Boondocking Pictures

[SeaDawg]

Sweet ride!

[Time2Go!]

HH Ice Caves & Bandera Volcanos near Grant, NM. Was a great place to dry camp one night. We did a hike the next morning before pulling out. 

[Time2Go!]

HH Desert Lakes Golf Course in Alamogordo, NM. Nice spot in corner of parking lot overlooking the 18th hole at sunset. We had breakfast at the clubhouse the next morning before heading out. 

[Chukarhunter]

Oliver under a full moon in front of a large campfire (No flash used).  Boondocking in the Owyhee country of Oregon.

[topgun2]

WOW!  Large Campfire?  What do you call a bonfire?

Nice pic.

Bill

[VBistro]

These are from trips we've made in our van, but they are definitely in the spirit of the post.  We are truly lucky out west to be able to find so many cool places off the beaten path

[Frank-n-Val]

Our second night in the new camper spent boondocking in southern Missouri. Third night (no pic) was at a Cracker Barrel in Tyler, Texas. 
 

Frank

 

[Mountainman198]

Boondocking in Quartzsite, AZ. Found a nice spot at Hi Jolly and a open mic session broke out on the rear deck of the neighbor’s RV. Its amazing the things you can find away from hookups. 

[Mountainman198]

Quartzsite iss filling up in preparation for the RV Show, but its still possible to find solitude in the desert amongst thousands of other boondockers. 
 

Near Dome Rock

[Mike and Carol]

Looks like a great spot!

[dedroll]

Here is spot very near Ajo, AZ

[mossemi]

1 hour ago, dedroll said:

Here is spot very near Ajo, AZ

Now that’s far from the madding crowd!  Thank you.

Mossey

[Cameron]

This is why I bought an Oliver. Rough, tough, ready for boondocking. This is off of Highway 395, north of Mono Lake in California. Take Virginia Lakes Road for about six miles (paved) then turn onto Dunderberg Meadows Road (gravel) and look for the spot you want. It's all national forest land so the price was right. We took a spur with big bad rocks, but by crawling along and trying to pick the least bad path, the Ollie performed like a champ. The boondocking inlet port let us fill our fresh water tank again from a couple of 6 gallon water jugs I carry. The sun charged up our batteries and let us use all juice we needed. A hot shower and cold cocktails made cloud watching even better. And the composting toilet makes finding a dump station a non-issue. 

[BBL]

Also, in the spirit of this thread, as we wait for our Oliver LE II. If you haven’t boondocked in the Badlands, you should. Just outside Badlands NP there is a huge area that is a national grasslands and allows up to 14 days free camping. Many pull outs right along the edge of the Badlands like we scored.

Great thread, look forward to visiting it often and seeing more places we want to go.

Brian

Paris, TN

[rangerk9]

Brian,

Thanks for sharing your post on the Badlands!  I am blessed to do volunteer work on the Pine Ridge Reservation each year where we work on the local's bicycles (73) and donate bicycles (120) to those in need. 

I boondock on an Elder's place outside of Wanblee, just south of the Badlands.  Thankfully, I was able to bicycle each day in the Badlands and the land massages my soul.  The Lakota there are challenged in many ways but, are warm, friendly and loving.  They are deeply appreciative of the bicycles - for most, it is their only means of transportation.  I am truly thankful to be invited and be a part of such a wonderful program.  

Here are a few pics from this year's trip and the Give-Away with "Bikes to Pine Ridge":

[BBL]

1 hour ago, rangerk9 said:

Brian,

Thanks for sharing your post on the Badlands!  I am blessed to do volunteer work on the Pine Ridge Reservation each year where we work on the local's bicycles (73) and donate bicycles (120) to those in need. 

I boondock on an Elder's place outside of Wanblee, just south of the Badlands.  Thankfully, I was able to bicycle each day in the Badlands and the land massages my soul.  The Lakota there are challenged in many ways but, are warm, friendly and loving.  They are deeply appreciative of the bicycles - for most, it is their only means of transportation.  I am truly thankful to be invited and be a part of such a wonderful program.  

Here are a few pics from this year's trip and the Give-Away with "Bikes to Pine Ridge":

Ranger,

That is such good work! I know it provides many happy memories for you and enriches the lives of so many others. We love cycling and it does nourish the soul, I can only imagine what it would be like to be able to cycle through the Badlands each day.

We are also Trek riders, nice gravel bike you have there (if I am seeing it correctly). We currently have hard-tail MTBs - I used to be an FS rider but things are slowing down for me so I have to take it easy(er). 

Keep up the good work my friend! 

Brian

[rangerk9]

10 minutes ago, Brian and Brandelyne Lewis said:

Ranger,

That is such good work! I know it provides many happy memories for you and enriches the lives of so many others. We love cycling and it does nourish the soul, I can only imagine what it would be like to be able to cycle through the Badlands each day.

We are also Trek riders, nice gravel bike you have there (if I am seeing it correctly). We currently have hard-tail MTBs - I used to be an FS rider but things are slowing down for me so I have to take it easy(er). 

Keep up the good work my friend! 

Brian

Brian,

Thank you for your kind words!  It is very rewarding for sure.  It is also very tough and reminds me how blessed I am. 

