Quiet Campgrounds: Where to Find Peaceful Off-Season Stays

You can’t just wake up one morning and decide to go camping that afternoon and expect to experience a peaceful, quiet, exceptional camping trip in your RV.  You’ll need to do some planning and research, read campground reviews, make some calls, pack, and plan ahead.  There’s a natural rhythm to making each camping trip a fond memory and it doesn’t happen spontaneously.  Knowing where you’re going is a key element but don’t get so ridged that you take all the spontaneity out of your camping experience.  

To avoid this rigidity, we used to do what we called “rolling trips”.  We would pick an area and a direction and head out in our motorhome and just see what we could discover.  Some of our most wonderful memories are from these rolling trips.  It can also be nerve wracking because it may be hard to find suitable camp sites but we did this successfully on numerous high holidays (4^th of July, Memorial Day weekend, and Labor Day weekends) and we always were able to find places to camp. 

Being in a motorhome that was fully contained helped.  Even though we did not have a definitive plan we still had the basic plan for the direction and area and we were experienced RVers so we knew what supplies to have on hand and what to look for when searching for a campsite for the night.  We planned not to over plan these trips.

Look for locations with moderate temperatures

If you want peace and quiet when camping, try to avoid the congested sunbelt camping area, (southern California, Texas, and Florida) because the sheer number of campers in those areas can be noisy and disruptive.  Places with moderate climates that are off the beaten path offer more options for peaceful quiet camping.  If it’s the dead of winter you’ll probably need to find sheltered campgrounds or parks. 

If you call a park to inquire about availability, be sure to ask about their unique seasonal weather conditions and their closure policies.  This will help you find viable camping opportunities for future trips. If it’s the peak of the camping season, again look for locations with moderate weather unless the endless drone of multiple generators doesn’t annoy you.  There are so many sources for noise disturbances that avoiding the most crowded locations will naturally cut down on these interruptions.

Keep records of alternative camping opportunities

As mentioned above start to accumulate data on campgrounds and parks.  If possible, obtain a park map and or brochure.  Put these in a paper file or convert them to digital records and file them by region.  You can have your own personal travel guide.  The more data you can acquire the more useful these records will become.  You’ll soon have a booklet of favorite campsites and some of my personal favorites are listed at the bottom of this post

Ask park owners about their off-season availability

Every time you talk to a park owner or staff person ask for details on their policies, seasons, weather, campsite availability, closures, pet rule, and quiet time policies so you can add this info to your ever-expanding camping database.  Then if you camp there add your personal experiences to the record.

Catering to Kids

I could have entitled this section, “Boy Will Be Boys”. Yes, I know, little girls chasing each other and shrieking at the top of their lungs can also be deafening, but for the most part boys (of all ages) seem to be drawn to toys.  And the louder the better.  Hot wheels repeatedly crunching over the rough pavement in front of your campsite is like listening to someone scratching a blackboard.  Skateboards are not much better.  For the older boys it could be the hi whine of their ATV’s making their way to nearby sand dunes.  And don’t get me started on the big boy’s diesel trucks needlessly idling for a half an hour before and after every trip.  

Kids can be a real threat to your peaceful camping objective, so avoiding parks that focus primarily on activities for kids, would be prudent.  Also, if a campground has a designated play area or pool try to camp as far from these noisy places as possible.  But kids having fun on a camping trip are not the only source of irritating noise.  Barking dogs and loud music are equally offensive.  This is why you should check with park staff about their policies.  Even if they have written policies to mitigate noise, they still need to enforce the policy and that’s where reading on-line reviews will help you sort through the clutter.  

There are many RV campsite apps to help you identify camping opportunities in new areas but the best of these is RV LIFE’s Campground Reviews.  It will show you where campgrounds are located but you can also read dozens of reviews written by campers just like you.  You’ll find out if the sites are unlevel, or the grass is untrimmed, or the WIFI is spotty, but you will also be able to determine if excessive noise threaten the peaceful enjoyment of your camping experience.

Some specific quiet camping recommendations

Juniper Reservoir Lakeview Or  This park is the quietest campground in which I have ever camped.  It is located in the unpopulated southeast corner of Oregon.  The campground is right in the middle of a 6000-acre cattle ranch.  The only sounds are birds and the low mooing of the cattle.  Occasionally the coyotes howl but all the noise is just part of nature and very soothing. Winchester Bay RV Resort Winchester Bay OR. This park is on a man-made jetty that sticks out into the mouth of the Umpqua River. 

The park is surrounded by water on three sides and is about a mile from the epic sand dunes of southern Oregon, but the park rigidly enforces their no ATVs policy.  Just across the street from Winchester Bay RV Park are a couple of county parks that cater to the ATV community and the noise from those parks can be disruptive to campers at Winchester Bay if you’re on that side of the park.

RV Resort at Carolina Crossroads in Roanoke Rapids NC. This park caters to big rigs and has ample campsites for transitory travelers.  It’s far enough away from I95 and the rail line to offer quiet camping to full time RVers and travelers.  

State and County Fairgrounds various states. These campgrounds offer excellent camping opportunities in the off season.  They are generally uncrowded and very peaceful.  We have camped in the fairgrounds in Oregon, Wyoming, and South Dakota and all of these were excellent experiences.

Elks Lodges various states. Like many military campgrounds you need to be a member of the organization to utilize their campgrounds but if you are a member, you can find many out of the way camping opportunities through these affiliations.

Harvest Host various locations. These campsites are located on private property, often large parcels of farmland, or vineyards. Generally, each site can only accommodate one or two campers at one time but these sites are out of the way and very peaceful.  To find these peaceful low-cost campsites just use the Harvest Host website and don’t forget to read the rules about pets, fires, rubbish and any other thing that could damage the property or minimize everyone’s enjoyment of the property.

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