Freecampsites.net, Every Adventurer's Best Friend

I discovered the website, freecampsites.net about six months ago, and since then it has led me to some very epic camp sites. I mostly used it this past summer while camping in Colorado, trying to explore some new areas. It wasn't until my most recent road trip through Utah, Nevada, and Arizona that I realized how fantastic this website is.

My brother and I took off Christmas Eve morning on an primarily unplanned seven day road trip. Our first and only known destination was Washington, Utah to stop in and see family. We pulled into town late in the afternoon, and I hopped on the website to try and find us a camping spot for the night. On the website, you're able to type in any town, or use your current location. The website will pull up various places in the surrounding area that are available to camp for free. It can range from amazing overlooks, to secluded spots miles from the nearest town, to the Walmart parking lot. The website is designed for those traveling in an area, who may prefer to camp outside of a campground with a fee. There are three colors pertaining to the tabs that pop up once you've narrowed down a location. The green camping tabs are free places to stay, the red tabs mean that the place does have a fee, and the blue tabs refer to the campsite requiring a permit. The website is very user friendly, and once you have clicked on a specific tab you are able to read a description of the camp site, ranging in information from elevation, road conditions, GPS coordinates, and reviews from previous campers.

As we had arrived in the Washington, Utah area, I had found La Verkin Overlook through the website with established fire rings and camp spots outside of the town of La Verkin, Utah. We stayed two nights at the overlook, and spent a day exploring Zion National Park only 20 miles away.  The views from the overlook were absolutely amazing, especially at sunrise.

On December 26th, we took off from Washington, UT at 3pm with no plan, but we knew we had a general direction. Vegas...then the Grand Canyon. As we started to near the Nevada border, I again hopped on the website and began researching places to camp for the night. We ended up about 10 miles outside of Mesquite, NV on a dirt road headed into the unknown. We pulled into a washed out river bed as the sun gradually disappeared behind the horizon. We began unpacking, cracked open a beer, and began setting up camp for the night. A fire quickly arose, as the stars began to shine. The light from the town illuminating off in the distance. The snow covered mountains behind us. My dog, Riley was running around, on a quick mission to find a good chewing stick. As the fire crackled, we began talking about the pros and cons of having a plan and just 'winging it'. Many people, we agreed prefer to always have a plan. To have structure, not just in day-to-day life, but when it comes to adventuring as well. My brother and I quickly acknowledged that we were happy to not have a plan for this road trip. It had already become apparent to us that not having a plan was greatly paying off, only three days into our trip.  

We used freecampsites.net to find our camping spot for five of the six nights of our trip, the only exception was the one impromptu night we spent in a hotel in Vegas. After our stop in Vegas, we headed towards the Grand Canyon and found another fantastic camping spot thanks to the website outside of the town of Williams, Arizona on Dogtown Road. There are multiple camping spots with easy access off of the main road and no matter what season you are in the area, I highly recommend driving to the end of this road where you will find an unexpected gem, Dogtown Lake.

The following morning, we again were on the road and headed towards the vast views and landscape of the Grand Canyon. We spent part of the day exploring and taking pictures inside the National Park, and decided that we would head back into Utah and find a spot to camp across the state line. There I was, back on the website looking for the next epic camping spot for the night. I narrowed it down to a couple places, but Muley Point Overlook was calling my name. I knew that by the time we would arrive, it would be dark and we wouldn't be able to see the view but I had a feeling it would be worth it in the morning. At first light I was up and excited to see what we had missed the night before. I grabbed my camera and Riley and I took off exploring the views from the overlook, and of Monument Valley off in the distance.

This website was an essential part to our road trip, and it allowed us to discover areas we would have otherwise skipped over. It will now have a place in all of my future camping adventures, and I am greatly looking forward to getting back on the road.