Video: 10 Boondocking Do's and Don'ts

[FirstTracks]

I don't want to insult anyone's experience, but if you're new to boondocking (or if you just need a refresher), you might not understand that there are some unwritten rules of etiquette while camping in the backcountry. This video explains 10 "dos" and "don'ts" for successful boondocking in your RV:
https://youtu.be/3751kg4jhts

[FirstTracks]

RGar974417 wrote:
Good video and tips. Too bad the people who really need to see this won't.

Thank you! And if only one does, well...

[RGar974417]

Good video and tips. Too bad the people who really need to see this won't.

[pnichols]

cross21114 wrote:
Pnichols,

OK, I got the maps downloaded. This will be a big help when out of hotspot range. However, it seems you do have to be connected to flip to the Aerial view. Is this the case with you?

Thanks,

Chris

Yep ... unfortunately that great Aerial view using Microsoft Maps software requires an Internet connection. But at least you can use the Roads view - which still shows all roads, even out in the middle of nowhere - without an Internet connection because they're stored locally on your laptop.

By the way I may have recently discovered something - but not sure. We use those fantastic Benchmark state-by-state detailed atlas books when on RV trips ... however ... they MAY now be available for downloading (you still have to pay for them) and local storage on a laptop so you don't have to carry the individual atlas books along. I hope this is true.

[FirstTracks]

cross21114 wrote:
Great video. Thanks for all the effort you put in.

We were camped on BLM land near New Stanton, NM and spent about 30 minutes picking up shell casings. We try to do this whenever we see if.

Thank you so much, both for watching, and for picking up those shells!

[cross21114]

Pnichols,

OK, I got the maps downloaded. This will be a big help when out of hotspot range. However, it seems you do have to be connected to flip to the Aerial view. Is this the case with you?

Thanks,

Chris

[cross21114]

pnichols wrote:
Another real handy mapping tool - if you're using a laptop with Windows 10 - is the free built-in Microsoft mapping tool called "Maps". I have it's icon pinned right to the taskbar at the bottom of my laptop's screen.

It's kept current along with Windows 10 updates and it's database resides entirely within your laptop, so no cell tower access or satellite access is required. You can download map databases into it from the U.S. and other areas all over the world. I currently have the U.S. and Canada map databases for it stored in my laptop's memory.

You can use a streets view in Maps or switch to a view in it very similar to Google Earth which shows terrain features that you can zoom in on just like Google Earth. Unlike Google Earth and sometimes very importantly, Maps does not require an Internet connection - so you can use it anywhere.

Maps has useful features such as Measure Distance, Directions, Ruler, etc.. We use Maps right along with: Google Earth (when we have an Internet connection for Google Earth), Benchmark hardcopy atlases, our satellite based LM3550 Garmin navigator with over 400K POIs loaded, and our satellite based InReach device.

I use this but thought it was only an on-line service. Will have to figure out how to use all these features and set up the off-line use. If you see this and have any tips, either drop them here or PM me.

Thanks,

[cross21114]

FirstTracks wrote:
Points noted, folks! It's all to easy to settle into your "style" of filmmaking and it's great to get a fresh perspective. Appreciate it immensely!

Great video. Thanks for all the effort you put in.

We were camped on BLM land near New Stanton, NM and spent about 30 minutes picking up shell casings. We try to do this whenever we see if.

[FirstTracks]

Points noted, folks! It's all to easy to settle into your "style" of filmmaking and it's great to get a fresh perspective. Appreciate it immensely!

[pnichols]

profdant139 wrote:
Some Youtube videos really benefit from high speed viewing. But in my subjective opinion, most of the material posted by FirstTracks should be viewed at normal speed -- his point is usually not just to convey information but to give the viewer a sense of what it is like to visit the locations he is filming.

Also, even though I do not like to see or hear drones when I am in the wilderness, I have to admit that I like watching his drone footage!

