Boondocking! What is it? It is essentially camping without hookups. And generally, it’s free! You may also hear it referred to as ‘dry camping’. Often, dry camping means staying in a campground without hookups, whereas, boondocking typically means staying in a completely undeveloped area, such as public lands.
We have worked hard to make our RV a comfortable, useable home but also keeping our campground fees to as close to zero as we can. It’s not always going to happen. Especially when you’re not flexible in the area you’re staying. For instance, we spent about 10 days visiting our youngest daughter in WV. We found some free camping areas 2 hours from her. But to drive that distance every time we wanted to spend time with her wasn’t going to save us any money in the long run. So we did stay in a state park campground.
Below are a few of our favorites. In 2018 we spent a total of $48 on camping fees for the entire year. You can read all about that here!
Daniel Boon National Forest
Located in Kentucky. Called the Paragon Disbursed camping area.
Beautiful, lake side area. Quiet, peaceful and beautiful! TIP: We parked at the boat ramp at the end of the road, unhooked and drove back to check out the spots. 2021 update – we have since purchased e-bikes, which is a great way to check out boondocking spots before you drive back.
Buffalo Gap Grasslands
Located in South Dakota. Who hasn’t heard of this place? It’s spectacular! Just outside the North gate to The Bad Lands, you’ll find this amazing boondocking area where your view of the Bad Lands is right outside your door! Look closely. You’ll see us in this picture!
Check out our quick video below that shows some amazing footage from this location
Forest Road 525
This is in Sedona, AZ. There isn’t one bad view! The road can be a bit washboard, but take it slow and you’ll have no regrets. Lots of places to camp here.
Pecos River Bridge
Located on US 90, 18 miles east of Langtry, TX. Your stay here can only be one night, but look at this view!! Amazing!
Young’s Creek Horse Camp
Did you know Indiana has some beautiful free places to camp? This was one of the most peaceful places ever. There is an organic working horse farm just steps away, and the owners are the most pleasant, helpful, social people, who love to visit with the campers and share their love for the area.
We hope we opened your eyes to boondocking. If you have not tried it, don’t be scared. Don’t think it’s a dark, back alley thing. There are so many amazing, beautiful places out there for free camping. And let us know if you want us to share more of our boondocking locations. Or if you have some to share with us, we’d love to hear from you!
We really want to share our love of boondocking with you! Please check out some of our other related blogs below!
- 10 Myths About Boondocking – Debunked! Yes, We Do Take Showers!
- Free Camping in Idaho ~ 5 Epic Boondocking Areas!
- Another 5 Epic Free Camping Spots
- Boondocking – Our Top 10 Tips on Free Camping
- Finding Resources While Boondocking
- Our Top 7 Free Camping Spots and Boondocking Tips
We also share our travel maps so you can see all the places we stop, the information on each place including GPS coordinates and cell phone data speed tests for Verizon and AT&T.
We share so much information on our blog! We hope you explore and check out some of our Off the Beaten Path series where we explore the unique and different places in every state!
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Thank you for the great info, I hope to get to these areas one day soon .
They are some of our favorites for sure.
We’ll be heading to Road 525 in a couple of weeks. Right now we’re boondocking at one of my favorite locations – Lone Rock near Page AZ, but there is a fee unfortunately. Thanks for sharing your favorites.
Have fun! Share pictures! 🙂
Definately more! Can’t have enough reviews and you do an excellent job. Thanks!
Thank you Rita! We will do some more lists soon!
Boondocking seems like a lot of fun! The scenery of the areas you visited look stunning as well! 🙂
I’ve never heard of this before, I’ll have to check it out. We’ve been discussing going camping over the summer.
This is amazing! There’s nothing like camping in the summer 🙂
I definitely hope to be able to do this someday!
So many beautiful places to visit. We love going to Sedona.
🙂 Your day will come!!! Can’t wait either!!!
I can’t remember the last time I went camping. I wish I could experience riding an RV too!
i’ve never done boondocking, or even heard about it until i came across to your post. this looks like a fun thing to do, but i think boondocking isn’t something that we do down here in indonesia. 🙁
let alone boondocking, i’ve never even seen any RV my whole life in indonesia although i always dream to actually get some adventure in one. 😀
Oh my gosh these places look so amazing. I’d love to do something like this when the kids are older.
This boondocking concept is new to me too. And it would be a good budget travel if you can keep expenses low to 100$.
I’ve never even thought to look for free camping sites. Thats such a good idea. how fun to be traveling around and seeing all of these places!!
Thanks for sharing your camping experiences and the beautiful photographs. It sounds like you’re having a great time on a budget.
Yes, thank you for checking it out! 🙂
Aww this is such a fabulous idea!!! I never thought about looking into these before but they sound amazing!
Thanks so much!!
I haven’t been camping since I was a kid. I used to love it, and with this list…maybe I’ll go sometime soon.
I’ve never been camping but those are some great spots with some great views! Any place near water makes me smile!
I just started full-timing on April 1st (solo female and my rescue pitbull)…excited to check out the Sedona spot for sure! 🙂
You will love it! It’s amazing and peaceful!
Thank you for this great article! We just bought a trailer last summer and look forward to scheduling some more adventures! We love dry camping. Badlands is a must on our list! Great !
Enjoy this beautiful country as much as you can!
Looking at your photos right now, makes me rethink what i truly wanted in life. Those beautiful places you go and visit look very peaceful.Thank you for sharing all your adventure and money saving tips.
It’s a beautiful adventure!
I really once want to have the RV experience!
I definitely need to check some of these locations out!