I seek out several different camping options when I travel. If I’m driving long distance I usually pull over to one of the larger truck stops and jump in the back of my truck with a mattress pad and a light blanket and take about a 5 hour snooze in the parking lot. It doesn’t make for sound sleeping. Parking lots are usually lit, large semi diesel engines idling and hydraulics farting all night. Doors slamming shut every 3 seconds. I trade in comfort for a little safety. I’ve never been messed with in one of these stops. I did have some teenager or younger kid snoop around my truck outside of a late night Taco Bell in Texas. I stuck my head out of the back glass camper door with a hatchet in my hand and asked if he was lost. He walked away quickly. I’m not that worried about someone trying to break in my truck but if that worse case scenario should happen I can assure you I’m prepared. I have at least a half dozen accessories handy to dissuade anyone from opening my truck. I have also played out about 100 different scenarios in my head and the correct way to respond should it happen. Sometimes I sort of wish it would. Be interesting to see how I’d react.

My destinations are usually plotted with either public campgrounds, Dyrt, Hipcamp and my favorite dispersed camping. Public campgrounds (I’m in one currently in Glenville) have their advantages. Most have showers, restrooms, dump stations should you need one, and an office that may have access to firewood, ice and sundries. A solid campfire ring, picnic table and a level lot for your tent, camper or RV. They also have observed quiet times usually from 10pm-6am which I can appreciate. I get mildly violent if you fuck with my sleep. The cons are obvious. If it’s a holiday the campgrounds are packed, they’re loud, you have neighbors 20 feet away from you. Also for some reason campgrounds host a lot of barking dogs. Add on the fee of camping that has gone up quite a bit over the last 3 years. A site on Huntington Beach for a tent can cost you $50 a night. Others like up here in Glenville I get the same amenities for $22. I can part with a $20 and a deuce. Most expensive would be the one in that valley of Sedona. $89 a night in March. Favorite would be the jeckyll island campground. All canopied with willow trees. Actually there’s a well shaded site in Ouray, CO full of aspens that I could’ve spent a week in with a smile on my face.

Hipcamp and Dyrt serve the same purpose. Enterprising folk out there set their property up for overnight camping. Some have amenities and others you get a small corner of a field to park your truck and some sawdust and a bucket to shit in.

Literally.

Prices often times reflect the amenities. If you’re paying $15 for a plot of grass that’s what you should expect. If you’re paying $50 to stay on someone’s property then you might expect at least a porta potty, fire ring and possibly WiFi. And a good view.

I have mixed reviews and feelings about these apps only because of the consistency. I’ve stayed in some amazing little spots all around the country and I’ve stayed in some blechhh ones too.

First the shitty ones

In no particular order I pulled up to a Hipcamp listing that was at a winery outside of Helen, GA and in their listing it looked great! Great vista in the background of north Georgia mountains. “Located right outside of the winery”. Hey I can camp here and use their bathroom, I may even eat here.

I pull up and my site was literally in the parking lot grass. There were customers parked 8 feet from my site. The spot was about 6 feet away from a drop off. It was $20. $20 too much. I left immediately and stopped at the main campground right outside of Helen. $17 10/10 recommend.

Some jackass had a listing in lake Willoughby, Vermont. It was a 50 yard pull off that ran parallel to a freshly tarred hwy. His RV took up most of the plot. I couldn’t even open my awning. I had that reserved for 2 nights. I left and found one right outside the next town. A little farm owned by a little lady. I played with some goats, chickens and a pig. I showered with a cold spigot and slept blissfully in 20° weather. It was so wet and cold I had to dig my trailer wheel out of the ice the next morning. I slept like a damn baby though. Told all the farm animals bye before I left.

The next day I stayed in the parking lot of a YMCA in Cape Cod. It was aight. You could use the gym shower. The host was a bit of a cunt.

Some good ones. I stayed two nights at an Indian ranch right outside of Glacier. I got high and danced naked with some prairie dogs after dinner. Talked philosophy with the camp host (not the same night) and watched the sunrise while scanning for grizzlies and mountain lions.

Had a not so bad one outside of Fort Collins. I forget the town name it looked shiny and new. I had a good steak and potato dish in a local bar with a salad bar for $16. I gotta say it made my day. The site was a level farm with small inlets for camping. A little bench and fire ring. Small wood pallet for privacy for a hose shower. It was fine. Horseflies were hungry but that sunrise fixed it all.

Really enjoyed a small commune in Cortez, CO. You parked in a large fenced in ranch with a community kitchen, game room and showers. We (my wife and I) stayed under the tent canopy on my truck and watched the sunset over the snowy Rockies while the prairie dogs yelped. I’ll have that memory in the good vibe banks forever.

