I picked this up from a KYD podcast. It’s the three-thirty rule: You travel in a way that you can arrive to your destination by 3:30pm, or only drive for 3.5 hours per day. Staying in any particular campsite for multiple days is a definite plus. Trying to set up camp in the dark is a real bummer.
Isn't it amazing how kids can make things so much better, yet take as much as they give? One thing lost is another thing gained. You may have lost that spot now, but you find even better spots along the journey. And you can always return to that magical spot when he is older, so you continue to make gains as we learn and explore!
Yes, that opening sentence is SO true! If you have seen our how to find boondocking video we found the best site we have ever stayed at this summer. So yes, leave one find another.
We have a Casita and find the "CLAM" type shelter a good addition. It is a good value and easy, to put up. Watch their videos. There are at least 2 sizes. On hard surfaces there are alternatives to staking . In lieu of stakes, rocks can be placed around skirt and lines can be tied to rocks or trees. If not staked or tied securely I would definitely take down in high winds . It can be tethered to camper or car as well. Velcro panels are available.
We completely agree that Casita's and CLAMS make a great pairing. We just purchased our first Clam tent yesterday. We ended up getting the Venture because it is only $134 right now. We love the idea of adding rocks around the skirt.We have another video called Boondocking Gone Wrong. We were in the Scamp trailer and we had mosquitoes coming inside to the point we had to move. If we would have had the Clam as a backup we could have easily moved out to the Clam for the night and saved ourselves the 2am adventure to find a new campsite. Thanks William for sharing about your Clam. Your comment as well as a couple others yesterday convinced us to make the purchase.
Hey... Sorry I didn't get back to you (psychoticgorilla) ... I bought with my partner a teardrop from Canada... DROPLET., out of British Columbia. It's solar, big doors... kitchen... we LOVE it! Anyway... we took her out for our first time in Sept. and after one night up in Portage Valley, we hit this very spot in Hope! (inspired by you guys!). While we were making dinner, 30-40 Belugas swam past...spread out for miles so we watched them for about 30 minutes.... it was amazing! Then.... an amazing rainbow over Turnagain Arm in front of us! Actually... a double rainbow! Just an amazing first time out with the Droplet! So... MANY THANKS!! Hope to run into you out there someday...say Hi!
That is so neat that you stayed in the same location as this video. Love it! And even more amazing that you got a beluga experience. After all our years camping there we have only had that happen to us once. We will keep our eyes out for your droplet. So far it has been an amazing winter camping season with these warm temps. It started off a bit cold, but has been so fun lately.
I really enjoy your Vids! My wife and I will be driving up in 53 weeks from yesterday so I am taking plenty of notes from the information in your videos.
Oh how fun! By then we will finally have our video up for your highlighting what to prepare when driving to Alaska. We keep meaning to make it, but it always gets pushed aside by another topic. We thought it would be fun to talk about blackout curtains, frost heaves, miles between gas stations, windshields, tires, etc.
I find here in Illinois the state parks are similar. Our parks have mostly gravel pads that accommodate much wider RVs than our aframe, so putting anything in front and staking it down can be a challenge. Usually we put our rug down, which is 6 feet wide, and then drag the picnic table to the other side. If the ground there is ok for stakes, we will put our pop up screen house there (we just have a Coleman). Sometimes we have to put it behind our camper. Ours doesn’t have a floor so we have to play balance between rocks and mud. And here the parks are so well used there is typically a lot of dirt/mud at a site. So gravel tends to win lol. In those cases, we use the cheapie stakes since they are gonna get bent up anyway, and try to find a softer spot to hammer them in. We use the guy wires too and are usually able to stake those into easier soil. We are looking at EZ ups in the future. Those have both sand bags and guy wires, and can come with a fully enclosed tent attachment and sidewalls, so we will be able to adjust our set up as needed 😁 Totally understand your need to evacuate your boondocking site though... when my boys were that age, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep knowing a cliff was right outside the door.
The mud/dirt issue sounds pretty tough. We have been leaning towards a pop-up without a floor to minimize our cleaning of the tent, but we never thought about all the issues that would create if we were at a muddy site. Thanks for the insight on that. As for the EZ up it sounds like that is what most small camper trailer owners use and they tend to have pretty good experiences with them. The only issues we ever hear about is weight, size, and it sounds like they struggle in high winds. Sometimes we feel like helicopter parents. It is good to hear we aren't they only family who would have moved out of that sitatuion. Thanks Natalie for sharing.
I know this is an older post, and someone else probably already said this. But how about carry a couple of 5 gallon buckets, fill them with dirt/rocks.. whatever, and use those for or as your stakes?
Here’s quick update on this site. In June 2024 we stopped here with plans to camp. We changed our minds due to the sight of a camper/trailer nearby (50-75 feet away) that was in bad shape. It had several tarps on it, it was on the edge (really a little over the edge) and had a purple/pink knife stuck in the side. I generally do not like to post anything negative; this is meant to be informational.
On amazon if you search for the , Alvantor sceen canopy, you will see that in the description it states that the pop-up has sandtubes for anchoring along will other tie downs. I like this model as well as the one you have. It is simalar to pop open sun shades fot you vehicle windows in how it assembles, with dual doors, but unfortunately, no side shades. But it does utilize sand tubes. I would probably use folding buckets filled with lake water and see that works on cement. Two gallions is 16 lbs. I think. Love your videos. Take care and enjoy .
We have never seen the Alvantor screen canopy before. Love that it has dual doors. Thanks for sharing. 16lbs sounds pretty heavy. I bet that would do the job.
When we camped in our tent trailer in parking lots for swim club meets here in B.C. , we relied on free weights (. 5or 10 pounds) to hold down our portable potty tent or even secure the ties to our awning. Everyone else had big self contained rigs to camp in... not us but the weights worked well to hold the tent down 😁
When space is really tight, I unhook the tear and turn is sideways in the drive...if the site is fairly level. Otherwise I get the tear as far over as possible and I’ve always been able to get my awning and awning room in that spot.
Great suggestion on turning the teardrop sideways. When we were at the campground we noticed they didn't enforce their rule of keeping tents on the concrete pad which was nice. However, we have heard from other people that in some campgrounds they don't allow people to put the tents on the grass which sounds like it would make it pretty tough.
