RE: Road trip from Phoenix to Seattle
You are coming up on reservation season for Yosemite summer months... I would strongly consider attempting to get a site there for a few days (reservations open up on the 15th of each month - see Yosemite site for details for online reservations). Be prepared to make a rush for a site as they usually fill up within minutes of opening. Do a search here for tips on making reservations for Yosemite.
I can also strongly suggest checking out Sequoia NP as well. Fabulous.
RE: Road trip from Phoenix to Seattle
1. Materials (as you have time).
a. Write away for
(i) California, Oregon and Washington state planning guides (whatever the state tourism office is).
(ii) For Oregon, see if you can get the mile by mile Oregon Coast guide.
For Washington, see if there's anything on the Olympic 101 loop (there are a couple of websites if you search Olympic 101).
(iii) State park and campground guides (and dump stations). The Oregon State Park Guide is very nice--shows which park has camping, the various facilities, etc.
b. In addition to the website re crosscountry posted above, join the AAA (Auto Club) and get
(i) their state and local maps of the areas (they have the scenic routes highlighted on their maps).
(ii) Tourbooks
(iii) Camping books (maps)
(iv) TripTik (you tell AAA what places you want to hit, and they'll give you a mile by mile booklet of directions, attractions, etc.).
c. byways.org (get free map of scenic routes).
d. Commercial RV caravans tours (like fantasyrvtours.com, etc.).
The itineraries may give you ideas of stopping places, roads, attractions, time, etc.
2. Discount and Other Passes
a. If you plan on hitting up major cities along the way, look for the discounted entertainment books (CityPasses) and Costco attraction packages. Might save some bucks that way for the various city atractions.
b. If you like National Parks and Forests, make sure you have the America the Beautiful National Pass (about $80)--gives you free admission to national parks, forests, etc., but you still have to pay for camping (and in some rare places, parking).
There are great National Parks, including Death Valley, Sequioia/Kings, Yosemite, Redwoods (also, nearby Avenue of the Giants), Crater Lake, Olympia National Park, etc. You can also check out the national forests for camping (and dispersed camping)--but your 32' fifth-wheeler may be a bit big.
For national forests, check the http://www.forestcamping.com website for overview info.
c. State Passes
Oregon has a state park pass which allows you admission into every state park for free (still have to pay for camping). Might be worth it if you go in/out of various state parks along the Oregon coast. Costs around $25 for an annual pass.
If you camp at an Oregon state park, I believe your receipt is good for admission into any state parks the next day--so you may not need an annual pass. You can buy the annual pass at most Oregon state parks.
Oregon state parks allow anyone (whether camping or not) to dump for free. But, there are a lot of state parks without dump facilities for whatever reason.
Don't know what Washington has. California has a very expensive ($125) annual state park pass.
3. Camping
For coastal campgrounds, you may want to reserve some beforehand as they can be booked for the summer. At some Oregon state park campgrounds, you might be able to get in for one night if you wait (usually weekdays). Both Oregon and California have "en route" camping/parking at some (not all) state parks--these are for travelers to park overnight if you arrive late and leave early--not really worthwhile.
California state parks usually do NOT have hookups.
Oregon state parks often have hookups.
Don't remember about Washington state parks.
4. Driving
After you plot out some possible routes, check to make sure you're comfortable with the roads (and that they're open).
For example, don't know where you intend to cut over to the California coast. The main California coastal drive is Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) 1 (parallels 101). Starting from the Central California coast (near Hearst castle and the Sea Lions overlook), PCH 1 going north through Big Sur is NOT recommended for certain size rigs (it's very curvy and narrow). Search postings re PCH 1 and driving (some folks with big rigs have no problem; drive north to be on the inside; drive south if you like the drop-offs).
PCH 1/101 near the Ft. Braggs area is also very narrow and curvy.
In Oregon, 101 is fine (as far as I remember). Plenty of motorhomes/trailers on that road.
If you plan on cutting across the Sierras, check for alternatives (the 120 Tioga pass into Yosemite can sometimes be closed from snow into the summer).
5. Attractions
I'd suggest a general route which hits as many of the national parks as you can hit--that'll give you a huge range of different environments (Death Valley to Olympic National Park rain forests). You'd also get the volcanos (Mt. St. Helens), lakes (Crater), mountains (Yosemite, Sequoia/Kings), redwoods (Redwood), etc. You'll have plenty of hiking trails, biking trails, visitor/museum centers, etc.
