Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

landcamp.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 236 posts

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#41

Post by zucked »

jmspring wrote: post #37
zucked wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything you wrote is bang on - please, please, PLEASE: Leave no trace. Haul out your garbage. Don't shoot, shit, or camp within 100 yards of streams, creeks, or rivers. Don't make fire rings where they already exist. Abide by fire restrictions that might vary by county. Stay on existing, marked hiking and motor vehicle trails. As a resident of the West (which has huge swaths of "public" land) I am so tired of folk…

Also, you leave out (which the comment you mentioned does) - please respect local rules. For instance, in Death Valley, you can free camp most anywhere (refer to NPS guidelines) two miles off of a designated roadway.

Yes - 100%. There is zero excuse for not knowing/abiding by local rules/regulations. The USFS, BLM, and others have troves of information posted online.

A local area has gone to great lengths to put up signage stating that unlicensed off-highway vehicles are NOT ALLOWED to travel the main stretch of USFS fire road. So what are people doing? Screaming up and down that very road on unlicensed off-highway vehicles at 2/3x the posted speed limit. Shooting is supposed to be confined to specific areas with backstops - instead you've got dingbats firing off hundreds of rounds into valleys with NO BACKSTOP and they aren't even cleaning up their brass.

It's a goddamn shit show.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#42

Post by nonrepeating »

walrus01 wrote: post #20

We've gone from SNL making a skit about "LIVING IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER" to people on instagram doing #vanlife influencer stuff about how trendy it is to live in a converted van.

#vanlife at least aspires to some level of tidy and conscientious housekeeping. Motivational speaker Matt Foley doesn’t have a string of solar-powered faerie lights adorning his collapsible breakfast nook. He has a clattering drift of beer cans that he can gather up around him for warmth.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#45

Post by benatkin »

nicpottier wrote: post #17

I'm interested but $100/yr kind of sounds like a lot. Is it free to host? I wouldn't mind building up credits for a road trip later if I didn't have to pay. Also maybe a monthly price would make more sense as I tend to be on the road only for periods at a time. (or maybe even a per-booking fee?) Anyways, yearly sub is kind of a non-starter for me though I like the concept.

It sounds like too little to avoid hosting people who don't have a place where host. Someone could pretend another non-host user is hosting them and both could use the credits to stay with actual hosts. Or they could host someone in the same place where they're staying that they don't own or rent.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#46

Post by solardev »

renewiltord wrote: post #40
solardev wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a pretty privileged viewpoint. That's $100/year of disposable income for maybe a parking spot where you want to go, maybe available when you want to go. That's definitely not a trivial dollar amount for something like that, especially when there are free alternatives (strip mall parking lots, rest stops, federal lands, moving between neighborhoods, etc.). Then there's the question of being able to offe…

Yeah, if I'm going to be honest, if you can't afford $100/yr you can't afford to host, so you're not going to be a contributor to their community. Looks like the filter is working.

Hosting is actually free (as it should be).

I used to be very active on Couchsurfing and have hosted dozens of travelers -- to rave reviews, and much more often than I stayed. It doesn't cost me anything to share a couch (or a room, on the rare occasion I had a spare). What I'm objecting to is the website taking $100/yr -- for what? It's unclear -- on principle, when communities like it have existed for far cheaper and far longer. It seems to exploit both the hosts and the guests. I understand some overhead (especially when it comes to trust and safety) but it's not clear to me why that price point is necessary when alternatives can offer the same service for much less.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#47

Post by solardev »

jmspring wrote: post #32
solardev wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a pretty privileged viewpoint. That's $100/year of disposable income for maybe a parking spot where you want to go, maybe available when you want to go. That's definitely not a trivial dollar amount for something like that, especially when there are free alternatives (strip mall parking lots, rest stops, federal lands, moving between neighborhoods, etc.). Then there's the question of being able to offe…

$100/year, $0.27/day is not in the realm of privilege. The groups you mention spend more than that a year to upgrade gear/etc. I call bollocks on this.

I think this is missing the point. It's not "Can I afford $100 for a year's worth of travel", it's that communities have been sharing hosting/staying for a long time already, for free or nearly free. Then suddenly a new company shows up, offers the same service, but now wants to charge hosts and guests $100/yr for doing the same thing as before. Why should they pay that? What does the new company offer?

FWIW, it is a genuine question, and depending on the answer could make the service actually very valuable. For example (only):

* If they manually vet each member not just with a basic ID check (ID.me etc.) but also with a background check and a Zoom interview, or otherwise improve community trust and relationships

* If they provide a built-in calendar/scheduling system and provide support for last-minute cancellations, rebookings, etc.

* If they provide vastly superior UX or support compared to Couchsurfing and Warmshowers

* If they provide support for international travelers, especially for accidents, medical issues, translations, whatever. But so far this seems to be within California only.

But from their website it's not clear that such value-adds are being done, so then the question is not whether $100/yr is affordable, it's what $100/yr gives you that $30/yr does not. If you're rich, that's not a big deal. If you're poor, that $70 a year DOES make a difference.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#48

Post by notahacker »

kevinsundar wrote: post #21
mrb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"rich vacationers" ? Most American adults can afford $100/year. Edit: I'll even add: most american adults spend $100 per month , not per year, on frivolous stuff. Fast food. Cable TV. Unnecessary high-end phones (instead of mid-range phones). All these people could definitely afford $100/year.

You can't use land camp if you don't own a home / property that has parking space and restrooms. At least after your 3 free stays are done.

Or put another way, you pay at least $33/night for the right to park a van in one or more undisclosed locations in California for a maximum of three nights. Not sure how that compares with local campsites cost-wise, but it isn't quite free.

Any additional benefit you may be able to obtain is contingent upon other people wanting to park on your lawn for an equivalent number of nights first, which implies you're probably not in the can't afford a campsite bracket, is probably more hassle than paying for a campsite, and isn't much use if you're looking to stop for four nights somewhere in the near future...

Other sites charge less for the right to stay 365 days a year at thousands of actual photographed locations without being a California homeowner with parking space, and waive the fee if you host.

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#49

Post by coding123 »

$100? what is this paying for. surely $100 from one user can pay for the RDS instance and hosting for the entire year.

boondockers welcome was free for a long time before they introduced a fee. then they were $30 per year, and now $79.

What makes you better - a newer website, a shorter domain name? more chic graphics?

Re: Show HN: Van, truck or car camp for $0 a night

#50

Post by livueta »

zucked wrote: post #41
jmspring wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, you leave out (which the comment you mentioned does) - please respect local rules. For instance, in Death Valley, you can free camp most anywhere (refer to NPS guidelines) two miles off of a designated roadway.

Yes - 100%. There is zero excuse for not knowing/abiding by local rules/regulations. The USFS, BLM, and others have troves of information posted online. A local area has gone to great lengths to put up signage stating that unlicensed off-highway vehicles are NOT ALLOWED to travel the main stretch of USFS fire road. So what are people doing? Screaming up and down that very road on unlicensed off-highway vehicles at 2/…

To add to all of this great info, to any prospective dispersed campers: please use high-quality, recent, ideally official maps of your choosing to ensure you're on the sort of land you think you are. Boundaries can change and notes on spots aren't always up to date. My area involves a mix of national park, national forest, DNR land, and private land, and I regularly see dispersed campers getting ticketed for unwittingly setting up on the wrong side of the (unmarked) park boundary. That's tame compared to what can happen if you're trespassing on private land.
Post reply on HN