Playing with Sticks I’ve also heard that, but when I asked that question at a few different campgrounds, I was told the rule applies to trailer wheels being off the pad. I guess it really is regional too. State camps vs federal vs private. :)
@@usmc2msu213 I think up here it seems like one of those regulations that is on paper, but not really enforced. I'm also hopeful that it really does pertain to trailer wheels and not side entry tents when it comes to other regulations across the country.
My camping "Little Ones" are now 33 and 16. Not to worry, you will be back at this site before you know it. In the meantime enjoy your Little One(s) to the fullest. xoxo This is the stuff dreams and memories are made of.
L brackets bolted to the bottom of the legs of your tent, then you can have metal or wood footings that you bolt the brackets to so as to hold them. You can put rocks on the base you have made to make it wind resistant.
I meant to ask... was the beach site occupied? is that why you went on to Porcupine? We really loved this area! But I have to say... Portage Valley is also quite beautiful! So many choices in Alaska!
Unfortunately it was the drop off that was left. Our little guy kept going to the edge. And yes the beach site was taken. You are so right! There is always another beautiful free sight around the bend in AK.
@@PlayingwithSticks If stakeing is not possible, I mentioned using rocks earlier. It can be a lot of work. and not always available. Small ones work well around the skirt(critters) but water is probably the easiest to procure. 5 gal. buckets work well and then nothing is disturbed at site.
@@williambranham6249 The water suggestion would be best for us. Plenty of water around in Alaska. And use the buckets would have less potential of ripping the tent fabric vs. rocks. Thanks William for the great ideas.
I had to google what boondocking was but are these okay for tent camping for the day? The first place you were at on the cliffs?m and can you make campfires in that area I’m looking for someplace to camp this weekend besides knik for free but I’ve been looking at porcupine Campground for this weekend.
Yes, they are okay. Tents, vehicles, you name it. Alaska is an amazing place for legal boondocking. As for fires. Yes, you can make a fire in all boondocking locations, well all that are off the road unless there is a fire ban in the area. Porcupine is a great place to camp. Also when Covid is not active it is really fun to camp at SeaView as they have a restaurant, bar, and live music which can be a really fun completely different type of camping experience.
Playing with Sticks I just learned about the recreation.gov website to get information on the camp sites. But I just saw your knik video as well and I was wondering if there was a website to find places like this to camp with a decent view? I usually like to be near the water so I usually go towards where you cut over the small river and I tent camp there but your view in knik was much better than mine.
Just found your channel! Love the tiny camper! We are wanting to downsize ASAP, ours is waaaay too big for the type of camping we do! Alaska looks so beautiful, we will get there one day! Thanks for a great video!
These tiny campers are quite addicting! The first time out you might think to yourselves "what did we just do!" But, the next couple times out you will never look back! Glad you enjoyed the video. Definitely look us up if you make it up here.
In BC, Canada most of our provincial campsites have a number of tent friendly sites available. The normal gravel drive way in and pad but a dedicated, level, boxed with landscape ties, sand pad for a tent. We don't have concrete or pavement pads, mostly packed gravel. However a couple of times we have used a commercial site and been stuck on top of pavement. I always use10 inch ardox spikes for tent pegs and they go trough asphalt pavement no problem. I doubt you'd get them into concrete tho. You do need a plan for getting them out of the ground as they want to stay, even in gravel. Again, rare but it happens, sometimes I've had to pound the spike down, through the tent loop and use another to pound it deeper into the ground. That blows but it does happen. When you remove them from asphalt pavement they leave a small hole and some crumbs of pavement. I just pack the crumbs into the hole and smack that with my hammer and all is good.
BC what a lovely territory! With our love of fishing we often drool over fishing videos of lone open sections of water in BC. In the videos everyone always seems to drive up with their trucks. In Alaska if you can get to the location by truck expect to see more people than you can count on your fingers on any stretch of river. BC and Alberta have such a special place in our heart. We assume the rest of Canada is just as beautiful, but we have never had the opportunity to venture further out than the West Coast of Canada. Definitely very high on our bucket list. Thanks for the tips on the stakes. We just looked them up and they also seem to go by the name "concrete nails." Sounds like they are designed to get through about anything. Out of curiosity what tool do you use to pull them out? Sounds like the hold quite well.
I use a claw hammer, sort of wedge it onto the nail head and pull. If that doesn't work I hook the hammer as before but use the camp axe as a weighted helper, lift it off the ground into the hammer head, repeat. The vibration helps I think.
Hi Drew, great video again. Safety first with children, in one year you can go back to your beautiful spot. Best regards from Italy where we are on a holiday with the teardrop Trailer. 🇳🇱❤️🇺🇸✌️
Glad you enjoyed the video Guido. We can't even imagine how amazing it would be to take a teardrop through Italy. I just picture your trailer rolling over the hills of San Gimignano or some other quaint village in Tuscany. Are you going to make a blog about your travels?
@@guidok3762 The photos sound great. Even if you posted them to a free photo storage website I bet the others in this community would really enjoy looking at them. Safe travels Guido!
That’s crazy that your state parks have concrete or blacktop spots to park. I think every state park we have been to in MN have gravel park pads. I thought some of those were bad but ya a totally hard surface would be tough.
What we thought was crazy was that folks in the lower 48 were saying you weren't allowed to camp anyone off the pads. Come to find out we have the same rules up here as well. Makes sense to preserve the natural setting of the campground, but it makes it quite tough to setup a proper campground. After experiencing this first hand we would definitely prefer the gravel pads like Minnesota. Thanks for the great video you put out on the propane tanks. It is always nice to learn new things.
Hey! My husband and I are in AK for a few days with a rooftop tent set up, we would love to know where your Cook Inlet spot is! I saw in the comments you can’t share publicly but would love to know!
When I saw your camper in that paved site, then you mentioned previous my post, I couldn't stop laughing for several minutes. By the way, I'm going camping this weekend using a reservation I made 6 months ago back when I still owned my teardrop. It's one of the few gravel camping spot in the state park, everything else is paved. Too funny. Anyways, another great video. It's so beautiful there, wish I was there.
