What is Boondocking? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

BenMary · RV-Dreams Community Member

What is Boondocking?

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Go to the search feature and type in boondocking.You will get many hours of reading on the subject.

Bill Adams · RV-Dreams Family Member

Boondocking is simply camping without any hookups.

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

BenMary wrote:
Hi - So glad there are no silly questions Being new to all this, I have no idea what Boondocking is. But I was excited to read that we can go solar!!

The term "boondocking", from what I've heard, was coined by folks camping out in the "boondocks"... away from civilization, without hookups of any kind. Camping out in the "boonies" is now more aptly called "dispersed camping"... non-organized camping spots on government-owned land. Boondocking can be done anywhere from an overnight in a WalMart parking lot to an organized campground that simply does not provide hookups for your RV.

Although most RVs that have a generator are equipped to survive without hookups for a night or 2 longer stays require more sophisticated equipment and preparation. The solar panels are used to charge the coach batteries instead of using the generator. Of course you need some way to convert the 12 volt DC battery current into 120 volt AC current so you can watch your TV or use the microwave or coffee maker. That's where an inverter comes into play. Howard has a great overview of electrical systems if you want more info: http://www.rv-dreams.com/rv-electrical.html

-- Edited by RVRon on Tuesday 5th of July 2011 10:48:33 AM

53 Merc · RV-Dreams Family Member

No, No, NO!!! My wife says boondocking is anything less than 50 amp, water and sewer hookups. ;)

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yes mine too - and you can add pool.

blijil · RV-Dreams Family Member

My late addition to this subject would indicate that the lack of internet access and marginal cell phone access and no air TV could be a part of boondocking. We call it dry camping ie not even water hookups or dump sights much less electricity. Often we don't have a local water source and have to haul water several miles.

We love it and spent more than 90 days doing just that this summer with varying degrees of isolation but no RV park with the electric cord serving as our ball and chain. Our Denver kids joined us for a few days in northern Colorado and asked, "How did you find this place?"

Larry and Jacki

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

....and "blacktop" boondocking usually refers to an overnight stop without services in a parking lot. Often a WalMart lot. Or a casino lot.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, to me, a night in a Walmart, or for that matter, anywhere else that is nothing more than a stopover for sleeping is not boondocking.

Since 1976, Jo and I and our family have spent a lot of vacations in a National Forest campground in Colorado called Purgatoire River Campground. While there are developed sites but no hookups, there are outhouses, and in one place in the campground, an old fashion water pump.

Being out in the the beauty and wonder of nature with very few other campers around is very near to heavenly. While our new 38' fifth wheel won't let us get the "prime" campsites because of its length, there are still a few spots big enough for just about any size of RV.

Purgatoire River Campground has seen us there in both RV's and tents. Wonderful place to get away, especially the week before Labor Day weekend. Usually the only ones in the campgrounds are those that have parked there to go hunting up on the mountains.

Terry

makntracks · RV-Dreams Family Member

My husband isn't happy either without full-hook ups. I LOVE to boondock! Save money and get back in the woods where you have some privacy. I get tired of the awning to slide accomodations of most campgrounds.

-- Edited by makntracks on Tuesday 15th of May 2012 07:33:36 AM

cherab831 · RV-Dreams Community Member

The word boondocking comes from the filipino word "bundoc" (not sure of spelling) meaning mountain far away by itself, coined by American soldiers serving in the Philippines who then brought it home and as boondocking and it came to mean in the middle of no where.....

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Boondocking to us means finding BLM dispersed camping and seeing WAY more stars than any other site we usually stay in.

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

Let's not forget mooch-docking...parking in a friends driveway ;)

jennifer123 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi,

You can check out more information about boondocking on following link:

http://www.examiner.com/article/what-is-rv-boondocking

http://freecampsites.net/what-is-boondocking/

Hope helps you. blankstare

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:
Well, to me, a night in a Walmart, or for that matter, anywhere else that is nothing more than a stopover for sleeping is not boondocking.

Well you beat me to it. As I said before but got treed and flamed..............Walmart is not boondocking and shouldn't be used as if it is a campground. They are to be used as an overnight sleep stop if you wish. No slides, no jacks, no awnings, no chairs, no bbq's, etc. Some think it's boondocking and will stay for weeks. Some will sniff out places where there are power receptacles in parking lots to "charge up" their batteries or power up their RV..........That is NOT boondocking.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

boondocking.... is placing your Rig in the wilderness with no hook-ups....

