COE / Free parks, can you just leave your travel trailer to explore?

Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mennonite

Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2020
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Pretty much the title says it all.  If you are camping at a Free Camp site just as a COE place, can you just "leave" your travel trailer, drive away, to explore the area?  Or is it better to stay with the travel trailer / RV?

I have done a lot of paid camping and somehow I feel more like I "belong there".... It's weird to me to think to leave my camper there which basically says "I have free dibs on this for 14 days even if I'm not there".

Hopefully this makes sense.  :)
 
Leaving an unattended trailer where there is no one around brings with it some risk of break-ins or theft. I would never do that just to reserve a place. Use a cheap tent to reserve a place if you feel you must do so.
 
If you're on free public land, especially BLM land, "residencing", which is leaving a camp daily to go to a job, is actually illegal. Bob Wells covers this in one of his videos. I can't remember which one or I would post a link...

However, if you are just leaving to go to the grocery store, or doing touristy stuff, as far as I know it's fine to leave your camp set up. I personally wouldn't do it if I was traveling alone, because of the risk of vandalism. If I was in a group of people such as a caravan or a tribe of friends I would though.

My two cents.
 
Yes at a COE you can leave your trailer and drive away to shop or sightsee explore.
For me it would depend on the area. I can get that 'safe to unhook' feeling or that feeling of keep the trailer hitched and just keep it with me feeling of where we camp. It is a personal call on your surroundings etc. There are free campsites that truly operate as darn near an rv campground LOL due to big activity/use and there are many COEs and free camping that are very isolated and not used much and that isolation if you leave your rv could leave it very vulnerable. So it is just a call on your part after you see the place, talk to some rangers or staff or whomever is operating this COE etc. But yea we left our 30ft toyhauler rv in many free campsites and never had troubles but we were aware of where we were also ya know.

What trailer do you have? How big are you towing?
 
The public land on the Utah side of Flaming Gorge is posted for 16 days camping instead of the usual 14. If you time it right, you can get three weekends in that 16 days. Locals haul in their trailers, set up camp, spend the weekend, then leave it to go home for the work week, come back on the weekend, then repeat. So for two weeks at a time the sites are deserted and no one else can use them. Selfish bastards. There must be no problem with thefts or they wouldn't do this.
 
In case anyone was wondering, COE is Corps of Engineers.
 
sorry guys and gals. i thought COE was in the common acronyms list, but i just checked and it's not there. so thank you wayne for bringing that up. highdesertranger
 
I think if you do unhook and leave for whatever reason it is important to make sure you have insurance on your trailer. That can be separate thing. Many insurances will cover your trailer as long as it is hooked to the tow vehicle. You have to make sure you have a seperate rider that will cover your trailer if it is not. Just something to be aware of.
 
Here are some specific sections from the COE Corps Of Engineers documents that may pertain to what you are seeking to do. It is up to you to read and understand the regulations. Remember they are all posted online, you do have access to them. But in my opinion, which might not match their opinion or yours it is saying you have to personally be at the campsite each day, you can not go off at leave your personal stuff behind for more a period exceeding 24 hours.

§ 423.33 Camping. (a) You may camp on Reclamation lands, except that you must comply with any restrictions, conditions, limi-tations, or prohibitions on camping es-tablished by an authorized official in a special use area under subpart E of this part 423. (b) You must not camp on Reclama-tion lands at any single Reclamation project for more than 14 days during any period of 30 consecutive days, ex-cept as allowed by a permit issued under 43 CFR part 429; (c) You must not attempt to reserve a campsite for future use by placing equipment or other items on the camp-site, or by personal appearance, with-out camping on and paying the re-quired fees for that campsite daily; (d) You must not camp on or place any equipment at a campsite that is posted or otherwise marked as ‘‘re-served’’ or ‘‘closed’’ by an authorized official without a valid reservation for that campsite, except as allowed by a permit issued under subpart D of this part 423; and (e) You must not dig in or level any ground, or erect any structure other than a tent, in a designated camp-ground. § 423.34 Sanitation. (a) You must not bring or improperly dispose of refuse on Reclamation facili-ties, lands, and waterbodies. Both the owner and the person bringing or dis-posing refuse may be issued a citation for violating this provision. (b) Campers, picnickers, and all other persons using Reclamation lands must keep their sites free of trash and litter during the period of occupancy and must remove all personal equipment and clean their sites before departure. (c) You must not place or construct a toilet or latrine such that its lowest point is lower than the high water mark of any Reclamation waterbody, or within 150 feet horizontally of the high water mark of any Reclamation waterbody.


§ 423.23 Abandonment and impound-ment of personal property. (a) You must not abandon personal property of any kind in or on Reclama-tion facilities, lands, or waterbodies. (b) You must not store or leave unat-tended personal property of any kind. (1) Unattended personal property is presumed to be abandoned: (i) After a period of 24 hours; (ii) At any time after a posted clo-sure takes effect under subpart B of this part 423; or (iii) At any time for reasons of secu-rity, public safety, or resource protec-tion. (2) If personal property is presumed abandoned, an authorized official may impound it, store it, and assess a rea-sonable impoundment fee. (3) The impoundment fee must be paid before the authorized official will return the impounded property to you. (c) An authorized official may im-pound or destroy unattended personal property at any time if it: (1) Interferes with safety, operation, or management of Reclamation facili-ties, lands, or waterbodies; or (2) Presents a threat to persons or Reclamation project resources. (d) An authorized official may dis-pose of abandoned personal property in accordance with the procedures con-tained in title 41 CFR and applicable Reclamation and Department of the In-terior policy.
 
MrNoodly said:
The public land on the Utah side of Flaming Gorge is posted for 16 days camping instead of the usual 14. If you time it right, you can get three weekends in that 16 days. Locals haul in their trailers, set up camp, spend the weekend, then leave it to go home for the work week, come back on the weekend, then repeat. So for two weeks at a time the sites are deserted and no one else can use them. Selfish bastards. There must be no problem with thefts or they wouldn't do this.
I camped at a BLM campground last year in Prescott Az. Their rules explicitly state that you are not allowed to leave your camp site for more than 24 hours. And they were charging a camping fee per night. Maybe this policy should be enforced everywhere.
 
DannyB1954 said:
I camped at a BLM campground last year in Prescott Az. Their rules explicitly state that you are not allowed to leave your camp site for more than 24 hours. And they were charging a camping fee per night. Maybe this policy should be enforced everywhere.

Reading Maki's post, it looks like they can impound your possessions if you leave them unattended for more than 24 hours. So maybe someone should report the people leaving their stuff for a week, and point out the impound law.
 
ok you guys need to read what's is being posted. Maki posted the COE rules. Danny commented on a BLM campground. two different government agencies.

now i believe the BLM has pretty much the same rules for leaving your stuff unattended for more than 24 hours but until someone posts the rules we are just speculating.

highdesertranger
 
Camp in a group. We do and leave our stuff for long periods of time. Works well in our group and others have left weeks at a time
 
I would say given the rules of 24 hours. It may be a good idea to leave contact information on your trailer so the Ranger can call you if necessary while you are out.

Also, I would make it obvious that I have been at the camp in between outings. Say I planned to see a local attraction each day of my visit and would not be at the trailer. If you have any items outside like chairs or a table or something like that Move it one day to the next or brake it down one day and have it put away and maybe put up the next. A couple cheap Walmart chairs could serve this purpose or even a Screen house or a tent even if you dont use them at all during your stay. It would make it obvious to a Ranger who is visiting while you are out that you have been there.

I say Ranger but I am using that word to cover whichever official would be visiting to enforce the rules of the site.
 
Top