Service helps landowners, campers find each other
Person-to-person vacation-rental websites like Airbnb and VRBO have grown quite popular. I’ve booked getaway rentals on such sites and have been very happy with the results.
A new startup company is now offering the same kind of service for campers.
Hipcamp connects lovers of the great outdoors with property owners who want to make a few bucks from their camping-appropriate spreads.
Campsites range from primitive, no-services sites to “glamping” setups with all the trimmings. Some owners even offer amenities such as heated cabins, running water and flush toilets (although at that point, you might as well book The Ritz).
Prices vary from $10 to hundreds per night. Property owners keep 90 percent of the proceeds while Hipcamp, which also can provide insurance and other services to campsite owners, gets the other 10 percent.
I really like the idea of helping owners of beautiful, natural property profit, at least a bit, from preserving their land and sharing it with fellow nature lovers. I also like that campers can enjoy pretty spots that are otherwise inaccessible to the public.
Sites are already available all across the country, with more quickly being added. Users can search for a site by area or with a map tool. Hipcamp also offers creative suggestions, such as the best campsites near national parks, and useful tools like a fall foliage map, should you want to find a campsite with the prettiest trees weekend.
You can even find a site that might come with a ghost. Although it’s a bit late for Halloween, Hipcamp is offering suggestions for campsites near 13 of the spookiest ghost towns in America.
For example, Paradise Shores Camp is located in the desert near the old gold-mining town of Bodie, California. Legend has it that Bodie is protected by a curse that causes bad luck to anyone foolish enough to take an artifact from the site. (That same curse protects the stapler on my desk from co-workers, by the way.)
On the other side of the country is Field, Forest and Farm, offering campsites in New York’s Catskill
Mountains near Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel. The old resort, now abandoned and spooky, was reportedly the inspiration for the hotel in the movie “Dirty Dancing” — which is pretty scary when you think about it.
Campers, and property owners who would like to find out more about renting campsites, can find more information at www. hipcamp.com.