In the weeks leading up to launching this site a year ago, I was writing posts on a variety of topics so it would have some content to start out with. One of those early blogs was about Boondocking and why it didn’t much appeal to me. I had an abrupt reversal of opinion this past autumn when I came across the most awesome imaginable spot to pitch camp with my Teardrop trailer. And quite in the middle of nowhere!

The timing for this find was sure great. I was on the homeward bound portion of a wonderful multi-week teardrop trailer road trip along Lake Superior’s east and north shores and, in contrast to the superb provincial and national parks experienced so far, I had just spent a night in what I can only describe as a fairly pointless provincial park (unless you just want to hang out on a really nice beach all day—which I appreciate some folks do—albeit in close quarters to campers and road noise).

The campground areas were so close to the main road that no site was out of earshot from traffic day and night. I had to pay the top pricing tier for a site which seemed like it would be waterview but in fact was not, unless you count a swampy stream running behind it. The hiking trail had several boardwalk sections in dangerous state of repair. And once you followed signs to the designated “dog beach” there were more signs that dogs must be on-leash at all times—well, that’s a lot of fun for canines and humans alike.

Anyhow, come morning, I couldn’t get underway soon enough—I didn’t even bother making coffee, figuring that one of the roadside picnic stops would be a nicer spot to enjoy it than my pricey camp site—but on the up side it gave me a nice long day ahead so I decided to take and unrushed, meandering route off he beaten path in the general direction I wanted to head.

I was travelling mainly on secondary provincial numbered highways which were in fact gravel roads for large sections. Awesome Algoma scenery and fall colours thanks to a string of cold nights, it was a gorgeous and super-enjoyable road day punctuated by several stops for coffee, views, lunch, and so on. It’s the nice thing about teardropping, heh, that your galley and everything else is always with you and ready for use wherever you might pull-in.

In late-mid-afternoon-ish, I was on a winding road through the rocks-and-trees when I passed what I thought, maybe, seemed like a little siding. I’d seen a few of these along the way that day but for some reason decided to turn around and investigate this one.

Well, folks, it didn’t take much more than an instant to change my mind about Boondocking! The little siding lead barely 100m off the road but was highly obscured from passers-by. It offered me an open view of a river right from the camper and enough open sky for my solar panel. Not only that but the river was low enough in autumn to wade out to a rock “island” in the middle.

A fire ring was an obvious indication I wasn’t the first lol, but the site was clean and had clearly been well-respected by previous users. There was no phone reception but my downloaded maps showed the land was part of an Ontario Parks river park… Crown Land. OK, thinks me, it’s sooooo beautiful, it’s sooooo peaceful, it’s time to carpe diem and give this boondocking thing a go.

I stayed for a couple nights, and it was just incredible. In some ways, this was what I had imagined when the notion of a Teardrop trailer was percolating in my mind and soul a few years ago. There were no human-made sounds, just the ever-present undulating flow of the river, the birds, autumn leaves in the breeze, and everything else Mother Nature gifted me there. Having no phone reception added to the feel of remoteness and being out in the middle of nowhere, disconnected—me, my pup Luna, my Teardrop trailer and its on-board solar power system—I was truly off-grid. To say it was a blissful couple days would not be an overstatement.

While it was just off the roadway, it was virtually undetectable unless someone came looking. Not that there was a whole lot of traffic going past… during the full day part of my stay I counted not more than 20 vehicles pass, and after dark only a couple on night one, and I heard none at all on night two. Glorious. I made a point to leave the site even better than I found it, picking up tiny litter and doing anything I could to show gratitude and respect to the land.

Now you may be thinking, do tell oh Teardrop Trailer Travels guy, where is this glorious spot? But I have a feeling people guard primo boondocking sites much like the wild mushroom foragers refuse to divulge where their best harvesting locations, so I don’t feel badly in disappointing you 😉 I mean, yes, I’m aware there are even web sites devoted to listing boondocks for RV’ers. But then what’s the point, it loses the magic. About 20 years ago, I got into an activity called Geocaching. It was a lot of fun. And also felt a bit counter-culture at the time. But then it got too popular, and too big, and frankly just wasn’t ever the same.

I am still generally pleased with going to organized provincial and national campgrounds (In Ontario, Pukaskwa N.P. is particularly notable for Teardroppers and I’ll get to that in a coming blog post.) but this experience certainly changed my attitude on boondocking as a serendipitous possibility to keep my eyes open for along the way, even if not an intentional destination.