camping outlook 2021

agesilaus wrote:

We took a trip to our favorite area last Fall, the Grand Teton and Yellowstone area. One campground had more campers than normal, but we were still able to get in and juggled another night to move to a better site. At another CG near West Yellowstone,

Our camp at the Tetons on the 4th of July weekend. Cost--nothing

As for Campgrounds inside the two parks: about 2 in 3 were closed, so yeah that made it harder to get a spot in the pasrk.

As for YNP. We stayed just north of Gardiner, about 10 minutes away. Cost again -- not a penny right on the river too.

We don't stay in either park. Too crowded. We stayed off of Togwotee Pass then Baker's Hole north of West Yellowstone.

We took a trip to our favorite area last Fall, the Grand Teton and Yellowstone area. One campground had more campers than normal, but we were still able to get in and juggled another night to move to a better site. At another CG near West Yellowstone,

Our camp at the Tetons on the 4th of July weekend. Cost--nothing

As for Campgrounds inside the two parks: about 2 in 3 were closed, so yeah that made it harder to get a spot in the pasrk.

As for YNP. We stayed just north of Gardiner, about 10 minutes away. Cost again -- not a penny right on the river too.

Timeking wrote:
Did you stay at all RV parks or a mix (state parks, national parks etc.)?

First two years of full-timing, we volunteered in a national park, a state park and a COE project (no CG, but spots for volunteers at the HQ). That was about 12 months of our first 24.

After we decided it restricted us too much, and we joined Thousand Trails. We have averaged as high as $20.38 per night the first year, and $9.91 per night last year.

We spent more time than we normally like to in TT parks because of Covid lockdowns, and some things we normally do being closed.

In general, we like to spend a few months in an area where we can use TT for most of the time. We use federal campgrounds, from the abundant COE in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and such to BLM and USFS out west. Also, I'm retired US Navy and there are military parks a cross the nation. We use Passport America and Escapees' discounts where we can find them.

The most money we have ever paid per night was $42.40 at TY Park, a Broward County park in Fort Lauderdale, FL in Feb 2015 - granddaughter #1 wedding.

When traveling we take what we can get.

I think it is an experience thing to find a level of costs, service and amenities that a person likes, where they want to spend their money. My wife wants 50Amp and Sewer. So I make it work most of the time.

Know a couple that only stays in full service 4 star or above parks with their tag axle Class A DP.

Know another couple who Wally dock on the road, boondock in western forests a lot, average less than $1,500 per year in camping costs, in an 18' Casita fiberglass eggshell camper, along with their three German shepherds.

Literally almost anything you want is out there, and no one can tell you what is best for you. Only getting on the road and traveling will show you what works for you.

I recommend reservations initially, but it is up to you. Over time, you will decide if you want that level of comfort in plans, or not.

One reason I plan my trips, especially my driving days, is to prevent me from over extending myself. Another hour or two, another hundred miles. Done that a couple times, and it was expensive. I make mistakes when I'm tired.

We took a trip to our favorite area last Fall, the Grand Teton and Yellowstone area. One campground had more campers than normal, but we were still able to get in and juggled another night to move to a better site. At another CG near West Yellowstone, it was as crowded as it has been in the past, so no change there and we were able to get into an RV park for one night, same as before. For this year, the number of reservations has not changed and we've been able to book a site for July 4th, but as before, will have to chance a first come first serve for Memorial Day. So, no changes here.

how do I change my password?

Thank you for all your input it's much appreciated.

Timeking wrote:
Did you stay at all RV parks or a mix (state parks, national parks etc.)?

If you mean us, we stayed at private camps, COE parks, State parks, city and county camps and boondocked. Just about the only place we skip are high price RV 'resorts' and for the most part Walmart parking lots and such tho we did com3e close once.

Did you stay at all RV parks or a mix (state parks, national parks etc.)?

Texas State parks were reserved almost every weekend.

That's normal, the local weekend campers come out to camp and they book up local to them parks, This especially includes COE parks where the fisher folk head on the weekend.

Now, many folks got upset when the realities of trying to get a spot in the major national parks hit them.

Nothing new there. For the major Utah parks, especially Arches and Zion this has got worse. Utah State Tourism ran a major ad campaign in the big eastern cities and I believe Europe for Arches and Zion with billboards in Times Square and other spots. Unhappily for us RVers that was a major success. Arches is so crowded that they are closing the gates and the line was two miles long at Zion when we when by this summer.

But it has always been tough to camp inside the big parkas in the school's out period of the year.

We have a workaround for that and had no problem camping at Yellowstone.

The thing that is a concern, to us, is the boondocking craze for people who have no idea of what they are doing and are pigs and slobs in the camp areas. There is some fellow on RV Village who posted that he was a newbie but want people to tell him places to go for winter boondocking. A very bad idea on his part.

OP Interesting questions.

We reserved a few hard to get into sites last fall. We just completed 3 months of reservations up the CA/OR/WA coast. We've never done this amount of reservations in the past and decided to have a complete plan in place.