Boondocking - Page 2 - Open Roads Radio forum for Ham, Amateur Radio and RV camping

w6pea · 08-29-2008, 10:55 AM

Well we got home yesterday evening.
We went from Lodi, Ca. to Washoe Lake campground in NV.
What a great campground only $4 a day. No hook ups but nice facilities. We were there for 4 days. We left there went to Minden Nv. stayed at Carson Valley Inn Casino & RV Park. Nice but nothing special.

Left there for home decided to go to Yosemite, (CA-120

no good, even worse pulling a toad) from there we went home, after driving for 7 hours stayed (don't stop at Westley Rest Area what a dump, looked like some one emptied their tanks in the rest room)

over night in Santa Nella RV Park just off I-5 nice and quiet nothing special, went thru Tehachapi stayed at Mountain Valley RV Park. (hard to find but nice) we left there yesterday went south on CA-14 to Ca-138 to I-15 to home.

Put about 2500 miles on the rv, ran like a dream, no problems

73
w6pea & w6ome

Radio · 08-29-2008, 03:36 PM

Pictures?

Glad you had fun with no insurmountable problems.

w6pea · 08-30-2008, 01:18 PM

Would you believe we forgot the digital camera. Took everything else, but we found it kitchen table. We were in a Wal Mart in Nevada, almost bought a new camera but couldn't see spending almost $650.00 dollars

when I have a Nikon F6, and a Ricoh KR-10M. I could just see "She Who must be Obeyed" if I walked out of Wally World with another camera!

We also have 3 digital and 2 more 35mm cameras plus an Olympus Infinity Super Zoom330.

Boy did it feel good to sleep in our king size bed.

73
w6pea & w6ome

w6pea · 08-07-2009, 11:58 PM

Well we did it again this year. When school was out we packed up the RV and left. We were gone for a little less than a month.
We left on the 28th of June. We finally got out of here on the day we left at 1515 hrs.

Drove up US-395. Got to Adelanto Ca. at 1830hrs. Went in to the Grocery Store, did some shopping and had dinner. Then we went on to Ridgecrest,Ca. We stayed at the Elks Lodge. Got up the next morning and drove to Lone Pine, Ca. We went to the BLM Campground at Tuttle Creek. (Can't beat $2.50 a day) We stayed there for 6 days. Then we went into Minden NV. Stayed at the Carson Valley Inn RV resort. ($28.00 a Day

) We were there for 3 days, Then we went back south on US395, Went to Bodie, CA. (Ghost town) can't camp there. Went to the BLM Campground at Crowley Lake. (Again can't beat $2.50 a day) We were there for a couple of days. Then we went to Horton Creek Campground 9 miles N of Bishop, We were there for 12 Days. We wanted to stay at Convict Lake but the place was full up. After leaving Horton Creek we went to back to Tuttle Creek. Great Trout fishing, Then we came home. With our Solar system we did not have to run the generator at all. We did run for the a/c a couple of hours on afternoon it was only 105 degrees.
Had a great trip. We were home for two days and then went out again for a week. I purchased an 2000w pure sine wave inverter for the RV and also bought another solar panel when the panel gets here I am going to install all of it.

As it was we did not run the generator more than 5 hours during the hole trip. Also if you have an inter-agency pass from the BLM/NP/Army
Corps of Engineers and you are disabled or over 62 you can stay for half price at any BLM Campground most only cost $5.00 a day.
73 de w6pea

One Country Boy · 08-08-2009, 09:25 AM

Interesting, enjoyed reading about your trip. Thanks for posting.

Jim

wa8yxm · 08-08-2009, 09:30 AM

Re person who said the contractor grade generator next to me was not all that quiet:

That was my point.. As I said, I could hardly hear the engine over the noise the generator portion was making (It was loud)

Re: Needing air on.. Depends... January, in Michigan... Air is important, but air, conditioning, = FURNACE not cooler

ON the other hand when I boondock, it tends to be Quartzsite AZ.. And USUALLY, a bit of cool is a good thing there.

KF5BET · 08-08-2009, 07:15 PM

We are with Mark....The 3 yls in the family would go bananas if they couldn't have their air and the other necessities..and the nintendo ds's.

Besides, I have a hard time camping without sewer for a week...the girls haven't quite grasped the idea of water conservation. LOL

KE5ZRT · 10-13-2010, 04:28 PM

My wife and I are very interested in boondocking. I've Googled the subject for good locations and the only thing I have found are addresses for Wal-Mart Superstores and that somehow doesn't seem like fun at all.

