We spend a lot of time looking for the perfect place to camp. It’s a surprising just how hard that is to find. We’re not picky people (as evidenced by the slapdash nature of our van and even more slapdash nature of our chosen lifestyle).
Truly, there are so many awesome dispersed sites, state and national parks, forest service, and BLM campgrounds, out there. Yet, often as not, we drive right on by them.
What are we even looking for?
Actually, we ask ourselves this question quite often. And our “perfect campsite” shifts with the weather or work week. Sometimes, all we need is a place to sleep.
But what we’re talking about today is that perfect spot, the one we want to just settle into long term.
Even when we know AND agree on what we’re after that perfect spot is kinda hard to find.
This post is a long time coming; It took us a while to figure out what works for us … and what really doesn’t. Two years into this crazy brave lifestyle, we’ve developed an informal criteria we use to find those perfect (or near perfect) spots along the way. Today, we’ll share what we’ve learned in our search for that elusive perfect camping spot, including seven things we look for when deciding where to camp.
“Best Campsite Ever” … Not!
First off: There isn’t really a perfect camp spot.
Each of us has our own individual “awesome” floating around in our heads I can’t tell you how often we read reviews on iOverlander or Campendium, or even on Harvest Hosts, then show up and go “huhhhh?”
Glowingly reviewed spots seem crowded or sketchy or just not right. I imagine that many people feel the same about some of the places we absolutely love.
State and National parks are a great example. Though we appreciate proximity to cool natural things … and the flush toilets, showers, etc., these kinds of campgrounds feel wall-to-wall crowded to us. We don’t like stepping outside the van and being “in public.”
Maybe this is because our van is teeny, and we live OUT of it rather than IN it. Places where we have to tiptoe around to do our daily stuff just don’t work for us. Also, we are on a tight budget and the price of camping on these places is not “perfect” at all.
On the other end of the spectrum, popular dispersed spots like Craggy Wash in Lake Havasu, AZ and Willow Springs outside of Moab, UT, often get glowing reviews, but they just don’t work for us.
We checked “Craggy” out in our first Autumn on the road and found it trashed and crowded. We stayed a few days, wandering the hills and recovering from our flu/COVID boosters. Then we headed off to less popular spots.
So, take reviews with a grain of salt. After all, if we were to review Wyoming’s Big Sandy Reservoir, I would say “Excellent! Loooove it!” and Dan would say “Barren and windy. Get-me-out-of-here!” And ya, know. We’d both be right.
Learn What You Like
The perfect place is out there. But finding it means figuring out what works for your particular camping style. We keep detailed google maps of each spot we’ve stayed, including info on cost and road conditions. And these have been terrifically helpful in narrowing down our own sense of “perfect.” (Links to all three of our google maps can be found at the bottom of the page and on the side bar here)
When perusing the many camping apps, don’t get suckered into someone else’s idea of perfect. Keep your own preferences in mind. Before long, you’ll have a sense of “perfect” tailored to your own camping style and needs.
Perfect Places: Our Own Crazy Brave Camping Criteria
So what does our perfect camp spot look like? Glad you asked! This post has been stewing for a few years now, through all sorts of wonderful, dingy, scenic and sticky places. And we’ve developed a short list of the 7 things that make for a perfect camp spot.
1. Uncrowded
As mentioned above, this is probably our number one draw. We really (really) like our space. It’s not that we are antisocial, just that we are outside a lot, cooking, working, messing with solar panels… (Electricity is Dan’s primary hobby now). And we like at least a little privacy.
Some of our favorite spots are probably hopping in summer, but off season, they are just… perfect!
2. Cool things within walking distance
When we were first thinking about this nomadic life style, we debated the pros and cons of trailers vs vans. Trailers do have benefits. You can leave them and go off on day trips, you can head into town without packing everything up. But, you have to tow that sucker up and down mountains and across rough roads hoping there’ll be room to turn around if you need it.
Two years in, we are happy with our decision.
However, “VAN Life” means having to convert to “driving mode” when you head out. “SteVAN life” means having to turn the passenger seat around, scooting the fridge back between the seats, stowing the Jackery power station, and clearing the counters.
In short, we ain’t going anywhere unless we really need to. So we appreciate it when there are cool things close by.
And, like everything else, “cool” is subjective. To us, “cool” means hiking trails or wide open land that is “explore-able” on foot without trails.
