Boondocking vs RV Parks

[DavidM]

As I sit here in Northwestern Connecticut, with the roads and businesses closed and 6" of snow already on the ground, heading towards 18" or more, I thought it might be interesting to contrast boondock camping with RV Parks or full service public campgrounds. First let me say that the term boondocking bothers me a little. That term was used by an iconic RV camper that lived in his RV full time and found free camping spots in both the middle of urban areas as well as in the most pristine wilderness. That was Tioga George. Anyone heard of him? I met him in California about ten years ago and folllowed his blog for many years. Quite a story and if you all are interested, I will tell some of it.

But what we do is not boondocking in George's terms. It is camping in public campgrounds located for the most part in scenic, often remote locations and almost always with no hookups.

I get why people go to RV parks. First it is easy- often pull through with full hookups so you don't have to worry about power or running out of water and especially not having to dump your black water tank. These parks usually have great activities for kids- swimming pools and playgrounds. But I have never seen an RV park that is as pretty as a public campground where the attraction is natural beauty rather than manufactured.

So what is my version of boondocking like. We camp in NPS, USFS, State Parks and this summer a county park in Maine. One thing they have going for them is acreage. The average public park has probably twice the spacing between campsites and compared to pull through RV parks, maybe ten times more space.

Humans have a primordial fascination with water, so we look for campgrounds that overlook a lake or are situated along a brook or river. Others have swimming ponds associated with them that attracts day users and campers for fun in the water as well as canoe rentals. Almost all public campgrounds have hiking trails that branch off from them. So the recreation is more natural and you have to work for it more than just sending your kids off to the pool.

Let me say a few words about hookups. For the first three days at one site, we simply don't need hookups. All systems, except air conditioning, work fine on DC battery power. Yes, we do have to dump the grey and black water tank when we leave, but it isn't as icky as you might imagine.

What I really enjoy at the typical campgrounds where we go is hanging around the campsite, overlooking a lake or stream and reading a book while enjoying the birds flitting and the squirrels chattering. Later in the day I gather wood for a campfire. I sometimes have to search a 1/4 mile or so from the campsite to find it in popular areas. But with few exceptions I have rarely purchased firewood. Most public campgrounds allow picking up downed wood (but not some popular NPS sites). I have a lithium battery powered small chainsaw that is quiet enough to use to chop up the bigger logs. I also use an axe to split the bigger pieces.

Since we camp in New England, by 6-7:00 PM it is often getting chilly so a campfire gives us a nice cheery spot to hang around in the early evening. Ninety percent of the time we cook our main dish- steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. over the campfire. After we finish dinner and clean up I always enjoy a shot or two of bourbon while sitting mesmerized by the campfire flames.

Nighttime temps have ranged from the mid 60s to low 40s early in the season. We have twin beds with thick comforters on them which keeps us warm and Joan has our small Sheltie for her side. In those low temp situations we will sometimes start the furnace for a half hour or so to make it tolerable to get dressed in the morning and make coffee.

We take along a small propane grill that we use to grill breakfast sandwiches and sometime we will rebuild the fire if it is cold so we can sit around it and enjoy our breakfast around the campfire.

Midmorning if we are heading to another site or home, we clean up, put away the folding chairs, dump water on the fire, pack up the camper, close the slide and windows and hook up. It takes about 15 minutes to do this. Then we head to the RV dump on the way out and do that chore.

So, if you have borne with me this long, my purpose is to describe some of the joys and techniques of quasi-boondock camping. I hope that this encourages some to head out and enjoy the natural beauty of these parks.

David

[PYG RYDR]

David,

Thanks!

I prefer camping without utilities and away from RV parks. 

Last year we camped-for free-3 miles from Silverton, CO bedside a mountain stream for 6 days at 9300 feet between mountains, in a designated state park, pit toilets only.   Absolutely awesome!

Recently spent 5 days camped on private property for 5 days in Terlingua, TX beside a buddy and his rig.  Morning sunrises over the Mexico mountains and sunsets glowing red on same mountains.  Absolutely awesome! 

And while traveling, prefer to park for a night's sleep at Walmart and Cracker Barrell for free. 

Camp on!

[pjcd]

Well, there is boondocking and there is dry camping, to me boondocking is similar to backpacking, your into places that have no facilities, (wilderness areas) and your bringing everything you need  for the time your there, dry camping is just any park or campground with no hook-ups, (bathroom, water and dump stations nearby). Just my opinion......

[PYG RYDR]

David,

I appreciate you starting this thread.  I hope this post is consistent with your intent, if not, I will delete.

Galen

What is Boondock camping?
Boondocking is not really a good term, but has somehow come into common use. Dry Camping (parking anywhere without or with limited amenities) is more accurate. Independent Parking is the preferred term. It means that you are prepared to dry camp but, make use of amenities when they're available.

