We're on BLM land tonight. And we're very happy about it.
BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management. Campers are welcome to stay on BLM land for free. Although there is a 14-day limitation, which I personally think is a good thing. It keeps people from living in one space.
This wasn't our first choice. We had reservations for a couple of nights at a campground in the Joshua Tree National Park. When we arrived, we tried to put the trailer where it belonged. But it was very cramped; and when we thought we had the trailer safely tucked where it needed to be, we discovered that we couldn't open our slide without taking up most of the road. Even though we had already paid for the spot, we finally decided to bag it and come down here to the BLM land.
We love it here! We're in what's called BLM Dispersed Camping. This particular area is in the high desert and is basically surrounded by mountains. There are lots of rustic camping spots available and lots of different RVs, vans, and tents spread out all over the place.
There are no services here, so we are dry-camping--or boon-docking, as those in the know call it. Our trailer is self-contained, which means we carry our own water, and have tanks that collect our gray and black water. The trick is to watch our water usage so we don't run out or fill up our other tanks before we're ready to move on. We have a furnace in the trailer; but our propane and battery life are not unlimited, so we're careful about using that, too. (And sometimes, my computer battery dies and I'm unable to post on this blog.)
We generally enjoy boon-docking, especially in the summer when we don't need to worry so much about heating the trailer. Many really nice campgrounds in really beautiful country come without services. So we'd miss out if we weren't willing to boon-dock.
This time, making reservations for a national park didn't work. But other than the fact that we lost $20, we are happy with the consequences. Here's our view from the trailer this morning.
Be sure to check out H's Gallery for some photos of our views here. FYI: The string of light in the night photo is the highway behind us. It's far away enough that we can't hear it, but close enough that we can enjoy the lights.
BLM stands for Bureau of Land Management. Campers are welcome to stay on BLM land for free. Although there is a 14-day limitation, which I personally think is a good thing. It keeps people from living in one space.
This wasn't our first choice. We had reservations for a couple of nights at a campground in the Joshua Tree National Park. When we arrived, we tried to put the trailer where it belonged. But it was very cramped; and when we thought we had the trailer safely tucked where it needed to be, we discovered that we couldn't open our slide without taking up most of the road. Even though we had already paid for the spot, we finally decided to bag it and come down here to the BLM land.
We love it here! We're in what's called BLM Dispersed Camping. This particular area is in the high desert and is basically surrounded by mountains. There are lots of rustic camping spots available and lots of different RVs, vans, and tents spread out all over the place.
There are no services here, so we are dry-camping--or boon-docking, as those in the know call it. Our trailer is self-contained, which means we carry our own water, and have tanks that collect our gray and black water. The trick is to watch our water usage so we don't run out or fill up our other tanks before we're ready to move on. We have a furnace in the trailer; but our propane and battery life are not unlimited, so we're careful about using that, too. (And sometimes, my computer battery dies and I'm unable to post on this blog.)
We generally enjoy boon-docking, especially in the summer when we don't need to worry so much about heating the trailer. Many really nice campgrounds in really beautiful country come without services. So we'd miss out if we weren't willing to boon-dock.
This time, making reservations for a national park didn't work. But other than the fact that we lost $20, we are happy with the consequences. Here's our view from the trailer this morning.
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