- Rocki McCrocklin, 52, rents her Bend, Oregon, backyard out to campers for about $74 a night.
- She lists her yard on Hipcamp, a site that lets travelers pay to camp on homeowners' land.
- McCrocklin loves meeting her guests, but warned the camping sites' upkeep requires a lot of work.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rocki McCrocklin, 52, a real-estate agent who has listed her home for three years on Hipcamp, a website that lets homeowners rent out their backyards to people camping in vans or tents. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.
In January 2021, my husband and I purchased a three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Bend, Oregon, for around $850,000.
We're located in an area called the Golden Triangle, about 10 minutes from downtown Bend and 20 minutes from nearby towns Redmond and Sisters. You can kind of just split off and go anywhere. It's fantastic.
Our property is a little over two acres and it came with an RV parking spot on about three-quarters of an acre.
I used to be a big camper. The first summer we lived in the house, some of our friends said they were taking a trip with Hipcamp. I never heard of it before. Its a website where homeowners can rent out land to RVs and tent campers.
My husband and I weren't using the RV spot at all, so I figured it was worth a shot. I thought, at the very least, it might be fun.
My husband and I worked to get it ready. I planted some wildflowers to make the area pretty and laid down playground wood chips to help with the dust. We bought picnic tables, lawn furniture, and a port-a-potty.
Renting out the spaces has given us an extra little chunk of money that we put toward fertilizer and lawn care for our property. It goes back into the upkeep of the spots, too, but with a two-acre property, there's always going to be high maintenance costs.
We were getting such good feedback on the first RV spot that we decided to make a second. We debated leaving that area just for dry camping, but my husband decided he could hook up power and water.
Summer is our busiest season
I really love meeting our guests and getting to know some amazing people.
We get a mix of people staying on the property. People mostly come for mountain-biking, zip-lining, hiking, and rafting in the area.
We have a lot of people come in for concerts at the Hayden Homes Amphitheater and the fairgrounds nearby. There was a big country music festival this summer and a young group of kids came in. They had the best time ever, but we're also super respectful.
They come from all over. We've had guests from as far away as Georgia and Pennsylvania. We had a family this year from Sweden who were spending a month traveling the US. We did manage to get over the language barrier.
Our busiest season is the summer, June through August. We're booked out around 25 nights per month. Nightly rates are between $70 to $74. For the fall and spring it drops down to five or six nights per month.
We don't have too many campers November through February. One time, however, we had a family come over the mountain on New Year's Eve. They pulled their camp trailer through the snow to come to Bend with their young kids. We had a lot of snow and had to go out and shovel a spot for them. They had a blast, though — the kids did a lot of sledding.
Some Hipcamp guests have been especially memorable
Our house is about 100 feet from the site. We keep the door open during the summer and we've never been bothered by noise.
The only time we really heard someone was a group from Santa Rosa, California. They were all in their 50s and just had the most amazing time. They rented both spots, set up lights, played guitar, danced, and sang. We loved it.
We get a lot of returners — people who will book a year in advance and come back for their summer trip. There's a retired couple who comes every year for the Fourth of July because they love our local parades so much.
Last summer, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and we had to block off some time on the calendar because I just couldn't keep up with guests. When we reopened the listing, my husband mentioned we might be slow communicating because I was recovering from surgery. The guests brought me a card and some flowers. It was so nice of them.
You have to be OK with strangers on your property
I love how much fun Hipcamp can be, but it does take a lot of work.
I'm a little bit of a perfectionist. I like the yard to look nice, to be mowed, and the flowers to be planted, so springtime gets a little bit busy. But once it's all dialed in, it really is a lot of fun.
Between each guest, I spend about 45 minutes cleaning up the site. I try not to go up there when the campers are up there — I just don't want to bother them. I do a deep water on the flowers. I take out the trash, pull some weeds, and do a quick mow of the lawn if need be.
I also only do two-night minimums. Most people want to come for the whole weekend. If someone is just here one day, it seems to really mess things up.
Talking to people when they arrive always puts my mind at ease. I'll do a short meet-and-greet, though if we really hit it off I'll chat with them for an hour. I prefer to meet people — I find it so much better than just somebody you don't see setting up on your property.
If you're not ready to share your space — if you're a really private person and it bothers you to see people on your land — then you're probably not going to be a good fit for this.
We happen to love it.
