Camping while touring?

[Garydj]

I've not been camping in many years, but I want to take rides of several days long and the budget being what it is, I would like to save money.

For those with experience in Motorcycle camping: Can camping be cheaply done in comparison to motels? Are there enough camp grounds around to make scheduling stops an easy job? Any tips for a newbie MC camper?

 

[Chestnut]

Can camping be done cheaply? Yes and no. Good gear costs money. If you're camping in relatively warm, relatively dry places you can spend $50 for a tent, bag, and sleeping mat at Walmart and do alright. Or you can spend hundreds on top of the line stuff, which you will appreciate if you have to dig through a foot of snow to pitch your tent (I have done that, but not on a motorcycle trip). Sites can easily be found at $20 or less, check out National Park/Forest campgrounds @ recreation.gov or you can stealth camp for free. Private campgrounds cost a little more, but are still 1/2 the price of most hotel rooms. Hostels would be another saving option, especially if you're solo. Staying in a bunkhouse will cost only slightly more than a campsite, and you don't have to lug around the stuff.
There are plenty of campgrounds. Finding one with an open site may give you trouble during the summer at some prime locations (you have to book your site in Yosemite for May-Sept the day they go on sale or you'll be SOL). But if you go somewhere even slightly off the beaten path you're probably ok.
Tips: Pack and unpack the bike, set up your tent, repack, etc at home a few times. Do it in the dark. Become intimately familiar with all the poles, zippers, and lines. Otherwise some a**hole like me is going to be laughing at you from the comfort of their sleeping bag while you fumble around trying to figure out where you put your headlamp.

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

I love moto-camping threads! Tagged.

 

[treybrad]

check out National Park/Forest campgrounds @ recreation.gov

+1. I managed to plan a 10 day trip through TX, NM, AZ, UT and CO never paying anything to camp. National Forests are FREE!

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5313083.pdf

Those are the rules for a specific NF, but they're all pretty much the same. Primitive, 'dispersed' camping is free up to 14 days. You don't have any amenities, but.... what's the fun in that anyway??

trey

 

[what next]

The replies are right on. If I am riding a trip alone I take camping gear but more often than not stay in motel. You pretty much have to plan your stops. It's not like the old days when I just pulled off down some side road. Then course after this happen to me ,any little noise wakes me up.
Startled black bear takes swipe at camper

 

[frozenpoet]

Up and down the coasts there should be plenty of campsites that planning isn't much of an issue, just make sure you stop early enough that you're not in frantic need of a site before you lose daylight.

http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-general-discussion/2152-camping-nc.html
http://nc700-forum.com/forum/touring-traveling/2426-quickie-shake-out-camping-trip.html can give you some ideas of gear and what not.

 

[StratTuner]

camping....

We did a little of it when my children were young, and staying in designated camping areas was...just awful. You're lucky if there is a hedge between you and the camper next to you which is filled with drunken yahoos playing loud music until all hours. State parks were the worst. (and yes, you can alert the park rangers who will talk to the loud drunk people, and then as soon as the ranger drives away, it starts over again...)
Never again.

Stealth camping sounds like the way to go... but I don't understand how that's done.

Walmart has a company rule that you are allowed to park your camper in its parking lots overnight.... hmmmmm
would they mind if I parked my NC and slept in a sleeping bag below it?
(Yes, I'd rather hear traffic noise than drunken campers!)

 

[robnpat]

Sounds fun, as long as you don't ride with a guy like Dudley from Wild Hogs

 

[James59]

I have never stayed in camp sites in the US, but I have in Europe. Here they are generally quite good I think, but it does vary wildly! Sometimes it reminds me of getting up in the middle of the night in some god forsaken British Army camp in the pouring rain to go for a leak, other times it can be luxury other times hell-especially the toilets....

 

[StratTuner]

Sounds fun, as long as you don't ride with a guy like Dudley from Wild Hogs

I don't remember that Dudley Do-Right was a member of the Hogs. I thought he was Canadian Mounted Police?

 

[robnpat]

I don't remember that Dudley Do-Right was a member of the Hogs. I thought he was Canadian Mounted Police?

Dudley was played by William H. Macy..