WD8QBQ · 10-16-2010, 09:21 PM

I think boondocking sites are often considered secret spots by those that have worked hard to find them or sometimes found them by accident.

It is my opinion that you will not find a list anywhere and that if your lucky, a good friend might share one or two of his/hers with you.

Boondocking sites are found by searching maps, Google Earth and driving many miles and trial and error.

Best of luck to you.

JIM

WD8QBQ · 10-17-2010, 01:36 PM

While looking for something else, I found this. It may be of interest to you.

http://www.rv-camping.org/Boondocking.html

JIM

KE5ZRT · 10-17-2010, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WD8QBQ

While looking for something else, I found this. It may be of interest to you.

http://www.rv-camping.org/Boondocking.html

JIM

Excellent information and a good read too! Thank you for taking the time to post.

KE5ZRT · 10-20-2010, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WD8QBQ

While looking for something else, I found this. It may be of interest to you.

http://www.rv-camping.org/Boondocking.html

JIM

After a little more research from the link you provided, I found free boondocking sites near Amarillo where I live! A little too far from the office for workamping, but lake Meredith might be a nice weekend getaway to test our boondocking skills!

WD8QBQ · 10-20-2010, 08:25 PM

Let us know how it went after you try it.

JIM

Dick Noble · 10-26-2010, 05:11 PM

Just posted on "RV systems" thread about solar and wind system for boondocking. We went to Imperial Dam, AZ last January for the month. I loved it. Lots of work to keep the water filled, the sewer empty and the solar system working. Had to use our small 1200w Coleman generator way to much,found out that one of the 4 batteries I'd purchased from Wally World was no good. They replaced it and I've since put together a 500w wind generator and purchased 4 more solar panels. We intend to spend Dec and Jan there.

ldsnet · 06-13-2012, 02:17 PM

Spend most of our time in our 30' 5th wheel boondocking. CA Anza Borrego State Park for the majority weekends in the winter time. We can do 3-4 day weekends on battery alone, and run a honda i2000 generator to run the microwave. On a COLD weekend, we may run the generator for a few hours to top off the batteries if the furnace runs all night.

Been cross country and back LOTS of times and the only time we stay in RV parks is when we need hookups to run the roof air (middle of the summer) or lots of water.

wa8yxm · 06-14-2012, 11:31 AM

Normally we either stay in Membership parks or Government parks (or a moose lodge or 4) but when we do our semi-annual hike north or south (Depending on which semi it is) Wal-mart, Lowes, Home Depot, Meijer's and McDonalds type boondocking is clearly on our list of activities, Even a Flying J or 3.

Also spent time out in Arid Zone A (Airizona) on BLM land where this time of year there is nothing but miles and miles of miles and miles, but the last half of Jan (When we were there) it's wall to wall RV's.

Off Pavement · 06-16-2012, 08:50 AM

If it wasn't for boondocking (defined as remote location camping outside a developed campground), we wouldn't own an RV. We fulltimed 5 years in a 36' DP off the grid 99% of the time. We followed the seasons and only put 15 hours on the generator in 5 years. Granted it is easy to find great boondocking locations in the west, but most folks don't really know all the places that may be available to them near home.

Surprisingly, most state wildlife areas permit dispersed camping (boondocking). When it's not hunting season, these areas are often the perfect place to set up camp. Some of these locations are so ritzy as to have a firepit or perhaps a picnic table. Every state is different, so you may need a state recreation stamp, or a fishing/hunting license to be legal for the free camping benefits available.

The US Forest Service is really helping folks find areas open for dispersed camping that are not familiar with an area. The USFS is generating MVUMs (motor vehicle use maps) that show open roads and trails and available dispersed camping locations. Very few US forests do not permit dispersed camping. Here is a link to all available maps online... USFS MVUM's

A few of our favorite locations...

Boondocking in Bridger-Teton National Forest - Wyoming

Boondocking in Pike National Forest - Colorado

Dry camping at Crowley Lake BLM Campground, California.

N3LYT · 07-01-2012, 07:17 AM

I have made custom LED lights for every thing in my camper collect rain water or stream water (I do keep fresh water) replaced the vent fan with a Fantastic fan (low power 2 amps) use a small 1,000 watt generator to recharge the battery. I have a disconnect for the camper charger so that I can run an inverter connected to the battery and plug the camper 120 V into it for weather reports news etc. as needed. Both my tanks are 21 gal. so I don't need to dump for a great while and I have a pump to pump gray to black. While charging the camper battery I also charge the 35 amp gel cell so I can use it to power the IC706 MK2 G!

You may also like: