Closures, rule changes, fire restrictions, and gear worth knowing about. Everything cited, everything dated.
Free Camping Three current California forest orders say it in the same sentence: permit holders are not exempt. What the permit buys you under a restriction is a gas or propane device with a shut-off valve, and the required clearance is 3 feet on two forests and 5 feet on the third.
UDOT's rest area page says both things: all rest areas are posted for no overnight camping, and extended stays are permitted and monitored by staff and the Highway Patrol. That is not a contradiction. It is the camping versus parking line, written down.
The High Desert District terminated Fire Prevention Order BLM-WY-D00000-2026-01 on September 2, 2026. BLM Wyoming's own fire restrictions page still lists Stage 1 orders for the High Plains and Wind River Bighorn Basin districts.
67 Pa. Code 443.2 prohibits remaining anywhere at a roadside rest area for more than 2 hours in a 24-hour period, or longer than the posted limit. It permits sleeping in a legally parked vehicle and nowhere else, and treats a vehicle left 24 hours as abandoned.
SDMC 86.0139 bans oversized and recreational vehicles from streets between 2 and 6 a.m., but only where a sign is posted. SDMC 86.0137(f) bans using any vehicle for human habitation from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and within 500 feet of a residence or school. The RV permit only exempts you from the first one.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife requires everyone 16 or older to hold an SWA pass or a valid hunting or fishing license just to enter a state wildlife area. Camping is a separate permission, set per property.
Furnace Creek books six months out through Recreation.gov for an October 15 to April 15 season and has only 18 hookup sites. Sunset, Stovepipe Wells and Texas Springs have no published opening date.
Virginia replaced 24VAC30-50 with 24VAC30-51 effective March 11, 2026. The new chapter bans overnight parking and camping at rest areas and waysides, and puts VDOT parking lots under the posted sign instead.
The LTVA season opens September 15. Four of the Long Term Visitor Areas allow self-contained units only, and the BLM's supplementary rules exclude port-a-potty systems and portable holding tanks by name.
The Forest Service travel management rule says a forest may designate limited motor vehicle use within a specified distance of certain roads for dispersed camping. If it has not, 36 CFR 261.13 makes driving off the road prohibited.
California's DMV manual says van campers do not meet the ANSI life support criteria for a motorhome and registers them under body type VC. Washington licenses a converted van as a motorhome if it has cooking or sewage disposal inside a solid body shell.
Flash flooding on August 29 knocked out the Transcanyon Waterline. Stage 4 water restrictions started at noon on August 31, 2026: no concession lodging, campground spigots off, no fires on the South Rim.
The Casper Field Office shut the seven-site North Platte campground while Natrona County repairs County Road 412. Other BLM campgrounds near Casper stay open, but the closest one on the river is tent only.
WisDOT defines long-term parking as a 24 hour continuous period or the on-site posted limit, whichever is shorter, occupied or unoccupied. Camping is prohibited separately. Verified August 31, 2026.
COMAR 11.04.07 is one of the strictest rest area chapters on the East Coast. Three hours without a permit, camping and overnight parking prohibited outright, and an explicit tow rule for unattended vehicles.
The Winnemucca District closed Water Canyon on August 25. The Elko District closed Tabor Creek and BLM Road 1275 on August 26. Both are fire closures, both run until conditions improve, and each is posted only on its own district page.
Suburban rates its NT-16SEQ at 16,000 BTU/h and 2.7 amps, and its 20,000 BTU/h SF-Q at 5.1 amps. Six hours of burner time is 16 to 31 amp hours off a 12V bank and about a gallon of propane. Only one of those is easy to replace in October.
The BLM's August 25 hunting-season notice tells Colorado visitors that roads shown on public land generally are open, but some end at private property and access may be legally restricted. For a dispersed camper heading out this fall, that is the sentence that matters.
The Uncompahgre Field Office ended its Gold Mountain Fire closure and the Gunnison Field Office reduced its own. The reopened ground is real, but the remaining closed area is described in section, township and range, which is not something you can navigate from.
The Park Service publishes 14 designated free first-come-first-served sites in eight areas along Grassy Lake Road in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. No water, shared toilets, bear boxes. Inside the park, sleeping in a vehicle outside a campground is prohibited.