Then fill in with the various state parks (Oregon coast and California coast).
Maybe something like Phoenix to Death Valley to Sequioia/Kings to Yosemite across California to Avenue of the Giants/Redwoods up Oregon coast then 101 loop around Olympic National Park then to Seattle then Mt. St. Helens then Crater Lake to Lassen then down 395 to Phoenix, etc.
West Coast two weeks over Easter 2009
Okay where do we go for Easter?
We have two weeks off for Easter (14-28 March) and looking for some sites to see. We will be camping in our signature rig and truck. We are big fans of the National Park system and love to hike. Ideally, we would like to see some new areas in New Mexico, Utah, and maybe Colorado--what do you recommend?
We have been to the following parks on the west coast...Yosemite (4 times), Sequoia, Disneyland, Grand Canyon (2 times, North and South rims), Meteor Crater, Petrified National Forest, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons (2 times).
This summer (during our move back to the east coast) we have trips planned for Mt Rainier, Mt Saint Helens, Glacier, Yellowstone, Dinosaur, and Rocky Mountain National Parks.
I have chains for the truck, generator, and willing to do some limited camping in snow for the RIGHT place.
I was thinking Carlsbad Caverns, Roswell, maybe a balloon festival?
Thanks for any feedback...
Big Summer Trip, going from West to the East
Okay board and friends, our last “Big” trip is coming up…we are calling it the “Eastern Requiem”.
We are moving from Monterey, CA back to Fort Bragg, NC (in our signature rig) and are planning on taking 30 days of vacation time combined with a family move. We are planning on the going to the following national parks and taking this proposed route with the attached timeline.
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/687/slide1kn0.jpg
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3519/slide2ce9.jpg
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4006/slide3ct4.jpg
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/5916/slide4hv1.jpg
My question for you is what changes would you make if any?
Are we missing something? What campgrounds would you recommend or avoid?
Any particular sites you recommend for us to see at one of our proposed national parks?
Bear in mind we have two small daughters 5 and 7, capable of hiking about 4-6 miles.
I need to be at Fort Bragg on the 3rd of August and have us arriving the 1st—giving me two spare “bump days” in case of an emergency.
We have done some travelling since we left Fort Bragg nearly two years ago during our stay in Monterey. Since then we have visited, the following national parks and attractions: Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave, Devil’s Tower, Yellowstone (twice), Grand Tetons (twice), Grand Canyon (north and south rims), Disneyland (3 times), Yosemite (4 times), Big Sur (too many times to count), Big Basin, Henry Cowell Redwoods, Henry Coe, Pinnacles (4 times) Sequoia, Muir woods, Redwoods, Crater Lake, Glacier (west side only), and Craters of the Moon.
Thanks for any feedback or campground recommendations.
Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest??
There is a little-known park in the southern Sierra -- Mountain Home -- and the website does not provide much detail about trailers and RVs in the campgrounds. I'm wondering, first, about the road up to the park -- it looks long and twisty but not too steep (judging by my Topo program). Is it too narrow for trailering? (I have a small tow vehicle and trailer, so we are not talking about a 50 foot long rig.)
In the park itself, how are the campsites -- is access tricky? Are they reasonably level?
There are several campgrounds -- are any of them right in the sequoia trees?
Thanks in advance for your input!
RE: Lassen National Park (nearby commercial campgrounds)
And to answer your question about hiking in the snow, it depends on a couple of things. First, the depth -- as soon as you get more than a few inches, it can be tough hiking. Second, the water content of the snow and the air temp -- the wetter and warmer it is, the more it soaks into your boots, even if you have Gortex boots. Whether you decide to hike or snowshoe, gaiters are a really good investment -- they keep your socks and the cuffs of your pants dry. As an added bonus, gaiters look really funny -- here we are a week ago in the high country of Sequoia National Park, hiking in about six inches of wet snow:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_dtW7wd3cENA/SRxug5Hc36I/AAAAAAAAAqQ/vu-1jTWfwjI/s144/03%20watchtower.jpg
(Edit -- as posted, the photo is not real clear -- the black leggings are what I am talking about.)
Lassen National Park (nearby commercial campgrounds)
Hello and thanks for your time.
We are looking for a good campground close to Lassen NP WITH full hookups (ideally 50 amp) and big rig friendly. We are looking for a Thanksgiving day trip (5-6 days) with our signature rig. We are a four-season rig with heated tanks and enclosed underbelly. Internet is not required, we have our own air card, but appreciated. Lastly we would like to find a campground that still gets some cell phone signal--we have stayed at some places near Crater Lake and Sequoia NP that we couldn't get any coverage at all.
