Advanced reservation???

[tryingitout]

My wife and I are planning a 2 week trip, starting the weekend after Labor Day. We are leaving Michigan, going thru Colorado, (this is where we will start to camp) into Utah, around the Grand Canyon, and then to Casa Grande Arizona. My question is will I need to reserve camp sites ahead of time, or can you just show up? We will probably only stay a couple of days at each, and I am not particular on what type of campground. I have a living quarter horse trailer, (we are not bring horses) we usually dry camp, but have no problem staying at RV Parks.

[2gypsies1]

OP: Thanks for coming back and giving us your trip report. It sounds like you covered a lot of territory and things went great even without reservations! Most folks are afraid to do it but you proved it can be done.

[noe-place]

We took a trip from Kentucky through the southwest up the Pacific coast to Canada then back down through the Midwest home a few years ago. Had NO reservations at any time during the entire trip because we never knew where we were going to end up from day to day. I simply waited for DW to decide it was time to find a site for a day or and we always found one no matter what state we were in. Some campgrounds, some truck stops, some rest stops, etc.

[SDcampowneroper]

My pa likened value to oats.
If you want good fresh oats ( the best site in camp) buy ahead.
If you are ok with oats that have been through the horse, or a place they dump the manure, they are cheaper, nearby parking not so good.
You would be well served by making reservations as far ahead as you can.

[tryingitout]

I thought I would do a follow up post to our trip. We did not make any advance reservations, and did not have a problem finding a place to stay. Although we did not stay inside any of the national parks, partly because our truck and trailer was too long. (We found that out at Zion, it was over 50 feet) We decided to go thru Kansas instead of Nebraska, since our first stop was Lake Pueblo State Park. That was the only place we stayed 2 nights, the rest of the 2 weeks only 1 night at each stop. We left Lake Pueblo State Park on US 50 and went thru Montrose, and we did stay a night a Ridgeway State Park. (Nice) My wife did not read in time to turn on US 62, so we ended up taking 550 to Durango. (Beautiful views but definitely a white knuckler) We then took US 160 to Cortez, then US 491 to Monticello, then 191 to 95. We stayed the night at Glen Canyon National Rec Area. (I would not recommend this campground) We continued on 95 and went west on 24 to Capital Reef National Park. After we left Capital Reef we took 12 thru the Grand Stair Case (Another white knuckler but great views) to 63 into Bryce Canyon. We stayed a night at Ruby’s Campground. (Nice) From there we took US 89 to 9 into Zion Canyon. We stayed at a nice private campground just before the east entrance to Zion. (Nice) When we left Zion we took Us 89 to US 89A to 67 into the Grand Canyon North Rim, we stayed a night at the National forest campground just before 67. (no electric or water but ok) From there, US 89 to 64 to the Grand Canyon South Rim. We left the South Rim on US 180 and stayed at a KOA in Flagstaff. (Not very clean garbage in or site) We left Flagstaff intending on taking US 89A into Sedona, but they have a 50 foot truck limit so we had to take I17 to 179 to Sedona. We had planned on staying in Sedona, but changed our mind after getting there. So we continued on US 89A to 260 to Camp Verde got back on I17 to 169, and stayed at Quail Run Campground. (nice) (Did a quick jaunt into Prescott for a beer at the brewery.) From there we took the interstate to Casa Grande, and then home to Michigan. All total we drove 5300 miles, spent 113 hours in the truck, averaged 11 MPG and burned 479 gallons of Diesel, and it was less than $3500.00. It was a fantastic vacation.

[fanrgs]

Lauren wrote:
I am a big reservation person as I want to know I have a place with a site I want . . . Having lived in CO for 8 years and traveled it much more I have found that the time after Labor Day can have lots of tourists - it is beautiful fall colors in the mountains, etc. We used to call that time the season of the newlyweds and nearly deads !

When our sons were in elementary school in Colorado in the late 1970's, they were in year-round schools. One of their two vacation breaks each year was mid-August to early October. One sunny mid-September day, our whole family walked into the lobby of Old Faithful Lodge for lunch. One "nearly dead" woman stared at the boys for a moment, then turned to her friend and, in an unmistakable New Jersey-accented stage whisper, said "What are those kids doing here? This is OUR time of the year!"

In Alaska, it really doesn't matter which RV park or site you reserve because most RV parks are just big gravel parking lots with few or no trees, picnic tables, or fire pits. You may not even be able to walk between the sites if two adjacent RVs have slides on facing sides, like Oceanside RV Park in Haines. And, if there are wide, shady, back-in sites around the edge of the park, they are completely filled by seasonal workers who are there for 4 or 5 months of the year, like Garden City RV Park in Skagway and most others we stayed in.

[Lauren]

I agree 100% with MPond.

I am a big reservation person as I want to know I have a place with a site I want and not spend good time trying to figure out where I will be staying. Would rather be photo shooting, hiking, etc.

