Car Camping Guide

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The Idea:

In the summer of 2024 my husband and I took an epic road trip across the US. When originally planning our trip, we faced three major hurdles:

1. While we had the time off to take a longer trip, we had a limited budget which would quickly be depleted by staying at hotels for 45+ nights.
2. With a trip of such a long duration we did not want to lock ourselves in with booking hotels in advance, which would result in a very rigid schedule. At the same time we couldn’t rely on hotels being available last minute, since it was peak summer season when hotels routinely sell out.
3. We planned on visiting many national parks along our route, and in addition to the hurdles mentioned in #2, many parks have no hotels within its boundaries or very close by, which would add hours of driving time each day just to commute to and from.

After going back and forth for several days on how we could possible make a trip of such duration work while maintaining flexibility and staying within budget, we came up with an unlikely yet brilliant idea: car camping. You might wonder as to why we didn’t go for full-on outdoor camping instead, but since neither my husband nor myself had camped before, and we were going to be visiting national parks with dangerous wildlife, as well as being far North where temps routinely dropped below 50F each night, we felt that this would be the perfect balance for us beginners.

The Benefits:

By camping in our car instead of checking into a hotel each night we were able to save thousands. Additionally, sleeping in our car allowed us to stay in or right near national parks, saving us hours of driving, and allowing for unparalleled natural experiences such as viewing wildlife up close at all hours, beautiful sunrises, sunsets, night skies with epic stargazing, sleeping in raging thunderstorms, and waking to the most beautiful landscapes. All official campsites that we utilized (both NPS sites and state-owned campsites) had a spot with shade to park our car, as well as a picnic table and fire ring. Most state-run campsites we stayed at had additional amenities such as firewood, ice, and sometimes even a common room with games and the like. We grilled supper most nights and had campfires with roasted marshmallows. In the morning we were able to daven in privacy amongst the trees, and enjoy a hearty breakfast before moving on. A benefit to car camping over tent camping is that on the rare nights that it rained (this happened just twice on our trip) we stayed dry and did not have to deal with wet equipment when packing up in the morning.

The Drawbacks:

As amazing as saving thousands and sleeping in beautiful locations was, there were some drawbacks to sleeping in our car.

• Finding a spot to sleep in each night was harder than researching hotels would have been, and some nights we were unsure as to how legal it was to stay overnight in a particular spot. Thankfully we were never woken in the middle of the night and asked to move. Note that most large-city ordinances prohibit sleeping in a vehicle overnight on public property (including store parking lots), so we always checked into a hotel when staying in a city overnight.
  • The National Park Service (NPS) does not allow overnight camping in any national parks outside of established campsites
  • The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allows free dispersed camping in hundreds of national forests and other BLM-managed sites
  • We found NPS campsites to be expensive for the lack of amenities- there are usually no showers or power hookups, and sites in popular parks sell out quickly or do not allow advance reservations, and are instead handed out on a first-come-first-serve basis. That being said being able to sleep within unparalleled beauty is worth the price tag.
    • NPS campsites are between $20 and $30 per night
    • Even with reservations selling out quickly and most campsites being fully booked, we managed to find a site every night in our preferred campsite (this is a rarity)
  • State park campsites generally have better amenities on site, such as showers, firewood, and ice, but the camping spaces tend to be more closely together and therefore more crowded than NPS campsites
  • We used iOverlander to find free camping spots in areas with no official campsites
  • We sometimes parked at a Walmart parking lot for the night, since they generally don’t mind campers for a night. We checked in with the store manager to get permission before setting up.
• We had to be mindful to find shower locations ahead of time if we were not sleeping in an established campsite (and most NPS sites do not have showers either, although state-run campsites usually do have showers and more amenities).
  • We used truck stops such as Loves, TA, Pilot, Flying J, etc for showers. Truck stop showers are incredibly clean and well kept, on par with a bathroom in a 4 star hotel.
  • We used iOverlander to find showers that are open to travelers such as some laundromats that have shower facilities, RV parks that allow shower walk-ins, aquatic centers, and truck stops.
• We invested in a $500 portable battery to ensure that we had power on-the-go for cooking since we did not always sleep in established campsites, and even when we did, most NPS campsites or state-run tent-only sites do not have power hookups.
  • See “The Equipment” section below
• On some nights when the weather was particular cold or windy it was tough to cook outside and to get a campfire going.
• On nights when the weather was warm (60F+) the interior of the car would not cool down til several hours in, which would make sleeping difficult. We never attempted car camping if the forecasted low for the night was above 65F, but rather checked into hotels on those nights (thankfully this was only an issue further down south, on our route home).
• Setting up the car each night and packing everything up each morning took approximately 10 minutes, and while not an inordinate amount of time, on the nights when we settled down late, or were tired after a long day, it was annoying to deal with.
• Getting a car properly ventilated is not easy. It took us a while to get it right by keeping the windows down (with screens and blackout shades), and with two cooling fans running all night.
• We were driving our leased vehicle, a small Mazda CX-30 SUV. While not a downside of car camping in general, us having such a small car led to it feeling rather cramped at times, as my husband just about fit lengthwise (he’s 5’8″ and our sleeping space was 73″)- since I’m shorter I did not have that problem. A general downside of car camping is that unless you’re driving a massive SUV, there’s no way to sit up fully when the bed is set up for the night.

