LandTrust, a “land-sharing marketplace,” said it is offering a new alternative to traditional campgrounds by partnering with landowners to offer exclusive RV and camping access on farms and ranches across the country.
For the past 10-plus years, the number of people who go camping each year in America has been around 40 million, LandTrust said. However, since COVID the number has spiked to over 50 million people camping per year.
The recent growth in the number of people camping has led to more challenges in finding campground availability. Fortunately, as campground availability continues to be scarce, alternative ways of camping are cropping up. The 2023 North American Camping & Outdoor Hospitality Report by Kampgrounds of America (KOA) reported that year-to-year, around 80% of campers try a new form of camping they are unfamiliar with.
One alternative to campgrounds is venturing outside of national parks and RV campgrounds and reserving a camping spot on a private farm or ranch. A new option for finding and reserving camping spots on private land is a company called LandTrust.
Nic De Castro, founder and CEO of LandTrust, said, “We started partnering with landowners to offer mainly hunting and fishing access and quickly realized we should offer lodging and camping, too, since so many of the properties are off the beaten path with no nearby hotels.”
Currently, LandTrust.com lists over 1.25 million acres of private land across 40 states with more than two hundred of those listings offering RV and camping experiences.
“LandTrust is for exclusive access to working farms and ranches. It’s more for the off-grid type of camper who’s looking for outdoor recreation opportunities and no one else around,” De Castro said.
RV and camping opportunities are sorted by state on LandTrust.com. As an example, a quick search for camping in Montana reveals 165 listings.
Nightly rates start around $25 and can include a whole range of outdoor activities from stargazing and bird watching, to hunting and fishing, hiking and mountain biking, farm and ranch experiences and more.
“The whole point of LandTrust is to offer a marketplace that generates income for landowners and provides recreational opportunities for trusted outdoor enthusiasts by connecting them,” De Castro said.
LandTrust is an easy-to-use online marketplace that generates income for landowners and provides recreational opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts by connecting them to each other.
