FreeCampsites Scraper

Get free and low-cost dispersed camping, boondocking, and budget campground listings from FreeCampsites.net — a community-sourced directory covering all 50 US states. No login, no API key, no proxy required.

What this actor does

• Keyword search — find listings by campground name, national forest, city, or region (e.g. Yellowstone, Big Sur, Custer State Park)
• Browse by state — pull every listing FreeCampsites.net has for a given US state
• Community-sourced detail — each listing's full write-up (directions, amenities, fees, season dates) as contributed by campers
• Empty fields are omitted — every record only contains data actually present in the listing

Output per campsite

• name, slug, url
• description — full community write-up (directions, amenities, fees, season, rules)
• state — US state (matched from the browse query or detected in the listing text)
• priceUSD — nightly fee, when a dollar amount is mentioned in the write-up
• campsiteCount — number of individual sites, when mentioned
• contributedBy — community member username who submitted/last edited the listing
• datePosted, lastUpdated
• recordType: "campsite", scrapedAt

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	select	search	search (keyword) or state (browse a US state)
searchQuery	string	Yellowstone	Free-text keyword (mode=search)
state	select	Montana	US state to browse (mode=state)
maxItems	integer	20	Hard cap on emitted records (1–500)

Example: search by keyword

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchQuery": "Big Sur"
}

Example: browse every listing in a state

{
  "mode": "state",
  "state": "Colorado",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Use cases

• Road-trip planning — find free overnight stops along a route
• Van-life / RV apps — enrich a map with community-vetted free camping spots
• Budget travel content — power "free camping in {state}" articles with real, current listings
• Outdoor recreation research — compare dispersed camping availability and amenities by state or region

Data source / limitations

FreeCampsites.net is a community-maintained directory, not a live booking or availability system — listings describe where free/low-cost camping is generally permitted (US National Forest dispersed sites, BLM land, small city/county parks, etc.), not real-time site-by-site availability. priceUSD and campsiteCount are extracted only when a contributor explicitly mentioned a dollar figure or site count in their write-up — many free/dispersed listings have neither and simply omit those fields. state is either the state you browsed by (mode=state) or detected from the listing's own text (mode=search) — a small number of listings near state borders or without an explicit state mention may not resolve a state value.

FAQ

Is this real-time availability, like a reservation system? No — FreeCampsites.net lists where camping is generally allowed and reported to be available (mostly free, first-come-first-served dispersed sites), not a live booking calendar. For reserved/paid campgrounds with real-time date availability, see this repo's Recreation.gov actor.

How fresh are listings? Each listing shows datePosted (when first contributed) and lastUpdated (most recent community edit) — many entries are actively maintained for years.

Why do some listings have no priceUSD? Most FreeCampsites.net entries are genuinely free; priceUSD is only populated when the write-up explicitly states a nightly fee (common for low-cost forest service or day-use-adjacent sites).

Does this cover Canada or other countries? Coverage is US-focused; the state browse mode covers all 50 US states.