Dudley Frank: I'm looking foward to the parade this year. I got little Tootsie Rolls to throw to the kids.
Woody Stevens: Tootsie Rolls? You cannot even put on your left blinker without wiping out.

 

[ziggie]

One of these might help if you plan on camping Firebox 5″ Folding Campfire Stove | Firebox

 

[Garydj]

Good stuff all, thanks for the ideas!

 

[Oldenuf]

Personally, the riding is #1, The camping is really minimal. Smallest tent I can change and do person care in, air mattress, as it rolls into the smallest space, 20 degree bag, as it's small and I don't camp in any cooler weather, ground sheet under the tent.

I don't cook, can get by without a chair, and most of the time don't even make a fire. Book beverage and snack and I'm OK till I find a restaurant the next day. Sometimes I'm lucky and the campground has showers. Lots of campgrounds offer senior discounts if you have the National Park Pass. The usual entertainment is a good walk and taking some photos. $6 to $10 bucks for a night tenting saves a bunch over a motel. Four to six nights and the tent and the gears is paid for, and most of the gear has lasted 20 years, even the WalMart stuff.

Have to admit, staying in a motel after a couple night sleeping on the ground sure does feel good.

So like everything we do, we each have a "method to our madness".

Art

 

[Old Can Ride]

The real fun at any rally is in the campgrounds.

 

[mpgandfun]

When I tour, camping is the only way I spend the night. I suggest choosing the basic gear (tent, sleeping bag, bedroll/mattress, and pillow) that
will suit your needs the best. The lighter and more compact each of these is, the better suited it is for MC camping. The higher up the
lighter & smaller spectrum you go, the higher the price goes too. I would suggest a tent with a 2 pole support system that DOES NOT involve
sliding the poles through the sewn-in sleeves on the tent. Much easier are the tents that utilize a clip system to attach the tent to the support poles. Tents with vestibules are a plus. Gives you a place to store some gear outside the sleeping area and still be protected from any rain. I recently upgraded to a tent with these design elements.

Sleeping bags with duck down filling have a great insulation value in comparison to their weight & physical size. They can be compacted to a very small size compared to a bag filled with synthetic insulation.

GET A DRY BAG!! I have a 55 liter dry bag that holds my tent, sleeping bag, pillow, mattress, one change of clothes, & more. I always make sure I have at least one change of dry clothes in my dry bag. -Not for riding, but for sleeping in. I can ride all day in wet clothes, but when the day comes to an end, I want that dry set to put on before I slip into my duck down filled mummy bag.

I stay mostly at state parks and state recreation areas. Most of these have the "Show up after hours, and you can pay in the morning" policy. You can roll in at midnight, stay the night, and pay on the way out. No need to make reservations or worry about getting there during "business" hours. These are typically less costly than private campgrounds too.

 

[netizen]

Walmart has a company rule that you are allowed to park your camper in its parking lots overnight.... hmmmmm
would they mind if I parked my NC and slept in a sleeping bag below it?
(Yes, I'd rather hear traffic noise than drunken campers!)

I have wondered this same thing... only I'd want to set up the free standing tent and sleep in that..... I kind of doubt they'd run you off if you did this.... maybe put the tent at the end of the parking lot just before one of those islands if they have them, to protect you from that side, and park the bike on the other side?

Then you'd have a bathroom nearby and a place to get breakfast in the morning... they might even have a starbucks or some restaurant that sells coffee inside

 

[Chestnut]

a note on down bags vs synthetic fill: down does not insulate when wet. It is also a pain to wash. But in every other way down is superior. You just have to take good care of it.

 

[kasi]

Last year I went to camping tour at this time I have enough budget but now I am not in this position to go camping tour I think its most expensive tour in all of them..

 

[itlives]

Chestnut's suggestions at the beginning of the thread cover everything.

I've always camped since I was a Cub Scout. So, I have always made sure I had gear. Since buying the NC, I have started to replace my gear with better gear. The best gear you can find will be what back packers use - light and packs small. It will pay for itself in short order if you take 2 week long trips a year (which I plan/want to do).

National Forests are they way to go. Free and usually they will have a natural water source. Does a bear $h!+ in woods? if it's good enough for a bear....