Finding safe location for boondocking

Oldtyme, what happened? Was this in a wilderness-type area, or a town, or what?

We have had to leave a campground once due to really bad noisy drunk neighbors with barking dogs and loud music containing lots of swear words. Camping near major California population centers means that once in a while, we will run into some strange folks.

We have recently had a bad experience. We simply left.

First I think that you have to stop earlier, when it is light. Its easier to find spots and get the true feel of the place. At night things are less likely to change.

Other people in rural settings, I usually avoid them unless its a campground, it just does not work out very well

We go by our gut feeling. A place that feels fine one day be be different next visit. Often it depends on other people in the area at that time. If we have neighboring boondockers, we make a point of walking over and getting a feel for them. If they seem okay, we stay and, although unspoken, we now feel we're sort of looking out for each other.

For urban areas, we just learned of a free app called SpotCrime that shows up-to-date crime maps for various areas of a city. Have yet to try it ourselves, but it seems like a great tool. It's at the play store at:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotcrime.spotcrimemobile&hl=enhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotcrime.spotcrimemobile&hl=en

I've never been in Wisconsin, but I'd recommend checking with Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Most states allow camping at some if not all of their state wildlife areas and Wisconsin is no different. Perhaps there is state land nearby few folks ever think about?

Here is the Wisconsin DNR recreation page. If you scroll down a bit, you can do a search for camping on the left side of the page, and of the 66 results, there are 7 state wildlife areas that show camping is allowed... Just a thought!

Wisconsin DNR Recreation Page

EsoxLucius wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
If you find ANY place to boondock near Chetek, WI let us know!

There are no National Forests or BLM land near Chetek. Barron County Forests do not allow camping except in designated campgrounds. There are some spots in the Blue Hills in Rusk County, but those really aren't "near" Chetek.

Thanks for commenting on this! Chetek is a resort community with many Mom &Pop resorts, mostly cabins.

As for finding safe places, we do plan to stay away from cities, and I will start looking for guard dog training lessons for the poodle. :B

Dick_B wrote:
If you find ANY place to boondock near Chetek, WI let us know!

There are no National Forests or BLM land near Chetek. Barron County Forests do not allow camping except in designated campgrounds. There are some spots in the Blue Hills in Rusk County, but those really aren't "near" Chetek.

Just have to be quicker at the draw.

rexlion wrote:
Nearly all the boondocking locations outside of cities are safe. So the simple way to go is to avoid the cities! ..

Depends what "state" you are in!

I can name about a thousand places in many states 'outside the city' that will get you mugged, stabbed and/or killed! :B

In other words. A spot 100-300 yards off the road...... with an open 'field of fire', for about 50-100 yards.

Watch out for bear 'piles' on the trails. Spec'lly if they have 'bear bells' in them.

And if you hear something tearing the heck out of the saplings and brush.... it's probably a cranky moose.

Don't worry bout the kitties. They don't like us much either.

Two legged critters.... not to worry '00' Buck has a very 'calming' effect on those.