Planning a cross-country road trip this summer? Car camping is one of our favorite ways to explore the US while saving money! After several car camping trips, we’ve learned some essential tips and tricks for making the experience more enjoyable and comfortable. If you’re ready to hit the road and camp on a budget, check out these 10 car camping hacks that will help you make the most of your trip and enjoy the journey.
1. Use a Memory Foam Mattress pad rather than a blow up mattress.
If you’re considering car camping, I would highly recommend getting a memory foam mattress pad rather than sleeping on a blow up mattress. Instead of piling all your stuff on your blow up mattress during the day, you can roll up the mattress pad and keep it clean! You can also cut the mattress pad to customize it to your exact space. We got a double mattress pad and were able to cut off pieces to cover the whole backseat.
2. Black out curtains and mosquito nets are a MUST.
If you’re planning on car camping, you will absolutely need curtains on all the windows. If you don’t believe me, spend one night in a Walmart parking lot without curtains and then get back to me. Not to mention it stays lighter later in the summer, and if you’re exhausted like we are on most trips at the end of the day, you may want to hit the sack before it’s dark outside. Not to mention they’re just nice to have for privacy.
We put up curtains between the front and back seats, on both of the backseat windows, and on the back window. I simply purchased a set of black out curtains and just cut them to size. Then we attached them with tape, and they stayed really well the whole 3 week trip!
Here’s the link to the black out curtains to create your own curtains:
One thing that we recently started doing on our car camping trips was put mosquito netting on the windows, so that we can leave the windows open at night and get fresh air. They fit right over your windows with elastic! This is a MUST have for us since we always seem to camp in buggy places.
Here’s the link to the mosquito nets that we bought:
3. Measure the space between front and back seats and get bins that fit in that space to store camping supplies.
This was one of the smartest hacks we did when planning out our car camping set up. I measured the space between the front and back seats of our Prius, and then went to Target and purchased bins that would fit in the space! We used the bins to store things like cooking and eating utensils, dry food, and other camping supplies.
Click the link below to be redirected to our Amazon Camping Essentials list!
4. You can camp in any National Forest for free!
Did you know you can camp for free in National Forests? During our last cross-country road trip, we discovered this hidden gem—many National Forests offer free camping! You’ll often find pull-off roads and clearing areas that make for a perfect off grid campsite. We stumbled upon some of the most stunning spots, including a breathtaking campsite next to a river in Washington.
Always remember to follow the Leave No Trace principles to keep these natural spots beautiful and pristine for others!
5. Be aware that not all Walmarts allow overnight parking.
Walmart is known for allowing overnight campers. This is a great option if you’re not planning to pass through any National Forests that day, and just need a place to sleep for a few hours. It’s also great if you need some supplies or need to use the bathroom.
Just beware, some Walmarts do not allow overnight parking. We usually call ahead and make sure that the specific Walmart we’re planning to stop at allows it. They will usually have signs up that say no overnight parking. But, if you camp there anyways, you will most likely be rudely awakened in the middle of the night, and asked to leave by the night security guard.
6. Instead of stopping at a campground to shower, use a truck stop shower!
I know what you’re thinking. Truck stop showers? That sounds gross! Because that’s what I thought at first, too. But literally every shower we took at a truck stop during our 3 week trip was so great! The shower room was always super clean, there were fresh towels, and we could even do laundry while we showered which was so convenient. Just a few things to be aware of:
If you try to shower in the evenings or mornings, you will most likely have a wait time. We found this out the hard way on several occasions. So instead, we would plan our shower times around lunch time, re heat our lunch at the truck stop, and do some laundry all at the same time.
There are not many truck stops in Canada. We went to Canada (specifically British Columbia) on our last trip, which was amazing! But we found that there were only a few truck stops, if any, along our route.
7. Buy a National Parks Pass to get into any National Park for free!
The National Parks Pass is only $80, and gets you into all the National Parks for free for an entire year! A lot of the parks are at least $20 to enter (it varies by park), so usually if you’re planning to visit at least 4 parks, it’s worth it!
Here’s a link to purchase your own Parks pass ahead of time online (you can also purchase in person at any park):
8. Pre make meals before you leave and stop at gas stations to re heat them.
This was something that saved us so much money on our cross country trip. I cooked several healthy meals and sides before we left, and then we would stop at a gas station with a microwave and re heat them. If you want to read more about how we saved money on our trip, and get specific meal ideas for your road trip, click here to read a blog post I wrote that topic!
9. Purchase this on the go camping toilet that is environmentally friendly for when you’re camping.
If you’re planning to do any sort of camping on your trip, you need this toilet. I know it sounds weird, but seriously, it was so great to have when in the middle of nowhere!
Here’s the link to the camping toilet:
10. Get these reusable ice holding bags to keep your food from getting soaked in your cooler!
Since we wanted to eat out as little as possible to save money, we needed a cooler to keep all of our food cold. The first time we went on a cross country trip, we didn’t have these ice bags and all of our food got soaked when the ice melted. This past trip, we found these reusable ice bags that hold the bags of ice! Not only does it keep your food from getting soaked, they also have a spout on them so you can use the melted ice for washing dishes!
Here’s the link to the bags:
I hope these hacks were helpful! If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in a comment below!
Thanks so much for reading!
Megan
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