![]() I am a big believer in Leave No Trace principles so I almost never make a new ring out of respect for the land. These are unsightly and scar the land so they try to limit them. The main issue there is if you make a new campfire ring. Very often the authorities will ask that you try to use existing campsites instead of making new ones. I just drive along until I find a spot that will make a good campsite and then I pull in and set up camp. Nearly all BLM and NF land is open to dispersed camping. When you camp on BLM, or National Forest land without staying in a campground, you are doing dispersed camping. Combined with clean air and beautiful scenery, the woods is the only way to go as far as I am concerned. More important than my experience is the fact that according to crime statistics, you are much less likely to be victim of any crime in remote areas than in the city. But on public land, I have never been afraid of other people, not once. Never once was I in real danger, but I was afraid nonetheless. Numerous times when I lived in the city I woke up afraid because of people hanging around outside my van. In my opinion and experience, it is by far safer than living anywhere in a city. Some people are concerned if camping in the wilderness is safe. In the cold of winter I stay on BLM land in the desert Southwest, and in the heat of summer I move up into the mountains in the National Forests. For the last four years, I have lived almost exclusively in forest, mountains and deserts on public land without paying a penny for it. But after I retired I said goodbye to the city and headed for the hills. First, let’s look at true boondocking in the countryside:įor the first six years I lived in my vehicle I stealth parked in a city. In this article we will examine both styles of mobile living. There is a better word for staying in a WalMart parking lot, and that word is Stealth Parking. ![]() Only a remote location in the woods is true boondocking.” And, technically, they are right, that’s what the word means. The purists say, “Staying in a WalMart is not boondocking! It’s just cheap parking without hook-ups. There is a rift in the RV community about exactly what is boondocking. These signs are becoming more and more common across the country. They made WalMart post signs in their parking lot saying overnight parking was illegal. ![]() The cities wanted to protect the RV parks since they paid a lot of taxes on their land and income, and passed ordinances making boondocking illegal. So they approached the local city council and lobbied them to make boondocking (sleeping overnight in an unapproved place) illegal in their city. On the other hand, the RV parks didn’t think it was so great. They picked up a loyal group of shoppers who obviously had extra disposable income. After a while people saw that they could save a lot of money by not staying in RV parks and so they started planning their trips around WalMart stores, staying in their parking lots most nights of their trip. Since they had no hook-ups and were self-sufficient, they said they were boondocking. Then some people noticed that while they were driving for several days to get to the boondocks, they could save some money by staying overnight in the parking lot of a WalMart. Since you had no hook-ups, but were self- sufficient, you were boondocking. So if you were going fishing in your truck camper to a remote National or State Park, when you got there you were camping in the boondocks. When they came home they developed the slang word “boonies.” The RV community adopted the word to use it to describe remote camping in rural areas. They started using it to mean a rural, remote, bushy area. It comes from a Tagalog word for mountain, bundog. The word boondock originated early in the 20th century from American military servicemen serving in the Philippines. Is this boondocking? Some say “yes,” most say “NO”!!
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