How to Start a Campsite on Your Land: Permits to Pricing

Start small: two to four primitive sites, one clear access route, and a conversation with your county before you spend money. Most of the work in starting a campsite on your land is permission and logistics rather than construction, and what applies to you depends on your county, your zoning and what you plan to offer.

Start with the rules, not the tents

Paid camping sits in a gray zone in many places. Some counties treat a couple of primitive sites as a minor use; others define a campground by the number of sites or nights and require a license for anything that crosses a line. You will not know which applies to you until you ask, and the answer is cheap to get before you build and expensive to get after.

Make a short list of offices to call, in roughly this order, and write down who you spoke to and what they said.

1. County or township planning and zoning: is paid camping allowed on your parcel’s zoning, and is there a site count or night limit that triggers a campground license?
2. County or district health department: what do they require for toilets, wastewater and any drinking water you provide?
3. Local fire department or fire marshal: fire rings, burn-ban procedure, and whether they want to see your access road.
4. Building or code office: only if you plan any structure, platform, cabin or bathhouse.
5. State tax or tourism office, and your county: whether lodging or occupancy taxes apply to short stays.
6. Your insurance agent: covered later in this article, but it belongs on the call list from day one.

Also read your own paperwork. Deed restrictions, a mortgage, a conservation easement or a property-tax program for farmland or forest can limit commercial uses. If your land is enrolled in a state forest or ag program, ask the program office before charging anyone, because the terms differ by state.

Lay out a few good sites

Walk the land with a flagging-tape roll and pick spots before you picture a layout. A good site is relatively flat and well drained, away from low ground that floods in a storm, and clear of dead standing trees and hanging limbs. It gets some shade, some privacy from the next site and, if you have one, a view or water frontage that guests will remember.

Space matters more than count. Sites that cannot see or hear each other are worth more to many campers than a larger number of squeezed-in pads. Two or three well-separated sites may also keep you in simpler regulatory territory, though that depends on your county, which is part of why starting small is good advice rather than caution for its own sake.

• Give each site a level tent pad, a fire ring only where fire is allowed, and a spot for a picnic table or camp kitchen.
• Put parking at the site or a short walk away, on ground that will not rut when it rains.
• Keep sites well away from your house, livestock, wells, ponds and equipment storage, and mark those places off-limits.
• Number or name each site and add a simple map so guests find the right one in the dark.

Sort out water, toilets and waste

This is where many first-time hosts get surprised. Providing drinking water, a flush toilet, a shower or a hookup usually brings more oversight than providing a bare site. The simplest model is a primitive site where guests bring their own water and you provide a toilet and a place to put trash.

Toilet options range from a vault toilet or a composting toilet to a portable unit serviced on a schedule. Which are allowed, how far they must sit from water and property lines, and who must approve them is a local health-department question. Do not dig a pit or plumb anything on a guess.

• If you do not provide drinking water, say so plainly in your listing so guests bring enough.
• Decide how trash leaves the property: a lidded bin you empty after every stay, or a clear pack-it-out rule.
• Ask the health department how gray water from dishwashing should be handled if guests will be cooking.
• Check that toilet and trash areas are far from any stream, pond or well on your land.

Plan for fire, access and emergencies

Fire is one of the biggest risks on a small campground. Decide in advance where fires are allowed, what you do when a burn ban or dry spell is declared, and how guests will know. Our campfire rules and safety guide covers the habits worth building into your rules.

Then think about the worst afternoon. An ambulance or fire truck needs a road it can use, a gate that opens and an address or GPS pin that gets it to the right entrance. Guests need to know where cell service works and where it does not. A first-aid kit at the gate or in a labeled box is a small cost with a large payoff.

The hazard walk-through in how to make your property safe for recreational guests applies directly: wells, old foundations, steep banks, ponds and farm equipment should all be fenced, marked or mapped as no-go areas before anyone sleeps there.

Check your insurance before your first guest

Many homeowner and farm policies were written for the owner’s own use of the land and may treat paying guests differently. Do not assume you are covered; ask your agent directly whether camping for a fee is covered, whether you need a rider or a separate commercial policy, and what exclusions apply to fire, watercraft and animals.

Get the answer in writing. WildPass does not provide liability insurance, so hosts should carry their own; the insurance directory is a place to start comparing options, and a signed release is another layer to discuss with your agent and attorney, as explained on the liability waiver page. Charging a fee for access can also reduce or remove the protection some states’ recreational-use statutes give landowners, which is another reason to ask; see landowner liability and recreational use statutes.

Set a price that fits what you offer

WildPass’s own FAQ and host guide give illustrative camping figures of roughly $25 to $90 per night, with higher figures for furnished glamping setups. Treat that as a typical illustration, not a promise or a forecast: your price depends on your region, the season and what guests get for it. WildPass passes are set by duration (hour, day, weekend, week, month, season or year) rather than per night, so you would build a one-night stay from the durations available, such as a day or weekend pass.

Guests compare you against nearby public campgrounds, which are often cheap, and against free dispersed camping on public land, covered in free camping vs private camping. What justifies paying is the thing public sites rarely offer: privacy, a reservation that is actually yours, a clean toilet, and a spot that is not full on a holiday weekend.

• Features that tend to justify a higher rate: real privacy, water access or a view, a level pad, a covered picnic area, firewood where legal, a clean toilet, and easy access for larger vehicles.
• Start at a modest price, watch how guests respond, and raise it as you add features.
• Decide whether you price per site (one price up to a group-size cap) or per person, and whether to offer a weekend pass instead of single nights.
• Ask your county whether lodging or occupancy taxes apply to short stays.

Write rules and meet the neighbors

Quiet hours, fire rules, pets, firewood, trash, speed on your road and check-in and check-out times belong in writing before the first stay. The rules for guests guide has example wording and a way to keep the list short.

Tell the neighbors before you open. A short visit to say what you are doing, how many people at most, and how to reach you solves more problems than any regulation. If someone later complains, you will already have a relationship.

Open to your first guests

Keep records from the start: dates, number of guests, income and the money you spend on the sites. The tax picture is covered in is recreational land income taxable, and a simple spreadsheet now saves a headache at filing time.

When your permits, insurance and layout are settled, the next step is a listing. On WildPass you can draw your boundary, mark open and off-limits zones, add the required entrance and parking marker and set the camping passes you want to offer, as described in how to list your land on WildPass. The host guide gives example rate ranges, and listing is free.