Straying from your Boondocking Site

[katet78]

What do all of you who boondock in motorhomes do when you stray from your site? How do you keep new boondockers from driving in and taking your site while your rig is gone? For example, say you wanted to drive down to the lake to fish, or sightsee, or run to the dump station, etc., your rig is obviously away from your boondocking site (unless you have the luxury of a TOAD) and so how do you "mark" that you will be returning so no one else takes your spot?

[mockturtle]

Now I have a question similar. If you're boondocked somewhere on public land, should you feel encroached if someone else pulls onto "your spot" and proceeds to set up?

Some of my favorite sites are very large, easily room for a bunch of RVs. Only once when I had arrived was someone else setup in "my spot". Being a large field, I could have easily parked next to them and we both had plenty of room, but instead I moved on to another site that's a bit trickier to get into.

Few things are more annoying than to have someone set up right next to you when there is plenty of room to park elsewhere. This topic as been discussed at length on this forum before and I think the consensus is on the side of solitude.

[GordonThree]

Tom N wrote:
If you leave the free site it is up for grabs.

x2 for this. If I left the site, I left the site. There's no reservations when you're free camping on public land.

Now I have a question similar. If you're boondocked somewhere on public land, should you feel encroached if someone else pulls onto "your spot" and proceeds to set up?

Some of my favorite sites are very large, easily room for a bunch of RVs. Only once when I had arrived was someone else setup in "my spot". Being a large field, I could have easily parked next to them and we both had plenty of room, but instead I moved on to another site that's a bit trickier to get into.

[Naio]

I don't usually boondock in places where someone else is likely to come by. That seems like a very narrow margin -- not popular enough to have a real cg, but so popular that if you leave for a few hours somebody will come by and want the spot you have. Where are you finding these places?

[westernrvparkow]

mockturtle wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Oasisbob wrote:
We just leave our chairs out. Maybe the canopy. We have a family tradition of seeing how many repairs we can make on our cheap chairs until they become unservicable so no loss there

I would think you are running a risk of someone coming by and just figuring some slob decided today was the day to discard their piece of junk chairs. I know many people, myself included, who feel a kind of duty to clean up the messes left by others when we are up in the woods. Seldom do I spend a day in the back country and not return with someone else's trash.

I do the same, wrvpo, and with my small rig it's not easy to haul extra trash. Boondocking sites seem to be the most littered. It might make an interesting study as to why. Are more boondockers inclined to be litterers? Is the lack of trash receptacles a blanket permit to toss your garbage instead of hauling it out?

When I leave a boondocking site I take everything with me and assume that someone may take it in my absence. But I don't stay long in one place, anyway.

I think you hit the nail on the head. No trash can and nobody watching. Plus, they aren't coming back, so it doesn't effect them.

[sch911]

You're Boondocking, you don't have a "site"!

[2_Retired]

boondocking infers an unofficial, non-defined camping site IMHO. It is not a designated camping spot, and seems therefore it is up for grabs by anyone who wanders by. Maybe carry bikes to do your wandering? Just a thought. That way your rig would be in place and the area (not a specified campsite) would obviously not be available. We do have a toad and have almost never boondocked - only a couple of times to catch some sleep in a large parking lot. Know this isn't what you're talking about. Don't obviously know what 'unwritten etiquette there is to the practice, but sounds like "move it and lose it' might apply! You're not paying to stay there, so seems you wouldn't have a claim to the area if your rig isn't there. Just my thoughts.

[Tom_N]

If you leave the free site it is up for grabs.

[mockturtle]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Oasisbob wrote:
We just leave our chairs out. Maybe the canopy. We have a family tradition of seeing how many repairs we can make on our cheap chairs until they become unservicable so no loss there

I would think you are running a risk of someone coming by and just figuring some slob decided today was the day to discard their piece of junk chairs. I know many people, myself included, who feel a kind of duty to clean up the messes left by others when we are up in the woods. Seldom do I spend a day in the back country and not return with someone else's trash.

I do the same, wrvpo, and with my small rig it's not easy to haul extra trash. Boondocking sites seem to be the most littered. It might make an interesting study as to why. Are more boondockers inclined to be litterers? Is the lack of trash receptacles a blanket permit to toss your garbage instead of hauling it out?

When I leave a boondocking site I take everything with me and assume that someone may take it in my absence. But I don't stay long in one place, anyway.

[westernrvparkow]

Oasisbob wrote:
We just leave our chairs out. Maybe the canopy. We have a family tradition of seeing how many repairs we can make on our cheap chairs until they become unservicable so no loss there

I would think you are running a risk of someone coming by and just figuring some slob decided today was the day to discard their piece of junk chairs. I know many people, myself included, who feel a kind of duty to clean up the messes left by others when we are up in the woods. Seldom do I spend a day in the back country and not return with someone else's trash.

[kohldad]

Boondock sites are hard to protect with nothing there, especially if it's a super nice one.

Best method is to mark with a cone or sign. Make sure you put a date/time of when you will be back. Will reduce the chance of someone claiming they thought it was an old sign while at the same time releasing the site if for some reason you don't make it back. I know if I came across even a wonderful site, if it was marked with a sign of your return later that day, I wouldn't occupy it.

[Oasisbob]

We just leave our chairs out. Maybe the canopy. We have a family tradition of seeing how many repairs we can make on our cheap chairs until they become unservicable so no loss there

[midnightsadie]

put up a cone with a sign ,be back soon, and the date.

[korbe]

If I had to take my rig away from our boondocking site, I would either have someone stay behind with all the stuff, or pack up and do it all over again.