Boondocking safety

No problems out West.

Quit watching those stupid movies, loose the paranoia and enjoy life.

In my mind, the further away from a big city that you are, the safer you will be. We have had a very few instances of loud obnoxious types camping near by and every instance was in a developed CG. All in the south.

The one time I felt a bit concerned was when we drove thru a undeveloped campground full of the 'Rainbow Tribe'. That was in the Ocala NF and we weren't looking to camp there. But they were unpleasant company. I haven't heard anything about them in the past few years, hopefully the tribe is extinct.

That being said, the Founders gave us the 2nd Amendment for good reasons. Use it.

BK

If you are boondocking where there are hordes of partying teens you are not very far from civilization. I've never had any issues.

In nearly 500 nights of camping out West in the last nine years, we've done lots of boondocking -- no trouble at all. Twice, in campgrounds, we had loud people near us: in a campground near Los Angeles, a bunch of young men played loud music all night -- they were so drunk that we did not ask them to stop. In another campground in the Sierra, a guy ran his generator all day and was rude when we asked him to move it away from our trailer. He complied, but he gave us his best frowny face.

Bottom line -- if you want something to worry about, how about all of the folks texting and driving?? That is deadly and is far more likely to ruin your day.

(I have a silly question, since I don't text -- what is so urgent that people have to text and drive? I just don't get it.)

profdant139 wrote:
In nearly 500 nights of camping out West in the last nine years, we've done lots of boondocking -- no trouble at all. Twice, in campgrounds, we had loud people near us: in a campground near Los Angeles, a bunch of young men played loud music all night -- they were so drunk that we did not ask them to stop. In another campground in the Sierra, a guy ran his generator all day and was rude when we asked him to move it away from our trailer. He complied, but he gave us his best frowny face.

Bottom line -- if you want something to worry about, how about all of the folks texting and driving?? That is deadly and is far more likely to ruin your day.

(I have a silly question, since I don't text -- what is so urgent that people have to text and drive? I just don't get it.)

X2
Watch out for all the idiots on the road.
And sleeping in your RV overnight @ a Walmart is not boondocking.

When I boondock in the middle of nowhere, I watch my back. Mainly I'm watching out for big cats, not people! ;)

We boondock a lot and have always been safe. With that said, you should always plan for your safety. Once while boon docking way back on a FS road in the Idaho Sawtooths, we were playing cards at night. We saw a car come in, circle around, then stop. DH told me to stay inside, he got his pistol and went out and talked to them. They just wanted to spend the night in the back of their Explorer on the way through. Next morning, DH took them breakfast and we visited. After they left, the "neighbors", another family camping together down from us, came over and said that he got out his shotgun and was watching them too as DH talked to them the night before. Well, we chuckled. These neighbors respected our space and we theirs but they were watching over us too. Same spot, fast forward the following year, and a group of 4 RV's came up and circled in a spot. They partied loud into the night. Jeesh! That's not what we went up there for. They had kids and didn't pay any attention to their kids floating the creek, which is ice cold, deep and swift. I was worried for them and watched them till they left. We boondock and have always been safe but we are cautious too. It never hurts to be aware and prepared. When you are, nothing happens!

We haven't encountered those types of issues while boondocking, we have found them to be commonplace at state/Fed parks over busy holiday weekends.

Nothing wrong with it being on your mind as it will keep you on your toes, always being aware of your surroundings will keep you ahead of the game no matter what type of camping your doing.

Over the years we have amassed a handful of favored spots for boondocking and feel safe utilizing them throughout the camping season, that is not to say we drop our guard, rather we have built a certain comfort level for these seldom trekked locations and don't fret about being victimized.

We love RVing and have found a plethora of ways to enjoy our rig, boondocking ranks right up there on top and nobody is going to take that away from us.

I boondock almost exclusively in pretty remote country, and often alone. I'm pretty good at assessing sites for varmints etc., and that includes two-legged ones. If it doesn't feel "right", I don't stay/camp. The few times I've actually been scared have been middle-of-the-night products of My Vivid Imagination. I think.

Though I'm still half-convinced that Space Aliens chased me out of a spot up near Concrete, Washington back in about 1990.