Practical planning tools for nomads, car and van lifers
Scout out your next campsite, plan a trip to the wilderness, or research word-on-the-street advice on vehicle living in major US dispersed camping areas and cities.
Start exploringWhat the field guide covers
Research for the places you stop for the night, on public land and in town, from official sources with the date each was checked.
Public land
Scout your own campsite on national forests, grasslands and BLM land. The map shows who owns the land, which forest roads are open, and each researched area's stay limit, fire rules and closures.
Cities
Sleeping in a car, van or RV in town: what city and state law says, how police policy and local news describe enforcement, and what people who've done it report.
Guides and tools
Short, sourced answers about stay limits, permits, fire restrictions and forest roads, and a tool that lists the national forests nearest a ZIP code.
Public land
The dispersed camping toolkit
One map for scouting your own campsite on national forests, grasslands and BLM land, from the national picture down to a single forest road.
- Land ownership
- Forest Service and BLM land, ranger districts, field offices and wilderness, so you can tell public land from private inholdings.
- Forest roads
- Motor Vehicle Use Map routes, which show the roads open to vehicles and in which seasons.
- Area rules
- Each researched area's camping permission, stay limit, fire restrictions, permits and vehicle rules, with its official rules page and the date it was checked.
- Closures
- Current and scheduled closure orders, drawn on the map where the order defines an area.
- Campgrounds and trailheads
- Published agency campgrounds, camping areas and Forest Service trailheads, with fees and official links.
- Community sentiment
- What campers report about crowding, access and conditions, for areas where it has been researched.
- Pins and research briefs
- Save pins with a Google sign-in, copy a brief of a point's land, roads, district and rules, or open it in Google Maps or Google Earth.
- Rules by situation
- A car on a residential street, an RV overnight, a city lot or park, a private lot with permission, safe-parking programs: each marked allowed, restricted, prohibited or unclear, with the law that decides it.
- Enforcement
- A separate answer for each situation from police policy and news reporting: enforced, enforced for some, or rarely enforced.
- Key laws
- The ordinances and statutes behind the answers, with when each was passed or last amended.
- Recent news
- Dated reports on sweeps, tows, citations and policy changes, newest first.
- Community sentiment
- What people sleeping in vehicles there report, summarized in our own words.
- State law
- The state rules that apply in every city, such as rest-area time limits.
Cities
City field guides
For sleeping in a car, van or RV in town. Each guide keeps what the law says apart from how it is enforced, and shows both for each situation.
Researched so far
- San Francisco, CA
- Sacramento, CA
- Redding, CA
- Medford, OR
- Ashland, OR
Rules and enforcement change. Check the city's official code and follow local law.
Questions
Anyone who sleeps in a car, van or RV on the road, whether for a weekend trip or full time.
Yes. Browsing needs no account. Sign in with Google to save pins.
No. It shows what the official rules say, how they are enforced, and where the research is incomplete. Rules change and enforcement varies, so follow local, state and federal law and check the official source when in doubt.
Public discussion, reviews and local reporting about each place, summarized in our own words. Each summary shows when it was last updated. It reflects what people report, which can be dated or unrepresentative, and it never replaces the official rules.
Every national forest, grassland and BLM field office appears on the map. Camping rules are researched for some areas and city rules for five cities so far, with more added over time.
Every area and city shows when its sources were last checked. Fire orders, closures and city rules change often, so check the area's alerts page or the city's official code before you rely on them.
On the road
Plan your next night
Be kind and respectful to anyone you meet on the road. Everyone is following their own path.
Start scoutingUtah desert