How To Camp Away From The Crowds (and for free!)
Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, CaliforniaThis year more and more people are taking to the outdoors like never before, everyone wants out of their homes and into nature for exploration, adventure, and time with family and long lost friends. If you’re like me that last part is crucial, and exclusive. We want to be away from it all with only the people (or dogs) that we came with, and not the public in general. If you’ve ever stayed in a crowded campground with noisy neighbors, struggled to find a last minute campsite, or had a moment of serenity in nature interrupted by a fellow camper blasting “call me maybe” inconsiderately over a speaker, then this information is for you. The kind of camping I’ll overview is called “primitive camping” meaning camping away from designated campgrounds, with no access to facilities like showers and bathrooms, but with a much much more wild and natural experience.
Public Lands
One of the great things about living in the US is access to public lands, these lands are managed by a few different agencies and each have specific rules protecting the land they manage. Lands managed by the National Park Service tend to be the most strict and difficult to navigate rules regarding camping, they also attract the most crowds on the roads, charge to enter and typically charge to camp. All this is why when Im looking to hop in my truck and head out for a few days of “luxury” (the ability to take lots of cold beer) camping, I look to lands managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Generally speaking lands managed by both of these agencies are free to camp on (with some exceptions). I’ll talk about each of these types of public lands and provide some links to resources for planning your first trip!
National Forests
A great spot found just outside Bryce Canyon National Park, UtahOne of the biggest draws to National Forests for camping, is that they are often located around the perimeter of US National Parks. This allows for opportunities to camp close to National Parks, for free, and without dealing with crowds or reservations! The USFS manages 193 million acres of land in the United states, with 380,000 miles of “Forest Service Roads” and 158,000 miles of recreational trails to be used for hiking, biking, ATV riding, snowshoeing, horseback riding and more. First lets talk about forest service roads though, in many cases “road” is a very loose definition for the USFS. Some are paved, most are not. The range of roads swings from gravel, semi-paved or easy dirt roads to washed out old mining roads, sketchy mountain passes and gnarly, axle crushing off-road trails suited only for lifted and modified 4x4’s. If you don’t have a big off-road toy though you can still access many roads in your car, most in an SUV or crossover with decent ground clearance, and even more if you have good ground clearance and four wheel drive (many stock jeeps and pickups fall into this third category). The Forest Service roads are important because if a road is open, unless otherwise posted, you can drive and camp for free along these roads wthout any prior reservation. There are a few stipulations to this, you do need to set up camp 100-200 feet away from the road, trails or water sources, and primitive camping as its called, camping away from designated campgrounds, requires a higher degree of self sufficiency, but we’ll touch more on that later. Sounds pretty great right? but how to find these roads? I can tell you they’re certainly not marked as roads on Google, Apple maps, Waze, etc. and street view isn’t going to be able to show you what you’re in for. Luckily the USFS provides us with an amazing interactive resource for virtually exploring and planning a trip, find it here. You can use that map to zoom to where you want to visit, find a National Forest in the area, see where facilities are located, find Forest Service roads and even see wether are not those roads are going to be suitable for your specific vehicle. That last piece is important, and trust me when I tell you you want to take these classifications seriously, Ive personally found myself stuck on a high mountain pass outside Death Valley on a road whose signage warned “High Clearance 4x4 required, no tow service” in my stock Jeep with highway tires thinking “I got this” spoiler alert: I did not have it. The USFS breaks down its roads into 4 classifications. “paved road suitable for passenger cars” is exactly what it sounds like, though they may sometimes be thin, winding mountain roads, your Prius will still make it down no problem. The next is “gravel road suitable for passenger cars” again unless your car is a slammed low rider, or a sports car, you can do it no problem, but still take it slow. The next category is “dirt road maintained for passenger cars” this is where things start to get more technical, and the definition of “maintained” gets stretched. This is where you’ll feel much more comfortable in a crossover like a Subaru, or most stock SUV’s and Pickups. only having two wheel drive or All Wheel Drive will be acceptable on these roads, except after a heavy rain or in times when snow is possible. As a side note, AWD is decidedly not 4WD, heres a link to an article explaining the difference and limitations of each, and is summed up by a great quote “The difference between all-wheel drive and four wheel drive is like the difference between beer and tequila” (find it here) . The last classification other than closed roads is “road not maintained for passenger cars” traveling these roads requires high ground clearance, 4x4, excellent off-road driving skills, gear for self rescue, and enough food and water to last if something goes wrong. This classification can also vary wildly, I have passed some of these roads in my high ground clearance but stock 4x4 Jeep, combined with my off-road experience Ive had a lot of fun, never been comfortable, and seen some really cool and remote places while gaining the adventure that comes with a sketchy situation. Those roads were on the milder end of the “not maintained for passenger cars” spectrum. On the extreme ends the word “road” is laughable as you can easily encounter boulders bigger than your vehicle, sheer drops, and almost vertical ascents and descents. Once along these roads you’ll be looking for ideally previously used sites, level ground, durable surfaces and absence of restrictive signage like “no camping” “day use area” and “restoration in progress, keep out”.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Land
With 245 million acres of land managed by the BLM, about 50 million more than National Forests, these public lands are even more prevalent and often even more remote and lightly traveled. BLM lands are further off the beaten path and with good navigational skills and an appetite for adventure you can acess beautiful and wild places most people didn’t even know existed, much less have ever been to. The BLM also has a handy interactive map found at BLM Map . Though this one is not quite as user friendly and the USFS version its still a great tool and reference. It will show where BLM lands are located, where facilities are and even what certain designated viewpoints look like. Though it is lacking in its ability to show specific roads. Once again BLM land is free to camp on, rarely closed except for wildfire or winter weather, and far less restrictive and wild than any campground.
What You Give Up When Primitive Camping
This all sounds great right? Free camping, no reservations, no crowds, lots of choices, great resources for trip planning, increased adventure etc. But taking the step up to primitive camping requires a higher degree of self sufficiency, a bit more planning and sometimes a few more gear items than you’ll need to simply pull up to a campground and be part of the crowd. First of all primitive camping is your next step into really getting “off the grid” you’ll often be out of cell service, have to bring in all your water, not have access to a toilet or shower, and in bear country, you’ll have to bring proper food storage containers as they wont be provided like they would at a campground. The rewards though are certainly worth the trade-off and a few key items can greatly enhance your comfort. My car camping set up looks like a queen sized ultra thick sleeping pad (air mattress also works) a heavier and larger car camping tent, the Coleman two burner stove, some regulars pans from home, a DIY shower composed of 5 gallon buckets and this shower pump, a large cooler for beer and Trader Joes 1 pan frozen meals, and the Reliance Luggable Loo, its a bucket with a toilet lid. With these items I can find just as much comfort as at a campground, with virtually no crowds, free sites, better views and a higher sense of adventure and the feeling of having “earned it”.
I hope you’ve found this information helpful and that its gotten your gears spinning for your next adventure! Wether you’ve camped before and are now looking to be more self sufficient or a primitive camping trip will be your first ever time sleeping on the ground, there are no shortage of wild places to be discovered and adventures to have. If you’re looking to seriously get to remote places, far away from any place accessible by any vehicle, to see the most stunning landscapes imaginable and the ultimate in adventure, check out our guided backpacking trips! All the gear for these trips is provided as well as the food, the planning/permitting is taken care of and the trips are safely led by experienced guides trained in emergency medicine. You can learn more by clicking here: Canyonlands Adventure or Yosemite Adventures
