Hank158

Get site, planning my second tour (first as solo, played tag-a-long last year). Finding the camp sites to be my biggest constraint by far! Created my route (Frederick, MD to Long Island, NY) and things started changing pretty dramatically when I started securing where I was setting up my tent.

Read about asking firehouses, but do I roll up and ask to pop my tent up, or call ahead? Anyone ever tour through King of Prussia, PA? This is my current project securing a site here (night #2). My first night I got something along the Susquehanna River, adding 1,500 feet of climbing on a toughest climbing day (turning into a 79 mile 5k climbing day, yikes!). Everyone finds a different part of their trip that trips them up, the logistics is proving to me mine.

Thanks,
Tom

fishboat

You can use this:
ALL US AND CANADA CAMPGROUNDS LOCATOR: STATE PARKS NATIONAL PARKS FORESTS MORE california oregon washington new york pennsylvania more
to evaluate your route vs what's available in public campgrounds. There will be other guides..on the web or google maps..that locate private (commercial) campgrounds.

indyfabz

There’s nothing close to King of Prussia. But you’ll have lots of very busy roads.

Have you looked into ACA’s Atlantic Cosst route for part of your trip?

phughes

Take a look at the app, WikiCamps. I used it on a tour two years ago, and ended up using its maps for my daily routing as well. It allowed my phone to function with GPS only when I had no cell signal. I like paper maps, but used the app basically as a paper map, with the added benefit of being able to see my position on the map. It shows all the camping facilities along the way. Highly recommended.

https://usa.wikicamps.co/

mrv 

set up a https://www.warmshowers.org/ account.
you can see who is hosting where, send them a note. be flexible. be polite.
share tales of your misadventures.
I stayed with folks twice. They were really exceptional hosts.
I was going to stay with a third host last month, but I got off my train a couple hours early and had time to ride to a campground, putting me ahead of schedule..... if not soaking wet and near hypothermic.... should have stayed with the host!

Steve B.

As I was looking at your options for Long Island - which as by the way is 120 miles long, so not sure where you are headed or how. There are 2 campgrounds in the western part, in Nassau County, Nickerson Beach on the ocean in Lido Beach (not a convenient location) and Battle Row in Bethpage, which might have been on your route. EXCEPT that neither allows tent camping. These are RV campgrounds only, which I have to state is completely baffling to me. I have never heard of this restriction and cannot figure out why they have this restriction.

Your next options seem to be further east in Suffolk County, where some of the county parks have campgrounds that as far as I know have no restrictions on tents.

staehpj1

I have not toured much along the east coast so I don't have much specific to offer for there but...
I did find that riding a long Adventure Cycling route like the Trans America teaches you a lot about what kind of places will and won't work. After riding on the TA and staying in places on their maps, I found it easy to find places to stay in similar parts of the country without their maps and off their routes.

I think it probably is more difficult closer to either coast though. Personally I find that it makes sense to tour where it is great touring including easy camping rather than pick a place because I want to go there for some other reason. Just something to consider.

Hank158

Thanks guys for your responses. I did look at the various tools you have all mentioned and it was helpful.

What I ended up doing was take the very first decision I made (night 1 campout) and change it further up north/west. This was a game-changer as it put me in a much better place for the following 2 nights. I was having a inconsistent relationship with Komoot, but it shows many of the campsites (food, toilets, etc.). In the end, Komoot worked well planning this trip.

Thanks again,
Tommy

indyfabz

So...Let’s see a map of the route.

cyccommute 

Allstays is a really good resource. There is a website and an app. The app allows you to pick a campground and then routes to that campground from your current location on Google Maps. I haven’t use it in a while so I don’t know how dated the information is.