Favourite frugal places to camp in North America

[Stella]

I am putting together a list of places to camp and I thought I'd throw the question out to this group, since many of you are well traveled. What are your favourite camping destinations? I am in the Midwestern U.S. but we love to road trip, so I am interested in hearing about places near and far. :)

Also, maybe it would be fun to put together some kind of sticky post for the travel forum where we could share information about our favourite frugal travel destinations of all kinds. It could be fun to see where others have been and hear their tips. I know we can ask those questions here, but when we are trip planning there may be areas we would never think to ask about unless someone else mentioned it. Just a thought to see if anyone else is interested.

[Rosemary]

In Arizona:
Beaver Creek, near Sedona but on the less crowded side of the highway. Great place for an easy backpacking trip since the trail isn't that long, there's a swimming hole, and if you have a water filter you don't have to pack in all your water.
Fossil Creek, near Payson: beautiful place that doesn't look like the desert.
I used to love camping in the mountains just north of Flagstaff and on Mt Lemmon in Tucson, but there have been so many forest fires in recent years that I don't know what's left of the forests.

In New Mexico: Pecos Wilderness, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Went backpacking there, not sure what is available for less remote camping. Also, somewhere outside of ABQ went somewhere with natural hot springs, very fun.

In Minnesota:
Whitewater State Park - no mosquitoes, and abundant fireflies... the woods glitter with them! Beautiful place, and the park arranges fossil-hunting excursions nearby. The group camp sites are carved out of the woods.
Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park - group camp or walk-in sites (I don't care for big campgrounds). Great place to hike and let the kids build forts in the woods.
Tettegouche - the group camp site isn't anything to write home about as far as scenery, but it is arranged nicely and is very remote and quiet. The trails are great in this park - waterfalls, lake views.

In Virginia:
I didn't camp when I lived there, but if your travels take you there, there are amazing views in the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah areas. I can give you ideas if you end up in that part of the country, just ask!

In Vermont:
Some of the state parks have cabins that don't cost much more than a campsite - worth looking into if you don't need a lot of space and don't want to haul a lot of gear. Didn't camp when I lived there either, but it was my first introduction to hiking and I loved the mountain views at age 9!

[Float On]

Just to promote the local - MO was recently named best trails state. There is wonderful camping and great trails state wide.
I can't even begin to list some of my favorite camping places but we're going to try to hit a few in the fall when it cools down a bit. I haven't taken the boys over to Johnson Shut-Ins or Elephant Rocks yet. For a quick weekend we usually go camping over at Roaring River - there is good trout fishing and good hiking trails.

http://mostateparks.com/page/60418/missouri-named-best-trails-state

[Dhiana]

My friend and I did the Alaskan Highway, starting in Washington State, up through Canada and the Artic Circle. We even pitched our tent on the back of the ferry from Alaska down to Bellingham, Wa. So we didn't need to book a room on the ferry.

Planned our entire 3 week trip using the Milepost Magazine. An amazing experience!

[fidgiegirl]

Tettegouche - the group camp site isn't anything to write home about as far as scenery, but it is arranged nicely and is very remote and quiet. The trails are great in this park - waterfalls, lake views.

We got engaged at Tettegouche!!

There is an old logging camp that is a 1.5 mile walk in with four cabins you can rent. You can even cook inside and there are fireplaces in them and heaters. We have been about 5-6 times. For little people, the hike in could be hairy, but for adults/older kids, it would be an awesome fun time. It can be pricey in high season at almost $100 a night, but there are discounts in the off seasons.

I was at Savanna Portage State Park last week and it was quiet and wonderful. I had a walk-in site, but there was a quiet campground with a small lake and a variety of boat rentals, a play field, easy and abundant hiking, geocaching stuff you can check out from the office. I enjoyed myself a lot.

My fave: Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park. Beautiful, clean showerhouse/toilet facilities, a river running right by the campground for fishing, and near Historic Forestville (MN Historical Society site) - an old town that dried up when the railroad never came. The store was shut up, fully stocked, and not opened for 50 years. They have the first-person interpretive program going on in the house, barn, grounds, store, etc. Very fun. And then there is Mystery Cave (additional fee). Tours are available. The cave is great and it is wheelchair accessible.

Hey, there is a MN State Parks Passport. You can collect stamps toward badges and free nights of camping. I have one and it is so fun, and I have seen a lot more state parks than I would have otherwise seen.

Anyone know anything about Willow River SP in WI?

Stella, I think it would be great to have the list going. We could start a Google Doc or if you get inspired, you could start it up on your blog.

One last one, Pictured Rocks Ntl. Lakeshore in the UP. Gorgeous. We camped at a National Forest campground and it was quiet and cheap. We took boat tours and hiked and swam. Beautiful.

[fidgiegirl]

Dhiana, LOL about the tent!! That is frugal travel at its best!

[Tussiemussies]

In a thread Catherine started about going on vacation I mentioned this to her...There is a family owned and run old-time amusement park which is so much cheaper than the big name parks. They have camping there a huge pool, although you do have to pay to get in, it isn't expensive at all. The name of the park is Knobels. They usually have an old-time live band and plenty of rides for younger children. Down the road a bit they own a beautiful golf course. They opened the watershed in the town which was in pristine condition since no humans had been there at all. There is a seven mile flat dirt hiking or biking trail that is straight there. The park is set in a grove of pine trees and small mountains. They do have a website and it doesn't do it justice at all. They also have times for hand stamps that really is worth it. There are a lot of adult rides and a hundred year restored carousel. One of their rollar coasters is made completely of wood. The whole place is gravel walkways, no hard scaping there. My grandparents and great Uncle had a cottage there so we had the best vacation there ever as kids. We still go back from tie-to-time to reminese.

[RosieTR]

Failing to think of any place in the Rockies that it's not nice to camp! Natl Parks are usually more $ but any Forest or BLM at-large camping is free, usually. The expense is the map to be sure you're not on private land. The season is the key so springtime in low desert, early summer in high desert, mid- to late summer in Rockies or Sierras and early fall in midwest.

[Spartana]

I recommend any of the Calif State Parks if you are coming out this way. Most have very nice camping spots in VERY scenic places like beach front, in the redwoods, etc... The prices vary depending if you are tent camping or getting an RV spot with hook ups. Prices also vary based on location but tent camp sites (which are nice and big) range from $20/night and up to around $35/night. I recently camped for at several places in central and Norcal - Richardson Redwoods SP, Henry Cowell redwoods SP, Big Basin Redwoods SP, Bothe Napa, Bodega Bay SP, Armstrong Redwoods SP, Morro Bay SP, and San Simeon SP - all were great. The state beach campsites are packed in summer - especially in SoCal and Central Calif (which has great state beach camping everywhere) but it is usually less crowded up north. www.parks.ca.gov

[decemberlov]

Buttermilk Falls State Park - Ithaca, NY (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca,_New_York) - we stayed at a wonderful campsite, lots of waterfalls and lots of hiking to be done. They also have a really great night live - lots of live music & brew pubs and the entire town smells like a campfire lol.

[Bartleby]

Tahquamenon Falls Area, eastern Michigan UP. Plenty of great spots between you and there too.

http://www.exploringthenorth.com/tahqua/rcamp.html