Back To Boondocking Basics – 8 Steps To Get You Into The Wild

Our boondocking site in the Alabama Hills is lit by a “Sierra Wave” after a stormy day

Although our caravanning  buddies are now gone and we’ve weathered the storm we’re still thinking about them. Lu and Terry, like most RVers had alot of preconceived fears about boondocking. Will my RV get stuck? Will I be able to make it on my water?  Will I stink? Do I need to wear a loincloth? Is it safe? This is not your regular park camping experience and I figured this would be a good intro to re-post some of the blogs I’ve already done on boondocking, plus answer a few more of those burning questions folks might have. So, here we go:

First of all a definition of boondocking as I see it. This means camping out in nature (in the “boonies”) with no fixed sites or campground. I consider this different from dry-camping (= camping in a campground with no hookups) and overnight “freebies” (= staying a night at Walmart or the likes). This is truly out there, in-the-wilds with nary a water spigot in sight

1/ How Do You Find A Boondocking Site?

Our site in the Alabama Hills took a trip to the BLM office and a bit of scouting

Many boondockers not surprisingly keep their “best” sites a secret, so you’ll have to do some legwork on your own. Most boondocking sites, often called “dispersed camping” are on public land typically either Forest Service or BLM land. You’ll find bits and pieces of info on spots from other people’s blogs, certain publications (e.g. Escapees Days End and Frugal Shunpikers), on websites (e.g. freecampsites.net), on online RV forums and by word of mouth, but the easiest thing to do is contact the local public lands office. The ranger there will have detailed maps and can usually give you the low-down on what’s open for camping, what the roads are like and how long you can stay there (most places have 14 day limits, but it can vary and there are even certain spots that allow seasonal long-term stays). I’ll usually start by contacting the local office and checking out the area on Google Earth. Then, since our RV is a very shall-we-say ample girl we’ll always unhook the toad and scout out the area in our car before bringing in “the beast”. Sometimes we’ll even plan to stay a few days at a nearby developed campground so we have more time to look around. Our main concerns are always access, a place to turn around and firmness of the site. As long as those 3 are good, we’re good to go.

2/ How Do You Stay Clean? Do You Get Stinky?

“I am ze locksmith of love, no?” Pepé Le Pew

We definitely practice good water conservation on the road but we DO wash when we’re boondocking even if it’s just a “sponge bath”, and since going no-poo my hair usually lasts a week before I need to clean it again. When we’re feeling generous we turn on our propane water heater and take a navy bath (much improved since we installed the new Oxygenetics shower head). So, do we get stinky? I guess it’s relative to who’s around you. I may not smell of the latest perfume and roses, but I’m usually presentable enough for government work and since this is the boonies I figure my charm will get me through and nobody much will mind (it worked for Pepé, n’est ce pas?)

3/ What Do You Do With Garbage?

Well believe it or not darlin’ we throw it in a garbage can! While in the RV we keep it enclosed in a bag and inside (either in the rig, in a downstairs bin or in the toad). Some folks will leave it outside, but I won’t do that since we’re usually boondocking in areas with wild animals and there’s no reason to entice them (plus in states with bears that’s illegal anyway). Then we’ll find somewhere during the day to throw it out. Most cities will have some kind of communal garbage dump, or you can find them by grocery stores, behind restaurants, near malls etc.

4/ How Do You Get Water? How Long Does It Last?

We love our handy little Coleman tank

We fill up our 100 gallon motorhome tank whenever we dump (most dump stations also offer potable water) and with basic water conservation management that’ll usually last us a good 2 weeks, more if we decide to stretch it. We also have a 5 gallon Coleman jug (many boondockers simply use empty milk cartons) and some backpack bladders that I’ll fill up wherever I see a good water spigot (e.g. at a campground, or gas station) and use for drinking, cooking & tea. If we wanted to get reaaaly serious we’d buy a separate bladder and 12V pump, but we’ve never needed one so far. Most public land has 14-day camping limit anyway.

5/ Where Do You Dump?

When “the beast” is ready to go we usually find a dump station using sanidumps.com (they have a phone & Ipad app too). Most campgrounds will have dumps available, usually for a small fee, plus some gas and truck stations will too. In certain states, even the rest areas have dump stations (often free!). We’ll refill our water tank when we dump as well.

6/ How Do You Manage Electricity?

We loooove our Xantrex battery monitor

The main thing to watch with typical RV deep-cycle batteries is to make sure they don’t go below ~50% discharge (typically ~12.1V) and recharge them when they do. This is one of those areas where you won’t really know how you do until you try it out. So, plan to have a way to test those batteries. Our first year boondocking we tested with a basic voltmeter and hydrometer (specific gravity tester), and recharged daily with our generator, but there are wonderful battery monitors such as Xantrex and TriMetric which will give you even more detail. Basic management like shutting off lights, staying away from electric heat and using bigger power-draws like your propane furnace sparingly will take you a long way to good electrical management. Also if you’re in colder temps you need to be aware of battery capacity loss. As you get more into boondocking you can consider LED lights (reduces your light draw by a factor of ~10) and even solar power (see below).