More panels stop making a lead acid battery charge faster at a limit the manufacturer publishes. Victron's gel and AGM datasheet caps charge current at 0.2C. Here is what that is in watts, and what it does not limit.
BLM published the monument's fall and winter schedule on August 24, 2026. It dates the campgrounds, the boating restriction and one access gate. It does not date the roads, and the roads are what will actually stop you.
Tuscarora Field Office published one date range in the announcement and a two-phase schedule in the order attached to it. The full closure ends September 3. What follows is weekday working hours only.
The NPS campgrounds page publishes the whole 2026 table. Bridge Bay goes first on September 13, Fishing Bridge RV Park and Madison last on October 17, and Mammoth turns first-come on October 15.
August 25 is fee-free at the National Park Service and is not on the BLM's 2026 list. The BLM waives standard amenity and day-use fees only, and says developed camping fees stay in effect.
The park's marquee backcountry drive closes October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027 for a second phase of repairs. Furnace Creek's reservation season starts October 15, and several other roads and one campground are still down from flood damage.
The Kremmling Field Office runs Stage 2 in Summit, Grand and Eagle Counties and Stage 1 in Jackson and Larimer Counties at the same time. The restriction follows the prevention order's boundary, which is not always the field office's.
Two Idaho field offices start closing routes on October 1. Those closures are to motorized use, not to people on foot. Later in the season the same page uses the word to mean human entry, which is a different answer entirely.
MnDOT publishes a seasonal rest area list, but it gives months rather than dates. Four sites shut in late September and five in mid-October. No MnDOT rest area has a dump station.
Rocky Mountain caps you at 7 nights parkwide from May 1 to October 15. Glacier allows 14 days until Labor Day and 30 days after it. Grand Teton caps the year at 30. None of these is the federal 14-day rule.
The pass is honored by six federal agencies and covers standard amenity fees. Developed campgrounds charge expanded amenity fees, which it does not cover. If you camp free and rarely drive through a park gate, it probably does not pay for itself.
Yosemite lists coverage carrier by carrier. Glacier names the valleys with no reception at all. The NPS says its own guidance beats a provider's coverage map, and one park's page has not been updated since 2018.
ODOT's TripCheck page and the Oregon Travel Information Council both publish the rest area rules. Both set the same 12-hour limit. One bans fires outright, the other allows propane and gas camp stoves, and only one mentions alcohol.
Special Recreation Permits exist for commercial use, competitive events and organized groups, not for one truck and a tent. The exceptions are real, and they publish on the unit page rather than the national one.
The National Park Service shut off water at Mather and Desert View campgrounds on August 13, 2026 and prohibited fires in both. Restrooms and the Mather RV dump and water station stay open. Arrive full.
Victron's gel and AGM datasheet says temperature compensation is required above 30C / 85F. At a 40C battery, that is 0.36V off the setpoint. If your controller has no battery temperature sensor it cannot do this at all.
The Royal Gorge and San Luis Valley field offices went from Stage 2 to Stage 1 effective August 18, 2026. Under Stage 1 the BLM allows campfires only in agency-provided grates at developed recreation sites, so a fire at your dispersed site stays prohibited.
The Angeles caps you at 21 total days in a calendar year. The Mendocino bans camping within a mile of any developed recreation site. The Umatilla runs 14 days in any 30. The Cleveland's order expired on July 12, 2026 and is still on the alerts page.
Manufacturers publish the number: 1800 watts, 120 volts, 15 amps. Through an inverter that is roughly 150 amps at the battery, more than a 1000W inverter or light DC wiring will carry. The number to plan around is watt-hours per meal, not the headline wattage.
A mother bear and cub that are not afraid of people closed Fan Creek on the Nestucca River Corridor on August 13, 2026. Dovre and Alder Glen stay open. The closure is in the announcement feed, not on the site page.
BLM Idaho lists its seasonal closures on one page, with dates running from October 1 to May 31. Most close the road, not the ground, but two close public land to human entry entirely.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation publishes both halves on one page: no time limits, no fee, overnight parking allowed at every state-owned park and ride, and a one-word no on sleeping.
