West Rockdocking Dingos

[Ray Eklund]

We have returned from the AS factory at Jackson Center, Ohio and have the highest regard for the entire staff. Thank you ALL for making this 1100 mile trip from Denver worth every foot of travel... and the 1100 mile trip back.

Now to business. Nancy, myself and Blue Heelers (Blue and Dingo) would like to see if the Forum overseer's would permit a Forum for Rockdocking. Probably the closest definition of Rockdocking is camping without hookups, asphalt, probably cell phone service, NOTHING but living out of your Airstream and what you provided for yourself. From speaking with a number of AS owners at the terra port at Jackson Center, there are very few of us out there (I always say west of Hays, Kansas). Mostly in the area west of the 101st line of longitude to eastern California. This is the LAST of the western frontier and it is getting tougher to find many places that you cannot get a trailer of 25 foot or less into the area. Dirt, gravel and unimproved roads are our domain.

It takes a special kind of trailer owner and tow vehicle driver to navigate these areas. Maybe 10% of the trailer market will be owned by those brave enough to test their equipment the way we do, and special preventive maintenance is a requirement for Rockdocking. I would put this kind of forum in the Western US travel, but would include much of the world that falls into off road trailer uses.

Any ideas, constructive criticisms? We enjoyed the meeting of AS owners at Jackson Center, but they considered a Walmart parking lot as Rockdocking... Our trailer adaptations are unique to off road camping.

[CanoeStream]

Hi Ray -- You've found the boondocking subforum. I'll bring this up to the mods.

[mandolindave]

My brother and I use to tour in a modified beat up toyota, before we graduated to a Mercedes with the lift option. Some might call it car camping but we considered ourselves punks if we slept within five miles of a vehicle, or in a tent.
What I noticed is that there was very often some kind of barrior, to prevent
vehicles from getting to the really cool spots. The road engineers would either leave a natural obstruction or create a barrior. A few times we
encountered sand pits, that were real easy to get stuck in. I know a few places where Hummers can't fit thru because they are too wide.
We perceived this to be a good thing. RVs can really disturb the beauty and peacefullness of a wilderness area.
One of the fears we had was about the reported thousand and higher dollar tow fees, from some state parks, and BLM areas, to the nearest auto repair location.
My point is that hiking boots should be mandatory equipment for rockdockers.

[Boondocker]

My personal thoughts are that there is a special forums heading for boondocking already. I don't see the upside of adding another section for the same thing on the basis that what everyone else calls boondocking you want to call rockdocking. Maybe I am missing something here, but since you asked, thats what I think.

[mandolindave]

Boondocking is camping with no hook ups, for free

Rockdocking is wilderness RV camping. ( A practice the some hikers and tree huggers might perceive to be not green )

[Stefrobrts]

I've always thought boondocking includes wilderness camping - ie camping out in the boondocks. I never considered WalMart parking lots to be boondocks, that's just parking.

[azflycaster]

I am trying to understand the difference myself. I boondock alot, but do I rockdock? One spot I went to twice this year has disperse campsites. We had to travel 3 miles of rough but drivable road at 15-25 MPH. There were rocks in the road. The camping was without any hookups. I would call that boondocking, would it qualify as rockdocking?

[markdoane]

Isn't "rockdocking" just boondocking raised up a notch? I'm with Stephanie. Walmart parking isn't boondocking.

If it's a new word you should copyright it and develop a high tech line of RV lift kits and sleeping bags.

[CanoeStream]

Look at the pics at this post and the next two that follow it. These are good examples of boondocking IMO. It could get confusing understanding any difference between 'rockdocking' and boondocking with topsoil underneath. Camping at a NFS site with a picnic table, fire ring & pit toilet isn't boondocking to me. To many, pure boondocking means finding a wide spot at some out of the way location. How is that different than rockdocking? Natural vegetation does stand in the way of "going your own way" for most of this broad country.

[azflycaster]

OK, we had a fire ring made from rock, no table and no pits. I still call this boondocking...

[Janet H]

Our usual practice when setting up subforums is to wait until there are enough threads about a certian topic to populate a new subforum. Empty subforums are kinda depressing. Some recent examples of forums set up to meet need include Global Streaming and Dollars and Cents.

Personally, I think the the regional subsections in the boondocking forum are a questionable use of space. If we didn't already have those I might be more inclined to add more sections. In the boondocking section there are 104 threads total. There are 8 subsections. It's very sparsley populated.

The regional subsections were proposed as a way to ID good places to camp, but we have a reviews sections for that purpose. The subsections (IMHO) fail the sniff test for forum discussion topics. But once a section is set up, it's tough to undo it because there is content there that should be kept.

