Winter driving

Spent 2 weeks in Northern Vermont in January average Temps - 15 to 15, spent a week in Galena Ks.average temp 15 to 30 I'm now at property I own on North Lake Tahoe average Temps 20 to 35 heading out Friday for Baja Mexico. I love winter camping

Having lived in an area of New York that saw -20 degrees at times I learned one thing, have a back-up plan if everything fails.
If you can stay warm,you will be fine.

Thank you everyone for your replies. Apparently it can be done and have fun while at it.
MH/RV's are obviously "good" weather experiences but as everyone has pointed out some thought must first be put into the pro's and con's on what winter challenges can arise.
We have tried it once earlier in the season with success but the winds, snow and ice have put a halt further adventures.
Again, thanks for everyones expertise and experiences.
Paul

We just returned from a road trip through Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona (Quart) and stayed several days in Yuma. I planned for tough weather conditions, but we had perfect weather until our return trip to Utah when we hit a significant snowstorm in the higher elevations. (Our first in our Class C). I was pleased with how the 25 foot handled. Just in case I purchased snow tire cables on Amazon for the rear tires. We practiced installing them after watching a very helpful Youtube video where they used a tire lift under the inside dually which made installation on the outside tire easy. I also included orange safety vests and gloves in case we had to install them near the highway. (Thankfully those items were not needed)

We have done lots of cold weather camping and have foil covers for bedroom windows and also a portable propane "Buddy" heater in case we lose the motorhome heater or electricity. I also carried a couple of gallons of winterizing liquid in case things got too cold. (Our tanks are heated but exposed)

Cold weather camping usually sends many people home, so if you want little to no crowds and fun travel, give it a try. You can always stop, pull over somewhere safe and hunker down until roads are cleared.

Harvey51 wrote:

Photomike wrote:
Here is a write-up that I did that may help you. Cold weather camping

Thanks very much for that great practical knowledge!
We don’t intentionally go camping below -10C but it could happen accidentally living 500 km north of Edmonton and loving mountains.

I think I might have met the guy camping in his car one day at the Grande Cache tourist info. I was chatting with him beside his car and pretty soon a wonderful cooking smell reached me from the open trunk of his car.

It is amazing how many people are out in the winter camping. Now that it is not -50 here I would like to get out. Need to get out. HAVE to get out. :E

A little prep and it is fun.

Photomike wrote:
Here is a write-up that I did that may help you. Cold weather camping

Thanks very much for that great practical knowledge!
We don’t intentionally go camping below -10C but it could happen accidentally living 500 km north of Edmonton and loving mountains.

I think I might have met the guy camping in his car one day at the Grande Cache tourist info. I was chatting with him beside his car and pretty soon a wonderful cooking smell reached me from the open trunk of his car.

Sort of on topic! We had plans to do several short winter camping trips.....winter driving. We spent extra bucks to get a class c capable of winter camping ( 0 and colder). So far, haven’t made a trip. I really screwed-up my back around the first of the year....which really screwed-up our winter camping plans. Limped out to the barn (storage) once, to run the generator and the RV engine! Not the way we planned our winter. Have “cabin fever”....needed to vent! :M

Go for it just prepare first.

Here is a write-up that I did that may help you. Cold weather camping

One problem with winter camping in Canada is that the evenings are dark so bring things to do indoors. Some provinces require winter tires and you don’t want to be buying them urgently to get out of a towing lockup. Alberta doesn’t require them and in BC you can get away with having chains on board. I take our C for a drive every month. In January I stopped on a small country road where I had to turn around using a driveway. Backing out of the driveway I couldn’t see very well due to bright sunlight and everything white - I backed into a snow drift and got stuck. I brought a shovel this month and didn’t need it. It’s the first warm day this February, only 4 below zero C. Twenty below expected again tomorrow.

We got our former rental MH in late fall and took our first camping trip in March to Jasper. Of course we got a big snowstorm on the way and stopped at a small campsite where we really enjoyed our MH despite a foot of snow and -10C. I just put a mitt over the freshwater drain tap and we had no problems with freezing. Now we know we can handle -10 but probably not much colder.

pauly boy wrote:
I have a 24ft C class 4 Winds. Was thinking of taking it out for "winter camping" in a Provincial park that's maintained for just such opportunity's.

Was wondering how the rig would handle on winter roads.

I have a 24’ C on an older F-350 chassis that I use a lot, year round for (sort of) work travel. In my case it’s nearly at its GVWR with just me and the bare necessities.

With nothing more than regular all season (M&S) all season LT tires on it, it’s nearly like having AWD.

I left the northern part of the GTA last Tuesday (Feb. 12th) morning and drove south through Niagara Falls, west to Erie, PA then south to WV. I had NO serious issues with driving in that storm. It took some common sense and a good measure of prudence, but it was not bad, considering all the folks I saw in the ditch, or worse.