Glad we gave you a good laugh Eric. When we shot this video we had a good laugh as well, because I had just responded to your comment about the pavement and then we run into a paved site that weekend. A question we never asked you... was it easy to sell the teardrop? We always assumed they would sell quickly, but we are also learning things are different down in the lower 48. Glad you enjoyed the video Eric. It truly is beautiful here, but after taking a trip to the Midwest this summer we found it sure is nice to have sunny skies and warmer weather every now and then.
I traded my teardrop in for an Aliner at a RV dealership in Idaho. I got little over half what I originally paid, and I owned the camper four years, so I was fine with that. The RV dealership sold the teardrop about a week later. They had it for sale briefly on their website, then sold before you could blink an eye. I didn't expect it to sale so quickly. Anyways, I miss the outside kitchen. I didn't really use it as a kitchen, but it was for storage and easy to get to my stuff. In the Aframe, storage is under the seats and bed, not as easy to get to as the outside kitchen, besides that, I love it. The Aframe is very similar in layout to your scamp, it also sleeps three. But then I think you sleep four as you have bunks.
Sounds like you got your money worth in 4 years. Similar to your situation we miss the galley as well when we use the Scamp. Even though the Scamp is much bigger than our teardrop we find we cannot carry anything more in the Scamp. If you do carry more it has to go under the cushions which is difficult to reach most of the time. We recently made up our mind to take a side entry tent with the Scamp every time we go out. The Scamp lately feels more cramped and difficult to us than our teardrop. We realize it is because to store the items we use frequently we have to put them in places where they get in the way. Bring a Clam popup tent along and the Scamp is back to feeling like heaven! That is neat to hear the Aframe seats 3. I bet with some creative thinking we could probably make it fit four, at least for the next 5 years or so. Thanks Eric for sharing.
Love your TH-cam username! We completely agree three nights gives you just enough time to relax, but not too long that you are ready for your next destination. Glad you are enjoying the channel.
@@achfamoutdoors4181 Haha. Nothing to worry about. I'm not good at holding back surprises. Hope is a one way in, one way out town. You wouldn't make it 3-4 miles past Hope without running out of road. But there is a decent little public campground there called Porcupine if the Boondocking sites are full. If it was us though and the sites were full we would camp at Seaview campground. Fun scene and beautiful views. Boondocking no. But a great experience and I would say a right of passage for you as an Alaskan.
In reference to your tent on cement question i purchased 8 water bladers (gallon rubber inside camel back) they have a grommet in one corner, I use a bungee in the top corner of my tent and hang the bladder full of water. If i may complement Mae in a loving way, She is simply radiant with her baby bump. Safe travels.
Camera sand bags would work Or if you have a hole in the leg's foot, bolt it to a square of plywood and weigh that down or bolt directly to a flat weight
Love the idea of using water. Someone also suggested using firewood. My wife was just mentioning how she really appreciates these ideas where you bring along items you would already be using for other purposes. Sand bags would probably work great, but they really wouldn't have much of a second use out there. Well, for most people. For us sandbags would be great as well because we can use them to support our camera tripod. I bet the bungee method you use works really well in high winds. May says she feels very flattered by your compliment. Safe travels to you as well David!
What beautiful views of the mountains you have at these campsites! I remember these days, Drew and May... Camping with little ones has its joys and its challenges... We used to tent camp with our family ...but we stopped after a while because it got to be a lot with three kids -- ... now, looking back, we regret stopping. We should have picked up a popup and kept it going. Camping here in NYS we mostly find crushed gravel entrances and a decent size grassy area. Sometimes there's a nice patch of soft white pine needles depending on the campground. We try to position the teardrop so it faces the nicest view and angle our car so that the trunk opens near the galley kitchen. We always seem to bend a few stakes because the ground (gravel or grass) has so many rocks! I guess lake views come with rocky soil haha! One of the days during our last camping trip in the Finger Lakes (Seneca Lake), we had a solid day of rain. We were glad we had recently purchased the sidewalls for our canopy which we position right over the galley. This setup saved our breakfast and dinner. We also try to have a "plan B" in case it rains. For this day, we found a nice cafe with free WiFi...they had great coffee and scones. Then we drove around the 40 mile lake and visited more spots ... The rain slowed down enough for us to enjoy a campfire under umbrellas =) As always, great video, camera work and editing! Thanks for all the effort you put into these videos. ~ Maria Ps. I have been working on a very amateur slideshow/"video" of our last two camping trips with the T@G... I'm trying to add a voice over and text here and there... who knows, I might get it uploaded before Christmas LoL
Wow, the way you described your last trip it was like we were watching a video of it! Sounds like an amazing experience. We appreciate your insight on how in hindsight you would have kept camping with the growing family, but a different version than the basic car camping. As we grow we are realizing it will get a bit tougher, but it is good to know there are other options out there. We would love to see your video of your last two camping trips. They honestly sound lovely. We are suckers for small cafes and slow Sunday drives around calm lakes and streams. Thanks for the positive advice and the great support you have shown towards our family and channel. Drew, May, and East.
Mae says thank you, that is so sweet! This pregnancy has been going much better for her than the first. She is finally hitting the stage where getting in and out of the teardrop is getting tough. Looks like there will be some boys only teardrop videos coming soon. Our galley is probably the most boring galley in all of the teardrop world. Due to the bears we really don't use the galley as it is intended to be used. It is more of a storage area for us to carry our gear for setting up camp and hauling supplies like water and our stove. But, it would still probably make an interesting video to share what we carry. If we have the chance to build our next teardrop, or purchase another we would really like to have a larger and more functional galley. Even adding gas springs would be a great update. Glad you are enjoying all the issues. Now that we are getting more videos out there we are excited to be able to give people a more well rounded look at what small camper life looks like before they take the plunge to build or invest.
Hey guys great video! My wife says Mae looks beautiful! We have two little ones and soon you will find out that it takes twice the effort to keep both of them in the campsite lol! From our 2nd camping trip on we made the decision to not get a campsite close to water or steep slopes because it’s just one less thing to worry about! We always carry extra firewood and that’s what we have used to hold down our tent or awning in the instances where hammering a spike has been difficult or impossible.