Hot Springs are a definite plus. Wildlife, or archaeological sites too.
And rockhounding opportunities are extra cool …. as far as I’m concerned, anyway. Dan is meh on the rockhounding.
3. Free or Cheap
This is a biggie. We don’t spend long stretches of time in pricey campgrounds. We simply can’t afford to. When traveling in the eastern US and along the Pacific coast, we struggled to find “perfect” spots for this very reason. And we ended up blowing our budget. Repeatedly.
Fortunately, there are many terrific free spots in the wide open west. And with our Interagency Parks Pass, some of the pricier national forest campgrounds are half price, which helps a lot.
4. Cell or Satellite Service
This is another biggie. Because Dan works from the road, and because we have young adult children and older adult family members, we need to have cell phone/internet access pretty well all the time. And many beautiful wild places don’t have even one little bar of LTE.
If we find a spot without too many trees, we can use our Starlink satellite to access the interwebs and phones. But it saps our battery pretty quickly, if we can’t also access a shit-ton of sunlight. Limitations like this make finding the perfect spot a little tricky.
5. Safe and Accessible
SteVAN is an awesome van. He’s done everything we’ve asked of him, including some pretty gnarly roads. We’ve wandered across sand, mud, rocky washes, steep mountain passes, and oh so many washboard roads.
But there’s always another road around the bend, a track less accessible, less … certain. And often as not, we have to turn around and head back to safety. No four-wheel drive for us. And, though Dan may have nerves of steel, I do not.
So, our perfect spot, has to be accessible to a high clearance, heavy, extra long, rear wheel drive van. And the best places…. the perfect places… are often just a little bit beyond our reach.
6. The Right Kind of Sunlight
This criterion took some experience to figure out. As mentioned earlier (and often), we are no-frills van-travelers. Which means no heater or AC. At high elevation, or in the colder months, morning is no joke.
We have learned NOT to park with a mountain range to the east of us. There is really nothing worse than watching the line of sunlight creep across the land around you while you sit, with your mittens and wool hat, in a puddle of cool shadow waiting for the sun to crest. Likewise for deep forest (except during summer, of course) when the cool of morning is a fleeting luxury.
Our perfect spots often have sunny mornings. Conversely, during the hottest times of the year, steep canyons and shady forests are “perfect”.
7. A View
Okay, we are really getting picky now. But the perfect spot, really does need a view. We spend a lot of time looking around, really looking ….just sitting in the camp chairs appreciating this wild world. And we doubly appreciate looking upon mountains or oceans or streams or lakes.
Often, we’ll boondock on a rise, despite wind, so that we have a view down into a valley. Just how we roll, I guess.
Stuff We Don’t Care About at All
Our perfect place doesn’t need much in the way of amenities. We rarely get running water or flush toilets. Can do with out pit toilets too. Picnic tables, fire grates? Bah, who needs ’em? We only pay for electric hook ups when we are in dire need of battery power.
Manicured campgrounds with level spaces are not our priority, though level ground does make everything just a tad easier to manage and cleanliness is always nice.
Because of our no frills set up, five days is really our maximum stay anywhere… even in a perfect place. By then, we are out of fresh food and water and our laundry no longer fits under the bed. When we pack up to restock, we don’t often return. So a 14 day stay limit (which is the max in most National Forests) means little to us.
In short, many of the things that might be “perfect” for some travelers are just not much use to us.
The Elusive Perfect Spot
Only seven little requirements… and hundreds and hundreds of wild places, yet the perfect camping spot is kind of rare.
At least we’ve found that to be the case.
There are very few sites that check all our boxes. If we find a place with most of the things on the list above, we are pretty darn excited about it. And now that we’ve been on the road for over two years, we sometimes return to the perfect– or near perfect– places we’ve enjoyed in the past. It’s a bit like coming home.
“Thank you, spot!”
Wherever we camp, we always (always!) say “Thank you, spot!” as we head off for new horizons. It’s a goofy little habit that we started who knows how long ago. (Well, Dan started it and I jumped right in.)
It’s sort of silly. But we mean it. We are thankful for each one of these beautiful, ample places we’ve made our home for a day or two, even if they’re not quite perfect.
We’d love to hear from you!
What’s you’re perfect camp spot like? What criteria are most important? Let us know!