I'm hooked!

[kfp673]

I grew up tent camping. Most times we tent camped at state parks, and while they were campgrounds they were rustic. Now it seems we spend most RV nights in campgrounds with hookups. Don't get me wrong, depending on the reason for visiting an area that can be great. Hookups were fantastic visiting the VA beaches in 95 degree heat in July so we could shower and have AC. That said, we learned of rustic boondock sites in the state forrest. While they are still camp sites, they were minimum 1/4 mile between each (some 1/2 mile) and very secluded and deep in the woods with nothing other than a table and fire ring. Went 2 weeks ago and loved every second. Dog did not see the leash the entire weekend and was the most relaxing camping we have had in many years! Going back for a long weekend this weekend and plan to make it a regular spot. I bring the generator along but use it sparingly. No real point to this post other than to say I am hooked on boondocking. Hope to find more areas like this fairly close to home!

[kfp673]

Quick add on to this thread... Last week prior to our 3 night camping trip I bought a small 10" Ryobi 18V electric chainsaw. Most of the public state forrest land in PA you are not allowed to run a gas saw. Since I already had Ryobi 18V tools I figured I'd give it a shot. Worked out great! With less than an hour of work (kids dragging me logs and me cutting and stacking) we had more than enough wood for our 3 day trip including the 3rd night in the upper 30's. Really eats the battery so I need bigger than the 2 1.5AH batteries I have, but never the less it was a great investment. Hopefully it holds up!

[pnichols]

agesilaus wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
Boondocking is our preferred way to camp, followed by FS CG's. We use Campendium to find sites and Freecampsites.net. In our home state we often set out on day trips using our Jeep to scope out sites. We never break camp in a new area, but that is the rule of boondocking, to never do that. Always camp only in areas that have previously been camped in to preserve the terrain. We are blessed to have a lot of areas here. It's not hard to find boondocking sites when traveling to other states by using the resources out there on the internet, including this site.

The reminded me of the actual rule number one of real boondocking:
Do not take your RV down that unknown road unless you check it out first.

Driving down a FS road to find a dead end in a place that you cannot turn around in, is to be avoided.

Of course that rule doesn't necessarily apply to a small enough non-towing motorhome that can do a multi-point U-turn on a narrow road, or worst case ... back out if necessary. 😉

We RV with relatives that RV with a TT. They sometimes ask us to while they wait explore on ahead in our small Class C and then come back and let them know if they should take the road!

[Sandia_Man]

It has always been our preferred method of RVing. State, Fed/COE, city, and county RV campgrounds are second, only utilizing private campgrounds as our last option. Most often extreme weather forces us to use private campgrounds, although we do our fair share of boondocking under these conditions.

We have plenty of solar which supplies all our power needs under decent weather conditions. RVing under trees or on cloudy days cuts heavily into our DC power reserves, leading to miserly use of our rig's amenities. Thankfully, we have both onboard and portable inverter gennies that start/stop via remote.

[kfp673]

agesilaus wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
Boondocking is our preferred way to camp, followed by FS CG's. We use Campendium to find sites and Freecampsites.net. In our home state we often set out on day trips using our Jeep to scope out sites. We never break camp in a new area, but that is the rule of boondocking, to never do that. Always camp only in areas that have previously been camped in to preserve the terrain. We are blessed to have a lot of areas here. It's not hard to find boondocking sites when traveling to other states by using the resources out there on the internet, including this site.

The reminded me of the actual rule number one of real boondocking:
Do not take your RV down that unknown road unless you check it out first.

Driving down a FS road to find a dead end in a place that you cannot turn around in, is to be avoided.

Yes! Thankfully I thought this through. Earlier in the summer we were staying at a standard campground and learned that a collection of the PA FS dispersed sites were within 30 minutes of us. We took an afternoon and "scouted" about 15 sites. Good thing I did! With my trailer being 35', of those 15 I fit into maybe 5. Often it's not the site itself, it's the entrance into the site that is very tight. We did take a risk on one but not without having extensive conversation with a lady at the Forrest service. She was fantastic and emailed me a document that showed the exact dimensions of each site, and most importantly, how far off the access road. If it said 0 we know we are good. Keeping in mind these access roads are 1 lane stone roads and you are miles into the woods, we were fine with being "on the road". Can't say enough how helpful they have been at the FS. Very different than calling the state parks where they all seem short tempered and over worked (Likely rightfully so). Anyway, still learning about nw areas and looking forward to exploring more!

