When you boondock on Federal lands, where to do you do it — in the West or East? By boondocking, we mean staying for free or nearly free (as on the Long Term Visitor Areas — LTVAs — on government lands of Arizona and Southern California). We are not referring to “pavement camping” like staying in parking lots, or official named campgrounds that have designated campsites. We’re referring to pulling into an area on Federal government lands and staying for days, even weeks at a time without utility hookups, usually away from crowds.
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Alabama Hills in California near Lone Pine on Highway US-395. Best dispersed camping ever!
Agreed. The Alabama Hills area, west of Lone Pine on Whitney Portal Rd (west from US395) is one of the best non-BLM managed boondocking areas . Lots of space and not at all crowded.
I live in SW Montana, and I always boondock in the national forests.
I am from Pa. and if I am correct there are only two Federal lands here and you may only camp in one of them. From what I have found there are very few Federal owned lands East of the Mississippi compared to West of it.
I’d have to say most of my true boondocking was done West of here. By default, just because I’ve spent about 5 decades camping in the SW and Colorado, and about 3 years out east… I haven’t found as much yet. lol
Having said that, my research hasn’t really shown the availability of it here. That, or I haven’t been looking in the right places.
Guess I’d better learn how to use a boat, and hit the BLM on the islands. XD
We will typically spend about six weeks in the Quartzsite area in January and February with about a dozen or so friends.
Then we will dry camp on NFS land near Williams, Arizona if we are not of on a long summer trip.
Quartzsite Az with the Escapee Boomers is our favorite annual gathering. We spend the entire month of January dry camping 6 miles out of town except for a long weekend at the Blythe Blugrass festival.