Dry camping...is placing the rig in a designated campsite or parking lot in Urban areas with no hook-ups

Wally docking....Walmart parking at walmart "overnite"

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lucky Mike wrote:
boondocking.... is placing your Rig in the wilderness with no hook-ups....

Dry camping...is placing the rig in a designated campsite or parking lot in Urban areas with no hook-ups

Wally docking....Walmart parking at walmart "overnite"

Good Post......................

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

On the Escapees forum this subject quickly gets into flame wars. Boondocking is jargon or slang and has different meaning to different people. I use it interchangeably with "dry camping" and I am not going to change.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

bjoyce wrote:
On the Escapees forum this subject quickly gets into flame wars. Boondocking is jargon or slang and has different meaning to different people. I use it interchangeably with "dry camping" and I am not going to change.

That's what makes free speech so great, Bill. People not agreeing to disagree, what a concept. confuse biggrin biggrin biggrin

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

I just take the word boondocking from its origins..(Bundok).. which had nothing to do with RVing and how it originated.....less chance of opinions or arguments.

Bundok...

Boonie's.......
the sticks.....
backwoods...
backwater....
Middle of no-where.......
Walmart backlot on Friday nite.........

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Boondocking appears to be a West coast thing.. as East and mid country.. it seems almost a myth, unless you include truck stops and walmart..

I went looking for threads on boondocking ... and it seems that is what most everyone says..

Maybe when I finish my east coast tour, I will spend a few nights in the boondocks on the west coast.. we will see.. For now though, being east bound.. make no sense adding solar panels and lots of batteries, since there is no place good to park your rig on east/mid-east coast anyways..

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lots of boondocking in Newfoundland, which seems very East to me. We have friends who have boondocked at many places in the east, National Forests, Elks, Moose, Escapees Days End, church land, lots of places. Many listings on http://harvesthosts.com/ are in that part of the country. Remember that many of us do not stay a month or more at most places, durations in nights and weeks are normal.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Thursday 14th of August 2014 01:31:08 PM

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for the link.. but there is no way I'm going through all that for 1 free nights stay in someones backyard...

I think I'll save the boondocking for the left coast.. I know around here ( Vegas ).. It's very common , and many run out to the desert to camp..

And when I said East.. I meant USA.. lol..

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

There is plenty of boondocking on the east coast and a great deal of it is in the northeast Regions....you will find it if you look for it....

I am an east coast boondocker........west coast is easy......east coast takes savy!!!

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

There are lots of "dispersed camping" on forest service land (state and national) in the east too. I prefer the south east: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennasee and North Carolina.

Here's some good sites:
www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25469769.cfm
www.freecampgrounds.com/index.aspx
www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/Recreation.html
gypsyjournal.net/free_campgrounds.htm
www.allstays.com/
www.thewanderinghobo.com/Travelling/Boondocking/listings.html

Chip

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Several of our fellow dreamers Boondocked all last winter in Florida..for 3 months

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'd love to dig into this, but not going to be able to give it the attention it needs right now.

I will look more into when I'm relaxing around the RV, in a couple weeks.. Sounds like it can be done.. I knew it could be done when moving pretty quick. I hope not to be like that.. though, a month in 1 spot may be too long for a specific area.. I can't see a month being too short?.. Unless your sitting in a chair watching stuff most days ? I guess it depends what your into..

jimindenver · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have been camping for 40 years and until I joined the forums, I never knew that I was Boondocking. Try telling my family that has camped just as long or longer that I am going boondocking and they just give a blank look as to say "huh". Tell them I am heading up to the boonies and they will grin and say son you grew up in the boonies, what are you talking about.

Lucky Mikes post has it right with the difference between dry camping and boondocking being location but I can see how it gets blurred. Where I camp if you see a stone ring, you can camp there. The whole rangers district is one giant camping area. The next district over has a handful of spots just off a road. The district beyond that numbers their clearings but that's as far as it goes, there are no amenities. Each district dictates where you are allowed to go even though there is no campground.

The dry campgrounds in the area can be little more than boondocking in that you get a picnic table and a outhouse. You are in the same areas, sometimes just down the road of someone boondocking and some are even free. The biggest difference to us is that we will be close enough to hear someone run their generator.

So it is ok if what I think of as boondocking is different than others because what they are allowed to do is different. The only time I have trouble with the terminology is when someone feels the need to correct someone else because their definition is different. In the end it is all just campin.