How Veteran Boondockers Deal With Summer Heat
Digital nomads living full time in their vehicle need to stay cool in summer; here is how veteran boondockers and off-grid campers beat the heat.
The start of summer brings with it a slew of articles and videos with all the familiar tips about hot-weather camping that have been regurgitated year after year for social media likes and shares to the point of ad-nauseum.
So instead of offering up tips that seem impractical, ineffective, or impossible, we thought about just focusing on what actual, real boondockers do, just in case you wondered…
Move to Higher Ground
Pretty much all experienced boondockers do this, at least the ones who prefer to remain mobile. Think 7,000 feet elevation, minimum, if you want to achieve a temperature drop of 20 degrees F or more. If you can get yourself to 8,000 or 9,000 feet, you may find yourself in 70s temperatures instead of 100s. Look for free campgrounds offered by national forests along the Rocky Mountain range from Montana down south into New Mexico (although as I write this New Mexico is having mass wildfires).
Some recommended places to camp…
Vedauwoo Glen, Laramie, WY - 8,400 feet, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, a large, dispersed camping area with several dozens of free campsites. See Map and Details.
Owens River Road, Mammoth Lakes, CA - 7,500 feet, Inyo National Forest, there are dozens of free, dispersed campsites along this road and its spur roads. Tall towering pines give lots of shade, and you’re only an hour away from the east entrance of Yosemite National Park. See Map and Details.
Mt. Shavano WMA, Salida, CO - 7,600 feet, Bureau of Land Management, there are perhaps a hundred free, dispersed campsites on this wildlife management area nestled in the hills overlooking the tourist town of Salida. See Map and Details.
Trout Lakes Campground, Tierra Amarilla, NM - 9,300 feet, Carson National Forest, while more challenging to get to for larger RVs, it’s easily reachable by SUV, van, pickup truck, and small trailer. There’s between 12-20 free, previously used campsites here, lots of tree shade. See Map and Details.
Get a Generator
If it’s not feasible to move to higher elevation, then get a generator and an air conditioning (AC) unit. This is a realistic strategy that all boondockers utilize, including the ones who still head to high ground.
Most boondockers get the smaller 2,000-watt generators offered by Champion (see it on Amazon) or Predator (sold by Harbor Freight). The reason why they prefer these is because they are light weight (even a 10-year-old can pick one up), small in size to carry into your vehicle when not in use, and very affordable ($600.00). These smaller generators can be chained together with a parallel kit (when you buy two of them) to double their output. They typically hold a gallon of gas, which is usually enough to run for about 8 hours.
You can buy a small portable AC unit, one designed for cooling a room in a house and run it in your van or small trailer. A typical 5,000 BTU unit can run from a small 2,000-watt generator and run for most of the day. The challenge to this is that the AC unit will have an exhaust hose that must be directed outside, meaning you’ll have to leave a door or window cracked open. Read more about running a portable AC unit in your vehicle.
If you have an RV with its own built-in AC unit, more than likely that AC unit is either a 15,000 or 13,500 BTU unit, which will be too big to run from a 2,000-watt generator. You’ll need a generator that outputs at least 3,600 watts of power just to get it kick-started. Once the AC unit is up and running, it only needs about 1,500 watts. A generator of that size is going to be too big and heavy to carry into your trailer or vehicle. Instead, you can you buy two 2,000-watt generators and chain them together with a parallel kit to get 4,000 watts.
As an alternative to buying two 2,000-watt generators, you can modify your RV’s AC unit by installing a “soft-start” device, or also known as an “easy-start”. This allows the AC unit to start up more slowly, thus requiring much less power. A single 2000-watt generator can then kick-start a 15,000 or13,500 BTU unit AC unit. Any RV shop, dealership, or mobile tech can sell you one and install it.
Spend the Day Using Other People’s Air Conditioning
Campers who typically do this are digital nomads who live in a single vehicle, like a van or pickup truck camper, who can easily pack up camp and move out with little effort. They spend their day at a Starbucks or McDonalds working on their laptop, then head into a 24-hour gym for a shower, then move to another coffee shop or fast-food restaurant, and wait it out until sunset, before finally driving back into the woods to find another campsite.
The time they spend in town allows them to run other errands, maybe visit a laundromat, a grocery store, or pick up a package.
Realistically, a lot of vehicle-dwellers do this, and it works out just fine for those who spend much of their day on their laptops.
What About Using Solar Power to Run an AC Unit?
