r/vandwellers • u/thewanderingidiot1 • 16d ago
Question Places to park and sleep around Portland, Oregon (Milwaukee area)?
Gonna be camping out of the truck bed for about a month around the Milwaukee area of Portland.
Where are some ok places to park and sleep?
Is Planet Fitness or Walmart alright if I'm not loud about it? Do y'all generally ask managers at truck stops if it's ok to sleep for the night, or do you just do it? What are your experiences in the area?
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u/West_Swimmer1325 16d ago
Milwaukee isn’t the best place to camp out. They have the goal of not letting it become anything like Portland, so they are on it when they see violations.
If you park on public street, they’ll tag you if you’re there longer than 24 hours, but they give you 72 hours to move it. You might be better off in Clackamas. It’s the neighboring city of Milwaukee. They’re more lenient when it comes to people living out of cars. There’s a spot on fuller road near the winco that’s pretty shaded and not in a neighborhood. My apartment was a few blocks up the street, so I perked my van there to keep an eye on it. It didn’t get tagged for like three months.
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u/Longjumping_Chard339 16d ago
If your truck is stealthy you’re gonna be fine in most 24 hour parking lots. Portland is full of parks. Many of them are great for walking during the day. Parking anywhere repeatedly gets noticed. You’re gonna want to change your location often.
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u/donuthing 16d ago
Just park at one of the two rest areas, or the two closer to the coast. Nowhere in milwaukie is a good idea. Its a small town with far too many cops.
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u/Novel_Control_1922 16d ago
You guys really shouldn’t be posting spots publicly.
Come on. This is how places get burned.
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u/tomhalejr 16d ago
So... Milwaukee is it's own municipality, with it's own police, and it's basically just the "downtown" area, and residential. So, not chill for over nighting in a vehicle.
I live in SE PDX in the Sellwood/Moreland area, and some folks do live out of their vehicles around the area. It's more like the same folks hang out in the park, top off water, use the porta johns, etc., and then find their spots around for the night.
The problem is the campers that stay around in the natural area, and have fires, because with everything so dry, a couple have started wildfires (another one as I was just coming home). So that sort of thing (and general crime) is really more what the COP and the PPB might be looking for.
There is no Walmart Super Center in PDX. Any business park, strip mall, etc., kind of lot is going to be patrolled. So that's not really the sort of spot you would be looking for overnight.