If you’re looking to save money on your next camping trip, we get it. Free camping is an awesome way to get out into the great outdoors and experience nature without having to pay for a campground. We’ve used these 5 apps on our own free camping trips, and we think they’ll be helpful to you, too.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Free Camping
Finding a Designated Campsite
Recreation.gov
This go-to app has an exhaustive database of campgrounds around the country, from RV to tent sites. Just plug in the area you’re visiting and your arrival and departure dates, and the app (iOS) produces a map with pins denoting nearby campsites. (You can manually select specific towns or cities or use location tracking to auto-populate sites in the surrounding area. The app chooses a mileage radius, which is not adjustable.) Blue pins signify available campsites, and yellow pins mark campsites that are booked. You can call an agent or make a reservation online from within the app.
Boondocking Beta
Campendium
Camping for free is great but often involves a lot of shooting in the dark. It’s easy to pick a national forest or tract of BLM land on a map, but you never really know what you’re going to find. Campendium (iOS) makes the process a bit easier. The app’s database includes information about cell service, site size, and amenities like toilets or RV hookups. The comments section is a cache of more specific information based on people’s experiences staying at each site—like whether there’s space to turn around a large vehicle, if the road is in good condition, or whether you’ll experience crowds.
Weather Report
My Radar
How many times have you seen rain in the forecast and packed up camp, only for it to merely drizzle? Or chosen an exposed campsite for the beautiful views and been rocked all night by heavy wind? MyRadar (iOS) provides detailed weather data to help you avoid such trip-ruining mishaps. Like other weather apps, it gives you an hourly and weekly forecast, but it also shows you the direction, speed, and severity of impending storms, wind, temperature swings, wildfires, and even earthquakes through an interactive map. (You can turn all these filters on or off as needed, like if, say, you’re not camping on an active fault line.) A $7 upgrade gets you access to detailed information from 150-plus individual radar sites that provide the aggregated satellite weather reading. That upgrade also gets you ad-free app usage, Apple Watch compatibility, and a hurricane tracker.
Staying Organized
Packing List
Between the camp kitchen, food, hiking gear, fishing gear, bikes, and first-aid kit, there’s a lot of equipment to keep track of when prepping for a camping trip. Enter Packing List (iOS), which lets you create different lists for certain types of trips—like separate “camping ” and “hut trip” lists—and then populate each with categories such as food, clothing, and toiletries. Add items to each category, and then click the check box once the item is accounted for. The app is free, but upgrading to the premium version ($3) let’s you specify a quantity for each item (three pairs of socks, two six-packs) and use iCloud to sync lists between all your devices.
Stargazing
Night Sky
Outsource constellation-remembering duties to this app (no, not you, Siri). Use your phone’s compass to line up the screen with what you’re looking at in real life—be it a star, planet, or satellite—then click on each constellation for a mini astronomy lesson. Night Sky (iOS) can also help you search for a specific constellation. Nightly stargazing reports tell you what will be visible that evening and (also key) where to find a spot with minimal light pollution for optimal viewing. The app is free, but $2 per month gets you augmented-reality tours of planets and moons.
Best apps for free camping near lagos
What Is Free Camping?
Free camping is exactly what it sounds like, camping with no cost. This is a great way to save money in popular areas where RV parks know tourists will pay massive fees to stay. Free camping spots typically offer little, if any, amenities and so it’s not a camping style for everyone.
Government agencies manage many of these free campgrounds and require guests to acquire a permit before setting up camp. This allows agencies to track who uses the land and to enforce stay limits.
While it may take a little more effort on your part, permits help ensure public lands remain open for campers to enjoy.
How to Find Free Camping
Some of the tactics campers use to find affordable campsites have changed over the years. Previously, you could only find free camping through word of mouth.
Now campers have many resources available to them. Some of the best tools come in the palm of your hand, and you can acquire them in a matter of seconds.
Best Free Camping Apps
Many want a way to save a few bucks but still have a fantastic camping experience. Let’s look at some of the best free camping apps so you can get to adventuring and making memories.
USFS & BLM Campgrounds
This iOS app has approximately 5,700 campgrounds managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
You can use the map feature to locate campgrounds near you and even start planning your route. In addition to finding free boondocking sites, you can see the local weather, elevation, and other helpful information.
Don’t worry if you don’t have an internet connection; this app allows you to view campground locations and information offline. This feature comes in handy as many of the best free camping locations lack cell phone coverage.
Campendium
Campers created this app for campers, and it works for iOS devices. It has a massive library with thousands of places to stay. You can narrow down the search results to fit your budget by using the built-in filters, including free campsites.
Campendium allows users to leave reviews, including tips and pictures to help future campers maximize their camping experience. You may find information on accessing the site or find a dump station or freshwater to fill up your tanks.
Upgrading to the premium version allows you to filter your results based on reported cell phone coverage, which can help you stay connected while camping.
FreeRoam
You can get this free boondocking app on iOS and Android devices. It has campgrounds by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forestry Service. You can even use map overlays to get an idea of cell coverage and filter results based on road difficulty, safety, weather, and crowdedness.
We also love that this app allows you to find other resources that campers often use, like dump stations, fresh water, groceries, and propane. You can even meet and interact with other boondockers through the app and see other nearby travelers as well. This newer app updates regularly with new features.
A camper van found a free camping site near the ocean and some scenic rocks.
Boondocking App
This app, for iOS devices, costs $.99 and will give you access to over 1500 boondocking locations. However, this number constantly grows as more users submit new boondocking locations across the country.
You won’t need an internet connection to search the boondocking locations in this library. You can view the driving distance and travel time from your current location to the potential boondocking location as well. This free boondocking app will also help you find nearby hiking and biking locations.
Ultimate Public Campgrounds App
With over 41,000 free or low-cost campgrounds, you may find a great place to camp in this iOS app. We love that it excludes private and commercial campgrounds and only includes public ones.
This app also doesn’t require an internet connection with the data embedded into the app. However, without an internet connection, you won’t get access to all of the supplemental services available.
iOverlander
iOverlander, available for iOS and Android devices, can help you find some fantastic camping locations by using a map or list view.
Volunteers almost exclusively run this free camping app. The app’s developers commit to always having a free version with high-quality information and a user-friendly experience.
Users can submit, amend, and read opinions and information submitted by other users. The app hopes to help others experience overlanding worldwide but still respecting local cultures, people, and environments.
Allstays
This iOS app claims to be the number one selling, ranked, and reviewed camping app for over 104 months. When you see its benefits, you may understand why many campers love using it.
The app’s library beats all others by hosting thousands of camping locations. You can filter the map by type and by its more than 30 amenities.
You can change from one camping style to the next and access all the campground’s details with a simple click. Whether you need a phone number, website, or directions, you’ll find it on the Allstays app.
Make Boondocking Better with Technology
You don’t have to work hard to find a place to camp. With the free camping and boondocking apps we’ve listed, you can quickly and easily compile a list of potential locations.
We always recommend scouting campsites when possible, but many of the apps we’ve shared provide user reviews to help give you a great idea of the location’s conditions. We hope these apps make it easier for you to get out and camp.
What’s your go-to app for finding free camping?
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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