What is meant by dry camping?
Boondocking is essentially camping without hookups. You may also hear it referred to as 'dry camping'. Often, dry camping means staying in a campground without hookups, whereas, boondocking typically means staying in a completely undeveloped area.

Free Camping. There are many places to camp for free in an RV or tent in the United States. Locations include Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and National Forests. Some National Parks have dispersed camping opportunities but a fee is required for entrance, although not for camping.

And more:

https://weretherussos.com/pros-cons-rv-dry-camping-boondocking/

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/rv-boondocking.html

[DavidM]

PYG RYDR:

Your post is entirely appropriate and is just why I started this thread: to share the experience of camping without hookups in very nice places.

Dispersed camping:

Although I haven't done it since we retired to New England, I have done a fair bit of dispersed camping, mostly in the western states. Virtually every National Forest out west allows you to camp anywhere off of the road. We look for untravelled, dirt roads that lead somewhere interesting. Like you we camped in one beside a creek in Colorado and caught our dinner appetizers right outside our door.

Dispersed camping does lead to problems at times. In Colorado again we followed a single track for miles. Up ahead we saw a very used school bus that was blocking the track. He had a huge aft deck that got hung up when he bottomed out in a dry creek crossing. We asked if we could help, but he said he could get out if it. He just had to disassemble his aft deck!!

The bad news is we had to back (in this case we were in a Jeep Cherokee and were tent camping) for almost a mile before we could turn around. The good news is that led us to the creekside spot above. that was gorgeous. But I wouldn't try that road in a travel trailer- backing and turning around would be impossible.

David

[Merlin]

I'll bet writing the start to this thread is a great antidote to the NE blizzard too! Good work. The concept reminds me that some of the best places I've been to with my Land Cruiser are roads not on any map. Places without hookups can be spectacular and one reason we got our camper is that even in spectacular out of the way places it's nice to have a comfortable dry place to be at night. 

[leslie]

A couple of days ago, at a picnic in our RV resort here in Florida, the campers at my table had a discussion about boondocking vs RV parks. All of the couples had one who wanted to do boondocking, while their other half wanted nothing but RV parks. This picnic was held in a meticulously-landscaped RV resort with all of the amenities anybody could want. Huh!

[Pinstriper]

We have not yet dry camped OR boondocked. For no good reason other than we love our state park system so much, and also because the USFS campgrounds are all first-come basis and we don't have the courage to set out only to find there isn't a spot for us.

That said, as David points out, for 2 days we really don't need hookups. We don't generally shower for a 2 night trip. We bring 5 gallons of water from home for drinking, and the only use for water is washing dishes and flushing toilets. We ought to be OK.

The only things we use AC power for is the electric kettle for coffee/tea which could be done on our propane stove (outside), the very occasional microwave use that we could plan around, the fridge that we can run on propane, and the A/C which we only use in the very warmest weather to cool the rig down in the evening. Picking a shaded spot would handle that, plus of course fans. Obviously when dry camping we'd also use the water pump.

I do have a Zamp solar suitcase that I know works, but I don't know how quickly if would recharge the batteries. Maybe an upgrade to 2 batteries will be in order when our current/original battery needs to be replaced.

I would only camp at the average RV resort under duress. They are little more than a parking lot, stacked in like cordwood so close you can walk from roof to roof, with shade trees a rarity and absolutely infested with children. Squeaking, yelling, running, crying little blighters. Bad eggs, all of them. I like a bit of lawn to myself to chase them off of. I also don't care to hear other people's TV's or music.

There may well be "premium" resorts with shade trees and more space between the sites, and that would be fine with us. The only such I've seen was the 1,000 Trails campgrounds we tried early on, and we found the facilities dated and poorly maintained.

[DavidM]

Pinstriper:

You are exactly the guy I started this thread for and to convince you that there is another way. Sounds like I am half way there. Your assessment of how your systems will work without hookups is accurate. Don't know the capacity of your Zamp system but 100 watts in full sun will provide enough power for two days. Full sun is the kicker.

Many state parks have full and partial hookups as well as none. Try dry camping at one of the sites with no hookups. They may even be more private than the hookup sites.

National parks almost never have hookups and the sites are packed closer together than the state parks or NFS sites I have been to. But the charm is usually in the surrounding environment: Acadia, Yosimite, etc. And they all take reservations.

As you note, forest service campgrounds don't do reservations and rarely have hookups. They are a mixed bag in my experience. Some are just a woodsy area off of a side road and don't have much charm. Others are along a stream or overlook a lake and these tend to be more jammed together but not bad. The ideal one for me is a remote site overlooking a stream where the sites are spread out. Chittenden Brook Campground in Vermont is one of these with hand pumps for water and outhouses.

