Often overlooked, the campsite selection process is much more involved than most people realize. Reserving a campsite on the state parks website is stupid. Anyone can do that. The real skill is finding a site that provides all of the amenities of home for free.
Where do you start? Google Earth is a good place, it gives you a birds eye view of the landscape around where you want to stay and helps you find those great places that are just a little off the beaten path. I generally start at a large body of water and start going up the tributaries and see if there are any logging trails that intersect the aforementioned tributaries.
This week I found a real nice one whose features included a perfectly flat area for the camper, as well as a dumpster so we could throw away all of our trash and not haul it away. On top of all of these benefits, it was only a stone throw away from Stagecoach Reservoir where other people were paying upwards of $15/night to stay in their designated camping areas. After a long day of fishing coming back to a warm camper is nice. Knowing that you can park the thing for free is even better. At least for me it is.
Comments
Nate,
Are you able to use Google Map on your Macbook?
Author
Yeah for sure. You can use it in browser or else you can download google earth and run it from your HDD if you want. They work really well for checking places out. Free and easy, what more do you want?