7/ What Do You Eat?

It’s tempting, oh yes it is…

Well despite being in the boonies (where the urge to don a loin-cloth and run with a spear in the wild DOES get rather tempting) we have a fridge, full kitchen, propane stove and propane oven so we cook the same gourmet meals we’d eat at home, which is perfect given we’re already home! So basically we cook food just like we’ve always done, even before our RVing days….and we loooove to cook. Our propane systems don’t draw any electricity and use very little propane so we can do anything from raw veggies to Indian curries, Thai delicacies and full multi-hour roasts. Paul has even been known to pull out his charcoal-powered smoker and go on an all-out, all-day smoking-in-the-boonies binge.

8/ Is It Safe?

Who needs weapons when you’ve got a viscious guard-dog on the case?

Alot of people never boondock because they worry about safety. Honestly I’ve always felt more unsafe in big cities than I have in the boonies. The chances that someone is driving around on BLM land looking for remote RVers to steal from is very, very slim (payback is not particularly high for this kind of thieving). We do know folks who “pack heat” -> we’re not among them and prefer something like wasp or bear spray instead, but if you do go that route train yourself well and know the law for carrying in all the states. We do lock the RV when we’re gone and try not to leave anything tooooo enticing outside the rig, but other than that we’re pretty relaxed. And wildlife? Well if you can hike, you can camp. Basic things like being aware of where you step, keeping garbage locked up and not letting the cats out to roam at night with the coyotes will keep you within bounds.

More Reading For the Boondocking Hungry:

• Boondocking Made Easy -> The Basics
• Boondocking Made Easy -> LED Lighting
• Going Water Green = Conserving Water On The Road
• Streching Your Tanks In The Boonies – Dumping And More…
• Lessons In Cold Weather Dry-Camping = Our Sierra Nevada Week-End

And For Those Considering Solar:

• RV Solar Part I – The Discovery Process
• RV Solar Part II – The Equipment
• RV Solar Part III – The Installation
• RV Solar Part IV – Panel Tilting & Winter Solar Optimization

Other Online Boondocking Resources:

• Escapees Days End Directory (you need to be member of Escapees)
• Frugal Shunpikers Guides To RV Boondocking
• FreeCampsites.Net
• Bureau Of Land Management
• US Forest Service

So, any burning questions I didn’t answer out there?

A West-Coast Sunset in the East

Sunset on the West Coast of FL

Florida is an eclectic mix of a place. It sticks out oddly into the Atlantic, a bit like a big hook nose at the South-Eastern end of the US. This unusual shape and position makes it a unique natural ecosystem with a semi-tropical weather pattern (perfect, as it so happens, for growing citrus fruit), and literally oodles of rivers, coast and beaches (~11,000 miles of waterways and ~2,276 miles of tidal coastline in fact). It’s along this massive coastline where the daily rhythm of the tides mixes fresh-water discharged from underground aquifers (water-bearing limestone layers and Florida’s main source of water), with salt-water from the ocean, supporting all the variations of wildlife and unique flora which that very strange marriage entails.

Paul and Polly wade in bare feet, mangroves and warm ocean

What this means, apart from an almost infinite supply of oranges, of course, is that you can watch the sunrise on the East Coast, paddle fresh-water rivers and go wildlife spotting for lunch, and finish your day surrounded by mangroves and soaking in the sunset on a beach the West. There’s literally no-where else in the US where you can do that and it’s one of the many reasons Florida is such a hot winter destination for “snowbirds” and tourists.

We’ll be spending a bit of time here in the South, “wintering” as they say, while the Northern areas enjoy the big freeze. The cold will make it here, eventually, but in the meantime we’ll be walking the beach and watching the warm sunset in our flip-flops. There’s more coming to this story…..

Going “Water-Green” = Conserving Water on the Road

Water, our most precious resource

Water = the giver of life, liquid of the Gods, precious gem of the universe. We tend to take it for granted, especially when it’s so easily reachable by the handy tap that magically purveys it into your house.