A better Boondocking section might be:

Boondocking (section header and place for general discussion)
>Urban Boondocking (subsection)
>Boondocking off the Grid (subsection)


I'm not sure folks know the term rockdocking and might find it confusing... even these (above) proposed sections might be too many for the topic.

Or ... we could reduce the number of existing sections, by combining some of the regional areas and settle on 4; Eastern US, Western US, Canada, South America so the Boondocking Forum could look like this:

Boondocking (section header and place for general discussion)
>Urban Boondocking (subsection)
>Boondocking off the Grid (subsection)
>Eastern US (subsection)
>Western US (subsection)
>Canada (subsection)
>South America (subsection)

[Boondocker]

Boondocking is properly considered to take place in non-urban areas (see below) that additionally are not established/formal campsites. Confusion is added by the desire of some to bring hookups into the definition. While boondocking by definition excludes hookups, the lack of hookups does not imply boondocking. Futher confusion arises from the tendency of people who are prone to boondocking also being prone to non-hookup established sites (national forest for example) and sharing information about those sites in bookdocking conversations. Despite the inclusion of parking lot camping in some peoples discussions, it is not really boondocking. For this reason, I think the cheap or free designation for that type of camping is better than urban boondocking.

Frankly, I fail to see how using the term rockdocking can do anything but add further confusion to the topic while adding nothing of further merit.

From the free dictionary:
boon·docks (bndks)pl.n. Slang 1. Wild and dense brush; jungle.
2. Rural country; the backwoods.
__________________

[Ray Eklund]

Thank you for the input moderators. All new concepts are looked at as an alteration of something that already exists. Birds fly, people do not in the 19th century thought until the 1880's... There is a difference in Boondocking (today's definition) and the new term Rockdocking. Boondocking has been degraded into having no HDTV hookup...

Tree huggers, environmentalists, hikers, survivalists all want to protect their way of experiencing the out doors. My father was a Montana Forest Service employee in the early 1950's. I know what a cabin without ANY services is like as a kid. I am more comfortable in a cabin than living in an apartment building somewhere talking about roughing it in a tent for the weekend.

It is a bit embarrassing for an avid back country hiker, tent camper finding a trailer following their footsteps into the wilderness. The west is full of wilderness areas. Once a road has been opened, "they will come". They are RV's, trailers, ATV's, tent campers, fisherman, hunters and so on. The one forum post has the impression that tent camping is the only Rockdocking option. I have to admit, tent camping does meet ALL of the necessary lacks thereof... Hiking boots. Yikes! What kind don't I have in foot attire for the out doors. I can do pretty much what my Vasque boots with Vibrum soles (3 pairs from 1972 to 1985 still being used and resoled) with the much improved sandals available today. I am a geologist and went where I need to be. Usually further away from the lights of a town than most people can imagine.

I saw the trash, plastic bottles, cigarette butts left by the friendly environmental hikers in the wilderness. I see the trashed camping spots left by hunters. I see the National Forest camping areas trashed by the local kids drinking and raising hell... and then leaving it sit there. I see the bullet hole riddled signs. Lets not fool yourself that if you are living by the rule of "you carry it in, you carry it out" that everyone does. Many do not. Most of the environmental persons are younger, college age people who think they have discovered something "new". My trailer is our base camp. It was similar in 1804 as 1849 and 2007. Just there is less of it to discover.

Rockdocking is NOT Boondocking. The idea needs to be defined by the people who do press the envelope a bit more. Rockdockers must distinquish themselves from the majority who consider it "roughing it out" at Yosemite or Yellowstone. There is a common bond between the people who do know the outdoors, fight insects and can make repairs on the spot. Like hearing the hollow sound of a counterfeit coin dropping on to a hard surface, the real Rockdockers know at a glance. You cannot be an imposter when out where nobody else dares to travel with a trailer, by yourself.

This in no way demeans the tent camper and back country hiker/camper that does push Rockdocking to the ultimate level. I have been there, seen it, done it and since 2006 leave the tough stuff to those who are still pushing... pushing on the envelope. I have paid my dues and now wish to make the best of it with my Airstream. Some may not like it. But there are pioneers to be found, even today. Share this space and accept the fact that others are going to be following your trail, no matter how simple or how primitive a start. I appreciate the vigor and miss the company.

[markdoane]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

. . .Rockdocking is NOT Boondocking. The idea needs to be defined by the people who do press the envelope a bit more. Rockdockers must distinquish themselves from the majority who consider it "roughing it out" at Yosemite or Yellowstone. .

You made up the word, so I guess you can define it anyway you want. Go over to Wikipedia and make an entry.

It also sounds like you want to write a book about how to camp in the wilderness. I think you should do that, I would like to buy the first edition.

[mandolindave]

So sorry. It appears that I have hit a raw nerve, and perhaps spoken out of turn. Could you devine exactly what rockdocking is.