We (wife, me, 2 daughters, 5 & 6) are looking for a laid back experience of hiking, exploring, and simple family time over the Thanksgiving day holiday.
My questions are these:
Where would you recommend? Mineral area (south of Lassen) or the Viola (north of Lassen) area?
Which campground(s) to stay or avoid?
Which trails would you recommend? other attractions?
Thanks again for your time!
RE: sequoia & Yosemite parks in June
If you are willing to boondock, there are lots of great places in Sequoia National Forest, between Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The only question is whether the snow will have melted by June. Sometimes it does, and sometimes not.
RE: sequoia & Yosemite parks in June
In 2005, we made Kings Canyon/Sequoia first week of June so had to stay in Azalea as the other campgrounds were not open yet. Even during the weekend there were a few sites open that would of handled our rig. We greatly enjoyed the park and had very few others around.
We stayed for 4 nights waiting on our reservation for Yosemite in Wawona. We had reservations for four night reservation but left after two because we didn't enjoy it. The valley was crowded, standing room only on the shuttles even at 8am, and had lots of people every place we went. Just didn't enjoy it as much as Kings Canyon. If we could have stayed over near Tioga road, we may have enjoyed it more, but the road was still closed above Porcupine Creek and the campgrounds weren't open yet. The road didn't open til third week of June that year.
RE: sequoia & Yosemite parks in June
I don't know how it will be in June, but we just left Potwisha campground in Sequoia on Sunday. Came in on Friday nite and it was fairly well occupied. It's a small campground and you can't even reserve a spot there.
Enjoyed, but some spots were pretty tight. There were lots more tent campers than RVers. We have a 24 C and we were barely off the campground road in site 32. Also, it took quite a bit of leveling. It seemed to us that most sites would take some leveling. We used two sets of leveling blocks and were still not quite level.
Jim
RE: sequoia & Yosemite parks in June
If we get a heavy snow pack some campgrounds/roads may not be open in June. If you want to camp in Yosemite Valley in June a reservation would be wise. First come site are outside the valley if they are open. Check campground status at the NPS website. They give an aproximate time each will open. I don't think you will have a problem getting into Sequoia in June.
sequoia & Yosemite parks in June
Rough estimates for next year put us in the Sequoia & Yosemite Parks area for the second & third weeks of June next year.
We are roughly planned drifters by nature. We have a good idea of where we are going but we don't like making reservations to be somewhere at a certain date. We try to be wherever we want to be by early afternoon on a traveling day.
As popular as these two parks are, how are they mid week? Arriving Monday or Tuesday & departing Thursday or Friday seems like a plan.
Any suggestions, given our distaste for reservations & our size. Don't need hookups & backins are OK.
RE: sequoia Azalea
Just came back from a week up at Kings Canyon NP. Azalea cg is very nice, although half the sites are very unlevel. We found a good one with minimal jacks and boards needed. However another RV needed to use his hydraulic jacks and had his rear 4 wheels at least 4 inches off the ground to get level.
One problem was that in this fringe season, Azalea closes all but one loop so the avail sites go from 110 to 31.
Bottom line is that Azalea cg in KCNP is a terrific place to visit with awesome beauty everywhere including Sequoia NP right next door.
Here are two pictures of Site 68.
http://pic1.picturetrail.com/VOL1128/3851698/7960936/340547373.jpg
http://pic1.picturetrail.com/VOL1128/3851698/7960936/340547382.jpg
RE: sequoia Park in Winter
Sequoia RV Ranch in Three Rivers is just a few miles from the Hwy. 198 gate. Would make a great campground for day trips into Sequoia. We stayed there this past May and really liked the place. Have reservataion for Thanksgiving weekend this year.
RE: sequoia Park in Winter
A bit about winter travel and our winter camping setup... It's definitely a lot more trouble to camp in the snow than to just day-trip your way up. Also for the original poster you might prefer Yosemite instead of Sequoia in winter- at 4,000 feet vs. 7,000 there's far less chance that you'll be driving on snowy roads. Of course it's also less likely that you'll have great snow for recreation right out your door.
