Canada Boondocking Canadian Style?

[Ray Eklund]

I use to sell Geology Books online and Canadians bought more USA material than Canadian. I have quit for a couple years to 'purge' the large volume into something that I could manage better. Down to 25,000 would be better for my back. A library must have its limits, you know.

At my age of 66, the window of opportunity does become shorter.

One former customer in Houston, British Columbia was my opportunity to ask some questions.

What is up with Canadian Geological Survey bulletins, memoirs and Province Survey papers? The maps are very good and high quality. The geological work is very good and high quality. There are lots of gold, silver, platinum, copper, gemstones, fossils and a wealth of things to be found and discovered.

Treasure hunters from the USA are rarely bashful to head North to Alaska... but what of Canada?

Lakes. Rivers. Forests. Mountains. Plains. Wildlife. Insects. You name it... Well, fishing and hunting, but then again, you fly in and out. Hmmm.

'Well, he says. You need a helicopter to get to most of those areas and they are expensive. Finding roads as you go further north are not to be found.'

Obviously, that eliminates towing an Airstream into the deep Yukon and Northwest Territories and probably much of Canada once you cross the 49th parallel and into the higher numbers of latitude.

Where are the Canadian Boondockers, Off the Grid campers and Base Campers? You cannot all be going to the warmer climates of North America for wintering in the Southwest and summering, maybe in Canada?

Tucson, Arizona is a Canadian Province in January and February. Is it for the Sunlight and low Humidity, or are you saying, we in the USA have it made and make the best use of what we have right outside our doors?

I have yet to see a 'Canada or Bust' banner on trailers leaving Colorado to end up on the Canada to Alaska conduit to our northern neighbors. Is it true about the helicopter and airplane options due to a lack of roads into the wilderness?

What is the secret? I and others want to know. The Canadian $ and the United States $ is very favorable for us to the South to head North.

[mixedpuppy]

Canada has the population of California, most of which live within 20 miles of the US border. Canada is a huge land mass, larger I think than the US, or at least in the opinion of many Canadians. Considering that, the infrastructure is not the same as in the US. From that perspective, it is much more economical to fly into more remote areas. There are however, many roads and rv parks. Boondocking seems less here than the US, but it seems I know more Canadians who have spent time in remote places. I for one am in the snowbird camp as soon as we can...hopefully with a good dose of boondocking.

[wulfraat]

I'm Canadian and love boondocking. Only issue is that I live in the Denver area so I boondock in the states

[cameront120]

Why do you assume that we don't have boondocking?

[Isuzusweet]

Yes we almost have the population of California; yes we are the second biggest country in the world, behind Russia; yes 90% of Canada's population lives with in 100 miles of the US-Can border; yes we have more fresh water lakes than all the other countries in the world COMBINED.

That being said, it can be hard to find good boondocking sites in Canada that do not involve 5-0 knocking on the door in the middle of the night, telling you to move on, especially in South Western Ontario; however with a bit of ingenuity, it can be done just like the US. Knock on any church door and in exchange for picking up litter on the grounds, ask if you could stay the night (get permission sent to your smartphone by text). This can also apply to bars and restaurants where a dinner or breakfast in the morning would be enough to get permission to stay the night; again get permission text to your phone or on back of business card.

Once off the beaten track though the roads can get a bit too much for any Airstream and God help you if you meet a fully load off road logging truck coming down the mountain in B.C, but use common sense and you should be good.

#1 Rule in Canada...Don't trust your GPS as we had a young girl drive into Tobermoray Lake just last week; followed the GPS blindly right into the water.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ake-huron.html

Cheers
Tony

[CarvelLoafer]

There is no shortage of boondocking opportunities in Canada, and no shortage of roads to get to those boondocking opportunities either. Of course most of Canada is wilderness and you might need to fly in and out, but those are not boondocking locations.... no road, no boondock.

Most people I know that like to camp free just head down a cut line in the forest and camp there. But there are many other spots if you are looking. Here is just one site that links to several clues.

http://rvitch.com/forum/index.php?PH...&topic=63712.0

Or if a guy wants to boon dock at a fellow RVer, try https://www.boondockerswelcome.com/

And of course there are always stores and shopping centres that go to this extent,

[KJRitchie]

Any Canadians full time?

[Cyclist]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Any Canadians full time?

We've been full timing for three years. Past summers in Newfoundland, Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon with winters mostly in Arizona and San Diego area. We love the Sonoran Desert.

After spending last summer in the Yukon and northern B.C., my choice for that area would now be a pickup truck with camper. Much easier to boondock and explore down that intersting gravel road that may not have a turnaround. I might have a similar preference for northern Ontario/Quebec, etc. given the many forest access roads. One problem are trees; it's often hard to find adequate space to park a trailer in the wilderness given the dense forest cover.

[KJRitchie]

Do you have to declare a domicile in a particular province? I guess healthcare isn't and issue except when staying in the US over the winter.

