West WINTER CAMPING in the Rocky Mountains

[Ray Eklund]

Don't.

[cory_can]

Originally Posted by Ray Eklund

Don't.

A PSA that's to the point .

Now you have me intrigued.

[polarlyse]

Short and sweet. GOT IT

[Thalweg]

I had to open that one to see where you were going with it. You got it right! Up here, most of the roads in the mountains are closed. I haven't been up the mountain for a few weeks, but the view from the foothills shows a lot of snow up there already. So camping is probably impossible in the Bighorns.

[KJRitchie]

What about that big mobile home park near Vail? Isn't that camping?

I guess that is where a lot of the service people for the resorts must live.

Kelvin

[SteveH]

A friend of mine was talking with a native in a small town in the Rockies we like to go to in the summer about how late in the year he could stay with his motorhome, and still be able to get out relevant to snow.

The guy told him, "The first snow is usually no big deal and is gone in less than a day. Even the second snow usually doesn't stay on the ground more than a couple of days, but don't be here for the third snow."

[eubank]

Well, you do have to like dealing with white, freezing stuff.

Lynn

[Ray Eklund]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

What about that big mobile home park near Vail? Isn't that camping?

I guess that is where a lot of the service people for the resorts must live.

Kelvin

*******

Those poor souls did not read the First Post on this thread and did not bring a shovel.

[Ray Eklund]

I focused on the Rocky Mountains as it is a sure fire way to convince the entire family that trailer camping is not fun. Frost Bite, altitude sickness and just feeling miserable should not be a part of anyone's camping... misadventures.

-The perils of travel of arriving is the first hurdle.
-Preventing your water lines, grey, black and fresh water tanks from freezing.
-You had better have a reliable, consistent supply of electrical power AND propane.
-Bring a snow shovel. People have eaten one another traveling across the Rockies, unprepared.
-The contradiction of heating a 16 to 34 foot Airstream... VENTILATION!

Running the heater in your Ice Box on Wheels is a start. You will not freeze, yet. But it is coming.

Ventilating the "heated interior" is as important as the heating itself. Your respiration, if you cannot hold your breath while inside the trailer, will raise the humidity. Add one or more people and pets and you will be living in a "rain forest" by morning. Everything will feel damp. You will feel damp. Clammy is the Southern Term. Nothing will dry out. Prepare a meal, coffee, wash dishes, shower and anything having to do with water inside the trailer is... adding to the misery and woe that is coming...

How do you know you are way over your head?

-When the temperature is 60 inside and 12 degrees outside the trailer... the frost on the windows are the first sign of big trouble. You have to VENT the trailer AND HEAT the trailer as well. Together. When the interior frost melts... it will run down wherever there is a way to flow. Conducting aluminum freezing cold from the outside will frost up on the inside. You will find those areas... immediately. Nothing you can do.

We went on a trip in April to Medicine Bow, Wyoming on our first Airstream camping trip. It was beautiful when we left Denver, Colorado. It was beautiful when we dry camped near Como Bluff, where dinosaurs were found in the late 1860's. Overnight it became an ICE BOX. We felt it a miracle that the furnace worked, as we never needed to check it out before we left balmy Denver. It did. All of the above happened.

Leaving the overnight camping spot, we traveled the gravel/dirt county road back to Medicine Bow. I had to do it BEFORE the bright morning sun melted the frozen solid road, from the drizzle, ice and snow that evening. We were still hooked up, drove out ten miles in 4 wheel drive and had to make speed to get up the first steep road without being mired in frozen slop.

The Airstream's stainless steel gravel guards had 25 pounds, each, of mud and grit frozen onto them. We stopped at the Medicine Bow Hotel for breakfast and "dried out" ourselves. The sun melted the ice, but the mud was clinging on... everything.

There is no free lunch in areas where Winter sets in until February or April. There ARE many available camping spots, though. You will pay dearly for this error in judgement. Some may not care one way or the other. There is NO satisfaction to be gained. NO bragging rights. It is not even worth to consider.

Those who want to full time in this environment are welcome to do so. That is what hospitals are for. An Airstream is NOT a house trailer. The Airstream IS the Ice Box on Wheels this time of the season.

Not a believer? Spend a week in your northern latitude location in Winter, make a diary of your camping experience(s). Even wars in Europe were postponed until Spring arrived. Wars... and you want to find adventure and knowing that a hard core Rockdocker is too chicken livered to get into this position, again!

Winter camping. Plan ahead. Bring warm clothes. Leave a WILL where someone can find it at your cozy home.