Community Forums

EnolaEagle · 06-15-2012, 02:34 PM

There's alot of great stuff in this thread. I haven't went without hookups since I had a popup, 12+ years ago but was reminded of how peaceful it is. Do most state parks have a water hookup at the entry to fill your fresh water tanks?

grafxman · 06-15-2012, 05:05 PM

You have to check the info for each park. I wouldn't count on it being at the entry. Some folks here describe using water tanks and pumps to get water from park faucets.

HMXDave · 06-17-2012, 06:28 PM

Another weekend of no hookups for us! Just the wife, the canines and I.

xctraveler · 06-17-2012, 06:37 PM

Last weekend in Robert Treman SP (near Ithaca, NY) no hook ups, thus dry camping among crowds of families in tents, popups and vans. No peace no quiet. This weekend in the Colton RV parking lot with water and 50 amp, dump near the exit. We are alone and the shop is closed so very quiet, until 8 AM when they pick up the coach to do the work we are here for.

In our experience, most state parks in most states have water and dump conveniently located if they don't have hookups on site.

We boondock as much as we stay in parks/resorts/campgrounds and we are generally on the road for 4 to 6 months at at time. Will be adding solar to the new coach as soon as we get to the southwest where they install it all the time.

This coach is NOT armed, I am depending on the rest of you to frighten off the bad guys, although we have never seen a bad guy in our 12 years and 150k miles crossing the country. Just lucky!

chapdog · 06-18-2012, 05:31 AM

I gave this gun question a lot of thought before going full time. For all the reasons mentioned by the ex-cop I declined. Way more likely to shoot the wrong person than fend off Mad Max.

Currently we are on the outer banks of NC dry-camping with 600 watts of solar in full luxury. Hatteras National Seashore. Here we pay nominally to be in a campground and its very nice on the Ocean.

Best of both worlds for us.

Chuck 1935 · 06-18-2012, 03:24 PM

When in a California State Park you are Boondocking at $45 a night. NO NOTHING

menoble · 06-18-2012, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EnolaEagle

There's alot of great stuff in this thread. I haven't went without hookups since I had a popup, 12+ years ago but was reminded of how peaceful it is. Do most state parks have a water hookup at the entry to fill your fresh water tanks?

Me to the newbie last Mem. Day weekend: Did find the place to you fill your tanks?
Newbie: Oh yeah, it's right there on that spring thingy at that place called "dump station".
True story. We had a long talk.

barbaram · 06-19-2012, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mga60tw

We traveled for 10 months last year and stayed in 64 campgrounds. Never once boondocked. We had a nice time in every campground, never felt to cramped, enjoyed visiting with other people and it gave us a nice safe place to stay. We have a 5th wheel and maybe if we had a class A we would boondock. Not sure why I feel that way about a class A. So another question to add to this thread is "What do you boondock in?"

Tom

It is convenient to boon dock in a MH. We just pull up and don't even have to get out of the MH to get rest. DH usually does a walk around to make sure everything is OK - another one in the morning before we pull out and we are on our way to a CG where we hook up and enjoy all that you have talked about. Hope to visit with you and your family sometime in a CG. Happy RVing.

kennyb79 · 06-19-2012, 10:28 AM

I’ve camped in campgrounds all my life. The only time I’ve ever really boondocked was to spend the night in the car in a rest area every now and then, until this past weekend. I spent the night in a college parking lot because my wife was finishing up her masters program and I couldn’t find a decent motel close by.The college allowed RVs in a certain lot for the night for graduation, mine was the only one there. Here I was, in the very back of the parking lot, me, the dogs, my 8 year old daughter. I haven’t had such a peaceful spot ever in all of the years of camping. I woke up in the morning, fired up the genny, made my coffee, walked the dogs so they could do their business….it was real nice experience that’s for sure.

Funrover · 12-10-2012, 05:41 PM

Is there another way to camp other than boondocking? LOL

mikf · 12-10-2012, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chapdog

I gave this gun question a lot of thought before going full time. For all the reasons mentioned by the ex-cop I declined. Way more likely to shoot the wrong person than fend off Mad Max.

Currently we are on the outer banks of NC dry-camping with 600 watts of solar in full luxury. Hatteras National Seashore. Here we pay nominally to be in a campground and its very nice on the Ocean.

Best of both worlds for us.

just curious, where are you at? I thought all of the federal parks were closed for the winter. I heard the one at Oregon Inlet may not open. we love Hatteras Seashore. we boondocked at the gate to the federal park on Ocracoke when it was closed for the winter. that was great and really quite. I just read this, how did you get there?
Special Notice

November 30, 2012

Highway 12 on Hatteras Island has sustained significant overwash and damage due to Hurricane Sandy. For updates visit the North Carolina Department of Transportation Website and the North Carolina Ferry Division Website.

The Ferry Division has enacted the Stumpy Point-Rodanthe Emergency Ferry Route. To access Ocracoke Island via Hatteras Island travelers are reminded to expect long waits, as priority status is still in effect. Weather permitting, NCDOT will provide one lane of the Bonner Bridge and NC 12 to allow limited four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicle access to Hatteras Island. Please be sure to also verify the revised Hatteras ferry schedule. Additional information is available at the NCDOT Website.

xctraveler · 12-10-2012, 06:32 PM

He posted that on June 18, this past summer (well almost summer). Many things have changed, not least a couple of seasons.

mikf · 12-10-2012, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xctraveler

He posted that on June 18, this past summer (well almost summer). Many things have changed, not least a couple of seasons.

thanks, did not look at the date.

jauguston · 12-11-2012, 09:14 AM

Boondocking can be a hard to define activity. We use our coach 12 months of the year usually a week at a time. We go to a couple of Washington State Parks and always use non-serviced sites. Is that boondocking? We do not like private RV Parks and avoid them when ever possible.

Jim