Boondocking: How to camp for free

By Bill

Those of you who know me will know that I love a good deal. After paying $50+ at Ontario Provincial Parks for campsites, I was happy to try something new and cheaper…or even free. Boondocking, wild camping, free camping, dry camping, moochdocking – they’re all inexpensive ways to camp that we discovered.

So, just how do you camp for free? There are many different types of camping spots and a few challenges along the learning curve. We’re relatively new at this, but we’d like to share what we’ve unearthed so far, including the kinds of places we’ve found and video clips of a few so you can see where we stayed for $0.

First, here are some of the different types of free camping spots we’ve found:

• Government land: Federal (Crown land), Provincial (Public land) or municipal. In Matheson, Ontario we camped beside the town boat launch in the riverfront park. There was a covered picnic area and clean bathrooms with flush toilets and sinks, open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. In Hurkett Cove, Ontario we boondocked in a federal boat launch parking lot that offered spring water. In Wawa, Ontario we parked at the Wawa Lake beach in the paved parking lot. There were vault toilets and a giant bathtub (the beautiful lake!). In Big Beaver, Sask., population 15 souls, the municipal campground was free. The washrooms were closed because of Covid, but there were water taps. In Alberta, we spent two nights next to the Saskatchewan River, about 20 km off the Icefields Parkway outside Banff National Park. This provincial public land, just off Hwy 11, had many private sites, each with a fire pit and a gorgeous view over the river.

• Informal camping. Many businesses allow boondocking on their property, presumably to encourage you to spend money with them, although it’s not required at all. Included are truck stops, restaurants, gas stations, some tourism bureaus and information centres, trailheads, On Route stations along Hwy 401 in Ontario, and some big box stores. The classic is the Walmart parking lot – almost a rite of passage for boondockers. We had hoped to avoid that, but were finally initiated in Fort Francis, Ontario. You go into the Walmart, ask at the Customer Service desk if it’s okay and they’ll tell you which part of the parking lot to use. We bought a few supplies, used the washrooms, and then nodded off to the murmur of passing traffic. 
• Driveways of family and friends. This is called moochdocking. Depending on how close you are to said friends or family, this option can include use of their bathroom, kitchen, water tap or electrical plugs. Many thanks to Kathleen and Arthur, Liz and Crystal, Dave and Janice, and Rachel, Coburn and Laura! Upcoming thanks to Tasha’s sister!

• Find your own spot. As we’ve become increasingly comfortable with the concept of boondocking, we’ve begun looking for our own spots: down a dirt road off a highway, parking lots of public service buildings or churches, parks, boat launches, or some city streets. The key is to ask permission (wherever possible), check city parking restrictions online or check for signs. We’ve never camped anywhere that’s marked “No camping” or “No overnight parking.” That avoids the official knock on the window by the police in the middle of the night, that neither party wants to have happen. 
• Other places can cost more than $0 but much less than traditional campgrounds.
  • Paid parking lots. In Toronto, our daughter’s apartment parking lot cost $9 for 24 hours. Perfect for an overnight stay.
  • In Redvers, Sask., we had the entire municipal campground to ourselves – a big grassy site on the edge of town with hot showers, flush toilets, and drinking water for $10. Plus, the office had a small café that served Saskatoon berry pie.
  • National park campgrounds we’ve stayed in vary from $16 to $42. In Jasper National Park and Banff National Park, along the Icefields Parkway, the cheapest campgrounds (first come first served) are $16.05 per night. We stayed in the Wilcox and Snaring campgrounds, with forested sites, firepits, water, and vault toilets. Pukaskwa National Park in Ontario was more expensive – $37 with a very private site, flush toilets, electricity, and water but no showers due to Covid.

It can be challenging to figure all of this out. Here’s what we’ve learned.

First challenge: How do you find these fantastic free camping spots when they’re not advertised?

Before we left for the west, we first tried to find Ontario Crown land spots, but it’s tough. An online map shows Crown land but it doesn’t show all the other things you need to know. Can I get there by car? Where can I park? Where is the actual campsite? Google Maps helps answer some of these questions as do various blogs that hint about good spots, but it takes a lot of detective work.

Then we discovered iOverlander – an app that crowd-sources and shares all the needed info for tent, car, van, trailer or RV camping. It’s continually updated as sites are found, closed or have issues. iOverlander lists three types of camping: established, informal, and wild. Established sites are private, municipal, provincial, or national campgrounds that advertise their services. Informal sites are unadvertised camping spots associated with a business, like Walmart. Wild camping sites are not linked to any business or institution – are often on Crown or provincial land – and rarely have amenities. We generally look at all three types and pick what works best for each day. We’ve mostly chosen wild camping, since we like privacy and are self-contained in our Vandalf van so we don’t need amenities.

There are a few other apps and websites similar to iOverlander, such as Harvest Host, but we have not checked them out.

Second challenge: How do you reserve a camping spot?

Short answer: you can’t. But in our four weeks on the road with our camper van, we have yet to arrive at a free spot that was full. If it were, then you just move on down the road to the next spot.

Third challenge: How can I camp without electricity or showers?

Most free sites offer no amenities such as potable-water taps, showers, electricity, or vault toilets, let alone flush toilets and sinks. Anyone used to back country camping will know how to survive boondocking. Otherwise, you’ll need a self-contained camper with the amenities you need. With our camper van, we can go two or three days depending on how much sunshine there is for our solar panel to recharge our battery to run our fridge. On the long road home, we’ve seen everything from enormous RVs and trailers down to sleeping mats in the back of an SUV.

Hopefully, you’ll feel these challenges are easily overcome. I’m not sure why it took us so long to try out boondocking! Get out there and enjoy this country of ours!