Any recommended Campground books to take with?

[Lynn M]

When it's time to get on the road, would you recommend any Campground books to help plan. And also any Boondocking references books. I don't expect to have wifi. I don't want to waste money, so is there one that stands out over the others?
Thanks

[Jack L]

I have found the internet to be a much more accurate source of information than any book. I do like Benchmark Road Atlas maps for boondocking. Other friends use the DeLorme Atlas too.

[mary and bob]

We belong to AAA so get Woodalls from them for free, $11 otherwise. The Woodalls are regional, like The South is one book, Northeast is another and so on. We also have a book that is only State Parks, and another that is for the Corps of Engineers parks.Good Sam has a big book, over 2" thick that covers all of North America.

[Jack L]

Another vote for the Army Core of Engineers book. "Camping with the Corps of Engineers" is very helpful. For some reason, these campgrounds are less well known.

[Darral T.]

While this site wont necessarily point you to the "best" campground or locate them, when you DO find one that you're interested in, I would HIGHLY recommend going to this site (link below) and reading reviews. I know I know...people are going to say you cant rely on reviews on here...but here's one thing I've learned from experience, what I find in reviews on this site SO far has been SPOT ON! If they say stay away, you'd best listen!

RV Park Reviews - Trusted Reviews of Campgrounds & RV Parks

[Wayne Collins]

The Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Campground Directory covers all states and provinces. Private and Public campgrounds. The 2013 edition cover price was $25.95. Good Sam member price $9.95

[BatDude]

Has Bob & Mary suggested the Woodalls guide is good, but we also use the two apps RV Parky [http://www.rvparky.com/] and Allstays [http://www.allstays.com/] to guide us using our tablet linked to our Verizon hotspot.

We opted as Scampers to travel with fewer books to store and move around. AAA can also create your trip routes that you can save as PDFs.

RVParky guided us to our First Corps of Engineers camp as we headed north in late March. As we were booted out of heavily overbooked RV parks in Feb. a week before we assumed we needed to go, RVParky located 5 nearby (<30 miles) places to call for availability. Like nearly everyone on the site here, being small we scored a slot in an otherwise very full of land yachts and mobile hotels at a neat place for 8 nights.

HTH

Cheers

Bruce

[wwig]

Lynn,
The books mentioned above are good references and probably a hard copy is ultimately best. I have a couple of campground apps on my phone that work with GPS, All stays and Ultimate Campground. I like UC best especially when traveling, it will list campgrounds near you giving distance and direction so all you have to do is determine how many miles you want to travel and if you change your mind you can adjust on the fly. Peace.

[herons]

It often pays to look for wi-fi when you travel. Service stops, laundromats, restaurants, etc. will almost always have wi-fi for your needs. Public libraries are the best. I agree with others regarding the lack of storage soace and the need for up-to-date information. I can' t tell you how many outdated campground books and CDs I've discarded over the years. It's SO wasteful.

I used allstays.com on my recent 6 week trip. It never failed me.

[k corbin]

For low income traveling it helps to boondock at free spots, the Benchmark series can help you pinpoint those opportunities. Of course free means no utilities.

[Mike Magee]

I used to use the books, but now I just use the apps Allstays and CampWhere. The latter has been the most useful to me. You don't need wifi for them to operate, but a decent cellular signal helps.

I also look online at freecampsites.net . One could simply scout out ahead of time on that site what's in the area you're interested in and write a few notes, or if necessary one can stop at a library to borrow a computer.

[Lynn M]

I might carry just one or 2 hard copies. Not a lot of space and books get outdated. Apps look great. I forgot about those.
Thanks everyone!

[Jon Vermilye]

I have the AAA / Woodall books, but rarely use them. I prefer using apps on my phone. Most used is AllStays Camp & RV, and for non commercial campgrounds The Ultimate Public Campground Project.

If you don't have a smart phone, both can be used at their websites, although I find the phone apps more useful...

[Gilda]

I guess it largely depends on how low-tech you are. Since you mention that you want to boondock you will probably not have access to wifi. In that case a reference book or two with a road atlas can be very helpful. We have experienced much frustration with our GPS, probably because we do not update it often. We do not have a smart phone or a computer of any type on our travels. We have found some boondock areas through Woodalls. BLM, Bureau of Land Management, lands often provide places to camp and some are listed in Woodalls.

I have to mention Harvest Hosts, www.harvesthosts.com. For a nominal annual fee you have access to free stays, boondocking, on farms, wineries, special attractions, etc. It's a whole new way to boondock and we have LOVED it! You get to meet the owners and we are often the only ones camping in a rural area. (Harvest Hosts does ask that you purchase something from the hosts. This is really a modest request considering their generous hospitality)