Thanks all for the replies!

[agesilaus]

wrote:
and how do we know? Been there done that or watched "The Long Long Trailer"!

Been there and done that several times, the last time was a big surprise but I finally got turned around, heh.

[ReneeG]

agesilaus wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
Boondocking is our preferred way to camp, followed by FS CG's. We use Campendium to find sites and Freecampsites.net. In our home state we often set out on day trips using our Jeep to scope out sites. We never break camp in a new area, but that is the rule of boondocking, to never do that. Always camp only in areas that have previously been camped in to preserve the terrain. We are blessed to have a lot of areas here. It's not hard to find boondocking sites when traveling to other states by using the resources out there on the internet, including this site.

The reminded me of the actual rule number one of real boondocking:
Do not take your RV down that unknown road unless you check it out first.

Driving down a FS road to find a dead end in a place that you cannot turn around in, is to be avoided.

and how do we know? Been there done that or watched "The Long Long Trailer"!

[agesilaus]

ReneeG wrote:
Boondocking is our preferred way to camp, followed by FS CG's. We use Campendium to find sites and Freecampsites.net. In our home state we often set out on day trips using our Jeep to scope out sites. We never break camp in a new area, but that is the rule of boondocking, to never do that. Always camp only in areas that have previously been camped in to preserve the terrain. We are blessed to have a lot of areas here. It's not hard to find boondocking sites when traveling to other states by using the resources out there on the internet, including this site.

The reminded me of the actual rule number one of real boondocking:
Do not take your RV down that unknown road unless you check it out first.

Driving down a FS road to find a dead end in a place that you cannot turn around in, is to be avoided.

[agesilaus]

Confused me with the link because there is a couple that fulltime in their Airstream and their blog is The Long Long Honeymoon. The Lucille Ball movie is The Long Long Trailer.

LOL I fixed that, sorry for my confusion. I'm subscribed to both.

[ReneeG]

Boondocking is our preferred way to camp, followed by FS CG's. We use Campendium to find sites and Freecampsites.net. In our home state we often set out on day trips using our Jeep to scope out sites. We never break camp in a new area, but that is the rule of boondocking, to never do that. Always camp only in areas that have previously been camped in to preserve the terrain. We are blessed to have a lot of areas here. It's not hard to find boondocking sites when traveling to other states by using the resources out there on the internet, including this site.

[ReneeG]

agesilaus wrote:
You may want to watch some of this couples vblogs. They have a Class A and mainly dry camp and boondock. When I first watched some of their stuff six months ago they seemed rather smarmy but their recent work is much better they have really loosened up a lot:

The long honeymoon

Lucy Ball not included.

Confused me with the link because there is a couple that fulltime in their Airstream and their blog is The Long Long Honeymoon. The Lucille Ball movie is The Long Long Trailer. 🙂

[Tvov]

GDS-3950BH wrote:
I've stayed on some of the dispersed sites up in Forbes SF in the SW part of the state.

One of the recommendations in the PA DCNR long range plan is the elimination of those dispersed sites in the name of conservation. Hopefully it gets shot down. The woman Wolf put in charge of DCNR is an absolute nutball. Thankfully her days are numbered.

Too many "public" areas seem to be going that way... they don't want you on the land unless you are bird watching from a distance. No camping, certainly no RV'ing, no hunting, no mountain bike riding, no off road vehicle use, and on and on.

You need to find a balance of uses, but public land is, well, PUBLIC and people should be allowed to use it.

[GDS-3950BH]

I've stayed on some of the dispersed sites up in Forbes SF in the SW part of the state.

One of the recommendations in the PA DCNR long range plan is the elimination of those dispersed sites in the name of conservation. Hopefully it gets shot down. The woman Wolf put in charge of DCNR is an absolute nutball. Thankfully her days are numbered.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

Deleting in process after over 15 years here of deleting membership. Appalled at how things have changed personally.

[agesilaus]

The most RV's packed into a small area we've ever seen was Fort Peck in Montana this summer, they were practically parked hubcap to hubcap, scores of them in parking lots and these were not just parked there. This despite signs all over the place forbidding the practice. No enforcement at all. However our official CG was well managed and excellent as the other cg seemed to be as well.

Jug Hollow in Flaming Gorge had scores of RVs but they were all placed apart from each other. We could just see the roof of our nearest neighbor. That area is so large it can accommodate a lot of people and still give them separation.