Mae says thank you! We can already predict the struggles our 2nd one will add. Glad to hear it first hand from you so we can be more prepared. We love the idea of staying away from water and steep slopes. We were just discussing that a few weeks ago. Unfortunately in Alaska you have to work really hard to stay away from water, it is everywhere! Great idea on using the firewood to hold down the tent. Thanks for watching guys!
Great video! Love your cute channel! We had to leave our tent down recently because there was no place to erect it next to our teardrop. One side of our tent slides onto a railing affixed to our teardrop above the door, but we need the side space in order to use it, which is tough if these is not enough room on the campsite. We are contemplating buying a second tent we can place at the rear of the camper if needed vs. having to go without next time. Just watched your recent video on your tent review, thanks. Teardropping is awesome!! Congrats on your new little one coming! Mae looks radiant! Thanks for all your wonderful videos!
Glad you are enjoying the channel. We were really hoping people would get some good information or at least some inspiration from the videos. Like you we haven't found a one size fits all approach. You would laugh, but we actually have 4 different tents we use when teardropping. If we go for a short trip and the mosquito are low in number we take the cheap $20 pop-up privacy shelter and our open air Mountain Smith Shade Dome. If we are going for longer trips we take our new favorite side entry tent with bug netting and our heavy duty pop-up privacy tent. What we love about the heavy duty privacy tent is when we have a situation like yours the tent is still big enough to squeeze in 2 chairs and our Little Buddy heater. It fits nice and tight along the side of the teardrop. This is the tent I am referring to th-cam.com/video/dvbsJDDaYKg/w-d-xo.html. We couldn't agree more with you about the teardropping is awesome comment. When we first started we thought it would lead to us wanting more space and a different rig, but the more we use it the more comfortable it becomes. It is just so small and efficient we find we get out camping so much more frequently than our friends and family. Thanks for the sweet comment about our upcoming little one. Mae really appreciates the sweet comment as well. Safe travels!
Another nice video. Thanks for not giving out the exact location of one of our favorite camping areas. They found it near Talkeetna and now no one can camp there because of too much garbage and other issues. Gotta love those mosquitoes, though they aren't too bad this year.
Glad you enjoyed it Pam. This was one site we have been apprehensive to post. However, this year we have seen it on quite a few channels that have over 100,000 followers so I guess that cat is out of the bag. Without an exact location it is a pretty tough one to find. Sorry to hear about your Talkeetna spot. We can't imagine why anyone would think it is okay to treat such a beautiful place like that. We like to think they are just young kids who haven't matured enough to understand how to respect beautiful places. As for the mosquitoes they were a bit intense down here the beginning of the summer, but like you said overall it has been a pretty low key mosquito year for us as well.
My two cents : I think y’all should consider sharing locations in general. I am assuming the goal of making TH-cam videos is to SHARE.. The idea that some amazing location is “your location” and you should keep it a secret so that others don’t get the chance to explore it, is SELFISH in my opinion. I hear the issue of garbage etc and what is needed is to educate people to behave responsibly and respect Mother Nature!
@@RS-ze1bu Hi RS. I don't know if you had a chance to check out our responses to those who did ask for the location. We agree with you the world is to be shared. We told them if they are coming up here to get in contact with us and we will personally show them the location. We are doing all we can to share this beautiful state with others. As we mentioned in the other comments we have shared all our other boondocking locations. However for this one we personally felt it was best not to openly advertise a location in this small community, especially a community that is not our home. Some locations are best left for the locals to decide if they should be published for the masses to see. We really appreciate your comment. It brings up some great points. Our intention is to be open with our travels and to inspire others to see some of the locations that take our breath away.
Playing with Sticks Thanks! I appreciate your content and efforts. I understand that y’all are being sensitive to locals and I respect their desires as well. Nonetheless, I hope everyone realizes that educating is the solution, not sharing isn’t the solution 😃
@@RS-ze1bu Thank you again for sharing. I know the folks in this community will really appreciate this reminder that it t is our job as a community/collective to educate not to hide great resources from others.
Hi Christine and Pierre. Typically we would have no issue giving out our boondocking locations. However, this one is a bit of a local favorite and we would get tarred and feathered around here if we gave it out. However, when you come up this way just reach out to us and we can help you get there.
We love your channel! We use cattle bells from play it again sports. The 35lb ones are great. We also use it for our owning when in parking lots. in the mornings we use them for working out. Thank you for the content,
Thanks for the compliment on our channel! Glad you enjoy it Shannon. Do you put one cattle bell in each corner or just 2 cattle bells in opposite corners? Love the idea of carrying the weights. We carry our workout stretch bands with us, but this would be a great excuse to bring out our little dumbbells.
There is absolutely no Clickbait here. This Boondocking site is epic and went from our best site to our worst. You may want to Google what Clickbait means before accusing people of it on other channels.Not saying this to be mean. it just can be very rude when you are incorrectly labeling something someone created and spent lots of time making.
I just car camped at #4 Thanks to y’all and had an amazing time! I passed by #6 and gave y’all a shout out 😂 Thanks for this video!
I picked this up from a KYD podcast. It’s the three-thirty rule:
You travel in a way that you can arrive to your destination by 3:30pm, or only drive for 3.5 hours per day.
Staying in any particular campsite for multiple days is a definite plus.
Trying to set up camp in the dark is a real bummer.
Isn't it amazing how kids can make things so much better, yet take as much as they give?
One thing lost is another thing gained. You may have lost that spot now, but you find even better spots along the journey. And you can always return to that magical spot when he is older, so you continue to make gains as we learn and explore!
Yes, that opening sentence is SO true! If you have seen our how to find boondocking video we found the best site we have ever stayed at this summer. So yes, leave one find another.
We have a Casita and find the "CLAM" type shelter a good addition. It is a good value and easy, to put up. Watch their videos. There are at least 2 sizes. On hard surfaces there are alternatives to staking . In lieu of stakes, rocks can be placed around skirt and lines can be tied to rocks or trees. If not staked or tied securely I would definitely take down in high winds . It can be tethered to camper or car as well. Velcro panels are available.
We completely agree that Casita's and CLAMS make a great pairing. We just purchased our first Clam tent yesterday. We ended up getting the Venture because it is only $134 right now. We love the idea of adding rocks around the skirt.We have another video called Boondocking Gone Wrong. We were in the Scamp trailer and we had mosquitoes coming inside to the point we had to move. If we would have had the Clam as a backup we could have easily moved out to the Clam for the night and saved ourselves the 2am adventure to find a new campsite. Thanks William for sharing about your Clam. Your comment as well as a couple others yesterday convinced us to make the purchase.
