How do you disappear in the woods?

**hikestofish** · 09-28-2013, 19:14

Originally Posted by nyhiker50

I think this thread is getting out of hand. We are not in a war zone. This is recreational enjoyment. We don't have the enemy looking for us. However, we are really talking about camping in areas away from other people and not being bothered in the woods.

Who said anything about "the enemy"? The original question was how to hide in the woods...I gave him some tips cause my job is to hide in the woods, or desert, or arctic, or jungle...or anywhere and stay there for days without being seen. I have a pretty good idea how to hide. I don't worry much about hiding in the woods when I'm backpacking, though but I figured I might as well offer some advice to someone that is. Most of the technology that makes your life easier in the woods was originally made for use by the military.

You want to know how to hide from the enemy? Ask away and then this thread will really get out of hand! I digress, though and perhaps I'll stop offering advice on areas that I think I'm reasonably qualified to offer said advice.

**mountainjulie** · 09-30-2013, 15:05

I like to camp a good ways off trail. Sometimes going far out over a ridge or down into a hollow. It's nice to sleep in without the early birds marching through the woods!

**nothermark** · 09-30-2013, 15:36

How much one hides can be an issue. In some places they want to know the color or your tent fly because they do flyover head counts. Other places do it just to determine trail usage as many folks do not bother to sign trailhead logs. Then there are the basic issues like where did I leave camp... It is one thing to not be a jarring element in somebody else's view and another to be so stealthed that the hunters find your body in the fall, your favorite trail is closed for lack of use or you miss the funeral because they could not find your camp to notify you.

**used2fly** · 09-30-2013, 15:39

While dating my future wife 28yrs ago we went backpacking on the AT and went to watch the sunset with no flashlight.Although it was not dark when we went back to our stealth site we could not find it right away and then it got dark.Took 30 min and finally stumbled into the tent,literally. If not for the moon to give me a heading to criss cross the area we would have had to hike back to the truck.That is if I did not lose the trail,which would not have been impossible to do.It was pretty stupid to trapse off with no flashlight and was a lesson learned.

**cm1021** · 10-01-2013, 09:57

I just use neutral colors such as OD and browns. I think it blends it pretty well...

**Jimmy the Hillbilly** · 10-01-2013, 10:09

I prefer earth tones where practical... the problem is:
Light gear = comercial = orange, blue, etc.
Subdued gear = "tactical" = Bombproof = heavy....
But it winds up being the difference between eye-catching vs. less-noticeable.
Pretty hard to become invisible...

**dakotaross** · 10-01-2013, 11:08

Originally Posted by Jimmy the Hillbilly

I prefer earth tones where practical... the problem is:
Light gear = comercial = orange, blue, etc.
Subdued gear = "tactical" = Bombproof = heavy....
But it winds up being the difference between eye-catching vs. less-noticeable.
Pretty hard to become invisible...

Unless you're using something special, this just isn't the case at all. In fact, it used to be true that you couldn't find much light stuff in bright colors, but that is changing.

And as some anecdotal stories here suggest, it can be all too easy to become invisible. I personally don't like to go off and be stealthy, but I do use subdued colors that help blend my sightlines with the environment I'm in.

**agent00111** · 10-01-2013, 12:25

I'd say that my stealth objective is to not be a distraction to other campers/hikers as opposed to being completely hidden. For me, site selection is most important: getting off the trail and away from common areas, putting trees and foliage between me and others.

Next would be tarp. I have the camo (non-multicam) WB superfly and I think it just works great, but any natural brown/green colored tarp would do.

I do have the WBBB multicam hammock (you can see my 4yr old peeking out from it in pic below). It's a good all-purpose pattern and does a decent job in the desert as well as the mountains. The black bugnet over the ridgeline is the most visible thing from a distance, but that's only an issue if the tarp isn't up. Without the tarp, sometimes I'll just fold bugnet back if the area isn't that buggy.

Black tree straps can stick out a bit at mid-distance. I use the camo tree traps, and I'm sure one of these days I'm going to forget to take one down since they blend in pretty well even close up.

Visibility will also vary based on area. Most of my hiking/camping is SoCal, which favors brown colors over green.

Things like yellow zing-it cords are less visible the further away you get. So I like yellow zing-it for tarp lines since close up I can see it better (and not trip over it) but far away you really don't see them. I'll also take the reflective cord off of the MSR groundhog stakes and use one or two to tie onto the tarp lines I'm most likely to trip over at night, and either let my eyes get aclimated to the dark if there's some moonlight, or use red light at night. That's my happy balance between stealthy and not finding my hammock at night!

**pravenda** · 10-01-2013, 14:20

hi to All,

stealth is almost a kind of habit and location. And most people have just enough to do looking for a nice view or their own feet. They almost see nothing else, in my experience. If You don't look for it, you won't be mentioned at all.