With your rig, you should be making reservations IMHO.

Having lived in CO for 8 years and traveled it much more I have found that the time after Labor Day can have lots of tourists - it is beautiful fall colors in the mountains, etc.

We used to call that time the season of the newlyweds and nearly deads !

[tryingitout]

Thank you all for the comments they are helpful, as it gets closer we will have to decide how we are going to plan our stays. My wife and I are not the typical tourist, we are there more for the nature site seeing. We tend to shy away from tourist spots, but we do like things like Indian ruins, and cliff dwellings and such. But that is the nice thing about not having a schedule, we can drive around, or stop and see what ever takes our fancy the time. We would not have a problem staying at a rest area, except for the security issue when you leave your rig. The plan is to use the trailer for sleeping, the rest of the time we plan to be out and about. We are pretty good fly by the seat of your pants people, so I think it will work out fine.

[4runnerguy]

To sum up what others have said, you will find a number of NFS CG's closed soon after Labor Day. The few NFS CG's left open get busy as there are far fewer choices for all of us who are still camping in Sept. Plenty of boondocking still available at that time though. At some of the more popular NP's though, you might have problems finding a spot. Places like Zion and Arches are already getting pretty full and will probably sell out for certain dates as we get closer to fall. I'd get on recreation.gov to research the CG's you are interested in and how many sites are available as time goes on. You will also be limited because of trailer length in some CG's, as they were built when many people used tents and few had large rigs.

With only two weeks for your trip you will be severely limited as to what you will be able to see. While you may be loathe to make reservations, you might want to do a lot of research before you leave to decide what you want to see. When towing, you will also find that you won't make great time on many of the roads through CO. I think you're going to find this a rather rushed trip if you're planning on sightseeing in CO, UT and ending in AZ.

[MPond]

fanrgs wrote:

MPond wrote:
We've always planned our trips with a full itinerary and reservations, and then make changes as we go (if the changes we want to make are available).

We went to Alaska last summer without a single reservation before we left, even at Denali National Park and on the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry. That was because we never knew how far we could travel in a day--road construction, frost-heaved pavement, flat tires, wildlife encounters, and photo stops determined that distance. Only place we didn't get the first campground we tried was on the Kenai Peninsula on the weekend before dipnet season for reds opened. And there we got the second campground we tried.

It just depends on how flexible you are when you travel. But I understand that the comfort of knowing ahead of time is more important for some people than for others.

Agreed about flexibility. Unfortunately, I'm still limited to time off of work and kids being out of school. In time that will change...

It also depends on where you're going. Some places have fewer campgrounds, and more people trying to get into them, and vice-versa...

[Us_out_West]

We leave our home base in Reno May 7 for Wisconsin and will be there until early August. With that we have reservations on that end mainly because of the 4th of July holiday but no reservations on the way.

When we leave for the Oregon coast we again will have no reservations in between but will have at Coos Bay where we will be for at least a month.

[fanrgs]

MPond wrote:
We've always planned our trips with a full itinerary and reservations, and then make changes as we go (if the changes we want to make are available).

We went to Alaska last summer without a single reservation before we left, even at Denali National Park and on the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry. That was because we never knew how far we could travel in a day--road construction, frost-heaved pavement, flat tires, wildlife encounters, and photo stops determined that distance. Only place we didn't get the first campground we tried was on the Kenai Peninsula on the weekend before dipnet season for reds opened. And there we got the second campground we tried.

It just depends on how flexible you are when you travel. But I understand that the comfort of knowing ahead of time is more important for some people than for others.

[fanrgs]

tryingitout wrote:
Fanrgs thank for all the time you put into that route. I will certenitly look at some of it, but you are right it is a lot in 2 weeks. One of our good friends daughters is a park ranger/DNR officer in the Publeo area, we will have to see her on our way thru also.

You're welcome, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it. You can still do the same route by eliminating US 285. Just head south from Chatfield on I-25 and get on US 50 at Pueblo.

[MPond]

We've always planned our trips with a full itinerary and reservations, and then make changes as we go (if the changes we want to make are available). Sometimes it means having to eat the cost of a deposit or two, but still worth it to us for the peace-of-mind.

However, one time we decided to make a route change in the middle of a driving day, and we spent 4 hours at a highway rest stop, calling approx. 25 different campgrounds before we found one with availability for our length rig for the next 2 nights. We ended up about 30 miles away from where we wanted to be. It's experiences like that one that compel me to make reservations in advance.

[CardinalCamper]

tryingitout wrote:
CardinalCamper why would campgrounds not allow horse trailers???? My trailer should meet most length requirements, and they cost as much or more than traditional travel trailers. I understand you can bring your horses, but I have a fully contained travel trailer it can just also haul horses.

Like I said some do some don't my wife an I work the office and have had to turn 2 away because they do not allow horse trailer campers.1 park we worked at does not allow no slide in truck campers.The owners at private or coop park set there own rules.