The Lengths We Go to for Free Camping in Texas

75 steps. That’s how far it was to get from our front door to the campground outhouse during our stay at Black Gap Wildlife Management Area.

Black Gap is an undeveloped piece of rugged desert paradise in the Big Bend. No sissies allowed here. But if you’ve got what it takes, and your rig is small enough to fit in the headquarters campground, the only public outhouse in the entire area is available for your use. It’s a genuine Clivus Multrum so even on the hottest days it doesn’t stink or attract flies.

We love the solitude and scenery here and as a bonus, camping costs nearly nothing, just a $12 permit that’s good for six months. There are way more secluded places for small RVs in Black Gap, but we opt for the spot near the outhouse. By using it instead of our own latrine, we can reduce our water consumption and extend our stay from a typical 7 or 8 days to nearly two weeks!

Even when you’re conscientious about water usage, it’s unbelievable how much of this precious resource goes toward toilet flushing. Sure, some boondocking RVers will flush with gray water, but we found that using dish water to flush the toilet is just nasty. And although eco-groovy RVers like to talk about how cool RV composting toilets are, only few RVers are crazy brave enough to actually use one. Based on RV composting toilet reality checks like this one, we’ll pass, thanks.

Yeah, it’s inconvenient to walk 75 steps to the outhouse. But having this kind of scenery all to ourselves for as long as possible is totally worth it.

 

7 thoughts on “The Lengths We Go to for Free Camping in Texas”

  1. Hey I love my composting toilet. For one person it is easy to keep up with. Mine smells like dirt. My dad was impressed by the lack of smell compared to his trailer toilet. I also like the savings in water.

    Reply
    • Hmmm. I’m still skeptical but when we meet up someday on the road we will let you know for sure what it smells like! 😉 We’d love to hear more about it though, where did you write about it in your blog? I missed that.

      Reply
      • Thanks for the reminder, I need to post about my toilet. I will be living in the bus full time starting November. Then I will do a write up. Right now my use is sporadic.
        It was nice taking a two week trip to Indiana and living full time in the bus and not having to dump a tank.

        Reply

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