Campers know that sites tend to fill up early. Because of that, you need to be a meticulous planner. If you’re an inexperienced camper or you tend to let days unfold in less regimented ways, it can be intimidating or frustrating to make camping arrangements, especially if you’re required to check in by a certain time. YouTube videos can instill confidence for first timers, but virtual input is a double-edged sword. Consuming content tricks your brain into thinking you’ve been camping when you haven’t left your house. Numerous camping apps can help you plan a real camping trip but there is one that can be ideal for day trips, close-to-home weekends, explore-your-city excursions and camping test runs. It’s HipCamp and it’s a fun alternative camping app that’s free to download.
That’s not to say the app doesn’t have issues. It’s not easy to navigate and communicating through it can be a challenge, but despite those flaws, you can find some unique and affordable places to spend time with your family and friends. Rates range from under $30 for a tent site to over $100 for lodging. Try the website if you find the app challenging. HipCamp is AirBnB for campers; it matches campers with property owners who have available campsites. You enter your destination and research the nearby listings. Some may offer everything from car and tent camping to electricity, water and pump-out services for larger rigs to permanent structures. Read each camp’s listing carefully. For instance, most allow pets, but some charge a per-pet fee.
Fully understand the reservation policy of each camp. Some hosts are understandably strict about allowing refunds for unused reservations. All payments and refunds are made through HipCamp, and hosts can opt for lenient, strict or very strict reservation policies. Understand it from the hosts’ perspective. They block out the days of your stay, and if you cancel, they lose the revenue and don’t have sufficient time to attract other campers in your place.
If you have the acreage, you can become a HipCamp host with nothing but accessible land. You might do even better if you run water, provide a bathroom and shower and perhaps offer trash disposal. You could install cameras to monitor your land and manage your campground remotely. This allows you to take your own vacations or allow campers on your vacation property while you run things from your primary residence. If you live onsite, you can request people call prior to their arrival and that they arrive by a certain time. This is the great thing about HipCamp; it allows for both campers and hosts to set up specifications that fit their individual needs.
Here are three nearby HipCamps to get you started. When you make your reservation, you’ll be charged a HipCamp fee that goes for the upkeep of the app and customer service.
Cedar Creek Campground at Elease, White Oak
30 Acres with 14 Sites for RV or Tent
This wooded campground is neat as a pin. Plantings are protected, the stone road and site entries are pristine, the single bathroom is clean and well-stocked and the shower has plentiful warm water and a curtained changing area. Sites are set up for car and tent camping, self-contained RVs and larger rigs that need water and pump-out service. Plenty of long country roads surround for pretty rides, or head into the city to take in all the food, art, history or entertainment that appeals to you. However, this might be the ideal HipCamp for simply staying in camp. Michael is welcoming and helpful; you’ll see him out cleaning and improving the grounds regularly. Firepits and picnic tables are at each site, and there are well-maintained walking trails for gentle hikes that might be perfect for young children.
Legacy Farms Leisure Area, Lumber Bridge
43 Acres with 4 Sites for Tent, RV or Lodging
This farm will make horse lovers smile. Owner Liz has bred horse standouts in the dressage and jumping arenas, and she and her husband knock out the endless chores a farm requires. Visitors will be treated to idyllic vistas of beautifully kept horses in endless turnouts, sheds and stalls.
Your bathroom is in the barndominium tack room. The tent sites offer a wooden platform to set up on, fire pits and best of all, samples of Liz’s homemade goat cheese and jelly. Liz is your go-to person if you want to learn about making jams and jellies, goat cheese and goat husbandry. Maybe combine your stay with one of her classes.
The couple are fun and welcoming hosts. Because of the nature of being around horses that can weigh in the neighborhood of 1,000 pounds, you will be asked to sign a waiver to be on the property. Liz owns some of the horses; some are boarders. Ask her which ones you can pet and teach children how to approach those velvety noses and creatures with eyes on the sides of their head.
Lindsay Grapes, Rockfish
30 Acres, 1 Site for RV or Tent
This is a beautiful little pick-your-own vineyard. The day I visited I had the place to myself. The instructions say to meet and greet the owner, but that didn’t happen on my visit.
Be comfortable with everything from handholding to open pastures without marked sites. It could be the owner wishes they could greet every camper, but perhaps were out when I arrived. It could also be that I didn’t want to knock on the doors of multiple outbuildings and disturb privacy. I was grateful for the portable toilet. Check out surrounding activities for both pros and cons to a camp.
For instance, I love motorcycles, so a Saturday night at a nearby motocross track sounding like a hoard of mosquitoes was music to my ears. You wouldn’t necessarily think of a racetrack going together with a vineyard, but perhaps such a HipCamp offers a way to please both members of a couple or provide something for differing interests in an extended family.

(Photo: Legacy Farms Leisure Area in Lumber Bridge is a horse farm with 4 sites for tents or RVs for those who want to camp near a working horse farm.)