I'm looking for advice on Urban Camping

[dug]

So, to save money I want to camp in various places I find if they 'feel' like they would be good/safe.


But I was up in Northern Idaho last weekend and decided to try urban camping out, and it was A LOT harder than I was expecting it to be to find a place I felt good about throwing down a sleeping bag. We eventually ended up sleeping in a park and being woken up by sprinklers both nights.


Do I just not know what to look for, or is this something you just put up with when urban camping?

Also, suppose an authority stumbles upon you while you are sleeping on city property, what are the penalty's and/or fines asscociated with that?

I had a good friend and she camped in some pretty riskay places (park benches, under a tree on the sidewalk, steps on a back street) and mentioned that she was often woken up by a police man, but they just told her she needed to be on her way. No fines or anything.