boondocking newbe

[thoms]

hi all, been camping a long while but never boondocked. going out west for a while and would like to try to get off the beaten path.
seen lots of photos of campers in isolated places in BLM areas and nat parks. do you have to check in to go to these areas or just pull off the road and find a place to set up camp? we will be in Col. and Utah mostly but don't want to break any laws, but would love to see the area without the normal rv campgrounds. can self contain for 3 or 4 days with no gen. but that would be fine.then would need a to dump.
27`TT with 2 deep cycl batts, fresh water,prop, and ammo ?????
thanks for any input

[JiminDenver]

tessa25 wrote:
Colorado habitat stamp is only required for fishing and hunting.

That'll save me a $100 this year. 🙂

[JiminDenver]

These post by fanrgs may be of interest.

click

[bka0721]

Welcome to another world of using and enjoying your RV. To start out, become familiar with the rules and regulations in the area you are interested in exploring. As mentioned earlier, a trip to the local authority office or visitor center is a great advice and should be done. These locations are often able to either sell or give you maps of that specific area.

The next thing you need to do, is build your confidence in boondocking, in that you will start learning what is a good location for you and what is not. No one knows your capabilities, confidence and ability of your RV and to get in and out of locations. This is something you need to take at a slow and deliberate pace.

My best advice at this stage of your Boondocking Lifestyle is to find some country roads, easy forest roads and travel them and look for wide spots or pull outs that your RV will fit into. Many of these locations are available with junctions of roads, rural mailbox locations and empty pen locations of cattle loading locations. Don't try for the really remote and cliff side locations at first, build up to that.

One question for you. Why would you need to find a dump location around 4 days? One of the issues of the Wild West, is that Dump locations are fairly far apart. Conservation on many things, water, dumping, fuel and food supplies will allow you to stay longer boondocking and away from citys or populated areas. You might want to start working on your skill in these areas too, to become more successful and thus, enjoy your boondocking experience.

Always, have fun!

[tonyandkaren]

We spent last spring and summer in Utah and Colorado. I've marked all of our boondocking spots on this map - http://goo.gl/maps/ZhlhY Read the short descriptions to make sure that the spot be okay for your trailer.

Here's a good resource for National Forests - http://www.fs.fed.us/locatormap/ Click on a link on the map to get the forest web page, then click "recreation" in the list on the left side. Click "camping and cabins" then "dispersed camping".
The spots that come up are not the only places where you're allowed to camp but it'll give you a good start.

Dump stations - http://www.sanidumps.com/sanidumps_usamerica.php

Have a good time!

[tessa25]

Colorado habitat stamp is only required for fishing and hunting.

[JiminDenver]

Her in Colorado we have to get some stamp that comes as part of the fishing license. You may want to check into that.

What area of Colorado are you looking to be in? I know the spot in the shot above, it is in one of our favorite areas. Living here we take day trips to new areas to pick out a few spots for the next trip. We always call the ranger station to check with them for fire bans and to let them know we are in a area. They have always been helpful in locating spots we can get into.

[jmcgsd]

skipnchar wrote:
You usually can camp on federal land unless it is signed as "no camping" or unless you are in violation of local general rules. Best to check in at district office to learn about these rules. An example would be "no camping within 100 feet of any body of water or stream. That one is used often.
Good luck / skip

If they had posted those signs along the Oregon Trail in 1846 a lot more settlers would have made it West. 🙂

[tessa25]

Here's the motor vehicle use map site for part of Colorado. Look at the key and it mentions dispersed camping

[korbe]

We will stop in the district office of the specific national forest and pick up maps, get a fire permit and sometimes the staff person may give a bit of insider info on nice boondock areas.

[agesilaus]

You probably cannot boondock in a National Park. National Forests and BLM land as usually OK but they may have areas that are off limits for dispersed camping (which is their official term for it). Check either at a ranger station of go online for that NF/BLM district and search for dispersed camping.

[Off_Pavement]

Ah yes... the lure of boondock camping has a very strong appeal! Those great camping sites we see on the cover of magazines sure look like the kinds of places we look for, but most seldom find.

We feel most "free campsite" location websites are filled with places we're not interested in staying. WalMart, Cracker Barrel, public parks and campgrounds and other commercial locations are not boondocking to us.


This is boondocking!

There are rules for "dispersed camping" (boondocking) and they are not consistent. The US Forest Service is changing their dispersed camping regulations in some area. USFS has developed, or is in the process of developing, Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MUVMs) that specify what forest roads are open and what activities are permitted in the forest. BLM has surface recreation maps with roads and other detailed information.

This web page has a lot of information about the way we think works best for finding great boondocking locations...

How To Find The Best Boondocking Locations

By clicking on a specific state on the following web page, you can find virtually every federal and state public land managers official web site with state specific camping information. It is the only web site I know of that has cataloged every states public camping resources web sites. Since land management information is always changing, we find it's best to check with official land management sources. BTW - Arizona is unique with their state lands pass.

www.rv-camping.org

[camper19709]

johnna wrote:
The first thing we do when we arrive in a new area is to drop by a National Forest or BLM office to get their advice on local camping regulations and likely places to camp. They will also have current information on back-road conditions washouts and such.

x2.

[johnna]

The first thing we do when we arrive in a new area is to drop by a National Forest or BLM office to get their advice on local camping regulations and likely places to camp. They will also have current information on back-road conditions washouts and such.

[skipnchar]

You usually can camp on federal land unless it is signed as "no camping" or unless you are in violation of local general rules. Best to check in at district office to learn about these rules. An example would be "no camping within 100 feet of any body of water or stream. That one is used often.
Good luck / skip