The Equipment:

• Large Storage Containers
  • We kept all our food, cooking equipment, and other supplies in these containers
  • See article here detailing our cooking equipment and how we managed on the road with limited access to kosher food
• Inflatable Mattress
  • This inflatable mattress was a perfect fit, as it is designed for small SUV’s. Using a regular mattress would have created uncomfortable empty spaces, and not have utilized the available space fully.
• Mattress Topper
  • This mattress topper was a perfect fit, as it is designed for small SUV’s. Using a regular mattress would have created uncomfortable empty spaces, and not have utilized the available space fully.
  • We opted to use a mattress topper on top of the inflatable mattress, as we did not think it would be comfortable sleeping directly on an inflatable mattress. Indeed this setup turned out to be perfect, and was super comfortable. We never suffered from aches, and woke up rested and refreshed each morning.
• Windshield Cover
  • We were not very happy with this purchase as it had a tendency to slip down and not cover the windows fully. On our next trip we’ll probably try something like this, which will hopefully hold better.
• Window Screens
  • This allowed us to keep the windows open for some air, without worrying about bugs joining us for the night
• Window Shades
  • This kept the sun out each morning until we were ready to start our day, and kept the interior private as well
• Window Curtain
  • We used this for the trunk window. After struggling with the curtain rod and having it fall down multiple times during the night, we placed velcro around the trunk window and on the curtain, and just velcroed the curtain into place each night.
• Cooling Fans
  • These fans work off battery that are rechargeable using a USB C- we kept them running all night and it kept the car interior cool and well ventilated. On colder nights we utilized just one fan.
• Portable Power Station Battery
  • Since we did a lot of cooking on the go, we needed something that was rechargeable and powerful. See article here detailing our cooking equipment and how we managed on the road with limited access to kosher food
• Car Organizer
  • We used this to keep some essentials near our persons each night such as our phones, books, glasses, etc.
• First Aid Kit

The Setup:

1. Place our backpacks, cooler, and some odds and ends on the driver and front passenger seat
2. Move the driver and front passenger seat all the way forward til it touches the dashboard
3. Take the two large storage containers containing all our supplies from the back passenger seat and place it on the floor between the driver/front passenger seat and back passenger seats. This serves as support for the mattress.
4. Fold down the back passenger seats
5. Unroll and inflate the inflatable mattress that’s stored in the trunk over the flat back passenger seats and trunk
6. Unroll the mattress topper and linen that’s stored in the trunk over the inflatable mattress
7. Place windshield cover over windshield
8. Place window screens over two rear passenger windows, roll down window a few inches for ventilation
9. Place window shades over front and rear windows
10. Place window curtain over trunk window
11. Clip two cooling fans onto interior grab handles

The Verdict:

The trip turned out to be incredible, and the sleeping arrangements, while sometimes trying of our patience, was comfortable and allowed us to see some amazing sites. We would never have managed this trip if not for this setup, and would do it again in cool weather without thinking twice (although I think we’re ready to upgrade to regular camping next🙂).

About Post Author

globetrottinggeek

Visited 45/50 US States Visited 30/63 US National Parks