Overnight parking - any tips for finding?

MJCBH

New member
Hello!
We are just finishing our build and as we start planning on where to go overnight, we have found that we've been having trouble figuring out where it's safe to park overnight. We are located near SLC Utah and would like to start parking at or near some of the trailheads, etc. for early morning mtn bike rides.

Any tips, etc that you use to find a safe, legal place to park? We are aware of the Wal-Mart and Flying J policies and are aware of some of the apps available (ie - free parking apps, etc). Any apps, websites that have been helpful?
Thanks in advance and happy Sprinting!
 

autostaretx

Erratic Member
How's about a "book"?

Buy a DeLorme "atlas & gazetteer" for Utah. Pages 32/33 are a map of who owns what land.

In the National Forests, unless they're signed that it's not allowed, you can do "distributed camping" ... drive along a forest road until you see a spot where someone else has camped previously (evidence of an ex-camp fire is the usual hint). Pull off the actual road and there you are. Since you're not at a "concentration point" like a trailhead, they're probably safer places to spend the night.

There are also many many NF campgrounds.
Ask at local ranger stations and BLM management offices (BLM camping is even looser, but beware of local land users who might get uppity)

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--dick
 
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jvvjvv

2008 V6 Dodge 2500 Agile
"Overnight" app works great..........almost all sites are parking lots in/near city's tho.....
 

Wrinkledpants

2017 144WB 4x4
Hello!
We are just finishing our build and as we start planning on where to go overnight, we have found that we've been having trouble figuring out where it's safe to park overnight. We are located near SLC Utah and would like to start parking at or near some of the trailheads, etc. for early morning mtn bike rides.

Any tips, etc that you use to find a safe, legal place to park? We are aware of the Wal-Mart and Flying J policies and are aware of some of the apps available (ie - free parking apps, etc). Any apps, websites that have been helpful?
Thanks in advance and happy Sprinting!
I've always used common sense. If you want to stealth camp - just look like you're not camping. No chairs outside, no awning use, keep the doors shut. You don't need to look like a paint truck, just don't look like you're obviously camping. There are a number of Sprinter campers here in the downtown area in Denver that may or may not have people sleeping in them. They just look like cars on the street, and it's not illegal to be inside a van that's parked on the street. But, if you start creeping other people out, leaving garbage outside, playing the music loud at night, or having all your shades open while watching porn, you're going to attract some unwanted attention. It's not hard to be quiet, discrete, and polite.

Unless you're in a rough part of town, I've never felt unsafe parking on onramps, road pullouts, or gas station lots, or anywhere in a NF. I've even slept at countless rest stops overnight, usually in the back of a Porsche or Audi. Not exactly inconspicuous. Again - park, use the facility, go to bed. Keep the shades drawn in the back, keep your light use to a minimum, and be discrete. The "no overnight parking" is usually to keep out the multi-day campers.

There are a handful of towns in the west that are fairly aggressive about van dwellers parking downtown (crested butte, for example). Camp off any nearby dirt roads and you're fine. Other than that, if the place you're camping at isn't specifically marked as "No Parking," then I don't see a problem. Even within National Parks, you have quite a bit of leeway parking at TH's overnight.

There's a big difference between camping (multiple days in a row in one spot), and pulling off the road to get some shut eye or parking early for a dawn patrol. I spend most weekends here in Colorado parking in weird places pretty early, and often overnight, for those big days in the alpine. I can't say that I've ever had a problem parking or sleeping, but I'm not staying overnight in a restaurant lot or someone's driveway.

Our Sprinter will look like an obvious expedition rig. We'll stay overnight in big cities, rest stops, gas station lots - everywhere you would normally see cars parked at.
 

lindenengineering

Well-known member
Well just as a related point for reference.
Across the road outside my shop appeared an old 30' motor home and had a young woman in it and cat!
There it remained "camped out" in gritty old Pleasantview Golden unincorporated Jefferson County for about two months.
I could see the rig was having more & more frequent stop 'n look pass bys by Jeffo Co Patrols.
Then the day before yesterday en mass they busted into the rig & took out her cat by animal control and then it was towed off from the side of the road .

The authorities can get testy at times!
Dennis
 

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