I was driving from Wanblee to Interior (south entrance of the Badlands) one night and saw a flashlight going up and down along the road.  I slowed down to see if someone was in distress.  It was a grandmother and granddaughter walking with four bags of groceries under their arms.  I asked if I could give them a ride and they happily accepted.  As I spoke to them, they said they were returning from town after a store run.  It is seven miles from their home to the store.  They walked 14 miles to get four arm-loads worth of groceries!  I asked if they could use bicycles and they said that they would love some.  We made sure to get them two bikes (with baskets) that could help them with their grocery runs.  Pretty dang humbling at the end of the day. 

Its great to know another Ollie cycling couple!  Next time you are in the Badlands, consider your MTBs.  It is some of the best biking I have ever been blessed to do.  You will enjoy it immensely.  The trails and hardball roads are all great to ride on.  I am like you and have to take it easy now...heck, I even cheat = I use a electric pedal assist bike.  Love that you have Treks as well...you can't go wrong with them.  They are quality bikes.  Will you get a bike rack for your Ollie when you take delivery?  We purchased ours used (Hull 339) and it had a rack already installed (one of the selling points for this particular one).  We enjoy having it.  I purchased a cover for the bikes due to rain/debris/etc... getting kicked up back there.  It helps. 

I hope your delivery of your Ollie comes soon and you enjoy it!  We have had ours for ten months now and love it.  My wife just retired as a school teacher and I am retired Army.  So, we hope to have many an adventure with it.  My wishes are the same for you and yours!    

[BBL]

I am retired USAF and we keep the bikes in the back of the truck under the “topper”. I have a bed slide and laid out some cargo seat rails where I have installed fork mounts. I just take the front tires off and mount them on the bed slide. Still plenty of room for other things in there. 

Brian

PS - I saw the electric motor and didn’t mention it. Somewhat jealous on that front.

[rangerk9]

<SALUTE> to an AF brother!  I grew up an AF NCO brat.  I am here today to type to you because of the AF - in more ways than one.  I fell out of many of your aircraft and the AC-130 came as a blessing more than once.  So, thank you to you and all your fellow Airmen/women. 

Your system of using the topper and putting them in the bed is a good one!  I have a topper on my truck and can't live without it.  Ya - I ended up with a bunch of surgeries and hardware in me, so the pedal assist sure makes it more do-able and enjoyable.  

[Harley]

Finishing up a week of spring turkey hunting in the Montana badlands. Endured a couple of nights at 24° F. Our Ollie performed flawlessly. Couldn't be happier.

 

[taylor.coyote]

 

Mojave Desert/Kelso Dunes Dec 2022

 

our Christmast tree dec 2022

 

Owyhee / SE Ore

Succor Creek / Owyhee Canyon Lands, Ore

Plateau above Three Forks / Owyhee Canyon Lands

 

Taylor Lake/ Plumas county California ... up Beardsley Grade.. should have believed unimproved road sign..  a couple of hours in 4 wheel drive low at 2-3 mph.. very challenging getting turned around.. fantastic location, great alpine lake / fly fishing but not recommended for towing

[donthompson]

I’m camped at Shadow Mountain Designated Dispersed Campsite #15 near Grand Teton National Park.  The road to this campsite may be a little too rugged for the Elite II that I used to own, but I saw an Oliver lower down the mountain when I arrived on Thursday.

[Mike and Carol]

Hey Don, welcome back.  Great pictures!  Your Kimberley looks nice.  Mike

[VBistro]

I’ll update with some Ollie boondocking pics, since when I last posted, we didn’t have VellOllie yet!

1. somewhere near Victoria, Vancouver Island

2. somewhere off of I-80 in Wyoming

3. Meadows Group Campground in Buffalo Creek, CO

[jd1923]

I had no idea this thread was here! We love it. 😃 I was stuck in the Oliver Campers section vs. this Oliver Camping forum. Thank you @Mike and Carol

When we first brought home our Oliver, just this June, everybody kept asking, "Have you gone camping yet?" There was and is a lot of work to do, and the heat of the summer was coming, but it was time to try out the Oliver on a short local trip.

Since the heat of the summer was coming, I thought let's head north and camp at high elevation. We picked Kendricks Peak Wilderness Area. It's a lesser-known northern AZ mountain, as compared to say Mt Humphries of the San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff, or Bill Williams behind Williams AZ, the gate to the Grand Canyon. We can see ALL of these peaks from our deck at home in Prescott, so I've had my eye on Kendricks for years now (distant view, as it is the furthest north peak in this volcanic range). To get there you exit I-40 just west of Flagstaff, head north and very soon you hit washboard dirt roads. We drove another 25+ miles of dirt until we found our spot.

Arizona, and I believe other western states have Forest Service (FS) road maps. When you look closely at these maps (see pic), they show dispersed camping (camping allowed, not campsites) where you see the 'dots' left or right along the side of minor roads. You need to get these FS maps and quadrant maps for where you are traveling. If you do not yet have the Avenza Maps app, get it and download every map where you will travel before you leave home. The map picture is from my phone and the GPS blue dot is where we ended up camping for the weekend.