There is lots of talk about how easy it is to find free parking/camp space in these areas in the USA. Technically, it’s true, but after over 6 years of on and off nomadic living, much of which was spent in these two jurisdictions, I have found that it is often much more difficult than a lot of the “influencers” in the “van life” and “car life” communities would have you believe. Let me fill in the gaps.
Although it is technically true that a person can camp “anywhere in national forestland,” what most people do not realize is that most of the USFS land is PRIVATIZED. This means that you can’t camp, or even be around for long, without being invited. The communities are very much “rural and private” and you can’t just park on their streets, duh. Some of the areas are industrial/seemingly military, also. There are no open spaces in some of these areas for transients. This is especially true, to my memory, in Western Colorado. A number of years ago I drove around for hours in the night looking for a place to get some sleep. This was, yes, even with the help of those “free camp sites” websites. Many of the places listed there are either closed off, or impassible. Simply looking at the map for “national forestland” and assuming that you can “camp anywhere” is a really bad idea. Generally, the “free campsites” websites can lead you in the right direction as far as finding localities where there IS dispersed camping. In those areas, you CAN park or camp anywhere, within certain rules having to do with being a certain distance from water, and such.
I saw an article recently about how this year “reservations for campsites are filling up fast.” It’s true that there are many state-run paid campsites all over the place, that require payment and reservations. We’re not really talking about that, but just know that apparently because of the cabin fever that many people have been experiencing as a result of this absurd “covid” nonsense, families who have the money and lifestyle where they are bound to land/homes and plan ahead “vacations” are claiming those spots. So, don’t count on those, if you were.
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