Can You Camp At An RV Park Indefinitely?

So you got your fancy new RV, and you're looking to take it camping. Great!  Pick yourself out a campsite and have fun. But if you're one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who've been priced out of stationary housing and now need to move into an RV, van or car — despite city bans on car camping — you're likely wondering just how long you can keep that RV parked in one spot. Well, it depends on the campsite, but don't expect most of them to let you stay forever. 

Government-operated campsites, like those in national parks, generally have pretty restrictive limits on camping. Yosemite, for example, lets campers stay up to 30 nights out of season but only 14 nights during the peak season of May through early September — and only half of those nights can be in the Yosemite Valley itself. If you're looking to live your Camp 4 dirtbag dreams, you'll have to either invent a time machine or get very good at dodging park rangers. 

Private RV parks, though, allow long-term stays with more frequency. The trick is to find one that offers monthly reservations rather than just daily or weekly stays. Be warned, though, that such stays aren't always as cost-effective as the nomad life may seem — I've seen rates as high as $3,000 a month for RV spots, and even that doesn't guarantee a permanent place. Some parks that allow monthly stays still cap the overall duration, to keep new guests cycling through. 

If you're looking to go all-in on full-time RV living, your best bet is to live like a nomad — use up your limited camping days in one spot, then move on to the next and start the timer all over again. But if that's not an option, if you're simply forced into four-wheeled living by economic circumstance and still need access to a nearby job, you're looking at a future where you're always dodging authorities looking to remove you.