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We love Wild Camping (aka Boondocking) but before our trip to Big Bend, we had never heard of backcountry RV camping in a national park. So naturally we had to check it out and this is the awesomeness of what we found: best camping big bend national park

Almost Free Camping

A measly $10 permit gets you up to 14 days of camping! I call this almost free because anything under $10 a day is cheap much less for two weeks! There are at least 3 areas that are RV friendly for camping: Hannold Draw, Government Spring (we stayed here), and Croton Spring (and here). However, generator use is strictly prohibited (this is where solar comes in handy).

We have family in Cloudcroft New Mexico so we find ourselves out this way nearly every year to enjoy the peace, quiet and the afternoon happy hours on the deck.  When it comes to finding a place to stay we always end up at Lazy Day Cabins and RV Hideaway. jason and nikki wynn If you haven’t visited Cloudcroft, NM it’s this tiny town that sits high above the deserts of Alamogordo, NM.  You drive 5,300 feet straight up the mountain as the surrounding terrain changes from hot desert to piney woods full of elk, wild turkeys and more deer than you can possibly count (and look out for the elk)!

If you’re anything like us, ya know horrible at planning ahead, you’ve probably realized booking a last minute campsite in a National Park can be a royal pain in the butt.  Finding a campground inside Yosemite National Park, in California, might be the most difficult of all…especially if you’re traveling in a large class A motorhome or trailer. camping at yosemite national park

There are three key ingredients to a great town or city: soul, sustenance and youth.  If a town has all three plus scenery or major points of interest (national park, monument, preserve…) or both, then it gets bumped from great town to great destination. hiking in Tucson Tucson has a little of each and made it in our top five destinations for Arizona.

If you’ve ever driven across the vast deserts of Arizona you know it holds many treasures, however few compare to the stunning Mission San Xavier del Bac. The mission is the oldest intact European structure in Arizona and claims to be ‘the best example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the US’.  Affectionately called the ‘White Dove of the Desert” this Baroque designed mission was built in the late 1700’s by Franciscans to spread Christianity to the Native Americans (actually the mission was founded in 1692, but the church you see today came nearly 100 years later). _MG_3532