Hey... Sorry I didn't get back to you (psychoticgorilla) ... I bought with my partner a teardrop from Canada... DROPLET., out of British Columbia. It's solar, big doors... kitchen... we LOVE it! Anyway... we took her out for our first time in Sept. and after one night up in Portage Valley, we hit this very spot in Hope! (inspired by you guys!). While we were making dinner, 30-40 Belugas swam past...spread out for miles so we watched them for about 30 minutes.... it was amazing! Then.... an amazing rainbow over Turnagain Arm in front of us! Actually... a double rainbow! Just an amazing first time out with the Droplet! So... MANY THANKS!! Hope to run into you out there someday...say Hi!
That is so neat that you stayed in the same location as this video. Love it! And even more amazing that you got a beluga experience. After all our years camping there we have only had that happen to us once. We will keep our eyes out for your droplet. So far it has been an amazing winter camping season with these warm temps. It started off a bit cold, but has been so fun lately.
I really enjoy your Vids! My wife and I will be driving up in 53 weeks from yesterday so I am taking plenty of notes from the information in your videos.
Oh how fun! By then we will finally have our video up for your highlighting what to prepare when driving to Alaska. We keep meaning to make it, but it always gets pushed aside by another topic. We thought it would be fun to talk about blackout curtains, frost heaves, miles between gas stations, windshields, tires, etc.
Hi, great video☺️. May I know where this boon-docking located at? It’s so pretty☺️.
I find here in Illinois the state parks are similar. Our parks have mostly gravel pads that accommodate much wider RVs than our aframe, so putting anything in front and staking it down can be a challenge. Usually we put our rug down, which is 6 feet wide, and then drag the picnic table to the other side. If the ground there is ok for stakes, we will put our pop up screen house there (we just have a Coleman). Sometimes we have to put it behind our camper. Ours doesn’t have a floor so we have to play balance between rocks and mud. And here the parks are so well used there is typically a lot of dirt/mud at a site. So gravel tends to win lol. In those cases, we use the cheapie stakes since they are gonna get bent up anyway, and try to find a softer spot to hammer them in. We use the guy wires too and are usually able to stake those into easier soil. We are looking at EZ ups in the future. Those have both sand bags and guy wires, and can come with a fully enclosed tent attachment and sidewalls, so we will be able to adjust our set up as needed 😁
Totally understand your need to evacuate your boondocking site though... when my boys were that age, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep knowing a cliff was right outside the door.
The mud/dirt issue sounds pretty tough. We have been leaning towards a pop-up without a floor to minimize our cleaning of the tent, but we never thought about all the issues that would create if we were at a muddy site. Thanks for the insight on that. As for the EZ up it sounds like that is what most small camper trailer owners use and they tend to have pretty good experiences with them. The only issues we ever hear about is weight, size, and it sounds like they struggle in high winds.
Sometimes we feel like helicopter parents. It is good to hear we aren't they only family who would have moved out of that sitatuion. Thanks Natalie for sharing.
I know this is an older post, and someone else probably already said this. But how about carry a couple of 5 gallon buckets, fill them with dirt/rocks.. whatever, and use those for or as your stakes?
Here’s quick update on this site. In June 2024 we stopped here with plans to camp. We changed our minds due to the sight of a camper/trailer nearby (50-75 feet away) that was in bad shape. It had several tarps on it, it was on the edge (really a little over the edge) and had a purple/pink knife stuck in the side.
I generally do not like to post anything negative; this is meant to be informational.
On amazon if you search for the , Alvantor sceen canopy, you will see that in the description it states that the pop-up has sandtubes for anchoring along will other tie downs. I like this model as well as the one you have. It is simalar to pop open sun shades fot you vehicle windows in how it assembles, with dual doors, but unfortunately, no side shades. But it does utilize sand tubes. I would probably use folding buckets filled with lake water and see that works on cement. Two gallions is 16 lbs. I think. Love your videos. Take care and enjoy .
We have never seen the Alvantor screen canopy before. Love that it has dual doors. Thanks for sharing. 16lbs sounds pretty heavy. I bet that would do the job.
When we camped in our tent trailer in parking lots for swim club meets here in B.C. , we relied on free weights (. 5or 10 pounds) to hold down our portable potty tent or even secure the ties to our awning. Everyone else had big self contained rigs to camp in... not us but the weights worked well to hold the tent down 😁
We were hoping to find someone who used the weights and had success. Thank you!
When space is really tight, I unhook the tear and turn is sideways in the drive...if the site is fairly level. Otherwise I get the tear as far over as possible and I’ve always been able to get my awning and awning room in that spot.
Great suggestion on turning the teardrop sideways. When we were at the campground we noticed they didn't enforce their rule of keeping tents on the concrete pad which was nice. However, we have heard from other people that in some campgrounds they don't allow people to put the tents on the grass which sounds like it would make it pretty tough.
Playing with Sticks I’ve also heard that, but when I asked that question at a few different campgrounds, I was told the rule applies to trailer wheels being off the pad. I guess it really is regional too. State camps vs federal vs private. :)
@@usmc2msu213 I think up here it seems like one of those regulations that is on paper, but not really enforced. I'm also hopeful that it really does pertain to trailer wheels and not side entry tents when it comes to other regulations across the country.
My camping "Little Ones" are now 33 and 16. Not to worry, you will be back at this site before you know it. In the meantime enjoy your Little One(s) to the fullest. xoxo
This is the stuff dreams and memories are made of.
Love this inspiring response to the video! Thank you Paula.
L brackets bolted to the bottom of the legs of your tent, then you can have metal or wood footings that you bolt the brackets to so as to hold them. You can put rocks on the base you have made to make it wind resistant.
L brackets would be a simple upgrade. Great idea Gerard. Love the idea of using rocks from around the campsite. Thank you!
I meant to ask... was the beach site occupied? is that why you went on to Porcupine? We really loved this area! But I have to say... Portage Valley is also quite beautiful! So many choices in Alaska!
