Boondocking

Tips

• Planet Fitness membership for showers and water.
• FreeRoam app is best for finding free camp sites.
• Other options for finding spots to overnight is looking for trailheads in trails / national forests that don’t close.
• Battery pack in car is great to have to keep things charging when car is off. My battery pack plugs into the car and gets charged when the car is on and charges things plugged into the car when car is off without drawing on the car’s battery.
• Planet fitness is the best 24 hr business parking lot to park in because of proximity to showers / water, and seems less sketchy than Walmart. But, they can be hit or miss and I prefer a dispersed camping spot with signal.
• Parks and overlooks that are open 24 hrs should be safe to overnight in.

Lessons Learned

• Camping without cell service can get very boring for me.
• Can get boring to show up to a camp site when it’s light outside and spend hours there before going to bed when traveling solo. But it’s nice to check out a new spot while it’s light outside. Usually like to check out a camp site while the sun’s out and return closer to bed time.
• Cell booster helps signal issues, but doesn’t perform miracles.

Must Haves

• Battery Packs – recommend a car battery pack that can plug into the vehicle to charge things when the car is off, and also a portable battery pack to charge things on the go.
• Portable grill – recommend one with a grill and stove section like the Coleman that I have (see photo gallery).
• Lots of water storage.
• Cooler bag.
• Food storage container.
• Thermals, beanie, gloves, neck scarf, heavy cushion (warm) socks – if going somewhere cold.
• Chargers for all electronics.
• Signal free entertainment – books, downloaded shows/movies, downloaded songs – for when there’s no signal.

Nice To Haves

• Phone booster.
• Coffee French press mug – don’t use all that much because I like to go to coffee shops for internet.