Types of Places to Camp

There are many type of places to camp. You may wish to group them as conventional and nonconventional.

Conventional Campgrounds include Private, State & Federal.  Private can range from Resort to bare bones.  Last year I stayed at both types.  I usually only stayed one night.  

Resort have pools, game rooms, activity centers, scheduled activities and many other amenities.  These high end may have rules that allow them to exclude you  if your camper is more than 20 years old.  At these places I was always asked how old my campervan was.  Some wanted to see it to make sure it looked ok as it was over 20 years old.  Many do not accept tents and there are others that are age restrictive at 55 and older.  I met that requirement last year.  I generally paid $45 per day with full hookups.  These  high end places would generally not accept my Prius campervan or do it yourself van conversions.

The low end I stayed at last year was a place you pull up and read the instructions. Pick a spot put money in an envelope and slide it in a box.  I paid $18 a night for full hookups. Some may just have electricity and water with common bathrooms.

Federal and State campgrounds are generally the same offering dedicated spots to camp, may or may not have picnic table, electric, & sewer.  May or may not have flush toilets and may or not have showers.

Last year at the Grand Canyon I had full hookups and the showers were not at the bathrooms but some distance away.  Brianna and I drove over for showers and the list their hot water and wouldn't have it back running for hours.  We left withou taking one.  This was at a national park.

Nonconventual camping include places that allow camping like the place I have stayed in the last few nights at no cost.  You also don't get much for amenities to no amenities.  BLM land (Bureau of Land Managenent) has places you pay very little for some basic services like pit toilets.  They also have dispersed camping at no cost and no services.  I went to these last year and will do it again this year.

The very nonconventional include parking in Walmart parking lots that allow it and also the Eagles and Elks that allow it for their members.  Some people join these organizations just for the benefit when traveling.  You may also be there on bingo night for entertainment and help them with cash.  Some casinos allow overnight parking but some have rules.  Just like Walmart not all allow overnight parking.  There is an App that is good but not always correct called AllStays that can help.

There is also other federal land that allow dispersed or group camping at no or little cost.  There is slso a free camping website.

My goal in this trip is to visit many of these places and write about them.

I hope this post will give you some idea what I am talking about when I use terminology that you may not be familiar with.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com