Welcome to Free Campsites.
We are glad to have you. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.
After you log in and set up your profile, there are three main things that you can do on the website. Find a campsite, leave a review, and submit a campsite. This article will help you get familiar with our interface so that you can do all three with ease.
You can also follow us on facebook, instagram, twitter, and google+. If you are on facebook, you’ll want to join our discussion group. There, you’ll find 1000’s of other campers discussing all aspects of boondocking, free camping, and public lands.
Finding a Campsite – The Search Interface
GPS
The easiest way to find a campsite near you is to go to the interface on our home page, click on the GPS icon, and select “On Request”. The map will then refresh and the 20 campsites that are nearest to your location will be displayed. If you are driving, select “Real Time”. And campsites along your route will appear as you get near them.
Trip Router
Planning a trip? Click the trip router icon and enter your start and end locations, we’ll show you all of the campsites we know of along that route. You can also add up to six more stops by dragging the route line or entering them via the trip planning dialog. If you set how far off your route you are willing to travel to campsites, we’ll only show you ones that are within that distance.
Search Box
You can also use the search box to find campsites near a specific location or all campsites within a state/province. Just type a place, city or a zip code to find campsites near that specific area. If you enter a state/province name or abbreviation, you will see all of the campsites in that state/province.
Map
Clicking a location on the map will display the campsites around it. As you pan and zoom around the map, additional campsites will appear.
Campsite Icons
Green icons are free, red ones are pay ($12 or less), and the blue ones require a permit. The permits are not free, but they’re cheap and cover multiple days. When you click/touch the icon, a box will popup in the map with a summary of the campsite. Clicking this box will open the campsites page. On campsite pages, you’ll find reviews, pictures, and contact information for the campsite.
Filters
Here you will find options that affect which campsites are displayed in your search results. For example, if you only want to see campsites with a restroom, you can filter everything else out. There are many different filters to choose from. In the filters area, there is special filter that will display even more campsites. It’s the yellow tent labeled research. Enabling it opens up a lot more possibilities.
Settings
Right now, you can use the settings to modify how the GPS features work. The settings also have toggles for displaying the closest RV dump station to your selected location.
Leaving a Review
On the campsite’s page, either click the “Leave a Review” link near the top of the campsite’s listing, or scroll to the bottom and click the red bar. This will open the review form. Fill in as much detail as you can. If you have some pictures, you can upload those too. Hit submit. You will see a “Please Wait” followed by a thank you. Your review will appear on the campsite’s page after it has been approved. It usually takes only a couple of hours.
Submitting a Campsite
Submitting a campsite is just as easy as leaving a review. At the top of each page you will see an “Add a Camp Site” button. Click it to be whisked away to the campsite submission form. Once there, enter as much information as you can and click submit. Like the reviews, campsites need to be approved before they will be visible on the website.
Thanks again for joining our community. I hope it serves as a reliable tool in your search for awesome places to camp on the cheap. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Sincerely,
The Free Campsites Team