Grizzly activity closed one Montana site to soft-sided camping, not to camping. The order runs through December 31, 2026 and covers a full section of BLM land, not just the campground loop.
Apple, Verizon and T-Mobile all publish some form of phone-to-satellite messaging now. It sends a text from a dead zone. It does not carry attachments, and Verizon says it does not carry Wireless Emergency Alerts.
DMM 508.6.4 caps a general delivery piece at 30 days. DMM 507.1.8.6 sets the clock that actually runs: 10 days at an office with city carrier service, 15 at one without, and 30 only if you tell the postmaster you are delayed.
The BLM's Montana State Office set its own camping limit for undeveloped land in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota: 16 days in any 30, and a relocation outside a half-mile radius. It is not the 14 days in 28 that gets quoted everywhere.
California sets its RV license thresholds by GVWR and by length, and none of them involve a CDL. A fifth wheel over 10,000 pounds needs an endorsement added to your Class C. Over 15,000 pounds, it needs a noncommercial Class A.
Verizon lists hotspot allowances from 10 GB to 200 GB by plan and the exact speed you drop to after each. T-Mobile says it prioritizes phone data ahead of tethering. Both numbers are on their own pages, and they decide whether you can work from a dispersed site.
Victron's AGM and gel datasheet publishes the whole curve: 100 percent at the 20 hour rate, 85 percent over 5 hours, 65 percent over 1 hour, and worse under an inverter. Here is what that does to your real bank size.
The rule is not on the Caltrans rest area page. It is in Title 21 of the California Code of Regulations, section 2205, and it caps you at 8 hours in any 24-hour period, bans camping and tents, and explicitly permits a small portable stove.
Washington's list carries a live open or closed status for each dump station, and on August 15 four of them read closed at rest areas that were themselves open. That is the detail an app will not tell you.
There is no BLM-wide generator curfew to look up. 43 CFR 8365.1-4 prohibits making unreasonable noise and never names an hour. The numbers, where they exist at all, are published per recreation site.
The Domestic Mail Manual sets the terms for General Delivery: transient use, one authorized facility per customer, ID on demand, and 30 days per piece. Call the destination office for the right ZIP before anyone mails anything.
RCW 47.38.020 caps a stop at 8 hours in any 24 and bans camping outright. WSDOT's rest area page publishes no rules at all, but it does publish status, and on August 14, 2026 four locations showed closed.
The Sierra Front Field Office issued a temporary public land closure on August 11, 2026 for wildland fire. Everything within 10 miles of Moon Rocks is closed to entry, and the announcement says the area is closed to camping on top of that. No end date is published.
The FCC rule that legalized consumer signal boosters, 47 CFR 20.21, makes carrier consent and registration a condition of operating one. Registration is free by rule, and the warning label on the box says the same thing.
58 Pa. Code 135.41(c)(21) makes it unlawful to be on Pennsylvania state game lands from October 1 through January 31, and again April 20 through May 31, without 250 square inches of fluorescent orange, unless you are hunting, trapping or fishing.
The Prineville District cut its emergency closures back on August 10, 2026, reopening the lower Deschutes, part of the John Day, and most of the district's south and east. Public Use Restrictions Level 2 still bans every campfire on all of it.
IDAPA 39.03.50 caps occupancy at 10 consecutive hours at interstate rest areas and 16 at rest areas on other state highway routes. Camping and fires are separately prohibited, and the rule never defines camping.
Victron's own white paper puts a 100W panel at 100W through an MPPT controller and 81W through a PWM at 25C (77F) cell temperature. At 75C (167F) the two land at 77.5W and 77W. The gain comes from array voltage, not from the box.
The numbers most people quote for BLM land are 14 days in 28 and a move of about 25 miles. Colorado replaced both statewide in 2010. The move is measured straight-line, not on the odometer.
Montana FWP prohibits camping on a WMA except at sites specifically designated or marked for it, caps you at 7 nights in any consecutive 30-day period, and does not let you leave a camp standing overnight with nobody in it.
The National Park Service tells desert visitors to drink at least one gallon a day. That figure covers drinking and nothing else, which is why a fresh tank runs out long before a 14-day stay limit does.
