Camping in the USA

[Freyja]

Since I loved talking to you all about where you would go on a dream vacation and why, I´m hoping you can give me some advice on another, related issue.

Camping in the USA

I´m thinking about "old school" camping (tent and sleeping bags) on the west coast (Seattle to San Diego) and Utah and Yellowstone National Park.

Please tell me everything you can. Cost, facilities, things to watch out for, great camping sites for families, etc.

 

[JCJRSmith]

A good place to start for suggestions is Woodalls. Lots of great info there to help plan your trip.

 

[Freyja]

Thanks Off to check it out now!

 

[barkley]

use good quality very warm sleeping bags-even if camping in the summer.

a family member who camps often decided to take a trip up here to washington last summer-she did'nt take into consideration that even in the summer we can get VERY cold, they ended up having to do motels a few nights b/c their sleeping bags just were'nt up to the challenge.

check out the timeline for making advance reservations at the state campgrounds-when we lived in california they could be booked up months and months in advance (and for holiday periods a year). i think i've heard that with the financial issues in california the govenor did some kind of cuts to the state parks so i'm not sure if that will impact on availability as well.

 

[bunny]

Go to www.rvparkreviews.com for information on campgrounds. It is a site for personal reviews of campgrounds. It is a pretty good source for campground information.

 

[Magic Mom]

One of my favorite camping trips ever was in the Olympic National Park in Washington state. It is so beautiful and there are so many great places to visit from rain forests to mountain peaks to long stretches of beach. Plus there are 3 great lodges located around the park, so there is opportunity for a break from the camping in a nice room with very nice dining.
http://www.olympicpeninsula.org/destinations/olympic-peninsula-visitor-bureau

 

[Darcy03231]

If you and your family have never tent camped before I would suggest doing it for a weekend, somewhere close to home. You don't want to buy all the stuff and plan a big camping vacation just to find you hate it and have a miserable trip.

 

[wdwfan16]

Where are you getting the tent and 6 sleeping bags? Are you shipping them from Iceland or purchasing them in the US. Good ones can be expensive. You might get a good deal on craislist, but being out of the country would be hard to get something on Craigslist.

 

[mom2boys]

Our family has done spent 3-7 weeks on each of the past 5 summers tent camping throughout the Western USA. It really is an amazing way to see the USA - and it's economical. When I'm along, I insist on a hot shower. You can find that in a lot of state & National Park/Monument campgrounds. Many of the commerical campgrounds cater to those huge RVs. However, KOA always has a specific # of tent only sites.
If you really want to go primative camping, there is a wealth of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and National Forest Land that is either free or only a few dollars per night.

If you are in bear country, you need to take precautions - keep all food items out of tents & don't sleep in clothes you cooked in. Follow all instructions provided by the park & you should not have a problem.

We have some wonderful memories from all of our camping trips. The stars are unbelievable at Yellowstone's Bridge Bay Campground -no light pollution. Here's a link to an on-line Yellowstone Planner. http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/10tripplanner.pdf

Fell free to pm me - I could go on & on & on...

 

[Freyja]

If you and your family have never tent camped before I would suggest doing it for a weekend, somewhere close to home. You don't want to buy all the stuff and plan a big camping vacation just to find you hate it and have a miserable trip.

Oh, we have tent camped a lot. Both here in Iceland and in Denmark

Where are you getting the tent and 6 sleeping bags? Are you shipping them from Iceland or purchasing them in the US. Good ones can be expensive. You might get a good deal on craislist, but being out of the country would be hard to get something on Craigslist.

We would be bringing it with us, since we have some great gear I know I wouldn´t want to be without




Thanks everyone for your great response. I knew I could count on you!

 

[D&DDisney]

KOA are located throughout the US and have very high standards for camping (clean, bathrooms, laundry, etc) Try http://www.koa.com/ for details.

 

[Freyja]

Renting an RV looks very exciting to me too

 

[bumbershoot]

We've stayed at a couple state parks in Oregon; we liked them a lot! I just googled "state campground" and the state you're looking at to find the info. They do book up quickly, depending on where and when you're wanting to travel.

 

[ginna74]

KOA are located throughout the US and have very high standards for camping (clean, bathrooms, laundry, etc) Try http://www.koa.com/ for details.

we koa'd our way to yellowstone as a kid and I do have to say that koa is the best.

 

[minkydog]

Come over and check out RV.net. It primarily caters to RVers, but it does have a couple of discussion boards that you might be interested, the tent camping board and the State & National Parks board. I like the Beginner's board too.

