Several times we’ve mentioned that dry camping is our favorite way to camp, and multiple times we’ve been asked what is dry camping? So we thought we’d make a post to talk about what it means to dry camp and explain a little bit why dry camping is our favorite way to camp.
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What is Dry Camping
Dry camping means camping with no hookups, so you don’t have any electrical power, you don’t have a water hookup, and you don’t have a sewage hookup. So you’re camping with just your trailer there and the site has no extra amenities specific for your trailer.
Dry Camping vs Boondocking
Both dry camping and boondocking means camping with no hookups. So boondocking is also dry camping, but boondocking generally refers to camping somewhere that doesn’t have a campsite. So camping somewhere that is not within a campground.
There are plenty of campgrounds that are dry that don’t have hookups for your trailer, but it is still within a campground. So dry camping can be within a campground, whereas boondocking is dry camping, but outside of a campground. Boondocking is camping at a non-designated campsite.
Why We Like Dry Camping
So the first reason is because we live in California. And in California the state parks are pretty much all dry. So around us, the state parks and US forestry campgrounds, most of them are all dry campgrounds, and those campgrounds are the ones that have the larger, more private sites. They’re the campgrounds that are focused more on nature and less on amenities. In our minds, when we think about where we want to go camping, it’s typically one of those locations and not a type of place that has hookups.
So places like RV resorts have full hookups, but in our minds, that feels more like camping in a parking lot. Most of those places are so packed in and you barely have any space outside of your trailer.
We would much prefer to go somewhere where we feel like we are in a little slice of nature, we have a little bit of privacy, and to us that is well worth it to not have water or electricity or have to go somewhere else to dump. It’s worth it to be able to camp somewhere that feels like camping.
Conclusion
So what it comes down to is around us, we prefer dry camping because those are our favorite sites. Those are the sites that are large, private, and filled with natural beauty.