Victron publishes 12W zero load power for its 3000VA Inverter Smart at 12V. Over 24 hours that is 288 watt-hours, about the same as running a 12V fridge. ECO mode drops it to 1.5W. Here is the arithmetic and the catch.
The Park Service dropped entry reservations at Arches, Glacier and Yosemite for 2026, and Mount Rainier followed. Rocky Mountain kept its system, it runs 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through October 12, and you can drive in outside those hours without one.
Maryland bans overnight parking outright. Utah bans overnight camping and says extended stays are permitted. Oregon caps you at 12 hours in any 24. Three states, three different prohibited activities, and that is why a yes-or-no list gets it wrong.
Two BLM Stage 2 orders took effect at the same hour on August 7, 2026, and they answer the generator question differently. Northern Idaho exempts a generator with an approved spark arrester in a cleared three foot circle. The Missoula County announcement does not mention generators at all.
The enforceable rule is that your vehicle stays on designated roads and trails. How far you may pull off to camp comes from the field office's travel management decision, and in three Colorado travel management areas it is one vehicle-width, not 150 feet.
Rocky Mountain National Park's January news release says its only west side campground closes at noon on August 10, 2026. The park's campgrounds page says it stays open to noon on October 5. The campgrounds page is the newer statement and it references the January one.
The BLM Prineville District closed nearly all of its land on July 27, 2026 and issued another order on August 5. Public access is prohibited, not just campfires, and the two kinds of order work differently.
North Rim Campground reopened June 1, 2026 with reservations through October 15. The National Park Service says no potable water is available anywhere on the North Rim for the rest of the season, and Stage 2 fire restrictions stay in force there all year.
Recreation.gov withholds $10 from any cancellation refund, and $10 plus the first night if you cancel the day before or the day of arrival. A no-show costs $20 plus the first night. An agency emergency closure costs you nothing.
36 CFR 261.58 prohibits camping longer than an order allows, and never names a figure. The order is a local document, and 36 CFR 261.51 requires it be posted where you would reasonably see it. That sign is the rule.
The National Park Service drops entrance fees on August 25, 2026 for its 110th anniversary. Camping, timed entry, and reservation fees still apply, and from 2026 the waiver is for US citizens and residents only.
Florida allows the general public 3 hours and commercial drivers 10. Minnesota allows 4 and 10. The split traces back to the federal hours-of-service rule, and it means the semi beside you is legally parked long after you are not.
BLM's Black Rock Field Office is closing about 51,149 acres of the playa, roughly 33 percent of it, from August 24 through September 11, 2026. Dispersed camping continues on the other two thirds.
State trust land is not BLM land. Montana DNRC requires a Conservation License, keeps a motorized camp within 50 feet of the access point, and caps you at 2 days on leased parcels and 16 on unleased ones.
Victron rates its LiFePO4 Smart batteries to charge between 41F and 122F, and the default Allowed-To-Charge cutoff is 41F. The same datasheet shows a 100Ah battery holding 80Ah at freezing and 50Ah at -4F.
The Big Rock fire closed BLM camping from Conant to Byington in eastern Idaho from August 1 at 6 p.m. through August 10 at 11:59 p.m. That includes every dispersed site along River Road, not just the designated campgrounds.
Superior National Forest reopens all water access entry points on the Gunflint and Tofte districts August 4. Permits at entries still closed are cancelled through August 4, and three entry points are cancelled through September 30.
ResMed publishes 56.1W typical draw for the AirSense 11. Over an eight-hour night that is 449 watt-hours at the machine, and more from the battery once an inverter takes its cut. Here is the arithmetic and where it goes wrong.
Aggregator lists put Michigan down as a 48-hour state. MDOT's own page still calls the rules proposed, and no roadside-facility rule shows up in Michigan's published administrative code as of August 3, 2026.
On July 28, 2026, BLM's Vale and Burns Districts in Oregon issued emergency closures around four active wildfires: Coleman Creek, Hat, Crowley, and Big Grass. If you were headed to dispersed camping in Harney or Malheur County, that trip needs a rewrite this week.
As of June 26, 2026, every BLM-managed acre in Utah is under Stage 2 fire restrictions. Open fires are out. Smoking outside a vehicle is out. Chainsaws and generators need functioning spark arresters. Here is exactly what the order allows and what it does not.
