Tips for Boondocking in Alaska & Canada

Worried about finding places to camp on your way up to Alaska? Never fear – after our summer of traveling in northern Canada & Alaska there are MANY awesome sites for boondocking in Alaska and Canada as well as campgrounds. Here, we share our favorite strategies and tools for finding dry campsites:  

Throughout the Go North adventure we did live videos over on the Lance Camper Facebook page.

Boondocking along Grey Mountain in Whitehorse, YT, found on iOverlander We are boondocking in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory right now alongside Grey Mountain. We thought we’d take the opportunity to share how we’ve found campsites like this one throughout our northern travels in Canada and Alaska.

This summer we’ve camped mostly off-grid, boondocking and dry camping on public lands and non-hookup territorial, provincial, and state campgrounds. This form of camping is available everywhere and while it is quite different in terrain from say Boondocking in florida the basic principles apply and best of all its free!

First of all, there are lots of pull-offs. For the most part, as long as these are not marked with “No Overnight Parking” and are clearly not private property, they can be fair game. Use common sense and err on the side of caution if unsure.

One of Toms favorite tools to use is google satellite imagery.  We find it useful for finding some of these types of places in advance so you know when/where to look for spot.  Gravel bars, pull outs, and gravel pits are easy to spot in satellite imagery and frequently make easy stops for Alaska boondocking when there are no other alternatives.  When looking at satellite images you can also look for previous vehicle tracks, but keep in mind you cannot see how steep the terrain is in flat images.   

If you want a little more assistance to plan, we have a few tools we like to use to find places like this:

• Campendium.com – also have an excellent iPhone App
• Freecampsites.net
• iOverlander – iPhone App, geared more toward smaller, 4×4-capable rigs but we have seen some big-rig friendly sites on here as well. We’ve found that we are able to make it to a lot of these places with the Lance 1172 🙂

These resources are also great for finding dump/fill stations. Most towns have one, and we also found that many gas stations had them – either free or free with fillup.
Boondocking spot found with The Milepost

Offline Sources

The above resources often need a cell connection (although iOverlander does download for offline). For finding places offline, we have a few suggestions:

1. Visitor Centers – They often know where camping is available from the most luxurious RV park to the boondocking spots (and whether that spot you were eyeballing is on private or public land). They can also point you in the direction of the nearest dump/fill. (Fort Nelson, BC’s Visitor’s Center even had dump/fill stations at their facility.
2. The Milepost – primitive campsites as well as RV parks are noted in this mile-by-mile guide to driving the roads in the north. You won’t want to start your journey without one! Pick one up now on Amazon!

Yukon Territorial Campgrounds

The Yukon has 60 campgrounds available, and we’ve stayed at a number of them. In our experience, they’ve been very well-maintained, in good locations, clean pit toilets, and free firewood for the campfire. The prices are very affordable and they often have many sites available on a first-come-first-served basis.

Most towns in the Yukon have one, but you can look ahead here: ​https://yukon.ca/en/outdoor-recreation-and-wildlife/camping/find-campground-or-recreation-site Camping at Yukon Campground in Dawson City

Overall, Boondocking in Alaska and Canada is an excellent way to further your RVing experience along the way. We highly recommend that you are comfortable with being off-grid for a few days at a time to fully take advantage of your RV’s capabilities and enjoy some of the best and free camping opportunities along the way!

If you have not seen the Go North video series be sure to check it out to see some of our amazing Alaska and Canada Boondocking spots in motion! Learn more at the Go North page.

Want to Learn to Boondock?

Boondocking is the freest form of camping we know, which is why we love it. It does have a learning curve, though. Check out this Guide for Boondocking for Newbies.

Pro Tip: Get the inside scoop on Are Canadian National Parks Worth Visiting?

The Go North Expedition is made possible by Lance Camper Manufacturing, Battle Born Batteries, Truma North America, Dometic, LivinLite.net, Hellwig Suspension Products, and viewers like you through Patreon. Thank you!

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