Places to Boondock a 40’ Motor home

Busieizzy · January 30, 2022

Hello!

My husband and I are looking at purchasing a 40’ motor home to replace our travel trailer for our family. We have done some boondocking in the past and enjoyed it immensely. The aspect of being able to get away from the parking lot camping out into actually beauty with only a few others around is loved by the family. We, especially, love camping along the lakeshores of Michigan, creeksides and rivers when we can find.

That being said we like the option of being more self sufficient and set up better for boondocking with a motor home versus our present camper. We still have several years with children at home and for that reason we are leaning towards a 40’ motor home. The one concern we have is that it will be difficult finding places we can get to that are not as populated with such a large rig.

1) Is it possible to find places by lakes, rivers, creeks, hills, nature in general that we could get to all around the United States for when we are taking our vacations in a rig this size?

2)What about places for long weekends closer to home in the areas of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio? This one would be more often then the 1st and would like to find several places in those 4 states.

Thanks for any information you have to share,

Angela

2gypsies · January 30, 2022

Well.... we boondocked and used public campgrounds almost solely with our 40' MH in the West & at beautiful spots along rivers and lakes. There is lots and lots of BLM and national forest land available. The Midwest? You'd have to work at finding the places by reading boondocking forums, talking to fellow campers and searching the internet. The Midwest doesn't have as much available public land as the West. In the Midwest and South we used public campgrounds... for a fee - state parks, national forest, county and city.

Join the Escapees RV Club and you'd have access to Days End which lists many boondocking spots all over the country.

Here is another site to explore: https://freecampsites.net/

trailertraveler · January 31, 2022

Welcome to the Escapees Forum!!

Some states like Kansas allow camping at their state fishing lakes. Others allow camping on wildlife management areas, recreation areas and state forests. The regulations vary from state to state and often from area to area within a state. For example, some New Mexico State Parks have areas open to dispersed vehicle camping for $8/night.

Most National Forests have at least some areas open to dispersed vehicle camping. You will need to consult the current Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUM) for each forest or consult the Forest Headquarters or Ranger District. Open areas can change at the discretion of the Forest Manager.

With the increased popularity of RVing in recent years, some agencies are placing more restrictions on dispersed vehicle camping. Some areas have been closed and others converted into more organized areas of designated campsites. Even if dispersed vehicle camping is permitted in an area; access may be dependent on road conditions at the time of your visit and the weight, ground clearance, height, width, angle of attack capability and traction capability of your RV.

Again, Welcome to the Escapees Forum.

Edited January 31, 2022 by trailertraveler

Kirk W · January 31, 2022

Do some internet searches for US Army Corps of Engineers parks, TVA parks, and US Forest Service parks.

sandsys · January 31, 2022

You might also want to check out the Wheeling It blog. Their data will not be current since they've now moved to France but their in depth reviews are a good place to start getting a feel for boondocking in the USA in a big rig.

Linda Sand

Danfreda1 · January 31, 2022

I think we have set up a sight called boondocking for big rigs on face book. I don’t do it, wife and another lady admin. It it’s for 40 ft and above. We are73 ft and have found a lot of places as have others

Kirk W · January 31, 2022

8 hours ago, Danfreda1 said:

we have set up a sight called boondocking for big rigs on face book. I don’t do it, wife and another lady admin. It it’s for 40 ft and above.

Busieizzy is looking for places in his area so you might share some of them with him and possibly even post a link to the Facebook page?

trailertraveler · January 31, 2022

Here is a link to the Facebook Group. Here are the results of a Search for "Boondocking for Big Rigs". There is no universally agreed upon definition for "Boondocking". Some consider any dry camping (including in parking lots) as "Boondocking". Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts are often cited as resources for boondockers. Both the Escapees RV Club and the Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) maintain lists of their members that allow other members to stay on their property. There are many National Forest Campgrounds with no facilities. Some are still free. In my experience, some are not suitable for big rigs either because of access issues or site size. The Forest Camping website linked to above gives detailed descriptions of many National Forest campgrounds.

Busieizzy · February 2, 2022

Thank you all for giving me directions to research. This helps immensely. I’m going to join the Facebook group(s) and start exploring the info there this coming weekend when I have some time. I’ve already explored some of the links too. I’m May be back with questions and it was wonderful to have such timely responses. Thank you!
By the way, we are now the owners of a 40’ motor home.

Thank you again,

Angela

hemsteadc · March 14, 2022

Day's End is published by an Escapee. A compendium of boondocking information from all over the US by those of us who've actually been there.

LindaH · March 14, 2022

1 hour ago, hemsteadc said:

Day's End is published by an Escapee. A compendium of boondocking information from all over the US by those of us who've actually been there.

https://daysenddirectory.com/#/

You do have to be an Escapee to get this Directory.