We had stayed in a Hipcamp in Sedona the night before and the camp host had tried to kick us out for my aggressive driving in the campground (I didn’t see a newly made gravel speed bump). After cursing at me and my wife I followed him back to his site and encouraged him to change his mind for his hasty behavior. We didn’t leave that night.

I don’t know man I’d have to say my favorite was in Lewisburg, WV. I had an acre all to myself overlooking the sunrise over town. I walked around that big ass bridge at New River Gorge, had a good ham salad sandwich in Lewisburg and snuck around Carnegie Hall like I was trespassing. I built a campfire watch the sun go down while I swung in an old rope swing that I bet went at least 20 feet in the air. I had a grilled steak and finger gunned a new camp arrival in a mini van. A retired teacher named Lisa. I think. Old school hippie.

Dispersed camping is my favorite. No rules, no reservations and no regulations. Well just don’t stay in one spot. BLM – bureau of land management throw all of this beautiful land out there that you can essentially go off grid as long as you hop around a bit. I love finding new spots that I can sneak in a little ravine, knob overlooking a sunset, putting my tailgate down and melting into the night. There’s usually well kept pullovers from other occupants with fire pits, trails to do your things, and level spots to flop. You can run into some hardcore weirdos in these areas but I’ve never had one act aggressively. Paranoia keeps them at bay. At the same time if the shit hits the fan I sleep better knowing these folk are reliable.

Fav? Linville hands down. There’s no maybe for me. Yes there’s some spots that would blow it away out west but the accessibility does it for me. 107 miles, 1 hour 56 minutes away. I have a few spots that the sunrises up right in my tent window. I perch and take it in with some propaned coffee. Ever since I’ve put this trip on my agenda at least twice a month for the last 4 years I haven’t had a single ailment. Not even a head cold. I can’t tell you the last time a tissue touched my nose.

We (my buddy and I) settled down at lake Powell, lone rock area. Ate some damn good burgers with arugula. I took a double dose of mushrooms and watched the moon rise. Made friends with two crows and saw heaven for the first time. It changed my everything. We also got stuck in the sand for about two hours. Which is why I now drive a 4WD.

Wife reserved me a school bus in Durango that was parked outside on a hill overlooking a small town on the southside of Durango. To give credit where it’s due my wife is my camping navigator. If I need a spot that’s not BLM land she finds one while I’m on the road, schedules it and sends me the link. She makes my life easy for me. The bus came with a curious cat I adopted for the evening. Went into town and ate a steak with gravy fries and washed it down with a local brewed beer. I feel like I could eat that meal everyday. Especially on a chilly night like that one.

Stayed in another Hipcamp outside of Durango. Long dirt road to a pull out on a farm, adequate shower facilities and an outdoor kitchen that had seen better days. The view of the Rockies was magnificent. The whole night my buddy and I felt like we were being watched by a rather large cat

I dispersed in a little retirement home in Bar Harbor. Grilled off my tailgate and drank fireball shots until I passed out. Lost my trekking poles ascending Katahdin. Had a fabulous lobster roll.

I camped under a bridge in an inlet in key west. Never got good vibes. Went the square place and took some amazing sunset photos, got a lotta tipsy and walked back to my truck. Right at the same time two locals pulling my bike off my rack (or trying to) they walked away as I walked closer. Could’ve been a bad time. I pulled out and drove into a Ace Hardware and tried to sleep while being surrounded by wild chickens. What is it with me and farm animals? Insert blog of South Dakota cow stampede of ‘23. That was the night I dispersed camped in the badlands and got caught in a hailstorm with a herd of chatty bovines. Would 10/10 camp there again but it’s a 28 hour drive.

Washington Gulch in Crested Butte is the Colorado equivalent of Linville for me. Dispersed camping right outside of Butte that slowly carves up the mountains for miles. Great camping. Great big mosquitoes though. I’ve stayed there twice. Gonna go at least a dozen more times before I’m done..

Dispersed camping can keep you on your toes. There’s usually no service, no running water or a power source. If you break down (and I have) you don’t have AAA coming to your rescue. Animals have never bothered me too much. I’ve only had one bear grace my site and I think we both scared the shit out of each other. Plenty of deer have come by to say hi and it’s almost impossible to camp in the CO wilderness without elk checking you out. I haven’t camped high enough to run into any bighorn sheep. Random, there’s a farm outside of Sedona that allows you to pet their alpacas. That’s one my list. They’ve all been on my mind because I have the bug right now. I was spoiling myself with three big trips a year and kind of burned myself out for a bit. They fun! But they also exhausting.

I still have my mind set to squeeze one in this year but if it doesn’t happen I’ll be fine.