Sleeping in your yard

I’ve camped on my patio to test 20F temps.  Out of view of any neighbors.

Anymore – never.

I wish I could sleep out in the yard but fear the neighborhood cats pizzin’ on my shelter.  sigh

I’ve done it once.  Like Jerry, it was to test gear in very cold temps.  I think it got down to 16F that night.

too many racoons, and aggressive ones at that.

I have pitched shelters in my yard, but the lure of a nice soft comfy bed and complete quiet inside the house keeps me from sleeping out there. I don’t have neighbors looking on, but I can hear a bit of traffic, neighborhood roosters and dogs, and if anyone is outside having a party, the noise drifts by.  It is nice to wake up out there though, very early. All is quiet, except the morning birdsong! Love that!

Often enough that my neighbors think I’m a loon. I had one catch me testing out new ice tools and crampons on a telephone pole in my back yard.

I wanted to test an old, urea-smelling tent to see if was still usable at a time when I was living on the ground floor of a townhouse with a postage-stamp-size back yard. Rain was predicted but it was only a few feet to the back door, so I figured what the hell. It didn’t rain much, but my housemate did get a knock on the front door in the middle of the night, a visit from Security, who told her a 2nd floor resident had called saying they thought a homeless person might be trying camp out in our back yard. The tent functioned, but I decided to give it to an actual homeless person who needed it a lot more than I needed a 6th, 30 y.o., 6 lb tent to go with my collection of 4 newer tents.

I think once or twice to test out bivys or a pad and bag combo but many times to watch meteor showers or eclipses.

I’ve slept in the yard a lot, but not to test gear. Just because I missed camping. Slept much better out there, too. Unfortunately I now live in an apartment.

Never; I’m one mile from the national forest.

And between cats, possums, raccoons, skunks, and coyotes, I think my backyard is a more unruly place than the mountains.

Amen to that.

I only did this as a total newbie, mostly because of barking dogs in the neighborhood.

I’m only 90 minutes from driveway-to-camp so try out gear there on the regular.

I’d yard camp all the time if I lived in a very quiet area with high privacy and larger lots

Got a cabin near the Linville Gorge Wilderness in NC, so I use weekend overnights and day hikes as my proving ground.

None. I test out gear on trips. Just wore a brand new pair of hiking shoes on my last trip, they did well.

If you do choose to cowboy camp in the backyard, don’t forget to turn off the sprinklers…

I recently asked a gear vendor ~ if was sleeping out in the yard with one of your bivy’s because the ol lady locked me out again, and the 5am sprinklers came on, how long before I wet out.