All that changes when you move into an RV, especially if you “dry-camp” or “boondock” (i.e. camp without direct water hook-ups) for any length of time. We’ve developed a renewed appreciation for this wonderful resource over our past year of RVing and although we started off as relative amateurs we have now become avid water-conservationists and Masters of the Tap. No longer do we blow through our 100 gallon water tank in a few days, but find that it now easily stretches to 2 weeks and could probably go longer with a little extra effort. In going RVing we’ve gone “water-green” and here’s the low-down for others looking to do the same:

How Much Water do you Really Need?
The average westernized person uses ~123 gallons (466 liters) of water/day at home (per The World Almanac). That’s an astounding amount of water and you wouldn’t last a day as a dry-camp RVer with that usage. Most of the waste goes to flushing the toilet, long showers and washing dishes. In reality a gallon/day of water will cover essential needs while 2 gallons/day should cover basic needs. We use just a couple of straight-forward conservation methods and run ~3.5 gallons/person/day. If we’re feeling luxurious and going all-out (full showers and all) we’ll use ~8 gallons/person/day. Any RVer should be able to do just fine on 4 gallons/person/day going down to 2 gallons/person/day for the more conservative lot.

Conservation Tips
Water conservation is really pretty basic stuff. Don’t let the taps run, use less to flush the loo, use any local camp facilities  and so forth, but here’s a few extra tips that help the mobile mover as well:

1. Dishes -> Wipe before you wash. When you wash your dishes, do a quick wipe with a paper towel to get off excess grease & bits before you put them in the sink, then save up your dishes so you only wash once/day. When washing do a sponge-on in a tub, and quick rinse off after. Never let the tap run.
One Step Further: Some people go further on this one by using disposable paper plates & cups which they trash at every meal (and thus avoid clean-up altogether). We prefer our real china and don’t like the excess trash, but it’s another idea for those who need it.

2. Loo Flushing -> Less is more. When flushing out the toilet a quick flush does just as well as a longer one. Some people keep a pail of external water handy and use that. Others only flush for #2′s. If you’re at a campground that has an on-site toilet, using the camp facilities obviously  helps to save your tanks.
One Step Further: If you’re way “out there” using the great outdoors and pooing in the wild (as long as it’s done properly) can also be a big saver. You don’t need much to cut back on this one.

Bathing with a washcloth can be...well...almost exotic

3. Bathing -> Go Navy-style or get out the sponge. If you’ve ever backpacked any length of time you know it doesn’t take much to get you clean. If you use the shower in the RV, the simplest thing is to go Navy-style and turn off the shower while you’re “lathering up”. Then, just rinse and dry. If you want to conserve further ditch the shower and use a sink/pail of water with a sponge or wash-cloth. Sponge, lather, sponge and dry. If you’re out boondocking in the wild it can be quite romantic to do this outside with your partner .
One Step Further: For the ultra-conservationist, baby wipes will do the job on all the “necessary bits” and they’ve kept me usably clean while backpacking many-a-time.

4. Washing Hands -> Switch to hand sanitizer. We waste a lot of precious water by washing our hands. So, instead of running the tap, buy a hand sanitizer dispenser and use that instead.

5. Brushing Teeth -> Use a cup. Instead of letting water run for brushing teeth, put some water in a cup and use that instead.

6. Drinking -> Get a portable container. Drinking water is the one area where you don’t want to conserve unless you’re absolutely forced to. So, drink as much as you fancy and supplement it with an external, portable container. We have a plastic 5-gallon jug that we fill-up before we go off. You can buy collapsible containers too.

7. Recycle -> Re-use your grey water. For those folks looking to extend even more you can re-use your grey water. When you wash the dishes, cook your veggies or brush your teeth, save that water and use it to flush the loo.

As you get more savvy in water-conservation you’ll find yourself limited much more by your grey tank (your waste water) filling up, than how quickly you use the main water tank. There are lots of ways to “stretch your tanks”, as we’ve covered previously, but in the end good water conservation is good for everyone, and with a little bit of creativity it can even be fun too.

A Walk on the Lake

“I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore…”
“I hear it in the deep heart’s core”
William Butler Yeats (The Lake Isle of Innisfree, 1888)

Stunning Lake Glendale, IL. A hidden gem indeed

 Although Yeats’ poem was inspired by the sound of a fountain in a shop-window on Fleet Street, London his thoughts were turned towards the utopia of lake water. Lakes do seem to hold a special draw, and a very unique sense of peace that speak to our souls, so I get where this poem comes from. 

As we’ve travelled down through the Mid-West we’ve been astonished at the number of lakes, some large, stoic and imposing, others little hidden gems with their own microcosm of life and weather. Each body of water seems to speak with her own personality and her own expression, and if you take the time to walk along the shore and listen you can sink into step with the rhythm of life that surrounds it. 

A dragonfly catches the last rays of sun on the lake

In the early morning the lake catches the sun and bakes off the moisture of dawn in a mysterious mist. In the evening she reflects the last rays with a  deep blue sigh before she goes to rest. She’s ever-changing yet ever a true reflection of ourselves. 

Yeah, I totally get the lake and soul thing….