User Tools

Site Tools


opinion:frater_secessus:successful_boondocking

This is an old revision of the document!


Reminder: articles in the Opinion section are written in a more personal voice – secessus

Successful boondocking

With some planning and organization boondocking can be relaxing and very cheap. If one is unprepared or inexperienced it can be expensive and miserable.

preparation

timing your arrival

day of the week

Boondocking spots are often relatively open on weekdays and crowded on weekends; locals swarm public lands on late Friday through Sunday when they are off work. Since some will take off an extra day you may find the most open spots if you arrive Tuesday through Thursday.

The worst time to arrive is during a holiday or other 3-day weekend when even the most casual of Weekenders drags out their long-neglected RV.

time of day

Arriving with plenty of daylight left is highly preferable. You will be able to:

  1. find the campsites
  2. see how close any neighbors will be
  3. see obstacles and other issues with the campsites1)
  4. get camp made before the sun goes down.

If you arrive mid-morning you may be able to here where the generators are.

Arriving in darkness can be stressful. It may be best to pull over into a temporary spot at night then resume your hunt when the sun comes up.

finding a spot

Not every spot is good for every boondocker. Some like shady areas while those dependent on solar may want open field.

apps and websites

It is common to find spots on freecampsites.net, iOverlander, etc. Since others are using those same sources of information you may want to consider the spots as general areas to start looking. The area near the lat/long will often be the most crowded, so if you go a bit further down the dirt road you will likely have fewer neighbors.

You can use an app like U.S. Public Lands2) to ensure you are still on public lands while you wander.

fitting your rig

A 40' Class A or big trailer is going to take up more room than a minivan. If you want to be especially polite you might the smaller spot that will fit your rig instead of the bigger spot that a bigger rig needs.

flat ground

cell signal

If you drive with your cell phone in your line of vision you will be able to confirm you have “bars”.

sun

Apps like Sun Surveyor can help verify the number of hours of sun you will get in a spot/position.

privacy

proximity to the road

orientation in within the campsite

You may want to find a spot where you can park the right facing the road in case you need to make a quick exit.

If you have to park close to a road you may want to face the door that is open most away from the road. This would minimize noise and dust.

camping

breaking camp

Arrange your campsite such that you can leave in a few minutes in the case of danger or discomfort.

The day before a departure start packing up the site. Before driving off walk around the campsite and around the vehicle to make sure you didn't miss anything.

reprovisioning and errands

1)
I've found places in the dark then saw a huge cow carcass when the sun came up
2)
written by experienced nomads Technomadia
opinion/frater_secessus/successful_boondocking.1651790840.txt.gz · Last modified: 2022/05/05 18:47 by frater_secessus