One trend I have noticed over 60 years of camping- More and more of the NFS campgrounds have running water and flush toilets and sometimes even showers. That is a big upgrade from hand pumps and outhouses and my wife refuses to go to these.

This is my experience with reservations, mid week mostly now that we are retired:

Popular National Parks like Acadia, Great Smokies, Yosimite- Imperative to have a reservation. Acadia is mostly booked up now.

State Parks, even popular ones I can usually find a nice spot mid week, but I would reserve for a weekend.

NFS sites- Always can find a nice spot midweek and rarely have I been closed out on weekends.

Give it a try!!

David

[FastEddieB]

Without getting dragged into the weeds as to definitions...

This gave me a chance to go back and look at our trip log and total where we've camped.

In decreasing order:

1) Our new property in TN (15 nights)
2) State Parks (14 nights)
3) Commercial Campgrounds (12 nights)
4) At friends (10 nights)
5) WalMart (8 nights)
6) RV and Air Shows (5 nights)
7) Harvest Host (3 nights)

Each has its own appeal. We really don't mind pulling into a Walmart if we're tired. Rest areas are also an option, but none used to date.

Commercial Campgrounds are probably our least favorite, but are sometimes what are handy and family-friendly.

[mojospeople]

I wanna disperse camp on NFS or BLM land! And that gives me an idea now. We have a trip planned to Crested Butte this summer and I have a couple days to fill in. Anyone have any favorite spots to pull off and camp in Colorado? We have some experience in the Grand Junction/Fruita area but not sure we'll have the time to go further west. Open to any suggestions for east/northeast of CB enroute to I80 or I70 eastbound.

Side note - on one of our trips to mountain bike in Fruita we were staying in a hotel in GJ but when we finished our late afternoon ride on 18 RD (near a BLM campground with no amenties other than pit toilets I think) we kicked back for a post-ride refreshment....ok beer or 2....to a private air show! Literally a stunt plane was practicing barrel rolls, loops etc right over us! I'd have killed to be kickin' it with my LL a campfire and friends! Every time we've ridden by the campground I've let out a sigh and wished we were camping there.

[DavidM]

Here are some thoughts for Colorado and the Crested Butte area:

Although it is a standard USFS site (and you can make reservations) a very nice campground is Lake Irwin Picnic Site (and campground). You reach it by driving a half dozen miles west of CB and then turn north for a few miles.

Download copies of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest maps and look for forest service roads that run along creeks or lakes. Often you can find a dirt turnoff that leads to a nice campsite. You have to explore a bit, but that is part of the fun.

Further from CB is Sig Creek north of Durango near Purgatory ski area. Turn west on FS 578 just north of Purgatory. You can probably get to the Sig Creek campground which is very nice without 4WD, but past it you will need 4wd and a high clearance trailer. Follow 578 and you will find nice campsites just off of it. 578 and other FS roads go all the way to county rd 145 to the west, but sections are steep. We made that trip in a Cherokee and I had to stop at the top of one decent and walk down to check it out first. There was no going back once down that stretch. Maybe a jeep could make it back up, but I wasn't about to try it.

David

[leslie]

We are Wallydocking tonight. This is our 3rd night Wallydocking. We are on our way to Louisville from Florida. Tomorrow AM, my husband has a shopping list ready. Like Fast Eddie says, there's always a WalMart.

My husband likes to travel and be a tourist. So, we stay at RV resorts and parks. The more "resorty" it is, the more he likes it.

I enjoy the camping experience, which he does not. Usually it is too far from a restaurant for him. I try to include state parks and public-run parks in our travels. I would love to be boondocking someplace where I can't see any other people around, but it hasn't worked out yet.

So for us, the difference between boondocking and RV parks is - do you want the camping experience, or are you traveling as a tourist from RV resort to RV resort?

[thudd3r]

I wanna disperse camp on NFS or BLM land! And that gives me an idea now. We have a trip planned to Crested Butte this summer and I have a couple days to fill in. Anyone have any favorite spots to pull off and camp in Colorado? We have some experience in the Grand Junction/Fruita area but not sure we'll have the time to go further west. Open to any suggestions for east/northeast of CB enroute to I80 or I70 eastbound.

Side note - on one of our trips to mountain bike in Fruita we were staying in a hotel in GJ but when we finished our late afternoon ride on 18 RD (near a BLM campground with no amenties other than pit toilets I think) we kicked back for a post-ride refreshment....ok beer or 2....to a private air show! Literally a stunt plane was practicing barrel rolls, loops etc right over us! I'd have killed to be kickin' it with my LL a campfire and friends! Every time we've ridden by the campground I've let out a sigh and wished we were camping there.

taylor park/cottonwood pass area is a great colorado destination.  all kinds of motorized and non-motorized activities.  great trail system

warning...many access the area over cottonwood pass, which will be closed this year for upgrades.  so you will have to get there through gunnison