Dabbling In Boondocking

The excitement of bringing home our brand new camper was a definite highlight, stocking and prepping the rig, and our first trip ranked pretty high on the excitement level too. We went to a couple of campgrounds within a few hours of our house that first summer, and spent a lot of time at the family farm, mooch-docking in the fall. Then we started planning the next year, and we knew exactly what long-distance trip we wanted to experience first. Our girls were still fairly little, and could not handle super long drive days, so the destination of Badlands National Park, and Custer State Park sounded like the perfect family trip. It also gave us the opportunity to try our hand at boondocking in some pretty epic locations. We prepped and planned, and planned some more and settled at a boondocking site near Chamberlain, South Dakota on our way out, and on the edge of the Badlands near Wall, South Dakota on our way home. 

As we drove closer and closer to the location, my stomach twisted tighter and tighter. I felt so sick and nervous! “What if we couldn’t find the site, what if we couldn’t get set up, how were we going to survive in the summer heat without power?” I had so many thoughts swirling in my head, I almost gave up on the whole idea and started looking for a standard campground. Thankfully, my husband was so excited to boondock, and wasn’t listening to any of my ramblings! He said, “We are going to go check it out, and if it doesn’t work, we will find somewhere else.” When we arrived, the parking lot was FULL! Full of military vehicles! I was sure that something happened, and our boondocking site was not available for camping since it had obviously been taken over by the military and was not open to the public. But we got out of the truck, walked down to the river, looked around, and saw campers lining the beach and tucked into a few spaces in the parking lot. It was still available for boondocking! Now we had to decide it we could fit too. 

For me, it was the best of both worlds, I had everything I needed and wanted with us in the camper, didn’t have to sleep on the ground, but still got to experience the best camping spot, alongside others who felt the same. The Wall of the Badlands was even more magical for us, and we have returned there many times to boondock. 

Want to try boondocking for yourself, but not sure how to start, or feel overwhelmed by the cost of getting your rig off-grid ready?! We did too…and we didn’t spend a fortune to experience the magic of boondocking.

Here are our tricks to make your trip easy:
1. Buy a generator. (I know, I said you wouldn’t have to spend a fortune, but really, this was the only thing we bought to be able to boondock for a night or two. We were not ready to jump into solar panels, and still don’t feel ready for all of that, but we can do a night or two with the generator, and for us, that is all we need!)
2. Bring extra 2x4 boards to help make your outriggers stable on uneven ground
3. Fill your fresh water tank
4. Use your water sparingly, as this will be the first thing that makes you pack up camp to find a dump
5. Bring a bucket to transfer grey water into your black tank (Grey tank ALWAYS fills before black and this could buy you more time and grey tank space)
6. Bring baby wipes, use washcloths to freshen up with instead of showering
7. Eat using paper plates so there is less dishes to do using your water, and grey tank space
8. Plan a meal that can be cooked either in the oven or stove using propane, or our favorite-the grill outside!
9. Wait to do any small dishes you have until you get to a full-hookup site if possible
10. Try to arrive early to get a good spot and not have the stress of setting up in the dark
11. Avoid using lights and air conditioner until after dark so your power source has a chance of getting you through the night
12. Lastly, try boondocking at a campground (or home), where you have access to power and dumps. Test how long you can last without power, how much water you can use before you are full. Get a feel of what its like to be off grid, but have the comfort of the full-hookups to rescue you if you overestimated what your were capable of achieving.

Try to relax and remember, if it doesn’t work, you can always find somewhere else to sleep for the night, but setting up at a boondocking site might take a bit longer than setup in a campground. Go slow and double check everything while setting up, then enjoy!