Municipal Park Camping

One of my favourite campgrounds is a county park. Chester Frost County Park (Hixson/Chattanooga - Hamilton County TN) is a very nice campground. Only w/e hookups.

Hi,

I much prefer small town campgrounds.

Free and Low Cost Campsites

Bob's Cheap or Free Campsites

not necessarily boondocking

Good example. Just got an e-mail from a friend. They are spending the night in the city park/ campground in Landers, WY. Tonight there is a free bluegrass concert in the park.

What fun!

Go exploring.

Winter set, Iowa has a nice one. Where John Wayne was born and "Bridges of Madison County" was filmed.

stayed in a couple here in florida. One in Jacksonville the other in Titusville. On par with State Parks, more or less.

Lander Wyoming nice shady park really nice kids playground. Nice farmers market and museum . Well maintained ghost town in the area, water available by the bathrooms. Police,came through a few,times while we were there. Had planned on staying over night but ended up staying 4'nights.we,stayed there on the way home from Yellowstone .maybe 2or 3other campers there during our stay very quite.

Well, not much negative posted other then rowdies on weekends, not exactly unheard of in any public campground.

We actually stayed in the city park in O'Neill last September. It was a nice experience. Four years ago we stayed at another "free" city park in Dumas TX, that one wasn't as nice as O'Neill but still suited our needs.

That first time I was a bit skeptical so I called the Dumas chamber of commerce, the guy that answered was very nice and explained it wasn't a "scam" or anything and that it was safe. I remember seeing a patrol car at least twice the night we stayed there.

I'd stay at them again given the chance.

Dan

I'll offer one of these campgrounds that we stopped at for the night along I-80 in Adair, Iowa. It was easy to locate, inexpensive, and safe.

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Iowa/Adair.html

I've found at least three categories:

1. Municipal campgrounds, usually around a lake, catering to camping, not RVing. RV facilities are usually limited, clientele is mostly weekend, and if the place is not well policed, young people are there to party.

2. Municipal RV parks, catering to travelers, seasonal workers, and people coming for specific events. They can vary from a parking lot with hookups to park-like settings. Most do not allow camping or camp activities (like fires). Costs are usually low, sometimes free. Many are connected to a fairgrounds, race track, rodeo, or similar venue.

3. County (and state) fairgrounds. In the agricultural middle of the country, people exhibiting at the fair often come in RVs, it is their one annual vacation. The fairgrounds will usually have extensive RV parking, often tightly spaced, with electrical hookups and access to a water supply. There may be associated, or nearby, livestock pens, or places to set up temporary pens.

When no big event is going on, at least part of this space is usually open to anyone coming by with a RV. During an event, these places will be filled and often overflowing into surrounding space with no hookups.

A number of times I've gone to a county fairgrounds and found that what is available off-season is just an adjacent commercial RV park, with more facilities and higher prices, there to cater to the fair visitors who want a bit more than what they find in the parking lots on the fairgrounds.

For all of these, what you pay and what you get varies a lot. Our city used to have an eight-site RV park near our downtown city park, and it had to be permanently closed a few years ago when it became the permanent residence of indigents and a haven for meth cooks in RVs. Other parks are still open that have degraded to this, but it happens as well in private RV parks and trailer parks.