Boondocking...

[WyoNewk]

My late wife was from Bergen County -- Westwood. Here's one of the last places we boondocked. This was our view as we stepped from the camper early one morning -- the Tetons from Schwabacher's Landing on a tributary of the Snake River. It's probably a half mile off a main paved highway, down a narrow 4x4 trail.

[mongoslade223]

That's a gorgeous photograph.......reminds me of a Bob Ross painting!

[EarthBound?]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiice pic you have there! Looks like the kind of place I would out the rest of my life in

[mekia02]

How do you find sites? I went to the BLM link posted above and it gives me what looks like touristy campsites, with activities listed. Can I just go exploring in any National Forest and camp? What about State Parks? Where else? If I start calling wilderness areas will they be able to give me accurate, real, legal info about where I can camp and where I can't?

[WyoNewk]

I don't know about state parks, but it's okay in most National Forests and wilderness areas with some restrictions -- such as no camping within so many feet of established roads, rivers or lakes, etc. I think a phone call would be a good idea for starters.

[EarthBound?]

In Ohio, most all State Parks have asphalt pads for you set your campers up on. Now if your camping as they call it, "Primitive" tents, then you can park and set-up your tent within feet of each other, but no parking on the grass. You can call ahead and reserve sites, or go online and reserve them with a credit card.
We like to reserve online, that way we get to look a what site may be better for us, because we don't like being dang near on top our neighbors. That one of the reasons why we won't camp at (KOA), because they stack you on top one another. Most, but not all of Ohio's State Parks have anywhere between 25 to 50 ft between each sites and trees to block you from looking at each other all day long.

[mekia02]

So what I am interested in is maybe a mix, I will be camping out of a tent attached to my car, but I don't want to be in a group type camp site, I want to be off the beaten path. I live next to a state park and a national forest and I was thinking to have some short camping outings to gear up for my 2 mo trip this summer and one thing I noticed is that here in AL there are hunters everywhere in the national forest. Is that something I will have to deal with or not? Maybe in the summer there won't be hunters roaming the same areas I am trying to relax in. Perhaps there are places where I can go where there is no hunting allowed? I am planning on going from AL to CA and visiting forests/state parks etc in between.

[Gandalara]

" I am planning on going from AL to CA and visiting forests/state parks etc in between."

Here's a thread to read if you plan to camp in Arizona
http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...ing-spots.html

[jdavid93225]

For campsites in the National Forests, the best bet is to visit the website of each Forest you intend to visit. Most of them have a list of all the campsites within the forest, along with details about the amenities at each site (water, vault toilets, no. of sites, etc.).

These websites provide information about camping in recreational sites within the National Forests. There are some differences in how the sites look, and how information is listed, but most of the forests I've checked have a decent list of what's available within them. Here are some examples:

Sierra National Forest (CA):
Sierra National Forest - Recreation, All Campgrounds

Dixie National Forest (UT):
Dixie National Forest - Recreational Activities

Shoshone National Forest (WY):
USDA Forest Service, Shoshone National Forest - Newsroom

Cibola National Forest (NM):
Cibola National Forest - Recreational Activities

Finally, here's a list of Forests by state:
http://www.fs.fed.us/cgi-bin/fsnavigator.cgi#A

Here's one final website to help you find places to camp within our National Forests and other federal sites:
Federal recreation, camping and tour reservation information - Recreation.gov

[WyoNewk]

I only clicked on the link for the Shoshone NF, since I'm a little familiar with it. Here's another link that was buried in one of the links from that link (ya follow that?), but I think it's more what the OP was wanting. If you don't find what you want in those links, just dig a little and you might find exactly what you want.

Dispersed Camping