By Bob Difley
Last week’s post, Boondocking: A friendly visit with Mother Nature, took the lid off the Pandora’s Box of what to me and most other boondockers is the true essence of RVing–the ability to take our home-on-wheels into some of the most beautiful areas of the country and claim our campsite, free (or nearly so), with no crowds, no neighbors within rock-throwing distance, with incredible views from every window, and where we can sleep in our own bed, cook in our own kitchen, be surrounded by all our own stuff, and even run naked through the woods if we care to without being arrested.
Many of these pristine camping places are on public lands, land owned by us citizens of the US of A and administered by various federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management, National Forest Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and a bunch of others whose job it is (among others) to make these lands suitable and accessible for recreation–including sightseeing and camping.
And the best part is that you can combine sightseeing and camping by traveling the more than 150 America’s Byways. National Scenic Byways, a program administered in part by the National Forest Service (FS), describes routes through some of the most scenic lands in the country, many through national forests where you can find FS campgrounds and scattered boondocking campsites along your route. You can find the nation’s byways on the America’s Byways website and order a free brochure listing all the nation’s byways.
Some states also have scenic roads or byways that are not listed as “national” scenic byways. You can find these, and often more complete information at the individual state’s byways web page. Type the state name followed by scenic byways in the search box for your state.
What fun it is to dawdle along these scenic roadways, stopping at every viewpoint and trail head, with no need to travel the entire route between RV resorts on either end–or even further away–since most public land does not have private businesses like RV resorts available.
When you’ve honed your boondocking skills (read the previous posts in this series and/or buy one of my ebooks listed at the end of this post), you can find multiple dry-camping/boondocking possibilities within the length the byway enabling you to slow down to fully appreciate the area and to spend a few extra days enjoying the beauty of the byway and the nesty campsites or campgrounds you find along the way. Watch for marked FS roads or obtain a list of dispersed camping possibilities and primitive campgrounds from the byway, FS office, or online at sites like the U.S. Forest Service Campground Guide.
National forests also surround many of our National Parks, where you can find FS campgrounds and boondocking sites outside the crowded national parks. You can often find a campsite in FS campgrounds on weekends when the NP campgrounds are full. As a base camp, they also make perfect sense. From here you can explore into the park during the day and return to a nice, quiet, un-crowded campsite after a day of exploration. And many of the scenic byways loop through or around national parks, adding to your enjoyment.
Once you become comfortable with finding FS campgrounds and with boondocking, you can make your RV travel schedule more open ended, taking advantage of opportunities as they unfold, staying longer in newly discovered campgrounds and campsites, and exploring scenic areas and hiking trails that you hadn’t known about before, confident that you can always find a campsite wherever you happen to be at the end of the day.
For more RVing articles and tips take a look at my Healthy RV Lifestyle website, where you will also find my ebooks: BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands (PDF or Kindle), 111 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang for your RV Lifestyle Buck (PDF or Kindle), and Snowbird Guide to Boondocking in the Southwestern Deserts (PDF or Kindle), and my newest, The RV Lifestyle: Reflections of Life on the Road (Kindle reader version). NOTE: Use the Kindle version to read on iPad and iPhone or any device that has the free Kindle reader app.