A typical portable 12V compressor fridge draws about 0.8 to 1.0 amp-hours per hour on average once running, or roughly 20 to 24 Ah per day. That is the number to size your battery on, not the peak.
36 CFR 2.10 prohibits camping in a national park outside of sites and areas the superintendent has designated. A few parks have designated backcountry roadside zones. Everywhere else is a developed campground or a permit.
Bridge Bay, Canyon, Grant, Madison, and Fishing Bridge RV Park leave Yellowstone National Park Lodges for Recreation.gov starting the 2027 season, and the booking window shrinks from 13 months to about 6.
BLM's Bishop Field Office caps dispersed camping at 14 days per calendar year across the entire field office, and Alabama Hills is inside those boundaries. Since September 25, 2024, a free permit is also required for designated camping there.
The BWCAW is closed to overnight paddle, motor, and hiking permits at all 103 quota entry points through Wednesday, July 29. Forest Service planned a July 27 announcement on a phased reopening that starts July 30.
Consumer cell boosters amplify weak signal. They do not manufacture it. FCC rules under 47 CFR 20.21 require carrier registration for consumer boosters, and the rule set exists because a booster that overrides its safeguards can knock a nearby tower offline.
36 CFR 327.7 caps camping at any one Corps of Engineers water resource project at 14 days in a 30-day period, across all sites at that project. Not per campground. Not per district. Per lake.
CDOT is warning drivers about flash flooding and debris flows off fresh burn scars as monsoon moisture surges into Colorado. Here is what that changes if you are camping downstream of one.
Glacier National Park is running a summer parking pilot at Logan Pass, first-come first-served with a 3-hour ceiling enforced 24 hours a day. If you want to hike Highline or the Loop, you need a shuttle ticket. Here is what to book and when.
The Teton Interagency Fire order bans campfires, charcoal, and fireworks across all three units. Gas and liquid-fuel stoves are still allowed on cleared ground. Here is exactly what changes and what does not.
Two southbound-corridor rest areas in south Thurston County lose overnight parking every weeknight during a WSDOT paving project. Here are the exact hours, the daytime access, and where else to stop.
43 CFR 8365.1-2 caps personal property left unattended on BLM public lands at 10 days without written permission. Here is what the rule targets, how it interacts with the 14-day camping rule, and what happens if you leave a rig longer.
The Shoshone Field Office is standing up a new fee program at two south-central Idaho campgrounds, with the same fee planned at Magic Reservoir once upgrades finish. Here is the effective date, the amount, and what stays free.
BLM's own camping page sets the pattern at 14 days in any 28-day period, then a move of about 25 to 30 miles. The federal regulation itself hands the specifics to the local field office, and that is where you have to check.
In the states that publish a policy, the answer is no. Rest areas are for stopping in a vehicle, not for pitching camp. Time limits are short and the rule usually calls out camping specifically.
La Posa and the six other Arizona LTVAs reopen for long-term camping on September 15, 2026. The $180 permit is valid at all of them. Here is what that gets you and whether it beats free BLM camping down the road.
Verified rule changes on federal and state land from the last 18 months, from Fishlake's 16-day order to Kentucky's 12-hour vehicle safe harbor, and what each one means for where you can sleep.
Plan on no. Forest Service regulations require hauling wastewater out or using provided facilities, BLM sites commonly prohibit dumping outright, and the posted rule always wins.
A dated snapshot of fire restrictions on the national forests campers ask about most, with links to each agency page and the statewide lookup maps.
Seven real discounts on power stations, solar panels, and batteries as of July 17, 2026, and why the list price is usually theater.
Plan on a mid-1,000s running draw and a much bigger starting surge for a 13,500 BTU RV AC. Honda rates its 2,600W EU3200i for exactly that job.
Most weekend rigs land at 200 to 400 watts of panels. Here is the arithmetic: add up your daily watt-hours, divide by real sun hours, and derate honestly.
The rest area closures we could confirm on state DOT pages as of July 17, 2026, including the long I-5 Tejon Pass gap, plus how to check your own route.
A 30 amp RV can draw at most 3,600 watts, so a 3,600W generator covers everything. The real question is whether you need to start the air conditioner.
