Sleeping in your vehicle can be an extremely rewarding experience.
With the right gear, sleeping platform, and supplies you can save hundreds/thousands of dollars by nixing hotels and plane tickets.
You also gain a more hands-on experience when traveling to your destination. Some say that the journey you take when car camping can be as rewarding as the destination.
Plus, having a comfy car camping platform or set up with familiar items in your backseat can give you a sense of “homeliness” even in the strangest of terrain.
I remember driving my 4Runner across the country alone for the first time, and while traveling through Nevada during a windy day with sporadic dust storms and smoke from nearby fires it felt like I left planet earth.
The comforts that I’d brought with me (trusty sleeping bag, pillow from my bed at home, Hele Box sleeping platform, and fly fishing rod that’s been with me to the ends of the Earth) helped reground me when anxiety was creeping in.
If you are running through your checklist of things to pack for an upcoming car camping trip - don’t forget to add these apps to your list and phone before heading out:
Trails Offroad & On X Offroad - are two of our favorite apps for finding dispersed car camping sites.
Both have difficulty ratings on trails as well as helpful updates from users and admins about potential obstacles.
Use these ratings and obstacles to determine if your vehicle is suitable for making it to your desired campsite.
Pictures and waypoints on the maps will often show what the camping opportunities are.
If you like to fish… they also show how close the trails and campsites are to water sources.
You can even download the maps of specific states so you can stay on trail no matter how far off the beaten path you go.
iOverlander is another great app that will help you find a place to rest for the night in even the most unexpected places.
While TrailsOffroad and OnX focus on off grid trails and sites, iOverlander doesn’t discriminate.
The app is powered by users who’ve personally spent nights at the locations.
There are coordinates to everything from parking lots, dirt roads, and public street parking that’s ripe for an uninterrupted night’s sleep.
Combined they are the perfect apps for mapping out an epic adventure.
If you are looking for a comfier way to sleep in your vehicle + improve the organizational capacity, check out the Hele Box sleeping platform!
It’s a lightweight sleeping platform designed to fit almost any SUV/Van/Truck on the road today.
The case it comes in doubles as storage and fits underneath the sleeping platform and the whole system weights around 25lbs.
If you are looking for a helpful checklist to run through before hitting the road, check out our Ultimate Car Camping Checklist.
Safe travels!