Generals Highway past the end of CA-198 is narrow, steep and winding. There is very little traffic in the winter though so you could use the whole road on the few tight hairpins. I've towed up twice in snowstorms and both times the road was wet, not icy until about the 6,000 foot elevation. It was only a couple miles of snowy road before the summit at Giant Forest. I have tire chains for both car and trailer, but didn't use them- the AWD Subaru did great going up. In both instances the roads had been sanded and weren't icy below Giant Forest when we headed back down. Consider that both my car and trailer have low centers of mass and the loaded trailer is only about half the weight of the loaded car. In other words road conditions that seem comfortable for my rig might not for someone else.
We bought the Chalet instead of a tent trailer specifically for the ability to use it in cold weather and heavy snowfall. The water system is very compact- with the water heater, pump, tank, and most of the piping all under the sofa. In order to reduce the chance of freeze damage I removed the top insulation from the water heater and used Reflectix to make a blanket to reflect the heat down to the tank and pump area. I keep meaning to pull the tank out and put a sheet of foam insulation underneath. My grey water tank is mounted above the floor under the sink with the drain valve mounted right to the bottom of the tank- no drain piping hanging down to freeze. I have an insulated box that covers the bottom of the valve. Toilet is a porta-potti that sits right across from the furnace so it's not a freeze risk. Being conservative with water and having sponge baths it's easy to transport fresh and grey water fro/to the restroom in plastic jugs.
With only 70 square feet to keep warm the Suburban NT20 pumps out plenty of heat. We've gone 4 days in sub-freezing weather without taxing our two GC batteries.
RE: sequoia Park in Winter
Azalea is much easier to get to than Lodgepole in bad weather -- Hwy 198 is often closed in snow, but 180 to Grant Grove is not.
If I had any guts, I would take my trailer there in the snow. It is great in the snow -- just bring snowshoes -- very easy to use -- and you get to see the Big Trees in the Big Snow:
http://lh6.ggpht.com/ProfDanSchechter/SOra5h7p9SI/AAAAAAAAAbY/FDX3f7ofa_A/s640/IMG_2699.jpg
(We had Grant Grove completely to ourselves -- it is an easy walk from Azalea.) More pix on my blog:
Sequoia
in Winter
RE: sequoia Park in Winter
According to this page:
Only three campgrounds are open year-round: Lodgepole, Azalea, and Potwisha.
We stayed in Azalea October 2007. Not quite winter time. The road from Fresno is a good road, but certainly is uphill for a very long time.
The web page I linked to has more details about winter camping in Sequoia/Kings Canyon.
RE: sequoia Park in Winter
Sequoia is beautiful in winter. Whether the Generals Highway is open depends on weather and snowpack.
Generally you can drive on CA-198 from Visalia into the park and up to the Giant Forest, Lodgepole, and Wuksachi Lodge area. The road is posted as not recommending vehicles longer than 20 something feet. I've seen a 35' motorhome up there. We're happy towing our 18' Chalet. The gate to go past Wuksachi is often closed. Lodgepole campground is open- the overflow parking lot is plowed and one restroom is kept open. Snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and snow play are great.
From the North you can take CA-180 from Fresno to the Grant Grove Village. This road is better for big vehicles than the road to Lodgpole, but there isn't any camping in winter. Depending on snowpack you might or might not be able to drive south on Generals Highway to Giant Forest. Snowshoeing is great at Grant Grove as well.
Most people would probably stay in an RV park down in the Central Valley and day-trip up to the national parks, but I love camping at Lodgepole in winter.
Jim
Chalet popup
sequoia Park in Winter
First, thanks for all the great info on Grand Canyon in winter. I am also contemplating swinging up through Sequoia while in California. Has anyone ever camped there in winter? Any advice? What routes are open in January? Are all attractions open? Am I better to wait for Spring on this one???
RE: sequoia National Park campground opinion ***UPDATED***
First off, we stayed at Sequoia RV ranch and found the place quite nice. Granted it is NOT a 5 star type of campground, but it is nestled in the trees, cozy sites by the river, fire pits, and often deer were seen walking trough the campground.
Secondly--shame on this board (humor here people!) for NOT promoting Sequoia National Park more!
What an amazing place--I would argue possibly BETTER that Yosemite. I was thrilled with the number of easy hikes for my daughters, climbing Moro Rock, exploring caves in Kings Canyon, walking along trails in Mineral King, and of course looking at the massive Sequoia trees...and seen over 12 separate bears in 4 days.
One more thing--probably the best laid out park to accommodating handicapped or disabled visitors...
Really people you should see it.
