Good Outdoor Life is a small, independent site about camping on America’s public lands: national parks, national forests and Bureau of Land Management land. We write for car campers and newer backpackers who want their trips to go smoothly and leave the places they visit in good shape.
What you’ll find here
- Campsites and permits: how reservations open, where dispersed camping is allowed, and what park passes do and don’t cover.
- Camp skills: picking a site, safe drinking water, campfires, camping with dogs and Leave No Trace.
- Safety and wildlife: food storage in bear country, thunderstorms, flash floods and cold nights.
Where the information comes from
Rules on public land are set by the agencies that manage it, so that’s where we start: the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and Recreation.gov, plus safety guidance from the CDC and the National Weather Service and the principles of the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. Where a rule differs from one park or forest to the next, we say so and point you to the office that decides.
We use AI tools to help research and draft our guides, and we check every guide against those sources before it goes up. We don’t review gear, test products or publish sponsored posts.
Who we are
Guides are published by the Good Outdoor Life Crew. We’re not a government website and we’re not connected with any of the agencies we write about; for permits, closures and conditions, the land manager always has the final word.
Spotted something out of date? Our contact page explains how to tell us.