The Chase
Find a place to park it tonight, the water and services nearby, this week’s fuel prices, and which way the good weather is.
Search any U.S. town. Campsites, rest areas, springs, dump stations, showers, laundromats, libraries, propane and dog parks come from OpenStreetMap, a free map kept by volunteers (our copy is refreshed every week), so it’s a starting point, not a guarantee of what’s open or legal. Always check the rules before you camp or sleep at a rest stop.
Loading sites from OpenStreetMap…
Map data comes from volunteers. Data via OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Tags like "fee" and "dog" are added by volunteers and may be missing or outdated — treat this as a starting point, not a guarantee. “Listed free” means a volunteer mapper tagged the site as no-fee. We can’t verify that ourselves, so always confirm fees and overnight rules with the site before you stay.
Where you are, and where the weather’s better.
For full-time travelers. We check the National Weather Service’s next 3 days where your map is centered, and at 8 spots a day’s drive away in every direction. Each spot gets our camping-weather rating, so you can see at a glance which way to head.
The weather check starts when you scroll here.
How the rating works
It’s our own rule of thumb, built from the official NWS forecast for the next 3 days (sooner days count a little more). A spot rates best with highs from about 60 to 82°F, nights above about 40°F, low rain chances, wind under 15 mph, and no thunderstorms, snow or ice. Active NWS warnings pull a spot’s rating down a lot, and watches and advisories a little. Spots are straight-line distances, so the drive will be longer. Over water or outside the U.S., there’s no NWS forecast, so we try a nearby spot on land instead.
Chasing the seasons: tips for full-timers
🗓️ Follow the seasons
- Spring: move north behind the last freeze. It’s also tornado season in the Plains and the South, so on stormy days, camp near a sturdy building.
- Summer: go north, or go up. It’s roughly 3 to 5°F cooler for every 1,000 feet you climb.
- Fall: drift south as nights near freezing. Hurricane season on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts runs through November 30.
- Winter: the southern deserts, the Gulf Coast and Florida stay mild, but desert nights can still freeze.
🧭 Check before you move
- Look at the overnight low and the wind where you’ll sleep, not just where you are now.
- On travel days, check every stop with our Trip Planner.
- When storms are possible, check the Storm Prediction Center’s outlook.
- Keep your phone’s emergency alerts on. They follow your phone as you travel.
🏕️ Pick a weather-smart spot
- Not under dead trees or big limbs when wind is in the forecast.
- Not in a wash, creek bed or canyon bottom when rain is possible, especially in the desert Southwest’s monsoon season, June 15 to September 30.
- Vans, RVs and tents aren’t safe in a tornado. On storm days, know where the nearest sturdy building is.
- Never run a grill, camp stove or portable fuel-burning heater inside your rig, and carry a battery-powered carbon monoxide alarm.
💨 Wind, cold and your rig
- Vans, RVs and trailers catch the wind. A Wind Advisory or High Wind Warning on your route is a good reason to wait it out.
- Some states close roads to light, high-profile vehicles in strong winds. Check the state’s road-condition site before you go.
- Below freezing, water lines and tanks can freeze. Keep them warm, insulate them, or drain them.
Based on: NWS safety · NOAA Storm Prediction Center · National Hurricane Center (season June 1 to November 30) · NWS Tucson: monsoon safety · CDC: carbon monoxide. Forecasts and ratings change, so check again before you move.
Public land, and private hosts.
Federal public land is often the cheapest place to camp. The private hosts below are third-party marketplaces, not public land, and they usually charge a nightly fee or membership; they fill the gap when free camping isn’t nearby.
Recreation.gov
Public land · The official site for federal campgrounds, cabins and permits from the Park Service, Forest Service, BLM, Army Corps and more, with over 3,600 places to book.
Visit Recreation.gov ↗BLM public lands
Public land · Free dispersed camping on Bureau of Land Management land, mostly in the West. Stays are generally limited to 14 days in any 28-day period; rules vary by area.
BLM camping rules ↗Harvest Hosts
Overnight parking at wineries, farms, and breweries across the Midwest. Membership required.
Visit Harvest Hosts ↗Boondockers Welcome
Free driveway camping hosted by fellow RVers and van-lifers. Free membership tier available.
Visit Boondockers Welcome ↗Sniffspot
Rent a private, fenced yard by the hour for your dog to run — useful for travel days without a dog park nearby.
Visit Sniffspot ↗FreeCampsites.net
A crowdsourced directory of free camping spots across the country — a good second opinion alongside our live map above.
Visit FreeCampsites.net ↗