County Park Experiences

[DallasSteve]

I bought a motorhome in March, 2020 and started camping on some North-South treks while I was living in the motorhome. Based on suggestions for my brother, who full-times in a Class C, I tried to make reservations at state parks and corps of engineer parks. When I couldn't find something available where I needed to be I would look for a private park. When I couldn't find that a few times I found a county park for camping.

County parks tend to be rare in my experience, but when I stayed in them I've had very good experiences. They tend to be smaller and less developed than the state and federal parks, but they often have their own charm. The first one we stayed at had a 9 hole golf course where we rented a cart and my wife had a blast driving me from hole to hole. We stayed at 2 others on Texas Gulf coast beaches and they were very nice. They were pricier than the average county park, but for being on the beach with full hookup the prices were reasonable. I saw one other in Georgetown, Texas in a beautiful park where I would have loved to stay but they were shut down due to the pandemic.

If and when I'm camping again I want to search out more county parks. I can usually find them on Google maps, if there are any in the area. Most counties don't have RV parks, from what I've seen, but some do. I've also seen them on AllTrails.com. Does anybody else have tips on finding county parks for RVs?

[trailertraveler]

afidel wrote:
Another off the usual radar category is water conservation or management districts, we've stayed in some both in Florida and central Ohio.

Some states like Kansas allow camping at state fishing lakes and on Wildlife management areas and/or state forests. Most we have encountered are dry camping. There may or may not be designated sites or areas. The rules vary widely from state to state and even area to area. A fishing or hunting license may be required. Wildlife management areas may permit camping by licensed hunters only during hunting season, no camping during certain seasons or other special regulations. Information is usually available on the state agency web pages.

[4runnerguy]

As others have noted www.uscampgrounds.info has info on many county parks. Found a county park near Grants Pass in Oregon on our trip last month and had a nice stay. Clean bathrooms, warm showers, etc. And with only 19 sites it was a lot less hectic than some of the SP's we stayed in.

[WinMinnie02]

Good information always use public parks normally are plenty of spots not during Memorial Day, July 4th, and Memorial Day. Always spots available weekdays away from crowds, my unit has own own power and water boon docking is a good option.

[LMHS]

www.uscampgrounds.info
13,000 public campgrounds- entire US and Canadaca Latitude/longitude of every campground verified
Interactive street/topo maps, downloadable data files for your GPS or laptop mapping software - all free

[trailertraveler]

I used the Ultimate Public Campgrounds website a lot and fortunately downloaded one of the last database updates before they stopped offering them and went to the app or online only. The US Campgrounds website shows the location of many county and local government campgrounds. The website has a map feature and the database can be downloaded. I have it on my computer and Garmin GPS.

[StarkNaked]

I was going to recommend Ultimate Campgrounds, but now when I try to open the link, it comes up with the message :you do not have access to this page!

It listed lots of campgrounds, but I don't know what has happened to it. Or if it's just temporary and will be back soon.

It used to be free on a computer, but I do know that it was a paid app on mobile devices. But when I search the app store on my phone, nothing comes up for it.

EDIT: Here's the answer:
Time marches on. We cannot always keep up, however, and sadly that applies to Ultimate Campgrounds. After 14 years we have come to the end of the road.
However, we are pleased to announce that our carefully-cultivated database of over 46,500 locations is being taken over by the folks at Garmin®. For several years Ultimate Campgrounds has been featured in a number of their GPS systems and is now being added to the Garmin® Tread™ app.
Although our apps have been discontinued in the app stores, folks that already have the app can continue to use it for as long as they like. Just be aware that over time the data will slowly become less up-to-date.
Our FAQ page will remain active for any users that may have a question.
Bill, Geoff and Ted all thank you for your continued support and contributions over the past 14 years and we hope we have helped you find some great places to pitch your tent or park your RV.
The UC Facebook page will live on; Ted will continue to post items of interest that he comes across.

[afidel]

Veebyes wrote:
County parks are just another in the accommodation for RVers bag of tricks. County & town parks can work out well. Some not so well.

Getting reviews on them not so easy as fewer people use them.

Another not so well known place of refuge are the fairgrounds, mostly county, but state too, all over. Basic, inexpensive & available as long as nothing big is happening.

Similar to fairgrounds, horse show facilities often have hookups available, Kentucky Horse Park north of Lexington is just off 75 and has electric year round, one of the few spots that far north open in the winter. $30/night is reasonable as well.

The only county parks I can remember staying at were in Oakland County on the north side of the Detroit metro, they were very nice, though not as woodsy as the state parks as far as the sites go. Kinda a middle ground between commercial parks and state parks.

Another off the usual radar category is water conservation or management districts, we've stayed in some both in Florida and central Ohio.

[pbeverly]

County Park in Charleston, SC is awesome (James Island). Large campground, FHU. Stays booked 13 months out.

[Veebyes]

County parks are just another in the accommodation for RVers bag of tricks. County & town parks can work out well. Some not so well.

Getting reviews on them not so easy as fewer people use them.

Another not so well known place of refuge are the fairgrounds, mostly county, but state too, all over. Basic, inexpensive & available as long as nothing big is happening.

[valhalla360]

In addition to country and city parks, check out fairgrounds. They typically have campsites for the folks bringing large animals in but when the fair isn't going on they often rent out the campsites.

Spent a week in Lincoln NB last year (for other reasons). They had a 4H rodeo going, so each night we wandered over to watch whatever event was going on for an hour or so. Since it wasn't a big event, there was no charge and we could sit right up front.

[IDman]

One of my favorites is a county park in Oregon with FHU plus a nice, clean shower house. Sites are huge, paved, shady, and sit on a small river. Last time there it was $20.

[stickdog]

We use freecampsites.net and have for the last 10 years. We've had good luck with them traveling West of the Mississippi. Some are better than others We've only stayed in a few that were free usually first night. They tend to be in county seats often in the fair grounds. The most we've paid was $30 generally for the nicer ones.

[LMHS]

https://freecampsites.net tends to be pretty good about listing county parks but not always. Finding county parks tend to be iffy. Also there are some County parks that used to be State Parks. I know of a few that have been transferred. They tend to be small, little-known parks.

Your best bet for finding a county park is google.com/maps
Type into the search bar at the top of the map "Campgrounds near (city or county, State)" This search will pull up both private and public campgrounds. You will have to sort thru them yourself. I suggest that as you run across them, you make your own "directory". I like to build spreadsheets and have made a "Campground Log" for listing campgrounds that I would like to visit or have visited in them. Several are small public parks and I try to add as much info for them as possible. When my husband & I first started tent camping, I used to keep all the info in a small notebook. With computers, I have shifted over to electronic and update the info every so often because everything changes.

You might like this one, it's a good example of a former state park now county/city park:
Sometimes listed as a state park, Harry McAdams in Hobbs NM is now a county or city park that is backed up to a public golf https://www.campendium.com/harry-mcadams-campground

[2112]

Dang it guys, you're not suppose to make this public. It's the only place we had left to avoid the crowds in Texas.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, we are travelers, not campers. We seek out county and city park camp facilities almost exclusively.

We frequent one next to a golf course and another one on a beach until the LPG facility close to it blew up. Haven't been back.