So.. what’s wild camping? Wild camping is also known as boondocking, dry camping or dispersed camping and it’s another way of saying FREE camping. One of the perks of #vanlife is being able to find amazing spots to sleep at night that are absolutely free. You don’t always luck up and find the perfect spot, and sometimes you may get there and find “No Parking” signs everywhere or worse.. you wake up with a ticket on your windshield.
Life on the road is hard enough without worrying about where you’ll sleep at night and we’ve had our fair share of driving around at midnight trying to find the perfect spot. I’ve c ompiled a list of places that we’ve stayed at without any issues (some are more glamorous than others). I hope this saves you some time on the road.
Always remember to be aware of your surroundings and leave no trace! It’s important to protect these places so we can continue to enjoy mother nature for free.
This page will be updated regularly as we discover and vet new places along our journey! Let me know if you have a favorite spot.
Wild Camping Locations:
41°36’12.7″N 124°06’02.1″W
This spot is labeled as “DeMartin Beach & Picnic Area” on Google Maps. We stayed here for 1 night on our way from Oregon to Redwoods National Park. It’s a pretty awesome beach front spot and there were a ton of other overnight visitors so we felt safe. Note that this spot is right off of 101 so you can hear some highway noise at night. We did not have any signal for TMobile or AT&T but the spot was level.
42°26’05.9″N 124°24’13.3″W
This is a small pull off near Gold Beach that has enough space for 1 or 2 rigs. We came here after being asked to leave the Gold Beach city limits as there is no overnight camping allowed. This was just over the bridge and out of city limits so we were told by the local police that it was fair game. We had 2-3 bars of TMobile/AT&T signal here and weren’t bothered for the 2-3 nights we stayed. It’s also within 5-10 minutes of the main city so you’re still close to everything.
42°43’19.0″N 124°27’59.7″W
This is known as the “Port Orford Lookout” on Google Maps and is a popular whale watching spot. This was another awesome 1 night spot for us that had reliable signal and great views. The star gazing was great at night but it did get busy in the morning with cars and motorcycles pulling off for photos. There’s room here for big rigs and you are also close to the town of Port Orford. Although we only stayed for one night, we noticed an older RV on the opposite side of the road that looked like it had been there for a while. We felt safe here and would stay again (it’s also decently level).
43°12’39.1″N 124°23’38.9″W
Although we didn’t get a chance to stay here, this is an awesome spot near the beach. There isn’t much overnight camping allowed in the town of Bandon, but this spot is on iOverlander with positive reviews. When we arrived, there were 2 cars parked at the bottom of the hill (closest to the beach) that looked more permanent and had their belongings spread out across the lot. There were no “no parking” signs but we didn’t feel comfortable parking there. At the top of the hill (marked with the pin below) is a flat spot on the side of the road with room for 3 sprinters if parked properly. We were unable to park here for the night because the other 2 sprinters were parked with extra space in between them. However if we’re ever in the area again, we will try to stay at this spot. It’s a quick walk right out to the ocean. We didn’t have any TMobile or AT&T signal here but we got it within 10 minutes in the city.
47°55’25.0″N 122°48’44.5″W
This was a midnight arrival spot for us on our way to Olympic National Park. It’s located about an hour away from Olympic. It’s a dirt lot that had some terrible potholes but there’s room for big rigs here and a ton of smaller vehicles or sprinters. We were level enough to pull out our slide and sleep for a few hours. We did have 2-3 bars of signal with AT&T and TMobile. There is some road noise but it’s mostly only from truckers that are braking to take the exit. There was one other visitor (a class A) that was here when we stayed but we felt safe and would stay here again in a pinch.
45°24’39.9″N 121°34’13.5″W
One of our favorite wild camping spots! This is a secluded spot off of OR-35 heading into the Mount Hood area. The great thing about this spot is that it’s a 2-3 minute drive from the trailhead to Tamawanas Falls. There’s only room for 1 vehicle but if you can snag it up, it’s a perfect spot. There are two trees that you can slide in between and the spot was perfectly level for us. There’s a bridge close to the spot and we saw another sprinter parked on the other side of the bridge, so if this spot is taken you could try the other side. There’s a wooded path that leads down the hill to the river below. There were 2-3 fire pits at this site and it looked like there may have been some tent camping recently. There was also a ton of trash at this spot that we cleaned up during our visit. Under the bridge you’ll see some graffiti as well.. We had zero service here and it took us 30-40 minutes to get it again when we left. Also beware that although there isn’t much traffic, the main road seems to be used by locals. We decided to walk across the bridge and a truck came around the corner going about 80 mph.. so be careful if you are near the road!
