Traveling for Winter Sports

[pdrvnet]

hi all.

I would love to pursue the idea of traveling with my travel trailer for winter sports. I get the impression that I am not alone in this. But the bit that puzzles me is where do you guys park your rigs during the day?

State lands and private camps are closed in winter. The few that are open (primitive camps sites or private) are hours away from the mountain, obviously not a very practical solution. Places like Walmart or Home Depot allow parking on their premises through the night. This is a good start, but where do you leave the trailer for the day when you are out enjoying winter sports? Below are my ideas that come to mind. I would appreciate it if you guys could help out with your tips, perhaps someone who has done it.

1. Call ahead the principle of a school in a nearby town and ask permission to park the trailer Fri night into Sun night on school parking lots. I figure this is a public place virtually deserted during weekends, so why not try there.

2. Interstate truck rest stops - would they allow to leave my trailer unattended?

3. Tow the trailer to the mountain in the morning, then return to some Walmart parking lot for the night. Repeat for the remaining number of skiing days.

I am interested in Vermont or upstate NY in the US.

Cheers!

Peter.

[mobeewan]

On the serious side lacking puns. I don't really look at them as being lakes. They may have been built because of the campground. They are really too small to be reservoirs from what I can tell on the satellite view. They look more like huge ponds catching runoff water. It could be possible that they are using the water for non potable water in bathrooms for flushing and washing hands.

[profdant139]

mobeewan, I guess you'd have to make reservations on the reservation! Do you have any reservations about doing so? And is Eagle Lake a reservoir? 😉

[mobeewan]

teejaywhy wrote:
Interested in the topic. A bit of googling reveals there are some ski areas that allow overnight parking, some free, some with hook-ups for a fee. I wasn't looking at eastern areas but I found a few out west:

Taos NM
Wolf Creek CO
Powderhorn Mtn CO
Mt. Baker WA
Grand Targhee WY

As for leaving the trailer for the day and traveling to the ski area, I wouldn't leave it at a parking lot like WalMart or truck stop. I would look for a nearby open campground.

Ski Apache Northwest of Ruidoso New Mexico. There is a nice campground on the way up the mountain to the ski resort and then there are also some Bureau of Indian Affairs roads on the reservation near the ski area that have some camping pull offs along the roads and a campground on the reservation. When searching Google Maps look for Eagle Lake and Eagle Lake number 2 on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation. They are right next to each other. The road that runs between the two of them goes to a Reservation campground that is about 200 yards North of Eagle Lake no 2. I haven't called the reservation yet to find out what kind of accommodations they have. When I make my trip out west I will be fully self-contained so will not have to worry about hookups.

[kfp673]

I did a lot of research on this topic last fall preparing for this past winter and then never ended up actually camping anywhere. Most of our Skiing is in PA, but I did find a few options. A small few of the PA resorts had lots where they charge you to stay overnight. One was $60 per night and was just a stone parking lot. But I also found it not too difficult to find open campgrounds within 20 minutes of most ski resorts. There are campgrounds that stay open all year but turn off their water. two summers ago we vacationed in Lake Placid and there were 3 campgrounds in teh Whiteface Mountain area that were year round, but again they shut off water.

I agree that it would be fun as long as it's not insane cold. We have a 3 year old that makes these type trips more challenging, but we will do it for sure. Also, dont count out state parks. Some of them will leave a small number of either rustic or electric only sites open year round. The majority do not (at least in PA) but there are some if you do some digging.

[pdrvnet]

Jebby14 wrote:
i find it hard to believe you will save any money. the cost of parking the trailer, the fuel to pull it, and most importantly heating it will add up quick. a cheapy motel (often found near ski areas) will not be very expensive. If your worried about food thow a couple coolers and a camp stove/microwave whatever in the truck though if you do it right you can eat out cheap as well.

hi Jebby, thank you for your opinion. I have been "cheap-moteling" for a very long time. Not sure what it is like in the West, but on the East your assumptions do not apply. To find a cheap motel, say $60/night, requires planning well in advance and the place will be no closer than 1/2 hr to 45 mins from the mountain. I am just tired of the logistics and want to try a different approach, even if the costs will be more or less the same.

[profdant139]

Jebby, that's all true, but there is nothing like staying in your very own place, free of (for example) other people's germs. 😉

[Jebby14]

i find it hard to believe you will save any money. the cost of parking the trailer, the fuel to pull it, and most importantly heating it will add up quick. a cheapy motel (often found near ski areas) will not be very expensive. If your worried about food thow a couple coolers and a camp stove/microwave whatever in the truck though if you do it right you can eat out cheap as well.

[JIMNLIN]

I am interested in Vermont or upstate NY in the US.

Cheers!

Peter

He's not interested in out west areas but just in the NY/VT northeast area.
You might look at our destinations forum or the truck camper forums. Many TC fans use their rv in the winter. Some may be in your area.

Also size of the trailer is gonna' dictate where you can go especially off road conditions. Trailer are hard to pull around in mud and snow. Notice I didn't say they can't.

[profdant139]

canoe, that's true in very cold weather (under 20 degrees). But we boondock all the time in night-time temps in the mid-20s. We only run the furnace during shower time, a few minutes a day. Otherwise, we dress like Eskimos, no problem. And our 120 watt solar panel recharges the batteries every day.

Obviously, that's not going to work in cloudy weather! But in the eastern Sierra, it's sunny most of the time, even during the winter months.

So it really is possible to dry camp or boondock in the winter, if conditions are right.

[canoe_on_top]

In winter, you will need electric hook up or, at least a generator. The furnace will run your batteries down.

[teejaywhy]

Interested in the topic. A bit of googling reveals there are some ski areas that allow overnight parking, some free, some with hook-ups for a fee. I wasn't looking at eastern areas but I found a few out west:

Taos NM
Wolf Creek CO
Powderhorn Mtn CO
Mt. Baker WA
Grand Targhee WY

As for leaving the trailer for the day and traveling to the ski area, I wouldn't leave it at a parking lot like WalMart or truck stop. I would look for a nearby open campground.

[deltabravo]

SteveAE wrote:
Why couldn't you just leave the trailer connected to your tow vehicle and park where you plan to recreate?

That's what I'd do.

I would never consider leaving my TT in some parking lot somewhere, and drive off with the tow rig to go play in the snow, unless I was at a campground / RV park. That's the only acceptable place to unhook.

[SteveAE]

Why couldn't you just leave the trailer connected to your tow vehicle and park where you plan to recreate? This would give you a nice place to come back to for lunch (or dinner if you like moonlight snowshoeing).

Overnight parking might be more of a challenge if you plan to recreate where overnight parking is prohibited.
In those cases, perhaps look through these resources: Allstays, Ultimate Campgrounds, Hipcamp, Boondockers Welcome.

Have fun.

[profdant139]

Peter, I re-read your post -- my guess is that there is no boondocking in Vermont and New York, so my suggestion might not work. Maybe a nearby farmer would let you park in the barn??