Our first time "boondocking" in Tedda

If you like camping, you’ll find no shortage of options. You can camp in tents, hammocks, full-size RVs, vans, and even regular cars. Sure, each comes with varying degrees of comfort, but there are certainly plenty of options. With regard to where one chooses to camp, again, options galore. Up until just a few weeks ago, G and I had mostly camped these past two years in established state, national (Canada), or municipal, or independently owned campgrounds. Now, however, we can add “boondocking” to our list of adventures.

“Boondocking,” if you’re not familiar with the term, typically refers to camping outside of designated, established campgrounds. Typically, when boondocking, there’s no access to power, sewer, or water. In the western part of the United States, there are public lands available for free, dispersed camping through the Bureau of Land Management; those areas are referred to as “BLM land.” Unfortunately, the East Coast lacks such land areas, and legal dispersed camping spots are pretty hard to come by. While G and I enjoy camping in campgrounds, sometimes, we want to be a little more secluded and a little more off the beaten path. To help us find some of those spots, G and I joined two different services: Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts.

Boondockers Welcome
Boondockers Welcome is a membership program ($50/year) allowing users to park their self-contained RVs on people’s land, in folks’ driveways, or in business parking lots. Some of the spots feature picturesque spots and incredible views; others offer little more than a place to park. But when you consider the cost of a yearly membership is cheaper than (or the same as) two nights in a state park campground (at least here in New England), the service pays for itself with just one weekend stay.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, G and I decided to try out Boondockers Welcome for the first time. We had planned to head up to Acadia National Park for the weekend to get outside and enjoy a change of scenery (Note: Maine has strict travel restrictions in place; at the time of our visit, only residents of New Hampshire and Vermont are permitted to travel without quarantining or COVID testing. For more information, visit this page). We had planned to just boondock in a Walmart parking lot not too far from the park, but after doing some research into Boondockers Welcome, I found a host site just a few miles away from the park entrance. The membership agreement prevents users from providing specific details about host sites, and the site was little more than a parking spot, but it was perfect for our needs, as the spot offered a convenient base for us for our two nights in the area. I requested the reservation, and the host and I were able to coordinate all of the details through the website. Easy-peasy. We didn’t have any interaction with the host, but we didn’t need to. In the future, perhaps we’ll want a more social stay and interact with hosts, but we’ll add those to our post-COVID travel plans.

Harvest Hosts
Since we haven’t yet used Harvest Hosts, I’ll hold off on a full description, but in a nutshell, Harvest Hosts is a membership program ($79/year) that allows self-contained RVs to camp on more than 1400 farms, vineyards, breweries, and other attractions. For an additional fee, users can add on the option of golf courses.When travelers join Harvest Hosts, they agree to the following: they’ll make reservations ahead of time with hosts (and cancel if plans change), they’ll stay for only one night (unless invited by the hosts to stay longer), and they will patronize the host by spending a minimum of $20 at the site. At a farm, winery or brewery, for example, travelers might purchase beverages, food, or other goods.

Our first two nights boondocking weren’t glamorous, but they were just what we were looking for: convenient, quiet, and safe. And with the sun setting so early these days, once the shades are pulled down and we’re hunkered down in our cozy “tiny home,” I’m not sure we’d even be able to notice or appreciate our surroundings much. Summer might be a different story, however, so we’ll see.

I’m not sure how much G and I will boondock, but with so few campgrounds open year-round here in New Hampshire and Maine (we’re not permitted to go to Vermont due to COVID travel restrictions), both of these services give us a few more options beyond settling in at a Walmart parking lot for the night.