Skull Creek Campground was one of those rare treats: a free 14-day BLM campground with facilities! The campground is pretty easy to get to, but taller rigs should be careful, as both entrance roads have low branches overhanging the road. Our bus, at just under 12’ tall, barely passed under the branches. Amenities at Skull Creek Campground I don’t mean to oversell it. By facilities, all I mean is a
By now, we’ve stayed at our fair share of campgrounds, boondocking spots, and even casinos. We think we have a pretty good idea about what makes a good one and what makes a bad one. Wolf Creek Park in Wolf Creek, Oregon, definitely fits in the latter category. One thing we learned as we traveled up the west coast was that with the lack of public lands came a lack
We had an opportunity to visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and needed a place to stay. While looking up locations on Freecampsites.net, Buck Divide Road caught our eye. While it wasn’t great, it was a free place to park. Buck Divide Road: Not Great for Large Rigs Buck Divide Road can be roughly split into two sections: the woods and the staging area. When we arrived in mid-spring, we were
We don’t stay in a lot of RV parks when we travel. This is both to keep costs down and to keep scenery high. But when traveling up the west coast of the United States, public lands are few and far between. Schroeder Park in Grants Pass was one stop between public lands. Better for Smaller Rigs While the web page stated that the park could handle rigs of all
While roving up the 101 in the spring of 2025, we found a dearth of public land. As such, we spent more than a couple of nights in casino parking lots and a few brief stays in RV parks. Cher’ere Campground in Klamath, California, was probably our favorite park to date. What to Expect at Cher’ere Campground Cher’ere Campground is a campground in flux. While it’s clearly been in the
As we puttered up the 101, we had a hard time finding public land to park on and made use of several casinos along the way. Bear River Casino was one of the nicer ones. Staying in an RV at Bear River Casino Like most casinos, Bear River is free and dry, meaning that you can park in their lot for a few nights, but there are no hookups. The
While “rely” is too strong a word, we’ve come to appreciate casinos as acceptable “spots between spots.” They are almost always free, spacious, and happy to host weary travelers. Garcia River Casino in Point Arena, California, is the exception. What to Expect at Garcia River Casino The casino itself is sparse; mostly a large card room with some video slot machines. Google mostly marks it for its restaurant, which is
We love to boondock, but sometimes our route brings us to areas without a lot of boondocking opportunities. While traveling up the west coast of California, we couldn’t skip one of the most infamous national parks, Alcatraz Island. However, due to it being the 4th-most-populous city in the United States, there was no public land. We chose to stay at Tradewinds RV Park in Vallejo. What to Expect at Tradewinds
We’re no strangers to spending a few nights at a casino. Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, while not our favorite to date, wasn’t the worst by far. Camping at Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino When it comes to parking our rig at casinos, we’ve seen everything on the road from FHU to large open fields or parking lots. Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino is closer to the latter. They have
We’re no strangers to pivots, and Hanning Flat Dispersed Area is probably our favorite pivot to date. In the spring of 2025, we were planning to travel north up the east side of California before crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains around Redwoods National Park, but wildfires made those plans change. We found the Hanning Flat Dispersed Area, just outside of Isabella Lake, California. What to Expect at Hanning Flat Dispersed