Stealth camping in Phoenix, AZ

[drico]

Hi all. I'm currently living in the west Phoenix/Glendale as a house dweller (boring!!). Now that the weather is starting to cool down a bit, I am going to be staying in my SUV to save money while I work. I'll be hitting the road this winter. Has anyone tried stealthing in the Phoenix area during winter? It's a huge city so I'd imagine there's no shortage of places. It's just a matter of finding them, of course. Just looking for input or experiences. I'm thinking some of the residential areas nearby would be a good option along with the usual 24/7 places.  Also open to any nearby camping/boondocking spots  that aren't necessarily directly in the city. Any other Phoenix van/suv dwellers?

 

[lenny flank]

IIRC, it's illegal to sleep in a car in Phoenix (as it is in most cities in Arizona).

So your stealth skills will need to be pretty good.

 

[Allan Greenblazer]

I've heard that Walmart is typically not overnight friendly in Phoenix, but since I live here, I haven't needed to try.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[drico]

Yeah. I know there are ordinances against sleeping in your car in Phoenix. But, that seems to be the trend with most cities these days to be honest. This is where dwelling in a SUV can work out to my advantage. I may try going ultra stealth at some Wal-Mart's but they generally have security driving around all night acting like bigshots so it'll probably come down to other 24/7 business' and suburbs.

 

[frater secessus]

Interesting nitpick:  the law actually does not address sleeping in a car.   Not that will stop the cops from knocking.

There are two germane laws (pdf);  forgive the wonky formatting:

6. “Urban Camping” and Sit/Lie Law
The city makes it a crime to sleep in many public places. Thereare two laws relevant to this.

“Urban Camping”:
You may not camp in any park, preserve,building, parking lot or other land that belongs to the City of Phoenix, unless you have a permit from the city Department ofParks and Recreation. The following activities can be considered “camping”:
•
Sleeping
•
Making preparations to sleep or laying down beddin
g
•
Storing belongings
•
Pitching a tent or parking a vehicle to sleep in
•
Making a fire
•
Cooking
•
Digging or breaking ground.
10
Sit/Lie Law:

You may not sit, lie or sleep on a public street,sidewalk or alley, except because of a physical emergency orto receive medical attention

So you can't camp on city land or sleep [directly] on a street -- if they didn't mean that there wouldn't be the reference to physical emergency and medical attention.  

In the real world the cop willl do what he wants (or believes correct, or is told to do), and collect overtime if he is required to fight it in court.  There is zero downside in running stealthers off.  So Lenny's advice is correct:  practice good stealth or get The Knock.

 

[deadwood]

I stealth camped in the Phoenix area all last winter. I was in the East Valley and primarily stayed in Tempe close to ASU. Phoenix doesn't have a lot of on street overflow parking like you see in a lot of other cities. But in Tempe I was able to find quite a few places close to Arizona State University that has a lot of people parking on the streets. Quite a few apartments with not enough parking.

I can't speak for what you would find on the west side. Usually if you look enough you will come across some good spots. It was just a lot easier for me to find them in Tempe then it would have been in the Chandler or Mesa area.

I mostly stayed in the area just west of ASU and between the river bottom and Mill Ave. So many little hidden areas to quietly park at night and be gone in the morning. Although on some weekend nights it was only me being the quiet one as it is a college town and I would sometimes hear the weekend revelers walking around and being loud.