I was really just trying to share some observations I had when camping
15 miles from a dirt road that was eight miles from a paved road. I used to enjoy ( a little to old to carry 50 lbs for 30 miles ) camping where it was
hard to get to. Trying not to leave foot prints, so the next hiker could pretend
that he ( or she ) was the first person to ever be there. Even now that I own a trailer, I am still glad that there are places that even jeeps can't get to.

[urbanfood]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

Rockdocking is NOT Boondocking. The idea needs to be defined by the people who do press the envelope a bit more.

it's tough to argue about what rockdocking is because it's not a word (i listened to more than enough semantics and made up words in architecture school). however, the way you have described it sure sounds like boondocking to me.

the idea to create a "rockdocking" sub forum is silly. if that would happen, then i and every other member (kevbo is the first to come to mind) would be putting in plugs for made up words to try and get a sub forum created.

i admit, everyone likes to feed their own ego, myself included, but trying to create a subforum for a made up word is just plain silly.

[Ray Eklund]

I have to admit there are some cliffs not worth climbing, nor holes worth digging into. I sure had fun at first on the forums, but then reality rears its head and the fun evaporates. When the critics out number the enthusiasts, it is time to check out.

I appreciate those who have shared ideas with me in the short time I began adding to these threads. You are the ones who made my time spent on this forum, promoting Airstreaming as a sport for those still remaining young at heart, rather than a parking lot gathering for the elderly. You will find me among those trails of dust in the west, enjoying the company of those whose paths we may meet.

May your water always taste sweet and your memories of the good times Airstreaming always draw a tear. My wife and I have been blessed with the company of our two Blue Heelers, some occasional Rockdocker, and there is nothing else I need to finish the circle. Thank you for listening. Good bye.

[TBRich]

Ray...I am sorry to see you go. I have admired your enthusiasm to take boondocking to an extreme form...and really get off the beaten path...with an AS in tow, none the less...and your willingness to share your experiences with those of us who are less inclind or perhaps not brave enough to enjoy our Airstreams the same way.

Whether what you have call "rockdocking" is really more than boondocking to an extreme, I don't know...I thought I understood it to be just that—an extreme form of boondocking. You seem to have a different view somehow, and that's OK, I reckon. It seems a matter of semantics to me. Whether "boondocking" justifies a subforum of its own is really a decision for the forum administrators.

What bothers me most about this whole discussion is the feeling I get that somehow the way I chose to—and am able—to enjoy my Airstream is somehow a lesser form of Airstreaming than someone who has the wherewithall to go into the wilderness with thiers. Of course we each have our own druthers in how we enjoy ourselves in the Airstreaming community, but that doesn't mean that someone who enjoys RV parks with full hookups or who likes to stay in Wal-Mart parking lots to save a buck, or who enjoys dry camping in national forests with fire rings and picnic tables is any less of an Airstreamer than those who travel miles on gravel roads or worse to take it to the edge. We are all Airstreamers and we ought to be able to appreciate and respect everyone's preferences in how we chose to enjoy our Airstreams.

It's disappointing see you leave the forum because you might not be able to have a subform called "Rockdocking"...rather than finding a way to bring your particular form of AS enjoyment to the larger community so that you can exchange your thoughts, ideas and experiences with those of like mind within the community. Not everyone will become "rockdockers" but there is a substantial segment of the community that heartily enjoys boondocking...and your audience is there. Who knows...if you stuck around perhaps you could draw out some of the more adventurous of them.

Take care of yourself,
TB

[C Johnson]

Rockdocking......hmmmm......most definitley a made up word.

Having said that, I have had my Airstream in places that 99% of the folks on here wouldn't dream of taking their aluminum bubble. I was VERY careful during travel. Read, slow going, where the road is nothing but large rocks and small boulders. I had no problems with my Caravel en route. I got to camp within 15 feet of lakes edge with the nearest camper about a half mile away, at least. Not to toot my own horn but this wasn't an easy task. I have taken my TT where the only way I could tow it to the CG was in 4WD because the last stretch of gravel was too steep for 2WD towing a TT. The upside, I was able to recreate in total comfort in my Airstream. I could watch my fishing pole from the kitchen window while making dinner. I doesn't get much better than that.

I am unable to back pack due to stupid decisions in my younger days that ravaged my spine, so this is the best I can get. And no I am not telling where this is !!

So yes, I have had my AS where most Airstreamers wouldn't tow their silver tube. To those who have seen my Caravel, It doesn't look like I have taken it to the backwoods does it ?

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

OK, we had a fire ring made from rock, no table and no pits. I still call this boondocking...

And before you left, did you disperse the rocks and ash so you couldn't tell there had been a fire there? If so, great. Leaving no trace should be part of rockdocking.