Escapees July-August 2022

“Regardless which app or method you use to discover campsites, I strongly suggest that you use Google Earth to look at those campsites before you drive there.”

Another favorite of mine is FreeRoam, Available as a phone app, and a web-based tool at FREEROAM.APP it lists a lot of free camping opportuni Available as a website and app, it lists a lot of seriously out-in-the-boonies places, and is a global database, so it’s very useful in other countries.

ties. I have also used IOVERLANDER.COM .

I have found that it’s more targeted to people with high clearance vehicles or car campers. Although it’s workable for RVs you really have to be careful what you get yourself into.

Campendium is probably the grandaddy of them all and is very well developed. Available as a phone app, and a web-based

Finally, one of the best sources of infor mation about local boondock spots are local people. Talk to folks in laundromats, visit the local ranger’s of fi ce or talk to the rang ers, if you see them roving about the lands. I have also gotten some great tips from local law enforcement. If I see a sheriff cruising through the place where I’m staying, I always wave them down and have a friendly conversation. Often, they will tell me about some choice spots to camp. Other RVers are also a great source for parking spot info.

tool at WWW.CAMPENDIUM.COM. Besides listing all kinds of camping, including paid private and State and National Park campgrounds, there are a lot of additional features, including a premium paid account called RoadPass. Many RVers fi nd it to be the only resource they need. All of these tools are crowdsourced, meaning that the information is provided by traveling campers. Some sites are not updated as often as I’d like them to be, and, occasionally, I will travel to a camping spot that no longer exists, but overall, they are great tools for any Boondocker. If you have an RV GPS, either the Rand McNally or the Garmin, the built-in camping databases are pretty impressive. I have the Garmin RV890, and often I will just ask it to show me all available camping within a certain area. It pops up a lot of really interesting free and low-cost camping. My 890 even has the ioverlander database built into it!

View Before You Go Regardless which app or method you use to discover campsites, I strongly suggest that you use Google Earth to look

at those campsites before you drive there. Although Google Earth will not give you complete details, it will show you enough to let you know what you’re getting yourself into. It’s also quite helpful to look for other RVs in the satellite imagery. Often, this will give you some idea of where people who go there regularly like to park.

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ESCAPEES Magazine July/August 2022