Unfortunately it was the drop off that was left. Our little guy kept going to the edge. And yes the beach site was taken. You are so right! There is always another beautiful free sight around the bend in AK.
Nice episode! You’ll get some country in that city nephew!
Glad you enjoyed it! We still haven't had a chance to watch your video on the cost of building a teardrop. We are really looking forward to that one.
Fill up some plastic bags with sand or wet dirt and use that as an anchor for your lines.
Thanks Jack!
@@PlayingwithSticks If stakeing is not possible, I mentioned using rocks earlier. It can be a lot of work. and not always available. Small ones work well around the skirt(critters) but water is probably the easiest to procure. 5 gal. buckets work well and then nothing is disturbed at site.
@@williambranham6249 The water suggestion would be best for us. Plenty of water around in Alaska. And use the buckets would have less potential of ripping the tent fabric vs. rocks. Thanks William for the great ideas.
I had to google what boondocking was but are these okay for tent camping for the day? The first place you were at on the cliffs?m and can you make campfires in that area I’m looking for someplace to camp this weekend besides knik for free but I’ve been looking at porcupine Campground for this weekend.
Yes, they are okay. Tents, vehicles, you name it. Alaska is an amazing place for legal boondocking. As for fires. Yes, you can make a fire in all boondocking locations, well all that are off the road unless there is a fire ban in the area. Porcupine is a great place to camp. Also when Covid is not active it is really fun to camp at SeaView as they have a restaurant, bar, and live music which can be a really fun completely different type of camping experience.
Playing with Sticks I just learned about the recreation.gov website to get information on the camp sites. But I just saw your knik video as well and I was wondering if there was a website to find places like this to camp with a decent view? I usually like to be near the water so I usually go towards where you cut over the small river and I tent camp there but your view in knik was much better than mine.
Just found your channel! Love the tiny camper! We are wanting to downsize ASAP, ours is waaaay too big for the type of camping we do! Alaska looks so beautiful, we will get there one day! Thanks for a great video!
These tiny campers are quite addicting! The first time out you might think to yourselves "what did we just do!" But, the next couple times out you will never look back! Glad you enjoyed the video. Definitely look us up if you make it up here.
Best channel and host on TH-cam.
In BC, Canada most of our provincial campsites have a number of tent friendly sites available. The normal gravel drive way in and pad but a dedicated, level, boxed with landscape ties, sand pad for a tent. We don't have concrete or pavement pads, mostly packed gravel.
However a couple of times we have used a commercial site and been stuck on top of pavement. I always use10 inch ardox spikes for tent pegs and they go trough asphalt pavement no problem. I doubt you'd get them into concrete tho. You do need a plan for getting them out of the ground as they want to stay, even in gravel.
Again, rare but it happens, sometimes I've had to pound the spike down, through the tent loop and use another to pound it deeper into the ground. That blows but it does happen. When you remove them from asphalt pavement they leave a small hole and some crumbs of pavement. I just pack the crumbs into the hole and smack that with my hammer and all is good.
BC what a lovely territory! With our love of fishing we often drool over fishing videos of lone open sections of water in BC. In the videos everyone always seems to drive up with their trucks. In Alaska if you can get to the location by truck expect to see more people than you can count on your fingers on any stretch of river. BC and Alberta have such a special place in our heart. We assume the rest of Canada is just as beautiful, but we have never had the opportunity to venture further out than the West Coast of Canada. Definitely very high on our bucket list. Thanks for the tips on the stakes. We just looked them up and they also seem to go by the name "concrete nails." Sounds like they are designed to get through about anything. Out of curiosity what tool do you use to pull them out? Sounds like the hold quite well.
I use a claw hammer, sort of wedge it onto the nail head and pull. If that doesn't work I hook the hammer as before but use the camp axe as a weighted helper, lift it off the ground into the hammer head, repeat. The vibration helps I think.
Hi Drew, great video again. Safety first with children, in one year you can go back to your beautiful spot. Best regards from Italy where we are on a holiday with the teardrop Trailer. 🇳🇱❤️🇺🇸✌️
Glad you enjoyed the video Guido. We can't even imagine how amazing it would be to take a teardrop through Italy. I just picture your trailer rolling over the hills of San Gimignano or some other quaint village in Tuscany. Are you going to make a blog about your travels?
Hi Drew, Thanks for your answer, No blog yet, I can mail you Some pictures...... sorry! Best regards from Switzerland at this moment. 🇳🇱❤️🇺🇸✌️
@@guidok3762 The photos sound great. Even if you posted them to a free photo storage website I bet the others in this community would really enjoy looking at them. Safe travels Guido!
Hi Drew, I will try to get the photo’s on internet. Best regards!
@@guidok3762 By all means though, if that makes you uncomfortable, we would still love to see them by email. Any plans after Italy?
That’s crazy that your state parks have concrete or blacktop spots to park. I think every state park we have been to in MN have gravel park pads. I thought some of those were bad but ya a totally hard surface would be tough.
What we thought was crazy was that folks in the lower 48 were saying you weren't allowed to camp anyone off the pads. Come to find out we have the same rules up here as well. Makes sense to preserve the natural setting of the campground, but it makes it quite tough to setup a proper campground. After experiencing this first hand we would definitely prefer the gravel pads like Minnesota. Thanks for the great video you put out on the propane tanks. It is always nice to learn new things.
@@PlayingwithSticks ya no problem.
Hey! My husband and I are in AK for a few days with a rooftop tent set up, we would love to know where your Cook Inlet spot is! I saw in the comments you can’t share publicly but would love to know!
If you pull up iOverlander. Just look for sites on the road heading into Hope.
Let me know when you get this message and then I’ll take down this post.
Got it thanks so much! Love your channel!
When I saw your camper in that paved site, then you mentioned previous my post, I couldn't stop laughing for several minutes. By the way, I'm going camping this weekend using a reservation I made 6 months ago back when I still owned my teardrop. It's one of the few gravel camping spot in the state park, everything else is paved. Too funny.
Anyways, another great video. It's so beautiful there, wish I was there.
Glad we gave you a good laugh Eric. When we shot this video we had a good laugh as well, because I had just responded to your comment about the pavement and then we run into a paved site that weekend. A question we never asked you... was it easy to sell the teardrop? We always assumed they would sell quickly, but we are also learning things are different down in the lower 48. Glad you enjoyed the video Eric. It truly is beautiful here, but after taking a trip to the Midwest this summer we found it sure is nice to have sunny skies and warmer weather every now and then.
