Does Free Camping Still Exist?
The short answer to “Does FREE CAMPING in the United States, still exist,” is YES! That said, you’ll find that the further you travel west in the United States, the more options you will find for camping without having to pay.
We’re not saying you won’t find some hidden gems on the East Coast. But they will not be as plentiful or as remote as the free options you will find west of the Mississippi.
Once you start hitting the more western states, you will find free camping as common as the RVs that park on them.
How to Find Free Camping Spots in The United States
There are many ways to find free camping in the United States. You can use camping apps and/or camping websites.
Our 3 top favorite websites or apps for finding free camping are:
Which free camping app or website you choose will depend on your personal preferences. We suggest you try them all out to see which one suits your needs best. For example, iOverlander.com tends to work better for smaller rigs like van lifers or people using class b RVers. We have a 34ft Class A motorhome and when we’ve used it before we found that most of the spots people reported on the website were for smaller rigs. Now, as people stay in those spots with larger rigs they will report whether or not the spot works for a larger rig. In our experience, it seemed that most spots were reported as being for smaller rigs. Maybe that has changed.
iOverlander also seems to be a more worldwide solution than the others mentioned.
Whenever we want to find any kind of camping in the United States, we have turned to a mix of freecampsites.net and campendium.com. I think it depended on the mood we were in at the time.
Free Camping on a Beach
We love free camping no matter where it is, but there is something special about being able to set up and spend a night on a beach. A few of our favorite free beach camping spots are along the Gulf of Mexico.
If we had to narrow it down to 3 free beach camping spots, they would be:
By the way, these are in no particular order.
Free camping at Rutherford Beach, LA is pretty remote. I wouldn’t say it’s hard to get to, but you are going to drive some narrow two-lane roads, off the beaten path to get there. It’s approximately 45 miles south of Lake Charles, LA right on the Gulf Coast.
You’ll want to be careful where you park because a high tide could have you stuck in no time if you pick a spot below the high tide line. If you’re not sure, you should ask someone.
You’ll have a very short walk to the water, you can fish from the beach and you can park here with pretty much any size rig.
Free camping at Brazoria County Beach, TX is awesome! It is located approximately 35 miles southwest of Galveston Texas.
The beach is super wide so there is little chance you’ll be affected by the water, as long as you park closer to the dunes.
This area has homes, so you’ll want to park as far away from them as possible.
We’ve stayed a few nights here without issues, except for the mosquitoes! We had some young beachgoers stop at our rig in a panic to ask for mosquito repellant because they were being overrun. We were happy to help.
Free camping at Magnolia Beach, TX is not your typical beach camping spot. It is located approximately 87 miles northeast of Corpus Christi Texas at Matagorda Bay.
Instead of soft sand, it is a hard-packed shell surface. The good news is you can park very close to the water. You probably won’t want to walk around with bare feet though because the rocks can be sharp.
At certain times of year, Magnolia Beach can get pretty busy, but you should still have no trouble finding a spot.
Free Camping in the Woods
In the western United States, there are many camping opportunities on BLM land. Again, you can use any of the websites mentioned above to find these great free camping spots.
One of our favorite spots to camp, whenever we are near the Grand Canyon National Park, is Fire Road 688. It is everything you could ask for in a free camping spot. It’s remote and quiet with tons of wildlife running around your RV.
It’s just outside the Grand Canyon National Park entrance so you’ll be able to visit an amazing national park while enjoying free camping in a remote wilderness spot.
We will update this article as we have more information.
