Well, it’s our 2nd “Vanniversary” already! Hard to believe that two whole years have gone by since we started this crazy/brave adventure of ours. Are we ready to settle back down? No way!
It was a year of big changes for us. One of our kids, graduated from university(Yay!) We sold our house back in Massachusetts, and officially became “Floridians.”
And, in the last few months, my stepfather died, my mom was hospitalized, and our dog Milo died as well. Our van year didn’t end with a whimper, but a full on cry.
But today, an upbeat post! We’re looking back at our 10 favorite van camping of our van year.
Another Crazy Brave Year on the Road
We started our 2nd year of van living in Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies and spent early fall in British Columbia. Then we hugged the Pacific coast, swooped into the Eastern Sierras (unexpectedly beautiful!) and moseyed southeast through Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. After that, we booked it to our yearly family rendezvous on the west coat of Florida.
We stayed four months in Florida, helping out best we could during a series of family health crises.
Then we headed back to the northeast to visit family in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Montreal, Toronto (Graduation — wooohoo!) and Michigan before setting out for the West again. In all, we stayed in 118 different “camp spots.” Whew!
Slow Travel?
We had hoped to slow down a bit in our second year as nomads. While dodging constant rain showers, we talked about spending TWO WHOLE WEEKS camped in one spot.
…But that never actually happened.
Our van isn’t kitted out for long term camping. We carry only ten gallons of water, after all, and a few rainy days can suck our solar power dry.
And, once you head out to get supplies, why return to a place you already know? There’s always someplace new over the next horizon!
But we DID slow down a bit, staying at 118 camp spots in Year 2 versus 205 spots in Year 1. Maybe Year 3 will see even slower travel.
At any rate, we are happily restless!
Our 10 Best Camps
It was soooo hard to narrow these down! There are so many amazing places to camp in the US and Canada. We enjoyed almost every spot we stopped in one way or another. This list doesn’t include spots we’ve already shared. So no matter how awesome, if a spot was mentioned somewhere else in the blog, we didn’t include it here.
As “usual”, we camped in a mix of free sites, National Forest/BLM/COE campgrounds, and county/town parks, with a few state/provincial parks and urban parking lots mixed in.
In our 2nd year on the road, we did not stay in any private campgrounds. Generally, these aren’t for us. We don’t need the amenities and feel a little crammed in close to other folks. Also: pricey.
The most expensive spot we stayed in (by far) was the Telluride Town Park (A whopping $50 per night!) But we wanted to walk into town to celebrate Dan’s birthday in style, which we totally did. (If you want a more comprehensive look at our Year 2 camping scene, check out our adventure map here. )
Our favorites may not work for everybody. We tend to like quiet, remote places, barely driveable in our 2 wheel drive van. Flush toilets and electricity are not usually part of our equation. Cheap is great. Free, preferable.
Okay then, without further ado, here are our favorite “camps” in chronological order:
Kitty Coleman Beach Park, Courtenay BC
British Columbia is a beautiful place (really, really, reeeeaaaalllllly beautiful!) full of many great campgrounds. We mentioned a few of them in an earlier post. But, in thinking back on our early fall travels in Western Canada, we neglected to mention this wonderful out-of-the-way spot. There are 65 sites here, so it isn’t “small” exactly, and we imagine it gets busy during the summertime. But in September, we parked up beside the Strait of Georgia, walked the beach, watched the seals and starfish and had a peaceful time. In addition, this spot’s not too, too far from the town of Courtenay with its excellent library and microbreweries, much appreciated in the Pacific NorthWET. For us, this spot made for a lovely, restful 4-5 days.
Coho Ferry Parking Lot, Victoria, BC
Surprise! A parking lot made our list of best camp spots! Not just any parking lot, though. This one is in downtown Victoria, BC. Turns out, that if you book an early morning ferry ride to Port Angeles, WA, you can park in the gated ferry lot overnight for free. There’s even a bathroom! (I know, it’s the little things, right?)
We loved (loved) this sanctioned urban spot. And we made the most of it too, going out on the town on our last night in BC.
Tillicum Beach, Yachats, Oregon
There are a lot of expensive and busy beach campgrounds along the Washington and Oregon Coast. We stayed at more than a few of them on our rainy slog south. But for budget-minded campers, who enjoy low frills camping, this National Forest Campground is great! Though busy in summer (isn’t everything?) it was quiet and beautiful in late September when we arrived. The $17 per night cost (thank you Golden Age Pass!) made our spot on a bluff high above the beach a real bargain. We stayed here four days, gazed at the Pacific, took long beach walks with Milo and just… ahhh.
Hot Springs Campground, Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, OR
The drive out here is looong and bumpy, but it’s an awesome spot: A free campground beside a natural hot springs in the “Oregon Outback.” We loved soaking in the rock-walled hot springs at night and exploring the antelope refuge during the day. The land is wide open and walkable. And, if you’re a rockhound, there are some nifty rocks here, too. If you are up for adventure — and don’t mind rough roads, pit toilets, and lack of potable water — this is a spot we highly recommend!
