Boondocking / Dry Camping, How To's and Why Not's, Rv Solar, RV Tips, Tricks & Lessons, RV Upgrades & Mods, Travel Destinations & Stories

5 Epic Free Camping Spots

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.

KY
ParagonKY

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.

Sedona Boon

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!

PecosBoon

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.

Youngs Creek

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!

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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33 thoughts on “5 Epic Free Camping Spots”

  1. 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.

  2. I’ve never heard of this before, I’ll have to check it out. We’ve been discussing going camping over the summer.

  3. 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. 😀

  4. 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!!

  5. 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.

  6. I just started full-timing on April 1st (solo female and my rescue pitbull)…excited to check out the Sedona spot for sure! 🙂

  7. 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 !

  8. 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.

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