Dan, I agree w/you on drone noise. I also don't care for drones because they mean that there are other campers around in the area ... thus ruining any allusion that we're out there by ourselves. I guess drones beat the old method of having to ride in an even louder chopper with one's camera, though.

I wish he would add in more info on the actual campsite access and camping issues, such as: How rough the route was to get there, how the water, batteries, furnace, the A/C, and other appliances performed, etc.. I guess maybe that's the engineer in me wishing for more detail on "the mechanics of his RV'ing".

[profdant139]

Some Youtube videos really benefit from high speed viewing. But in my subjective opinion, most of the material posted by FirstTracks should be viewed at normal speed -- his point is usually not just to convey information but to give the viewer a sense of what it is like to visit the locations he is filming.

Also, even though I do not like to see or hear drones when I am in the wilderness, I have to admit that I like watching his drone footage!

[ajriding]

Lwiddis wrote:
Too much face time with host. Intro too long. Boring.

How to watch Youtube:
Click to get yourself at least one minute in, as the first 30-60 seconds of 99% of YT vids are pointless ramblings or intros. Click further if there is still an intro. You may need to click up to 4 or 5 minutes into a vid to get to the meat.
With cursor over the YT little screen see the cog-looking icon. Click it and increase speed to 1.5 times, or 2 times faster (for a slow talker). You will understand it fine and the vid goes by faster getting to the point, if any, faster.
Or click to the middle of the vid and see if there is info you want coming out, sometimes not, but if so just go back to one minute in and start from there, at higher speed preferably.

YT vids are best at 3.5 minutes long, and keeping the intro material at the end - getting immediately to the point within 2-3 seconds.

[pnichols]

Another real handy mapping tool - if you're using a laptop with Windows 10 - is the free built-in Microsoft mapping tool called "Maps". I have it's icon pinned right to the taskbar at the bottom of my laptop's screen.

It's kept current along with Windows 10 updates and it's database resides entirely within your laptop, so no cell tower access or satellite access is required. You can download map databases into it from the U.S. and other areas all over the world. I currently have the U.S. and Canada map databases for it stored in my laptop's memory.

You can use a streets view in Maps or switch to a view in it very similar to Google Earth which shows terrain features that you can zoom in on just like Google Earth. Unlike Google Earth and sometimes very importantly, Maps does not require an Internet connection - so you can use it anywhere.

Maps has useful features such as Measure Distance, Directions, Ruler, etc.. We use Maps right along with: Google Earth (when we have an Internet connection for Google Earth), Benchmark hardcopy atlases, our satellite based LM3550 Garmin navigator with over 400K POIs loaded, and our satellite based InReach device.

[DarkSkySeeker]

ItsyRV wrote:
In all fairness, to some "boondocking" means anywhere there are no hookups. They can be in a pack-em-in campsite with no hookups and consider that "boondocking". A Walmart parking lot is "boondocking". A interstate rest stop is "boondocking". If they can't plug something into something, it's "boondocking".

I think there is a continuum starting with parking your rig at home all the way to camping in the middle of the desert.

10 - Sleeping in your rig at home
9 - KOA with 50amp service and cable TV
8 - Hook ups
7 - Forest service campground with water and power only
6 - State park with no hook ups
5 - Camping at a public campground with no hook ups
4 - Walmart
3 - Just off the highway in a remote area
2 - Full desert remote location
1 - The Moon

[profdant139]

2oldman, you are right about the difficulty of seeing forest roads on Google Maps -- sometimes they show up, and sometimes not. The solution (which is not so easy) is to have at least two monitors for your computer.

I then divide one of my monitors in half, so now I have three screens. On one screen I have Google Maps, with the contours. On the second screen, I have Google Earth. On the third, I have the MVUM (a pdf), zoomed to the area of interest.

Now, by looking at all three screens, I have topo maps, I have ground imagery, and I have the national forest road network.

Fun!!