We’ve been keen to experience dispersed camping (AKA boondocking, off-grid camping) on this trip, and knew from research that our best opportunity for that would be in the mid-western and western States. We’d watched dispersed camping videos on YouTube so had an idea of what to expect, but our first experience, here at the Schnell Recreation Area, has really exceeded our expectations. Located down a country road in a beautiful area of rolling plains with no one else around, our site is easily the biggest of our trip and very private from the other five sites available (without any neighbours, however, that’s a moot point). The silence and solitude is wonderful, only broken by the sound of the breeze in the trees, the mooing of local yet distant cattle in the morning, or an infrequent train whistle. Because the site is so nice and so cheap ($5/night!) we decided to stay three nights instead of the usual two. We would’ve never predicted that two of our top three camp sites so far would be in North Dakota but that’s the case! Schnell Recreation Area is also wonderful for Misty, because she can wander off leash as much as she wishes.
