digitaljake

This campground is split into two very distinct sections with very different offerings. Actually this should be listed as two campgrounds because they are very different and about 2 miles apart.

The main area is designed as a more modern campground with shower facilities, running water and easier access to the beach via a relatively short walking path. The showers are however coin fed and only got marginally warm for us so I wasn’t impressed. I was also surprised that this part of the campground had little to no cell service coverage.

The primitive area known as the Washburn Campground is about 2-miles up what turns into a well-kept dirt road. Once arriving on the hilltop the sites spread out and the area is very nice dotted with very clean outhouses. This area has better views but it would be a long walk to the beach. This section also has cell phone coverage although a booster does come in handy for both Verizon and T-mobile.

I do love a free campsite and they are hard to come by in this part of California so this is a real jewel. TV Tower road while rutted can be traversed by any vehicle as we saw lots of low lying sedans going up and down the road on most days. It is a well-traveled narrow dirt road and I would only feel comfortable in a high clearance vehicle but it is obvious that others don’t feel the same.

As others have said this place gets a lot of wind so come prepared for that no matter what the forecast says. However, there is an opportunity for shelter from the winds but you must keep going past the obvious campsite by a few miles.

The obvious campsite is a large open area where the road appears to split to the left and right. We camped here for a few nights but because of the relentless winds decided to explore further. We ventured all the way to the towers and just beyond where we found the Cuesta Ridge Botanical Area (there is a sign, see image). Here the trees get taller and you can find ample tree cover to knock down some of that wind. There are also a lot of pullouts over the next mile. This is secluded but the entire area has ample cell coverage (read screaming fast) making it feel very safe. The road actually gets less rutted after the TV Tower, at least for the two or so miles we explored.

Just to clarify this road isn't for large RVs but we saw lots of campervans and truck campers as well as sedans making the journey. There is no better free spot to spend a few days watching the gorgeous sunsets over Morro Bay.

Please use no trace practices and leave this place better than you found it so it remains open to the public.

Access to this free spot is easy. Great for use as a basecamp for Carlsbad Canyon or Guadalupe National Parks. Large mostly flat lot. Plenty of space here but don't expect to have it to yourself. Please don't run a generator all night!

This campground is free if you have a Washington State Discovery Pass. If you don’t have a pass you can’t stay here as there is no way to pay onsite. The annual pass is $30 so it pays for itself quickly. I think you can get them at several different places but we picked ours up at a Safeway grocery store.

The campground is very nice. Almost every site has a lot of tree coverage which is nice for seclusion but not so nice on solar power generation.

No services to speak of other than a few drop toilets. Still, for the money or lack thereof, this is a great spot.

We were here last Autumn and spent several nights here with very few other campers coming in. The area is a great free base camp for Mount Rainier NP.

The Verizon signal was spotty at best but T-mobile was great with 2-bars of LTE. We did use our WeBoost to sure up the signal from time to time but all in all one of the best places remotely near the park to pick up a cell signal and get some work done throughout the week.

The park limits your stay to 3-nights. There are port-o-pods, fire pits, and picnic tables. The sites are fairly small so I wouldn't think anything over 30' could get in.

There is a boat dock with access to the river so if you have a boat, kayak, or like to fish this would be a great spot but not much else to do. We walked one of the levies but it would probably make for a better bike ride.

A very quiet place to stay with the owls hooting all night long.

We were here in early November and the ladybug migration was intense with thousands of them swarming our rig so maybe skip the area then. That might have been the reason we had the place to ourselves.

The few established sites are amazing with covered picnic tables, firepits, easy access to pit toilets and all situated on the bank of the Silver Creek. If you aren’t lucky enough to score one of these spots there are flat fields that are perfect for boondocking. Just be careful as we came across a rattlesnake in said fields.

This is a very nice tree-covered campground option near the town of Banff. While Tunnel Mountain 2 feels like a parking lot, Tunnel Mountain 1 is well laid out so that each campsite has trees for privacy. No electric and the tree allow limited access for solar so power can be a problem for long stays. The campground does have centralized toilets in each loop complete with two showers and bear boxes. The campground also has a centralized public bus stop that allows for easy access to town.

This is a great spot to camp, explore Banff, and see wildlife. Our site had a resident albino squirrel and we were also visited by an elk during our stay. The park employee who checked us in told us that a bear had been spotted several times over the previous weeks but we never spotted him.

The only issue we had with our entire experience in Tunnel Mountain 1 was how long it took to be checked in. We arrived at 8:00PM and it took nearly 30-minutes for us to wait for our turn in the queue to be checked in. Because of the attendants total lack of urgency in her job we quickly realized the reason why it took so long to get through the line.
Verizon (Telus) 1-bar LTE. T-mobile (Bell) 1-bars LTE. The WeBoost really helped shore up the signal. The Banff library also has very good internet speeds.

That is right ladies and gentleman you too can camp at a gun range!

I love finding remote places in the woods to free camp. We rolled in here after dark and had to find our way in on a moonless night. We managed to find the spot but it wasn’t until the next morning when we stepped out the door and saw the ground covered in spent shell casings that we realized we had parked and slept on the gun range. It looks like an epic battle took place here with more shells than the ambush on Bonnie and Clyde. This is the life of a nomad.

The spot is quiet. No toilets but decent cell coverage.

This dispersed area is a bird lover's dream site. We saw eagles and ospreys along with vultures and many other birds. The lake is beautiful and there are hang gliders constantly overhead as well. Driftwood is abundant so plenty of fuel for campfires. We saw a truck pull in and pile it high before driving off. Our camping neighbor had a huge bonfire going with two loads of driftwood. At this rate, I’m not sure how anything is left but there are lots of logs there.

The dispersed camping area is small and it is crowded on weekends. The cell service on Verizon isn’t strong enough for the internet.
Verizon: Slow, even with a booster. (less than 1Mps up and down.)
T-mobile: None

Black sand dunes in the middle of Washington State and on the edge of Moses Lake. This is a free area to camp but the place is like a rave on the weekends with food trucks, loud music, dune buggies, and four-wheelers tarring it up all hours of the day and night. We arrived to nearly three miles of gravel road lined with trailers and campers.

The weekdays are much nicer as they are quieter with very few people sticking around. The cell service in the area is really good making this a nice spot to work throughout the week. There are several pit toilets in the area but all have been vandalized and are in very rough shape. I wouldn't use one. Make sure you are fully self-contained for this area.

While the gravel road is well maintained allowing access to almost any kind of rig, all the parking is on the sand. The sand can be soft so be careful not to get stuck. We saw many 5th wheels, travel trailers, and class A and C rigs parked on the sand. Our neighbor attempted to drive her heavy class C through the sand and dug herself in deep. We attempted to pull her out with a wench but had no luck. After a few hours of attempting to self recover, she called a low tow company to pull her out.

Verizon: 38ms Ping, 70.6Mbps Download, 10.3Mbs Upload
T-mobile: 47ms Ping, 6.6Mbps Download, 3.2Mbs Upload