Since you're experienced campers I can't imagine that you would be too surprised by anything. Where exactly are you going "out west"? That covers a LOT of ground. Everything out west is a lot farther apart than it looks on a map. If you are going to be staying at a new place every night or two, I would suggest renting an RV--set up and take down with that tent is going to get old by the 3rd time you do it. But if you plan to set up camp and use it as a home base to explore the area for 5 days or more then I'd definitely camp. Be aware that most National Parks do not have electricity or water at your site. However, they usually have a public spigot where you can fill your water jugs--Yellowstone has the best deep well water i've ever tasted!

Good luck planning your trip. We took a jog out west 2 years ago and we are just straining to go back

 

[mom2boys]

We've stayed at a couple state parks in Oregon; we liked them a lot! I just googled "state campground" and the state you're looking at to find the info. They do book up quickly, depending on where and when you're wanting to travel.

Some of our favorite campsites are Oregon State Parks - especially along the Coast. (Not right on the Pacific, but great locations).

 

[Freyja]

I´m looking into the possibility of various different trips and types of travelling, so nothing is certain yet.
The more I read on various US camping boards tonight, the more I get excited about the thought of renting an RV and trying that travel form for a change The kids love the idea too.
One possibility is to start in Seattle, spend 3 days there, drive down to San Fransisco with 2 nights on the way, stay 3 nights in San Francisco, drive to LA, stay 4 nights in LA (Anaheim, Disneyland), drive to San Diego and spend 3 nights there. Then drive to Las Vegas and spend 2-3 nights there, move on to Utah and spend 2 nights somewhere near the eastern end of the Grand Canyon and from there drive up to Yellowstone and spend 3-4 nights there and then drive back to Seattle.

How easy/difficult is it to take the RV out every day?

 

[minkydog]

I´m looking into the possibility of various different trips and types of travelling, so nothing is certain yet.
The more I read on various US camping boards tonight, the more I get excited about the thought of renting an RV and trying that travel form for a change The kids love the idea too.
One possibility is to start in Seattle, spend 3 days there, drive down to San Fransisco with 2 nights on the way, stay 3 nights in San Francisco, drive to LA, stay 4 nights in LA (Anaheim, Disneyland), drive to San Diego and spend 3 nights there. Then drive to Las Vegas and spend 2-3 nights there, move on to Utah and spend 2 nights somewhere near the eastern end of the Grand Canyon and from there drive up to Yellowstone and spend 3-4 nights there and then drive back to Seattle.

How easy/difficult is it to take the RV out every day?

How long is this trip? You've got a LOT of driving planned. It's a pretty long haul from Las Vegas to Yellowstone. And it's a really long haul from Seattle to San Diego.

I also would suggest if you're going to rent an RV in one city and turn it in in another city, check with the rental place. Sometimes the return fee is very high, like, $1000 if you do it that way.

It usually takes us longer to drive somewhere with our travel trailer than to take the car so:
RV estimates--
Seattle to San Francisco--a good 2 days hard driving, 3 days if you don't like to go 8-10hrs a day

San Francisco to Anaheim--a good days drive, about 5-6hrs at least

Anaheim to San Diego--easily get there in less than a day

San Diego to Las Vegas--not sure, never did it, but Anaheim to Las Vegas is a good 4 hours across the Mojave Desert( boring as hell.)

I don't even know how long it would take you to go las Vegas to YNP--it's a good 6hr haul from Salt Lake City to YNP. I'm guessing you'll want to take that leg in 2 days, maybe 3. It's very hot in Utah in the summer, too, so plan for that.

Let's see, so far you have 8-9 travel days, plus 22 days of actual camping in one place. That's 30-31 days. Is that about right? That's a doable trip, but it's going to be some hard going.

You could probably tent your way down the west coast if you like, but i don't htink I'd want to tent anywhere in Arizona or Utah in the summer--it was 106 when we were there in Jun 2007. If you have small children, you might not want to tent continuously. That gets real old, real fast. Good luck with your trip. Planning is the most fun part!

 

[Freyja]

We´d probably have 30-40 days for a trip like this. We would prefer to do a "cirkle" so that we don´t have to pay the $1500 one-way fee.

We´ve done the drive from San Diego to Las Vegas before and we´ve been on many long roadtrips (over 3 weeks) with our kids before, so I think we know what we´re getting ourselves in to, if we do this

Thanks for your advice!

 

[minkydog]

We´d probably have 30-40 days for a trip like this. We would prefer to do a "cirkle" so that we don´t have to pay the $1500 one-way fee.

We´ve done the drive from San Diego to Las Vegas before and we´ve been on many long roadtrips (over 3 weeks) with our kids before, so I think we know what we´re getting ourselves in to, if we do this

Thanks for your advice!

If you've got 30-40 days you'll have plenty of time. And that will build in some extra time in case someone gets sick or you see something you really want to stop and explore. Of course, we have a saying in our family: it's not a vacation until someone goes to the emergency room. Have a great time!