I traded my teardrop in for an Aliner at a RV dealership in Idaho. I got little over half what I originally paid, and I owned the camper four years, so I was fine with that. The RV dealership sold the teardrop about a week later. They had it for sale briefly on their website, then sold before you could blink an eye. I didn't expect it to sale so quickly. Anyways, I miss the outside kitchen. I didn't really use it as a kitchen, but it was for storage and easy to get to my stuff. In the Aframe, storage is under the seats and bed, not as easy to get to as the outside kitchen, besides that, I love it. The Aframe is very similar in layout to your scamp, it also sleeps three. But then I think you sleep four as you have bunks.
Sounds like you got your money worth in 4 years. Similar to your situation we miss the galley as well when we use the Scamp. Even though the Scamp is much bigger than our teardrop we find we cannot carry anything more in the Scamp. If you do carry more it has to go under the cushions which is difficult to reach most of the time. We recently made up our mind to take a side entry tent with the Scamp every time we go out. The Scamp lately feels more cramped and difficult to us than our teardrop. We realize it is because to store the items we use frequently we have to put them in places where they get in the way. Bring a Clam popup tent along and the Scamp is back to feeling like heaven! That is neat to hear the Aframe seats 3. I bet with some creative thinking we could probably make it fit four, at least for the next 5 years or so. Thanks Eric for sharing.
Totally agree on those ‘1 night in and out’ hassles! My preference is at least 3 nights...but 2 will work. Love your channel!
Love your TH-cam username! We completely agree three nights gives you just enough time to relax, but not too long that you are ready for your next destination. Glad you are enjoying the channel.
Where is the boondocking site that you love that was unsafe for your little guy?
I wish I can remember the milepost. I want to say 12? It’s maybe 3 to 4 miles outside the community of Hope.
@@PlayingwithSticks east or west
Wait a minute! You must be new to Alaska huh? You’re gonna laugh when you think back on your question after seeing the site.
@@PlayingwithSticks yes we are. Now you got me worried ha ha
@@achfamoutdoors4181 Haha. Nothing to worry about. I'm not good at holding back surprises. Hope is a one way in, one way out town. You wouldn't make it 3-4 miles past Hope without running out of road. But there is a decent little public campground there called Porcupine if the Boondocking sites are full. If it was us though and the sites were full we would camp at Seaview campground. Fun scene and beautiful views. Boondocking no. But a great experience and I would say a right of passage for you as an Alaskan.
Great video! Hoping you can go back to your favorite spot once the kiddos grow up a bit. Can’t wait for the next video!
Thanks May! Uncle Sam is the star of the next one. It will be nice to have a change of characters :)
In reference to your tent on cement question i purchased 8 water bladers (gallon rubber inside camel back) they have a grommet in one corner, I use a bungee in the top corner of my tent and hang the bladder full of water.
If i may complement Mae in a loving way, She is simply radiant with her baby bump.
Safe travels.
Camera sand bags would work Or if you have a hole in the leg's foot, bolt it to a square of plywood and weigh that down or bolt directly to a flat weight
Love the idea of using water. Someone also suggested using firewood. My wife was just mentioning how she really appreciates these ideas where you bring along items you would already be using for other purposes. Sand bags would probably work great, but they really wouldn't have much of a second use out there. Well, for most people. For us sandbags would be great as well because we can use them to support our camera tripod. I bet the bungee method you use works really well in high winds. May says she feels very flattered by your compliment. Safe travels to you as well David!
Thanks for this suggestion. We were just mentioning how we need to bring out sandbags for our tripod. Looks like we now have 2 uses for them!
What beautiful views of the mountains you have at these campsites!
I remember these days, Drew and May... Camping with little ones has its joys and its challenges...
We used to tent camp with our family ...but we stopped after a while because it got to be a lot with three kids --
... now, looking back, we regret stopping. We should have picked up a popup and kept it going.
Camping here in NYS we mostly find crushed gravel entrances and a decent size grassy area. Sometimes there's a nice patch of soft white pine needles depending on the campground. We try to position the teardrop so it faces the nicest view and angle our car so that the trunk opens near the galley kitchen. We always seem to bend a few stakes because the ground (gravel or grass) has so many rocks! I guess lake views come with rocky soil haha!
One of the days during our last camping trip in the Finger Lakes (Seneca Lake), we had a solid day of rain. We were glad we had recently purchased the sidewalls for our canopy which we position right over the galley. This setup saved our breakfast and dinner. We also try to have a "plan B" in case it rains. For this day, we found a nice cafe with free WiFi...they had great coffee and scones. Then we drove around the 40 mile lake and visited more spots ...
The rain slowed down enough for us to enjoy a campfire under umbrellas =)
As always, great video, camera work and editing! Thanks for all the effort you put into these videos. ~ Maria
Ps. I have been working on a very amateur slideshow/"video" of our last two camping trips with the T@G... I'm trying to add a voice over and text here and there... who knows, I might get it uploaded before Christmas LoL
Wow, the way you described your last trip it was like we were watching a video of it! Sounds like an amazing experience. We appreciate your insight on how in hindsight you would have kept camping with the growing family, but a different version than the basic car camping. As we grow we are realizing it will get a bit tougher, but it is good to know there are other options out there. We would love to see your video of your last two camping trips. They honestly sound lovely. We are suckers for small cafes and slow Sunday drives around calm lakes and streams. Thanks for the positive advice and the great support you have shown towards our family and channel. Drew, May, and East.
That cook inlet site was gorgeous. Where exactly were you so I can check it out for myself.
We typically will share our sites, but this one is a local favorite we don't want to spoil. Reach out to us when you come up here and we can show you.
Mae is looking radiant! Would love to see your galley and/ or kitchen scene. Cooking. Thanks for sharing ALL the issues. Love it.
