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brholt's avatar
brholt
Explorer II
Sep 29, 2020

Camping and Traveling in the west in Winter

We are thinking about going up to Eastern South Dakota to visit relatives in January, from Austin TX, and then heading back west to Seattle in February with hopefully a stop in Yellowstone (I know the Mammoth campground is open year round). For the sake of this question let’s just say we follow I-90 with a diversion to Yellowstone.

I don’t need to discuss winter driving issues, grew up in Minnesota, and I have a good idea of the capacity of my camper, Arctic Fox truck camper, to handle cold weather. Let’s suppose for the sake of this discussion we plan on fully up using the camper with internal water etc.

What I don’t have any knowledge about is are any campgrounds available on the route? Can you get fresh water at places? Dump your tanks? Does anybody have any experience or advice to offer? Or suggestions for any reference one could use?

Thanks
Brad
Seeking Advice
  • Horsedoc's avatar
    Horsedoc
    Explorer II
    Sep 29, 2020
    Chances are pretty strong you are going to seen snow, a lot of snow, on I-90.
    Been there heading west to east in a F-150 . Not a lot of fun, especially with a semi blowing by. Southern boys are not too crazy about blizzards \
  • 8ntw8tn's avatar
    8ntw8tn
    Explorer
    Sep 29, 2020
    Once you get north of Kansas I think it'll be pretty tough finding an rv park that's open. It's quite possible that you can find a Corps of Engineers park or state park open but it's very unlikely they will have fresh water available. The COE and state park dump stations might be available, but I doubt you'll be able to flush your tank or wash out the sewer hose. As a general rule, the state, federal, and private parks up here shut down the water from the first of November to the first of April. There are KOA's near Sioux City and Sioux Falls and a private park near Tea, SD (Red Barn Campground?) but I doubt they're open during the winter. Hope this helps. Good luck with your search.

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