Two weeks RV road trip

[Esculapius1975]

Hi,

We are planning a road trip across south west parks between 20th of june and 5th of july (15 nights) starting and ending in LA. We will rent an RV in LA, since we are two adults and a kid we were thinking to rent a ford c 22 at motorhomerepublic

The trip should include

LA, Sequoia National Park, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Bryce Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, and back toward the coast with 1-2 stops like Joshua Tree park or Palm Springs.

It should be 1-2 night per location.
The idea of doing this trip by rv is to get flexibility on duration of stay in each location, depart and arrival time.

On other non specialist forum like on tripadvisor I have been told I necessarily have to book at each camp ground but this will not allow that flexibility we are looking for. I have seen there are several different solutions which include campground,campsites, rv parks, free rv areas, with without hooksup, dumpstations etc etc.

Would you suggest to do this road trip with a c22 RV equipped with a generator in that period of the year without reserving rv parks?

Main issues are
1) safety of the sites where to spend the night, so we are not considering random stops along the road in the middle of nowhere
2) Ease of finding a place to spend the night. I.e. avoid long research of sites moving from park to park ti find an empty place, or waiting hours to check-in the camp ground etc.

Since it is our first rv trip ever in us these may appear obvious questions for you but not for us

Thank you for your replies

Giangi

[Esculapius1975]

So, you think it would be better to make reservations at each site? How much would be the the average cost per night in rv parks?

[agesilaus]

No you do not have to prebook campground sites unless you want to stay inside a major National Park. Since you have a generator you can stay at many National Forest (NF) sites and other no-utility sites. These are called boondocking sites by rvers.

Two weeks is not a lot of time so I suggest concentrating on a few parks rather than spending most of your time driving from one place to another. From LA I'd think about the North Rim of the Grand Canyon which has a lot of good NF sites right outside the park, followed by Bryce Canyon which has good commercial campgrounds right outside the gate with a shutter services, and Zion NP where you can camp outside the park. Spend 3 or 4 days at each. With drive time that will use up your time and allow you lots of time to explore these interesting parks.

In my experience once you are away from major metro areas you will find that that the campground crime rate drops to near zero. In 30 years I have never experienced any sort of criminal activity while we were camping. I think you'll find most people here have had the same experience. If you stop at Walmarts or other overnight parking locations then you need to be a little more careful. If the store has armed guards then probably it's a good idea to move one. I've only seen this a couple times, once in Homestead FL.

I've never done this but others have frequently mentioned it. You may want to check into flying into Las Vegas, which is supposed to be very cheap. And renting your RV there. That would add 3 or 4 days to your actual vacation time and allow you to add another park. Maybe Arches

The best thing for you to be doing right now is this: get a good road atlas, study the maps of this area and look at the area you want to go to. There are a number of smaller parks you can visit on the way, Coral Pink Sand Dunes SP is one example. Visit the national park website and look at the parks. You really are thinking of doing a subsection of the Grand Loop which is:
South Rim Grand Canyon
North Rim GC
Zion
Bryce
Arches
Capital Reef

I suggested the North Rim since it is closer to the rest of the loop and is less crowded, but lots prefer the mob scene at the South Rim.

[GordonThree]

Death Valley in June? Going to be very hot.

[donn0128]

In the south west earlier would definitely be better. July 4th is a national holiday here and usually the week leading up to and the week after are very crowded. Weather in the SW can get very hot that time of year also. If this time frame is locked in, you might want to check weather that time of year. Reservstions are a definite must. I know, it takes the flexability out of things, but thats the way it is out west now days. If you want a bit cooler weather, you might consider coming north and stay on the coast.

[Gonzo42]

Ambitious. Have a great trip. I for one have to plan extensively and I'm not the serendipitous type.

Since you are planning in the middle of the summer there will be plenty of rigs on the road and you may not always find a spot easily, especially in Yosemite.

years ago one could show up at the CG gate at 5 AM or so and get any open spot. Its not so easy now.

I've tent camped at Sequoia in years past with no problems. Ruby's at Bryce had plenty of space, and Zion campground was nearly full but we had reservations.

Since you want to 'wing it', I'm sure you will have some small problems but you will have some great stories to tell.