Mae says thank you, that is so sweet! This pregnancy has been going much better for her than the first. She is finally hitting the stage where getting in and out of the teardrop is getting tough. Looks like there will be some boys only teardrop videos coming soon. Our galley is probably the most boring galley in all of the teardrop world. Due to the bears we really don't use the galley as it is intended to be used. It is more of a storage area for us to carry our gear for setting up camp and hauling supplies like water and our stove. But, it would still probably make an interesting video to share what we carry. If we have the chance to build our next teardrop, or purchase another we would really like to have a larger and more functional galley. Even adding gas springs would be a great update. Glad you are enjoying all the issues. Now that we are getting more videos out there we are excited to be able to give people a more well rounded look at what small camper life looks like before they take the plunge to build or invest.
Google Leash For Kids. Ck out videos. Anything to make life easier and safe! Cliffs are scary
Cliffs are scary! Thanks again for helping us out.
Collapsible 5 gal water containers will hold them down. (Tie to the handle).
Great idea. Love it when we can make one item have multiple uses when camping.
Hey guys great video! My wife says Mae looks beautiful! We have two little ones and soon you will find out that it takes twice the effort to keep both of them in the campsite lol! From our 2nd camping trip on we made the decision to not get a campsite close to water or steep slopes because it’s just one less thing to worry about! We always carry extra firewood and that’s what we have used to hold down our tent or awning in the instances where hammering a spike has been difficult or impossible.
Mae says thank you! We can already predict the struggles our 2nd one will add. Glad to hear it first hand from you so we can be more prepared. We love the idea of staying away from water and steep slopes. We were just discussing that a few weeks ago. Unfortunately in Alaska you have to work really hard to stay away from water, it is everywhere! Great idea on using the firewood to hold down the tent. Thanks for watching guys!
Great video! Love your cute channel! We had to leave our tent down recently because there was no place to erect it next to our teardrop. One side of our tent slides onto a railing affixed to our teardrop above the door, but we need the side space in order to use it, which is tough if these is not enough room on the campsite. We are contemplating buying a second tent we can place at the rear of the camper if needed vs. having to go without next time. Just watched your recent video on your tent review, thanks. Teardropping is awesome!! Congrats on your new little one coming! Mae looks radiant! Thanks for all your wonderful videos!
Glad you are enjoying the channel. We were really hoping people would get some good information or at least some inspiration from the videos. Like you we haven't found a one size fits all approach. You would laugh, but we actually have 4 different tents we use when teardropping. If we go for a short trip and the mosquito are low in number we take the cheap $20 pop-up privacy shelter and our open air Mountain Smith Shade Dome. If we are going for longer trips we take our new favorite side entry tent with bug netting and our heavy duty pop-up privacy tent. What we love about the heavy duty privacy tent is when we have a situation like yours the tent is still big enough to squeeze in 2 chairs and our Little Buddy heater. It fits nice and tight along the side of the teardrop. This is the tent I am referring to th-cam.com/video/dvbsJDDaYKg/w-d-xo.html. We couldn't agree more with you about the teardropping is awesome comment. When we first started we thought it would lead to us wanting more space and a different rig, but the more we use it the more comfortable it becomes. It is just so small and efficient we find we get out camping so much more frequently than our friends and family. Thanks for the sweet comment about our upcoming little one. Mae really appreciates the sweet comment as well. Safe travels!
Another nice video. Thanks for not giving out the exact location of one of our favorite camping areas. They found it near Talkeetna and now no one can camp there because of too much garbage and other issues. Gotta love those mosquitoes, though they aren't too bad this year.
Glad you enjoyed it Pam. This was one site we have been apprehensive to post. However, this year we have seen it on quite a few channels that have over 100,000 followers so I guess that cat is out of the bag. Without an exact location it is a pretty tough one to find. Sorry to hear about your Talkeetna spot. We can't imagine why anyone would think it is okay to treat such a beautiful place like that. We like to think they are just young kids who haven't matured enough to understand how to respect beautiful places. As for the mosquitoes they were a bit intense down here the beginning of the summer, but like you said overall it has been a pretty low key mosquito year for us as well.
My two cents : I think y’all should consider sharing locations in general. I am assuming the goal of making TH-cam videos is to SHARE..
The idea that some amazing location is “your location” and you should keep it a secret so that others don’t get the chance to explore it, is SELFISH in my opinion. I hear the issue of garbage etc and what is needed is to educate people to behave responsibly and respect Mother Nature!
@@RS-ze1bu Hi RS. I don't know if you had a chance to check out our responses to those who did ask for the location. We agree with you the world is to be shared. We told them if they are coming up here to get in contact with us and we will personally show them the location. We are doing all we can to share this beautiful state with others. As we mentioned in the other comments we have shared all our other boondocking locations. However for this one we personally felt it was best not to openly advertise a location in this small community, especially a community that is not our home. Some locations are best left for the locals to decide if they should be published for the masses to see. We really appreciate your comment. It brings up some great points. Our intention is to be open with our travels and to inspire others to see some of the locations that take our breath away.
Playing with Sticks Thanks! I appreciate your content and efforts. I understand that y’all are being sensitive to locals and I respect their desires as well. Nonetheless, I hope everyone realizes that educating is the solution, not sharing isn’t the solution 😃
@@RS-ze1bu Thank you again for sharing. I know the folks in this community will really appreciate this reminder that it t is our job as a community/collective to educate not to hide great resources from others.
Please put your GPS location on your best boondocking site if possible..?
Hi Christine and Pierre. Typically we would have no issue giving out our boondocking locations. However, this one is a bit of a local favorite and we would get tarred and feathered around here if we gave it out. However, when you come up this way just reach out to us and we can help you get there.
We love your channel! We use cattle bells from play it again sports. The 35lb ones are great. We also use it for our owning when in parking lots. in the mornings we use them for working out. Thank you for the content,
Thanks for the compliment on our channel! Glad you enjoy it Shannon. Do you put one cattle bell in each corner or just 2 cattle bells in opposite corners? Love the idea of carrying the weights. We carry our workout stretch bands with us, but this would be a great excuse to bring out our little dumbbells.
Leash
Never even thought about that. Thanks Alissa.
First time I call "click bait". Unsubscribed.
There is absolutely no Clickbait here. This Boondocking site is epic and went from our best site to our worst. You may want to Google what Clickbait means before accusing people of it on other channels.Not saying this to be mean. it just can be very rude when you are incorrectly labeling something someone created and spent lots of time making.