Ok... We are not full timers but thought this might be a good place to post our question. We are actually snowbirds but have sold our house in Colorado and are moving to Arizona. So, we will be leaving the summer heat for at least 4 months a year. As 40 year residents of Colorado, we know where to escape the summer heat in Colorado such as Buena Vista, Ouray, Silverton and Lake City. Looking for advice of places out west to go to.We have a Jeep, ATV and our feet to explore back country places. Some very limited boondocking is ok. Really want to stay away from places like the Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Have explored around Lander, Cody and Dubois Wyoming. We are virgins to Oregon, Washington, Idaho and most of Montana. Might want to stay up to a month in a single place.Thanks in advance! Private messages welcome.

IMHO, your best bets are along the coast or higher elevations. The coast along CA, OR and WA gets very crowed during summer and California campgrounds can get pretty expensive. There is some wonderful country to explore in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Cascades. Parts of US-395 take you into some great country and high enough to avoid a lot of heat. Some of the mountains in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota are well worth visiting. Also spend some time exploring around the Black Hills in South Dakota.Art

Flagstaff....the mountains up there are 20-30 degrees cooler than the basin (Phoenix).If you want to go anywhere in California to escape the heat, you'll need reservations 6 months in advance.

Yes, along the coast is a great idea. Also try to stay above 5,000 ft.Avoid the basins between the west coast mountain ranges and the Rockies.The Great Lakes area can be nice most of the summer. And the Appalacian's or east coast.Believe it or not, but everything I've experienced and seen on forums is that the campgrounds on the east coast are more crowded than the west coast in the summer. A lot more families and kids out of school.Try to make a plan, and hopefully be able to reserve Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day weekends. Reservations are not that essential in may places the rest of the year, if you are willing to dry camp a few days.Every year about this time, those of us from Texas see many threads about the best places to camp in Texas in the summer.For most Texans, the best place to be in the summer is Colorado.

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:Yes, along the coast is a great idea. Also try to stay above 5,000 ft.Avoid the basins between the west coast mountain ranges and the Rockies.The Great Lakes area can be nice most of the summer. And the Appalacian's or east coast.Believe it or not, but everything I've experienced and seen on forums is that the campgrounds on the east coast are more crowded than the west coast in the summer. A lot more families and kids out of school.Try to make a plan, and hopefully be able to reserve Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day weekends. Reservations are not that essential in may places the rest of the year, if you are willing to dry camp a few days.Every year about this time, those of us from Texas see many threads about the best places to camp in Texas in the summer.For most Texans, the best place to be in the summer is Colorado.Don't want anything to do with places east of the Mississippi. We know all about Texas fleeing to Colorado. Wife's family started vacationing there in the 1890s!

Where do full timers go out west to escape the heat?

BarbaraOK
Explorer
Feb 07, 2020
ppine wrote:
There are hundreds of places in the PNW that do not require reservations. ONce you have seen the NPs, head out into the hinterlands I really like the eastern Cascades the best of all.

It isn't cool in eastern Washington during the summer.
ppine
Explorer II
Feb 07, 2020
No specific suggestions. That is the best way to ruin them. Shout out to the world all of your favorite spots and the next time you go they will be loved to death.

The Olympic Peninsula is too wet for me, but people love it there. I like the Cascades, especially the East Side which is drier.
Thunder_Mountai
Explorer II
Feb 06, 2020
ppine wrote:
There are hundreds of places in the PNW that do not require reservations. ONce you have seen the NPs, head out into the hinterlands I really like the eastern Cascades the best of all.

Do you have any specific suggestions?
ppine
Explorer II
Feb 06, 2020
There are hundreds of places in the PNW that do not require reservations. ONce you have seen the NPs, head out into the hinterlands I really like the eastern Cascades the best of all.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Feb 06, 2020
BarbaraOK wrote:
Bill.Satellite wrote:
There is so much to see and do in the OR/WA area, that would be my suggestion. I think if I could only pick 2 places to live it would be the NW in the Summer and the SW in the Winter.

That's essentially what we are doing!

Spend September in California (some days still hit 100 occasionally) slowly working south. We have friends in the SF area, so always spend a week or so at San Francisco RV Resort in Pacifica under our Thousand Trails membership. If you are going to do the PNW, really recommend at least a TT Zone Pass for the PNW (even better a 2-1 deal for both PNW and SW zones). It will pay for itself quickly, LOTS of TT parks in Washington and Oregon.

We usually cross the Colorado River into Arizona about October 1st, still a few hot days, but nights by then you don't have to run AC and, at least in the Phoenix/Mesa area, there is no one around. We really love October and early November when so few people are around.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Feb 06, 2020
Bill.Satellite wrote:
There is so much to see and do in the OR/WA area, that would be my suggestion. I think if I could only pick 2 places to live it would be the NW in the Summer and the SW in the Winter.

That's essentially what we are doing!
Thunder_Mountai
Explorer II
Feb 06, 2020
Thanks for all the suggestions. The Pacific NW is definitely on our target list. We understand reservations ahead of time will be required. We are trying to establish a long term routine such as we have when snowbirding in the winter from Colorado to Arizona.
Second_Chance
Explorer II
Feb 06, 2020
We spent this past summer on the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. It was windbreakers most of the time except midday (when the sun was out) while the grandkids were at swim meets in Baltimore where the heat index was 130. I don't think we used the ACs and we were using the electric fireplace by the time we left on September 15.

Rob
TexasShadow
Explorer II
Feb 06, 2020
we live in San Antonio TX area, so in late July, August and Sept, we head for high altitudes. We like camping up by Dutch John in Flaming Gorge, UT. We like camping near Pinedale, WY, and we love camping in the Tetons Nat'l park in Jackson Hole.
Sometimes, we go up the west side of the Tetons to Henry's Lake ID, and tool around Yellowstone Park from there. Then we head east over to Cody, which can still be warm but not overly so in Sept. Then we go to Custer SD to take in the big buffalo roundup festival at the end of Sept before heading south toward home.
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Feb 05, 2020
There is so much to see and do in the OR/WA area, that would be my suggestion. I think if I could only pick 2 places to live it would be the NW in the Summer and the SW in the Winter.