cheap camping info

how do i go about getting a listing of state parks, national forests,B.L.M. lands ------any such places that are fairly cheap and hopefully not as packed as the typical campgrounds?

[B_and_D]

Our camping "bible" for California is the Tom Stienstra book: Foghorn Outdoors California Camping: The Complete Guide to More Than 1,500 Tent and RV Campgrounds (Foghorn Outdoors) (Paperback). I don't think that me has written one (yet) for Arizona (your previous posts indicate that you're from there), but there are some books on Amazon.com that are written about AZ camping too. They might be worth a look.

Before we had our TS book, we used the AAA maps a lot. The ones we have for CA have a nice grid on one side that shows the amenities of the parks so you will know what to expect (sort of). The national parks and forests website is also very helpful: http://www.nps.gov/. BLM also has a website: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html and I'd imagine that AZ must have a state parks website. There is just so much information on the internet. Sometimes I just do a search on " "Whatever place you're heading to" campgrounds" " and campgrounds come up that I've never even heard of.

So many campgrounds, so little time to camp.....

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by sharon

how do i go about getting a listing of state parks, national forests,B.L.M. lands ------any such places that are fairly cheap and hopefully not as packed as the typical campgrounds?

First, don't waste your money or time looking in either the Woodahls or Good Sam "Campground" directories. These publications are both completely focused on the commercial "campgrounds", aka RV Parking Lots. Although they have listings for public campgrounds, all that's usually there is a phone number for whatever government agency is responsible for the particular campground. Call that number and you'll likely spend a lot of time wending through a bureaucratic maze getting to some person who actually has first hand knowledge of the campground of interest.

For state parks, just Google for [name of state] "state parks"....e.g. "Colorado State Parks". You'll invariably turn up the State run website (which are generally quite good) for that State. If you find a particular park of interest, then check it on Gorp.com or one of the other true outdoors websites. You might also check one of RV camping review websites like RV Park Reviews...sometimes there is a review of a non-commercial campground.

For National Forest campgrounds (at least those in the Western States), the best source I've ever found is The National Forest Campground Guide. Nearly all the comments about every campground were written by the authors after they did a personal visit/campout at the the campground.

When you're ready to pick a specific campsite at the many public campgrounds that take campsite reservations, be sure to visit either Reserve America or Reserve USA. I've found that Reserve USA is easier to use for campground/campsite searches but that I need to go to Reserve America for campsite reservations in most state parks.

There is now a new website that consolidates Reserveusa, ReserveAmerica and the National Park reservation systems. Here is the website address: http://www.recreation.gov

[Northwoods]

You can go to any State's website and find out all kinds of info and also by listing the park by name. We camp almost exclusively in state parks or federal camp sites. They're cheaper and much nicer than commercial campgrounds. Some folks like to boondock, others like more services.Some National and State sites have all of the bells and whistles. Just reserved 10 days at Pulltite Campground for June29 to July 8 in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, MO Ozarks on the reservation.gov site . Our site is on the Current River. No electricity, but they have central showers and we can tie up our canoe right by our campsite. Can't wait! Enjoy your TM. Northwoods

[wbmiller3]

The Texas department of transportation puts out a nice publication (a thick pocket sized brochure) called Texas Public Campgrounds. We use it quite a bit. The only issue is that the campgrounds are listed alphabetically by the nearest city, so it can be problematic to find places along your travel route without checking every little town along the way. Works pretty well for finding one at your destination, through. Perhaps other states have similar pubs?

Apparently available at TX DOT, Travel Division, PO Box 141009, Austin, TX 78714.

Originally Posted by sharon

...any such places that are fairly cheap and hopefully not as packed as the typical campgrounds?

We prefer the state parks camping. They are generally less expensive. Our experience, however, has been that you need to plan ahead. We are weekend campers and sometimes don't know until the last moment that we don't have to work. Finding a campsite on the spur of the moment can be difficult, as many of our favorites have their weekends booked months in advance. The Reserve America website is where we do our searching and reservations. I haven't tried Recreation.gov.

Good luck!

If everybody could post their area's State Park websites, we would have a wealth of information! Here are the one's in my area:

http://www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/

http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/

http://www.mostateparks.com/ (Missouri)

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/index.shtml

http://mississippistateparks.reserveamerica.com/

http://www.alapark.com/ (Alabama)

http://www.floridastateparks.org/

We usually stay a State Park campgrounds, especially in Tennessee - we have the best and I think the most. We also love National Parks. You get the best surroundings in NPs, but at the expense of any hook ups. The US National Parks website is:

http://www.nps.gov/

Enjoy!

[wbmiller3]

Texas - http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Glenn in TN

If everybody could post their area's State Park websites, we would have a wealth of information!

Glenn -

This is a great idea! If you would like to assemble the responses into a document, we can put it with your signature in the Reference Library (Trail Manor Info You Won't Find Anywhere Else). That way, it won't get lost in the daily flood of posts.

If you would like to do this, let me know. PM me for details.

Bill