BLM Long Term Camping Permits Are Available in Northern California
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently offers long term camping permits for five (5) campgrounds in the Eastern Sierra region. Campers looking to dig in for longer periods can get a 30-day camping permit for as many as six times per year. These five campgrounds are all located with the BLM’s Bishop Field Office. BLM Long Term Camping Permits Offered Year Round While winter snow birds typically head for ...
Big Flat Dispersed Camping Area Under Temporary Closure
Fishlake National Forest in Utah announced today that they will close the entire Big Flat Dispersed Camping Area for two ...
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Now Requires Bear-Proof Food Containers in Hoover Wilderness
The Bridgeport Ranger District of Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest today announced that beginning Monday, July 17, 2023, all food taken into ...
Where Will You Be Boondocking on National Forest Week?
Yes, there is actually a, “National Forest Week”! It’s the effort of National Forest Foundation, an organization that was chartered ...
Tennessee Makes it Illegal to Camp on Public Property
The State of Tennessee will soon make it illegal to camp on public property. A new law goes into effect on July 1, 2022. House Bill 0978, and Senate Bill 1610 was originally written in 2021 in response to riots that took place throughout the country in 2020. Those riots hit the Volunteer State hard, ... Read more
The Entire Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest is Closing!
Beginning Thursday, June 24, 2021, the entire Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest is closing due to extreme fire danger under historically dry conditions. The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest lies in the eastern portion of Arizona, bordering with New Mexico. More than two dozen fires have started on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests in the last few days. Two of ... Read more
Alabama Hills Now Closed for Boondocking Due to Fire Danger
The very-popular Alabama Hills, a dispersed camping area in the Eastern Sierra Mountains of California, is now closed for all camping due to a CodeRED Alert as a result of the nearby Alabama Fire. The Inyo County Sheriff is now ordering all existing campers and recreationists to evacuate the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area near ... Read more
Nevada BLM Wants Your Boondocking Photos!
Nevada BLM announced yesterday it is asking to public to submit their photos of Nevada BLM lands for to be included in an upcoming Travel Planner. The promotion is co-operative between Nevada Bureau of Land Management and Travel Nevada, a publication of the Nevada Commission on Tourism. Winning photos will be printed in Travel Nevada’s ... Read more
Dispersed Camping Now Shut Down in Five Areas of Colorado
On Thursday, May 13, 2021, the U.S. Forest Service announced that it shut down dispersed camping in five (5) areas of Colorado, covering Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, claiming recent visitors had destroyed and contaminated much of these areas. “…National Forest visitors created thousands of new campsites as they pulled off roads and damaged resources, ... Read more
How Far in Advance Should You Make Reservations for Camping?
You should make reservations for camping as far in advance as possible. If 2020 was any indication of how the COVID-19 pandemic created a surge in camping, it’s going to continue for 2021. USA Today reports that both state and national parks across the country are urging people to make their reservations as far in ... Read more
Don’t Share All of Your Boondocking Sites Online!
Instead, keep at least one site in each state your “secret boondocking site”. The reason why is because boondocking is getting tougher to find. COVID-19 changed the United States in many ways. It pushed more Americans into camping and RVing. Instead of going to Disney World with the family, they went to Grand Tetons National ... Read more
Finding Free Camping at Flaming Gorge
Aside from how gorgeous Flaming Gorge is, the beauty of camping there is that much of it is free. The problem is finding a campsite that isn’t already taken, or already congested with RVs, or somewhat close to town, or finding a place that has usable cellular data. That’s when it gets tough. Flaming Gorge ... Read more
Free Camping at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho
While campgrounds fill up fast at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, it’s not really that hard to find available free camping. You just have to know where to look. Sash and I pulled into Portneuf Lower, a free campground run by Idaho Department of Fish & Game, located only two miles away from downtown Lava Hot ... Read more
Free Camping at Grand Tetons is Not Easy
(Cover photo by Dave Hensley) My plan to camp at (or by) Grand Teton National Park was something I thought I’d realize this Spring. The photo from Campendium (see example) looked all so inspiring and idyllic. I was sold on the romanticism of the American West and the idea of free camping. Could I actually ... Read more
Boondocking in Coconino National Forest, Arizona
So last week, we left the Sonoran Desert in Southern Arizona and headed north, to higher elevation. Temps had reached mid-80s down there, which isn’t so bad. However, we’re full timing in an all-aluminum trailer, and these aluminum cans get heat up pretty quickly. Even though dual air conditioning units can still keep things cool ... Read more
Boondocking During the COVID-19 Pandemic
It’s not so much that states have enacted a stay-at-home order that concerns us. I mean, we’re already fulltime boondockers. Social distancing is something we’ve been doing for a long time now. It’s the judgment I see from other RVers. Just because an RVer chooses to move from one location to another is no cause ... Read more
National Wildlife Refuge Camping – Official Rules Published
I managed to publish the set of rules and regulations for boondocking in National Wildlife Refuges. I also put together a page on which refuges offer free camping. Of all the government agencies that manage federal lands, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is probably the least talked about. Part of that is because they ... Read more
