Welcome back Canna Campers to another Base Camp blog!
Picture this - it’s one of the busiest camping weekends of the year, your boss finally had a change of heart and decided to approve your time off request, awesome! There's only one thing though…all of the campsites in the state have been booked for months, and there are no available spots left. No worries though! Your friends at Canna Camp Supply have you covered!
In this week’s blog, we will go over some of the methods we use to find amazing camping spots even during a busy holiday weekend, so sit back, spark a bowl, and relax, while we teach you some awesome and sometimes uncanny ways to find a camping spot during busy times.
The First Questions to Ask Yourself or Your Group
- Where do you want to camp?
- How far are you willing to drive?
- What activities/amenities do you want available?
We get it, we’ve been there, the excitement consumes you as you rush home to get your gear packed and say “We’ll find a spot when we get out there” Several hours later the sun is closer to rising than you are to finding a camping spot. Don’t make this mistake, ask the questions above before you even start packing your gear.
Where do you want to camp?
Do you want to be in the mountains? Do you want to be somewhere near water? Is desert camping more your jam for this trip? Picture your ideal campsite and then ask yourself.
How far am I (or my guests) willing to drive?
We often find ourselves diving longer distances because of the first question, sometimes a few hours in the car is a blast other times it’s not feasible due to time constraints, so always start with where do you want to go? A few-hour drive can be the difference between a cold and rainy trip or a sunny and warm one.
What activities or amenities do you want available?
Do you need to be close to defined hiking and mountain biking trails? Or maybe a place to cast a line and relax? Do you require toilets and a bathhouse? Or are you cool with pooping in the woods like a bear? Some of these questions may put a damper on your trip if they aren’t addressed before you head out on your adventure.
Okay, so you’ve asked yourself the questions and know your requirements, what now?
The first place to start is by checking the weather. Is the weather acceptable? Ok great, now let's move on.
The easiest and often most overlooked solution is to ask someone. Yep, pretty simple but if you knew who to ask you may not be reading this blog.
"Who do I ask?" you say. Call the local park ranger office, the local bait shop, or even the local gas station or grocery store. Some of our favorite spots have been found by chatting with locals about camping spots, you are likely to run into someone who gets as excited as we do to discuss the best places to camp in these areas as well.
“Ok, I tried calling but had no luck”. No worries we’ll find you a spot by sundown, let’s continue.
The next thing you can try is hopping on the local parks and wildlife website, usually, the website will have a list of dispersed camping areas listed and rules for camping in those areas.
Finding a list of dispersed sites is helpful but often only shows the most popular areas, which during a busy holiday weekend are likely to be already taken by the time you get there, but that’s ok that list gives you an idea of where and what to look for as we move onto our next tip.
Use the forest service roads or dispersed camping spots listed by parks and wildlife to find other camping-friendly areas. Open Google Maps/Google Earth or another map program that allows satellite imagery and zoom into the area with the already known campsites, take note of what they look like and where they are located.
Now comes the fun part, the more you do this, the quicker you will become at spotting potential camping spots using a digital map, pan around the area looking for paths and remnants of fire pits, save the coordinates for each potential campsite you find and check them against a land ownership map to ensure the property is public use.
That sounds like A LOT of work…Do you have any other suggestions?
Sometimes you just want to go, and you don’t care so much about any of the questions above, you just want to have a destination and go.
For those times we suggest checking a private camping spot resource like our page 420 Friendly Camping & Cabins or Hipcamp.
Often you can find a campsite on private property featuring spectacular views you normally wouldn’t be able to experience due to the land being privately owned and usually at affordable prices.
That wraps up this Base Camp blog! Hopefully, this has put you on the path to adventure and you are on your way to an awesome destination! Check back for more tips and information in our next Camp blog!