grass at seven in the evening after a shower can be immovable at eight the next morning after a night of rain, and the recovery involves unloading everything and a lot of swearing. Firm ground you can reverse out of, a level spot for the side stand, wind and water flowing away from the tent, and legal permission to be there — those four things decide a campsite. Everything else is preference.
Legality first, because it decides everything else
Every patch of ground is managed by someone, and adjacent parcels that look identical from the saddle can have opposite rules. In the United States, national forests, national parks and Bureau of Land Management land each run their own permit systems; the Forest Service's know before you go pages are the entry point for forest units, national park backcountry camping normally needs a permit issued in advance, and reservable sites across US federal agencies are listed on recreation.gov. In England and Wales, the right to roam does not include a right to camp, and what visitors may and may not do is set out in the Countryside Code; outside a handful of areas, you need the landowner's permission. In New Zealand, freedom camping is legal only where it is specifically allowed and often only for self-contained vehicles, with the current position published by the Department of Conservation.
Two things change without notice and are worth checking the same day you ride: seasonal closures, and fire restrictions. A fire ban can prohibit open fires, charcoal, and in the driest conditions liquid-fuel and gas stoves as well. Check the managing agency's page for the specific unit you are heading to. This article was written against those agencies' published pages in August 2026, and the agency page always outranks anything written here.
Reading the ground from the saddle
The test that saves the most grief takes ten seconds. Before you commit the bike to a surface, put a boot heel into it hard. If the heel sinks, the loaded bike will sink further, and it will sink more overnight when the dew comes. Grass over clay is the classic trap: dry and firm at the surface, greasy 20 mm down, and completely unrideable after a few hours of rain.
What to look for, in order:
- An exit line, not just a parking spot. Ride in facing the way you want to leave, or push the bike round before you unload. Turning a fully loaded bike in a confined pitch is how people drop them, and a dropped bike on soft ground is a two-person lift.
- Firm ground under the side stand. Even on a gravel pad the stand can punch through overnight as the load settles. Carry a stand puck, or use a flat stone, and never trust the stand on hot asphalt on a summer afternoon.
- Gradient and drainage. Pitch on a slight rise with your head uphill. Ground that looks flat is rarely flat, and the low spot you cannot see at dusk is where the water collects at 2 a.m. Never dig a trench round the tent — it is banned on managed land and it scars the site.
- Cold air drainage. Cold air sinks. A valley floor or hollow next to a river can be several degrees colder overnight than a shelf twenty metres above it, and it is where the dew and morning fog sit. If you have a choice, camp off the valley floor.
- Overhead. Look up before you pitch. Dead limbs, leaning trees and rockfall lines above the pitch are the hazard nobody checks. Trees give useful wind shelter and terrible falling-object odds in a storm.
- Distance from water. Beyond the drainage argument, insects breed near still water and dew is heavier close to it. Minimum-impact practice from Leave No Trace is to keep camp, washing and catholes at least 200 feet — roughly 70 to 80 adult paces — from water, trails and other camps, with catholes dug 6 to 8 inches deep.
Which kind of site suits which night
| Type | Best for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Booked campground with facilities | Arriving late, drying gear, showers, charging, secure-ish parking | Often full in season; hardstanding pitches can be too hard for pegs |
| Dispersed camping on public land | Space, quiet, no booking; long stages where nothing else exists | No water, no toilets, and the access track is the part that traps bikes |
| Farm, pub and small private sites | Short notice, friendly to single riders, often the only option in dense countryside | Facilities vary wildly; gates get locked at night |
| Motorcycle-specific campsites and rider hostels | Secure parking, tools, other riders who know the local roads | Sparse outside a few regions; may be busy with events |
| Backcountry permit sites in national parks | The scenery you rode there for | Permits are often issued well in advance and vehicle access is limited |
| Roadside stealth camping | Emergencies and long transit days | Illegal in many places, uncomfortable everywhere, and the bike is visible from the road |
Where to put the bike relative to the tent
Riders arrange these three things — bike, tent, and the door — with more thought than they realise once they have done it wrong once.
- Bike upwind of the tent, close but not touching. A loaded bike is a useful windbreak for a low tent, and it stops the flysheet flogging all night. Do not pitch so close that the flysheet can touch a hot exhaust or the tent gets pulled onto the bike in a gust.
- Door away from the prevailing wind, and away from the bike. A vestibule that opens into the bike is a vestibule you cannot get boots out of.
- Panniers off, in the tent or vestibule. Removing cases makes the bike less attractive to walk past and reduces what a fall costs. A cable through both wheels and a fixed object is a deterrent, not a lock, and it is still worth carrying.
- Nothing scented in the tent in bear country. Food, cooking kit, toiletries and the clothes you cooked in go in the provided locker or an approved container, well away from where you sleep. Park managers publish site-specific food storage rules and they are enforced.
- Helmet and boots inside. Rain, dew, insects and curious animals all end up in a helmet left on a mirror.
Arriving in time to choose well
The single biggest cause of bad campsites is arriving at dusk with no alternatives. Riders who camp well tend to stop looking for the perfect pitch around an hour before sunset and take the second decent option they see. Building that into the day is mostly a planning problem, and it is the same arithmetic as in daily mileage planning for touring.
Practical way to run the last hour of a riding day:
- Mark two or three candidate sites during the fuel stop before, not while riding. Offline map layers matter here because coverage in camping country is exactly where it is worst — see route planning tools.
- Note the last town with a shop, and buy dinner there rather than gambling on a shop near the site.
- Ride the access track before committing. If it needs a run-up loaded, it will need a run-up in the morning too.
- Pitch, then unload. Gear scattered on the ground while you are still deciding is gear that gets rained on.
Navigation to a dispersed site is easier with a screen that keeps working in gloves and rain, which is what a bar-mounted riding system with offline navigation is for. The failure modes of relying on a phone alone are set out in the risks of phone navigation.
One honest caveat about wild and dispersed camping: it is worse than a managed site in every practical respect. No water, no toilet, no light, no way to dry anything, and a higher chance of being asked to move at midnight. It is worth it for solitude and for stages where nothing else exists, and it is a poor default. Riders who try to wild camp every night on a long trip usually stop by the end of the first week. The gear that makes it survivable is covered in motorcycle camping gear, and what to do when the forecast turns is in camping in the rain.
Frequently asked questions
Can I camp anywhere on public land in the US?
No. Dispersed camping is allowed in many national forest and BLM areas subject to local rules, stay limits and closures, while national parks generally require a permit. Check the specific unit's page with the managing agency before you ride there.
Is wild camping legal in the UK?
Generally not without the landowner's permission in England and Wales. The Countryside Code sets out what open access rights do and do not include, and Scotland operates under different access legislation.
How do I stop the side stand sinking overnight?
Use a stand puck, a flat stone or a piece of plywood under the foot. Soft ground, hot tarmac and gravel all let a loaded bike settle over several hours, and the bike goes over long after you have stopped watching it.
Should I park the bike next to the tent or away from it?
Close and upwind is the usual answer — it works as a windbreak and you can hear anyone at it. Keep the flysheet clear of the exhaust and leave yourself room to walk the bike out without dropping it on the tent.
How far before sunset should I stop looking for a site?
About an hour. That gives time to reject one bad option, ride the access track, pitch in daylight and see the ground you are committing the bike to.