It can be done, but it’s very expensive to build this system, it will take up a lot of room in your vehicle and will require a lot of maintenance to keep running smoothly.
You may end up spending about $10,000.00 (give or take depending on the size of your vehicle) in solar panels, batteries, solar charge controller, power inverter, copper cable, and associated parts and tools, just to put all this together, if your goal is to run an AC unit for at least eight (8) hours during the warmest part of the day.
That being said, there are still many full time boondockers that have this kind of system capable of running an AC unit from solar and battery. HOWEVER, and this is a secret, these boondockers still have generators.
Boondocking Sites of the Week
[Visit our Boondocking Map for more Sites]
Homestake Pass Dispersed Area, Butte, MT, (GPS: 45.9263, -112.4052), located in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, about 11 miles from downtown Butte, MT, there are dozens of free campsites located along a forest road heading up to Delmoe Lake. Most people set up camp closer to I-90 for the easier access into town, but there are some shaded and secluded sites further up the forest road. See the map and details of Homestake Pass Dispersed Area.
Buckeye Gulch Dispersed Area, Leadville, CO, (GPS: 39.3081, -106.2503), located along State Highway 91, this is a patch of BLM land paralleling East Fork Arkansas River. There’s a dozen or so campsites here surrounded by tall pines, offering cooling shade. You’re only 5 miles from downtown Leadville. Watch a video and get details about Buckeye Gulch Dispersed Area.
North Beach, Padre Island, TX, (GPS: 27.4773, -97.2740), located right on the Texas shore, about 10 miles from the town of Mustang Island, TX, North Beach is one of four dispersed camping areas at Padre Island National Seashore. The sand is generally firmly packed and suitable for heavy RVs, though high tide is a real thing here and you need to be prepared to pack out on a moment’s notice. A permit is required to camp, but the permit is free and can be obtained at the information kiosk on site. In addition, there is a park entrance fee that must be paid at the gate. You can buy a 1-day, 7-day, or year pass. An Interagency Pass works here too. See the map and details of North Beach.
How Boondockers Wash Their Laundry
Washing laundry while camping off-grid on public lands is something that doesn’t really translate well in today’s computerized, AI-powered times. Most veteran boondockers have their own preferred way of handling dirty clothes…
Visit the Laundromat
A visit to the laundromat is something that happens when boondockers were already planning to pack up and move to another campsite. Thus, stopping in at a town along the way becomes convenient. This is by far the most popular option for boondockers.
The 5-Gallon Bucket Method
It’s actually better to have two 5-gallon buckets, one for washing, the other for rinsing. Buy a brand-new toilet bowl plunger and use that as an agitator. Then one by one, remove an article of clothing and rinse it in the other bucket. Then hang to dry. Watch a video demonstration.
This will probably require about four one-gallon jugs of water…
Which you can buy prefilled for $.50 to $1.00 a piece at Walmart, or
Fill empty jugs at a water-dispenser for $0.25 a jug, or
Fill them for free at an RV dump station (does not require potable water)
Make sure to get jugs that have screw-on caps, not press-on caps, in case they fall over in transit.
A 5-gallon bucket costs between $3.00 to $5.00 at Walmart.
Use Someone Else’s Washing Machine
Every boondocker has friends or relatives that they can visit and spend the night in the driveway. It’s very common to use this time to wash laundry, take a shower, and refill their water.
Buy a Portable Washing Machine
These units will cost between $100.00 to $300.00 depending on how large or how fancy your needs are. You will, of course, need 110v electrical power at your disposal, which means getting a generator, or having a powerful solar/battery system. They consume between 7 to 12 gallons of water per load. These units will spin-dry, but you still need to hang them up.
There are quite a few boondockers who use these.
Donate and Buy Used
Each time you pack up and move to a new campsite, stop in at a thrift store, donate all your dirty clothes, then buy yourself a set of used clothes to get you through the next month.
Some of these places have really cheap clothes, selling t-shirts for a $1.00 a piece.
Don’t bring your dirty clothes into the store to donate; look for one of those collection bins that sit outside. This way they won’t refuse it.
Don't leave your dirty clothes at clothing donation sites - they just get thrown away as there usually aren't sufficient volunteers to sort and wash laundry, then resort by sizes, etc. to resell.
Also, bring your own oxygen tanks. At those altitudes, People of a Certain Age will need it…I know; I was at 3,500 feet and feelin’ the joy!