What Is Wild Camping?
Doing Van Life can be kept cheap if you are wild camping. So what is wild camping? It’s free camping! Some people call it boondocking or dispersed camping. It involves camping on public lands like BLM areas (Bureau of Land Management) or National Forests. These areas are not developed like if you go to a KOA campground.
Wild Camping Characteristics
Cost
As I mentioned above, it’s free! Some spots that are more popular might have a sign saying it costs money but a lot of times, that’s a local pulling one over on you! When we camped next to Mexican Hat in Utah, there was a sign saying you had to pay but you don’t.
Amenities
Most dispersed campsites do not have amenities. There are some sites that are located close to trailheads so you might have access to a bathroom. A lot of people have built fire rings in more popular areas as well. These are the Van Life Essentials that help us survive without amenities.
Remote
Dispersed campsites are sometimes right off a main road or can go for miles off of any maintained road. For this reason make sure you are prepared with whatever you would need to survive or get out of a pickle, like your van getting stuck. I wrote more about that in this article of How to Stay Safe Wild Camping.
Finding camping sites
The best way to find these sites are through different apps like iOverlander. I have a very detailed guide of How to Camp For Free you can check out.