42°23’39.8″N 124°25’22.0″W
This is technically a risky spot but we did stay 2-3 nights before we had any issues. It’s just barely in the city limits of Gold Beach so overnight camping is not allowed. There are no “no parking” signs here but local police notified us of the no overnight parking rule on our 3rd night. The officer was kind and told us we could stay another night, but we opted to move out of the city limits anyway. It seems like the locals are fine for a 1-2 night stay, but I wouldn’t recommend over staying your welcome. We got stuck in Gold Beach for 2.5 weeks (one week at an RV park and another week of wild camping) because we were waiting on a package to arrive otherwise we would normally only be in a spot for 1 night. This spot is PERFECT. It’s level, there’s a walkway down to the beach, we had 4 bars of service with AT&T/TMobile and it’s less than 5 minutes from town. Gold Beach has a lot to offer as far as services (propane & free dumping) and we actually loved our time here. If you drive further down the 101, you’ll soon get out of city limits and there are a ton of boondockers. Note that once you cross the bridge by Kissing Rock, you will lose service. There’s room for 2-3 big rigs here or a few sprinters and the sunset and stargazing is phenomenal here.
48°27’08.8″N 114°02’02.9″W
If you’re looking to be close to Glacier NP, this is the spot! It’s in West Glacier but it’s secluded so we felt safer than we did in city limits. This spot is private, level, has 1-2 bars of service with AT&T/TMobile and is perfect for a few days. Note that the road leads to a marina so there’s a higher level of traffic than we’re used to. There are multiple pull-offs on this road with space for big and small rigs. We saw a few car and tent campers as well. We had no issues during our visit and would stay here again.
47°25’09.3″N 115°37’25.4″W
This spot is called “Dena Mora Rest Area Westbound” on Google Maps and was a perfect overnight stay for us off the highway on our way into Washington. Nothing fancy.. we had zero cell service but we had good views in the morning, rest stop services and were surrounded by other overnighters. We felt safe and would stay here again.
44°06’02.0″N 110°40’02.8″W
An absolute GOLDEN spot if you are visiting Grand Teton & Yellowstone. This spot is on a small sliver of national forest land in between the two parks. It’s right by a bridge with a beautiful river to skip rocks and fish in. We arrived to 1 other class A and by the morning, we had roughly 15 neighbors in cars, tents, sprinters and RV’s. It was quiet, safe, beautiful, level and in a perfect location. 100% recommend this spot! There are pit toilets nearby but zero cell service. Beware of mosquitos, they were brutal!
42°31’16.4″N 90°37’09.6″W
Nothing fancy here, just a clean safe rest stop off of the highway! We parked overnight on our way from Chicago to South Dakota. It backs up to a nice field that our pup loved to roll around in.
39°35’57.5″N 123°47’06.2″W
Another favorite spot of ours! This is labeled “Bruhel Point” on Google Maps. It’s a small parking lot off the 101 that has a walking path down to the ocean and some tide pools. We also saw a bunch of seals sun bathing when we visited. The spots are level and it was quiet. We didn’t have any cell reception but with views like this, who needs it?! There’s about 15 standard parking spots at this location but there were a few larger rigs that fit (us included). We all sat outside of our rigs one night and watched the sunset, it’s a great spot!
36°27’10.9″N 118°52’11.1″W
I debated including this spot because it was one of my least favorites, but I’ve included it just in case you are visiting Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP. This is BLM land according to the BLM website but it’s a very narrow section of it. It’s in a very awkward spot and is hard to get to following the GPS because Google Maps wants to keep re-routing you to another location. It’s actually at the end of a residential street and it’s a small gravel parking lot with room for 3-4 rigs. The issue is that there are 3 gates that take up most of the parking lot so there’s really only space for 2 rigs. We arrived to a schoolie that looked semi level. Our spot wasn’t very level, but it was 2am when we arrived so we just dealt with it. We had a rude awakening in the morning when we realized we were blocking half of a gate (it was a residential gate to a property further up the road- so luckily it wasn’t an issue). Then we started to hear a lot of people outside shuffling around our van and realized that there were 4-5 vehicles that arrived that morning. It turns out that the 2nd gate is an entrance to a trailhead that locals hike called Salt Creek. The 3rd gate leads to the BLM land but it was closed so we were unable to drive up it. I wouldn’t really recommend this spot unless you have no where else to go. The only good thing about this spot is that it’s -15 minutes from the NP entrance. We had spotty service here (1 bar off and on).
37°48’33.5″N 119°54’05.4″W
This is an awesome spot if you are visiting Yosemite. It’s within 5 minutes to the park entrance! There’s a lot of logging going on in the area but there are multiple pull offs along the road. We chose this spot because it was the most level we could find at 3am. There were also other vehicles that were parked overnight at some of the other spots on the road. No cell reception here and no services, but it’s a beautiful quiet location that is level enough for a night.