Alabama Hills, California
Okay, so we have sort of mentioned this spot before…. but it was such a memorable one. We really couldn’t talk about our favorite spots without mention of the glorious free camping that is the Alabama Hills dispersed camping area managed by the BLM. Yes, this place has gotten a lot of press and has been featured in a gazillion vanlife instaposts. But there is a reason for that: It is truly breathtaking! There are many hiking trails within walking distance and the views are otherworldly wonderful. The BLM, in trying to manage this area, has designated some spots for camping and closed off others. Be forewarned: If you plan on camping here, you’ll have to creep along bumpy little roads between boulders looking for an unoccupied designated spot.
BUT, when you find one: Magic!
Chemehuevi Wash, Mojave Desert CA
We found this spot after a conversation with a ranger in a BLM office in eastern California. And truly, it is just a dispersed camping spot off a long dirt road on the California side of Lake Havasu. But, man! It is really lovely here– starkly lovely. There are miles and miles of badlands to climb around in, and lots of agate too. Also, some kit foxes visited us here. Some places just stay with you. There’s no pinpointing why. To some folks, this spot might seem like a barren wasteland, but we truly loved it here.
Gila Box Riparian Conservation Area, Safford, AZ
During our first year on the road, we’d meant to visit this remote campground, but we ended up at the Black Hills Rockhounding area just east of here and loved THAT so much we never made it to the Gila Box. (THAT spot was on a previous list of favorites!) This year, though, we spent five lovely days along the steep banks of the Gila River, a deep, lush canyon. It was super quiet here, only two other campers in this well-designed campground that cost all of $5 a night. The shade porticos and graveled, flat spots make this campground seem cushy compared to other remote places. There are many trails nearby and and interesting historic cabin, too. Best of all, you can hike down into the Gila Box and explore the lush environment there.
Flag Rock Recreational Area, Norton, VA
We didn’t expect to love the southern end of the Appalachians as much as we did. In the Spring, we had a great time camping around Asheville, North Carolina and Johnson City, Tennessee. We ate way too much barbecue and tried hot honey chicken (loooved it!). And we drank some local craft beers at hip microbreweries. Camping was a bit rough here, though. We stayed at a Harvest Host, deep in the forest with no wifi for work, a roadside rest area beside a bag of something putrid (We were afraid to look) and in a busy campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway. None of these spots were ideal.
So when we happened upon the lovely Flag Rock Recreation area, managed by the tiny town of Norton, VA we just settled in for a bit.
The drive up to Flag Rock is crazzzzy steep and zigzaggy, and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when set off to check it out.
But this tilty little campground on the side of a mountain is really sweet. And though it was pricey by our standards ($20 per night) we liked it so much we stayed three days.
In April, we were the only people here and from our camp, we could look down on the clouds in the valley below. Also there were tons of trails, hot showers and flush toilets here. And, to top it off, Flag Rock is a designated bigfoot (“locally known as a Woodbooger”) refuge!
Marshall Pass, Poncha Springs, CO
We found this awesome boondocking spot by accident. We had planned on camping at O’Haver Lake, a National Forest Service Campground, but found it was too much of a scene for us: busy with families and boaters and parties and not much privacy at all. Sitting grumpily in my camp chair reading my Colorado Rockhounding Book, I came across a mention of agate found further down the forest service road. Well, why not, we said? We packed up, and headed up the road to Marshall Pass. Turns out, that in addition to agate, the pass has several beautiful boondocking spots, some with views. It also happens to be on the Colorado trail (bonus!). But be forewarned: it is at 11,000 feet elevation so hiking here ain’t easy. We stayed here before I flew back to Florida to support family, and again, after Milo died. The views and solitude were exactly what we needed. We moped and wept, watched the clouds and hiked the trails.
Canyon of the Ancients, Cortez, CO
Turns out our last favorite spot of our “van year” happens to be the very last spot we camped in this year. In fact, I am right now, sitting on the rim of this wild and beautiful canyon writing up this post. Canyon of the Ancients is an extensive area in Southwestern Colorado, that was home to the ancestral Pueblo people. Thousands of archaeological sites dot this vast canyon system (most are buried and hard to see) and there is exactly the kind of solitude here that we often crave. We have been here going on six days perched on this canyon rim, and we never tire of exploring the trails and dusty roads here. Free camping doesn’t get much better than this.
Another Van Year Past and Gone
We learned a lot in our second year on the road: to slow down (a little) to deal with adversity and grief while far from “home.” And we have settled our own style of “van living.” We don’t “stealth camp” much, and prefer dispersed (free) camping and National Forest campgrounds with few amenities. We splurge occasionally, mostly on interesting local dining options, microbreweries and hot springs. This mode of nomadic living works for us. Maybe these spots will be useful to you in your own travels, but as the long distance hikers say, you’ve gotta “hike your own hike.”
In the coming year, we hope to do some things we weren’t able to do when Milo was with us. We’re already been hiking a lot more often — and greater distances. And we may take some trips without SteVAN.
I am trying to get into a more disciplined “work mode” and hope to post more often as well as to continue with my fiction writing. It’s just life, ya’ll… but in a super-small mobile living space.
What sort of camp spots do you prefer? Care to share any of your own favorites? We’d love to hear from you.
