It’s no secret that we love to visit national parks. It’s also no surprise that we love to camp for free. Lucky for us, so far we’ve been able to find dispersed camping on public land pretty close to every national park we’ve visited, and Joshua Tree National Park isn’t an exception. Just as Joshua Tree National Park can be split roughly into two areas, so can its dispersed camping
As you may have guessed from reading Dadding on the Road for a while, we are Washington state natives. During the winter of ‘23/24, we decided to book a flight back to Washington for Dad and the kids. We wanted to visit the grandparents and let the kids rekindle old friendships from back “home.” While we were perfectly happy boondocking in Quartzsite, Mom wasn’t looking forward to a 2-hour, one-way
So far on our travels, there haven’t been many places where we had a need or opportunity to go back to. Standard Wash, specifically the Sandpit, is one such location. Just outside of Lake Havasu City, and right off of the highway, this large, relatively flat area is the perfect location to stay while touring this popular city in the middle of the desert. Getting to the Sandpit is a
If you’ve spent any time in an RV or in RV circles, you’ve probably heard of Quartzsite, Arizona. This tiny town in the middle of the Sonoran desert swells in population every winter from around 2,000 residents in the summer to over 1.5 million. How does “The Q” handle such fluctuations? Bureau of Land Management (BLM) camping! In addition to the innumerable RV parks inside the city limits of Quartzsite,
While traveling through Arizona, we had the opportunity to view Saguaro National Park. As we like to boondock, and the park sits on either side of a major city, there wasn’t much nearby. Luckily, we found Ironwood National Monument Access Point, just outside Marana, Arizona. The Ironwood National Monument access point is very easy to get to, and only 30 minutes from I-10. All roads up to it are paved,
After staying for half a year in Virginia, and driving through North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, we were nearly at our winter base in Arizona. Tanque Rd BLM was the perfect spot for us to get out and recharge for a few days. It’s far away from cities and noise, but close enough to get supplies. Of all the spots we stayed at on our trip
Looking for a place to stay within spitting distance of White Sands National Park, we found the Baylor Pass Trailhead off of Baylor Canyon Road in Las Cruces, NM. This was just a quick stop for us as we were rushing to get to Quartzsite in time for The Boy’s birthday. But it wasn’t too bad of a campground and we wish we could have spent more time there. Camping
We were looking for boondocking camping opportunities while traveling west toward our winter base in Quartzsite, Arizona. While we were originally planning on camping further north, we noticed that those campgrounds were predominantly forest roads and possibly impassable by our bus. We wanted to stay in “day trip” range of Carlsbad Caverns National Park and started looking further south. What we discovered was perfect: Chosa Campground! Chosa Campground is a
Texas doesn’t have any of the public lands we’ve come to love in the Southwest. However, it does have a fun assortment of free camping opportunities! One such opportunity is SeaBee Park in Abilene, Texas. About SeaBee Park Just outside of Abilene, Texas, and adjacent to a spur of Lake Fort Phantom Hill, SeaBee Park has a surprising amount to offer. One can go birding on the lake shore, launch
We boondocked at the Lenox Marcus Recreation Area on DeGray Lake while passing through Arkansas. This Army Corps of Engineers campground is a bit of a mixed bag. The road to get here was well paved and maintained, making it a breeze to get the bus into. There were several pull-outs on the road that we could have camped our 40’ bus on. However, the heavy tree cover would have