Kelvin

[Papa smurf]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Do you have to declare a domicile in a particular province? I guess healthcare isn't and issue except when staying in the US over the winter.

Kelvin

Health care is of provincial jurisdiction and here are the rules for the province of Quebec. In theory this means that I could not like Cyclist roam across the country and still keep my healhcare. I could spend 6 months in the US providing I spend the rest of the year in Quebec. That being said there is no border between provinces and basically as long as you are in Canada nobody knows where you are. Now if you get sick in Yukon and ask to be reimburse for the cost of the treatments the first question you will be asked is how many days did you spend outside of the province this year. You then have the choice of lying or telling the truth. But is that really a choice?

To remain covered by the Québec Health Insurance Plan, all persons who have taken up residence in Québec must be present here more than half of the year. The Régie conducts checks to ensure compliance. Specifically, your total number of days of absence in a given calendar year Calendar year
A year running from January 1 to December 31 of the same year. must be less than 183 (absences of 21 days or less do not count). The departure and return dates are not considered days of absence from Québec.

Persons who do not observe this rule lose their Health Insurance Plan coverage for all the calendar years during which they were absent 183 days or more. The Régie will require that they repay the cost of the healthcare services received during that time.

[gandttimes]

I think one of the reasons that you don't hear about it as much here in Canada is that we have just always called it "camping" as most of our provincial parks and national parks have no hookups.
We camp several times a year in Canada and did so for 3 months last year in BC after we sold our house.
There are many full timers in BC as it us the only province as far as I am aware that has campgrounds open year round. Many of them at ocean sites.
Many that we met last year are from the eastern provinces and with the dollar being what it was, decided to spend the winter in BC where you could get a full hookup site on a beach, walkable distance to town, for $ 550 Canadian.

[mixedpuppy]

Originally Posted by gandttimes

There are many full timers in BC as it us the only province as far as I am aware that has campgrounds open year round. Many of them at ocean sites.
Many that we met last year are from the eastern provinces and with the dollar being what it was, decided to spend the winter in BC where you could get a full hookup site on a beach, walkable distance to town, for $ 550 Canadian.

I'd be interested in knowing where for clarity. There's nothing in the Vancouver area like that. I'd guess out on the island or up on sunshine coast.

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by mixedpuppy

I'd be interested in knowing where for clarity. There's nothing in the Vancouver area like that. I'd guess out on the island or up on sunshine coast.

Vancouver Island. Most RV parks start into the winter rates as of October 1st. The one I mentioned is in Parksville, but most have similar rates which include full hookups as well as cable and Internet.

[CarvelLoafer]

I always consider boon docking to be camping for free not paid campsites. Nothing as sweet as free.

I posted the boondockerswelcome.com link earlier. We are going to meet some fellow boondockers later this month through that site.

[cameront120]

Originally Posted by CarvelLoafer

I always consider boon docking to be camping for free not paid campsites. Nothing as sweet as free.

I aways thought boondocking was dry camping in the midst of nature. Camping for free in mall parking lots seems a different animal altogether, to my way of thinking.

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by CarvelLoafer

I always consider boon docking to be camping for free not paid campsites. Nothing as sweet as free.

Like I said. I think boon docking is an American term? We always look for free sites. Most of our camping was at Forestry sites which used to be free, so I guess we have boondocked for years before we new it.
Now of course most of the forestry sites have charges except for those on the northern part of our Island.
Free is getting harder to find with 26 ft of trailer.

[CarvelLoafer]

Originally Posted by cameront120

I aways thought boondocking was dry camping in the midst of nature. Camping for free in mall parking lots seems a different animal altogether, to my way of thinking.

Good point, the word probably started from the idea of camping in the "boonies". We've overnighted in Walmart, IGA, rest stops, and other places just for enough rest to carry on driving the next day. Now these shots are from Abraham Lake in Alberta where a lot of people boondock, using the more accurate definition of being in the wilderness for free.









So if boondocking is dry camping well we do that most of the time, I'm too cheap to pay for hook ups. That might be different once we get that Argosy on the road, but camping with that Lil Loafer there isn't much need for hook ups anyway.

Its all good when it comes to camping though; free, paid, or whatever. Any day on the road or in the woods with the trailer is better than any day in the office.

[Rocinante]

If this wiktionary entry is to be trusted, "boondock" is indeed an American term with an interesting history.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boondock

[CarvelLoafer]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

If this wiktionary entry is to be trusted, "boondock" is indeed an American term with an interesting history.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boondock

Well I'll be, thanks for sharing that! [emoji848]

[Cyclist]

Originally Posted by mixedpuppy

I'd be interested in knowing where for clarity. There's nothing in the Vancouver area like that. I'd guess out on the island or up on sunshine coast.

Last fall we stayed at Living Forest just outside Nanaimo for six weeks at a monthly rate of $375. A premium site overlooking the Nanaimo River estuary was $400 as I recall. A very nice campground as well and expensive during the summer.