Camping "out West"

[Jeff Bittner]

We want to travel from Iowa to the Grand Canyon or Zion or other places for the first time. Any suggestions on areas, campgrounds, how-to's? We are starting from scratch and don't know where to start. Thanks!

[Jeff7176]

I use RV Trip Wizard for planning and it has been a reliable tool for that. You can build a very detailed trip using it and have a good idea of what travel days will look like as well as being able to quickly determine if there are any other things you want to see/do along the route. It also includes an RV GPS in the app, but I don’t care for the interface.

If you plan to stay in the National Park campgrounds your best bet is to be logged into recreation.gov 6 months ahead of your first day. We did that for Grand Canyon (Mather), Zion (Watchman), Capitol Reef (Fruita), and Arches (Devils Garden). Bryce was first come, first served. I know some parks also have a handful of sites they hold back for FCFS, but I’m not sure about these.

Each campground was excellent.

If you plan to stay outside the park, be sure to verify if there is a requirement for an entry pass to get into the park gates. If you don’t have a pass for the day(s) you want to go into the park, you may get turned around. Use recreation.gov for this as well. Also, some of the main attractions (e.g. Angels Landing at Zion) require a pass of their own. You’ll be able to verify that on rec.gov too.

We make reservations when we can, and especially when we are going to a popular destination, and have had very little issues finding a place to stay. The downside of reservations is they can tie you to a schedule that you may want to change on the fly. We make sure to fully understand cancellation policies when we make reservations to allow for that.

[Hermes]

I found that Campendium is our goto tool when we are traveling, and Allstays is our backup (such as for finding overnight authorized Walmarts and other services). We prefer parks (county, state, national) and boondocking sites and since we travel in the winter-spring months we don't need to book a long time in advance. We also have the KOA app we use while in transit, which makes it easy to book an overnight stay in a matter of minutes if you have an account; and they have sites open year-round, depending on the State.

[Lily&Me]

Yes, start with a good app, pick your route and just begin.

I like the AllStays app, and for what it’s worth, there are many nice county and city parks in Iowa and Nebraska that make for easy overnights.

Might make reservations for weekends, if you can get them this late into summer, or just wing it if you have the nerve.

Don’t overthink it, just have a good time.

Maggie

[uncle_bob]

Hi

A lot depends on *when* you want to travel. If you are planning to be at major National Parks in July and August .... yikes. Slide into September and things may calm down a bit. Later in the fall and the park may or may not be open ( less of an issue south than further north). Pretty much any national holiday ( Labor Day ....) is going to be a bit of fun, even outside National Parks.

The "yikes" is not just about campground reservations. The crowds at the parks also impact how much time it will take to do this or that. For some they also impact the experience.

Spend some time with Google Maps. Take a look at various routes and the time involved. Guess at a reasonable number of "driving hours" for your style of travel. For some ( = us ) 3 to 4 hours is the magic number. For others 12 hours a day seems to be just fine. Others target 2 hours max. Only you can make that decision.

Playing with Google should give you a reasonable idea of how much time you will spend getting there and getting back. You may ( or may not ) have a time limit for this vacation. Bump the transit time against that budget and you can see how much time you will have to "be there".

Interstates are likely to get you there quickly. Less traveled roads are likely to be more fun and possibly less stressful to drive. Again this is your choice. We drive a mix, depending on just how small the alternative "less traveled" road is.

Typically this is the point you kinda sorta ask: is that enough time? is there time to see more? Again, how much time is enough depends a lot on you. For some a day at Yellowstone is plenty / time to move on. For others, a couple weeks is barely enough to begin to dig in. Working this out without having been there is tough. YouTube is your friend in this case.

One note: An hour at Mt Rushmore is probably to much ....

Once you have these basics worked out, it's time to dig into campgrounds and the like. We do Harvest Hosts and typically wing it while in motion.

Bob

[Dennis C]

Good advice above. In addition to the resources above, we are Good Sam members and I often use their online trip planner. The membership isn’t expensive and it provides many benefits and discounts in addition to the trip planner.

You’ll get the hang of it as you gain some experience. For example, when we were new to the RV world, I always wanted to make each stop something to remember, even if it was just an overnight. I wanted to find a local brewery or distillery, find a local attraction or restaurant, or something else unique to the area. While this sounds like a great plan at first, it often turned into more of a pain than it was worth. We now tend to focus on the purpose of the trip first. That often means stopping at a KOA right off the interstate and staying there overnight without unhitching the trailer. It’s just an overnight stop on our way to the final destination. Don’t get me wrong; I’m still up for a local attraction if it makes sense, but often times I really enjoy getting the camp chairs out and sipping a tequila as we watch the sun set, even if it’s at a KOA. As you gain more experience, you’ll find out what you like.

I recommend planning your route and making reservations until you feel more comfortable. We generally like to tow a maximum of 400ish miles per day. Less is better. We do lots of boondocking and camping on BLM land, but that can be overwhelming as you’re learning what you like. There are some nice BLM camping spots in the Moab area that are worth exploring once you’re up for it.

Have fun!

[aftermath]

We came in on the north side. Spent a few days at the state(?) park by Bryce Canyon and then camped on the North Rim Campground. Both were dry camping spots but we liked them just the same.


It has been many years since we did that and we will head back to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in September. Planning on staying in Moab for a late September date. Everything close is already fully booked! I called at least 4 months in advance. I suggest you start checking.



From home I simply go to my maps and type in RV parks Near......and then fill in the town we are planning on going through. You will get a list, some with websites and all with phone numbers. Start calling....


Part of the fun lies in the challenge of finding spots. Have fun, it will be a great trip.

[IrisnGerald]

Colorado native, highly recommend making your trip while school is in session - either late spring or early fall.

The latest I’ve ever seen snow was the 4th of July, gone the next day. The earliest I’ve ever seen snow is Labor Day, same deal gone the next day.

See them all, each one slightly different from the others.

[Jeff Bittner]

Thanks to all! I'll make a route and enjoy as best I can. That's what it's all about.

[StreamNTyme]

[QUOTE=Jeff Bittner;2611497] We want to travel from Iowa to the Grand Canyon or Zion or other places for the first time. Any suggestions on areas, campgrounds, how-to's? We are starting from scratch and don't know where to start. Thanks! /QUOTE]

We spent a lot of time in all the Nat. Parks in Utah last spring! You should not miss any of them. Capital Reef, Bryce, Arches, Canyonland (Needles at the S end has a good campground right outside the park) (Dead Horse at the north end) and Zion. If possible, catch a rangers talk in one of the parks, very informative. Check schedules.
All beautiful and different from each other.
* We were overwhelmed at Zion, way too many people. Las Vegas is close so tons of people come in to see Zion. You absolutely must have a reservation for the bus at Zion NP, or you can't get in! Camping is available at many of the BLM lands out west, if you can't get a reservation.
* If staying outside the parks, go very early in the day! Avoid the crowds and not have to wait. Parking is at a premium.
* Grand Canyon has a nice campground, lots of wildlife around, sites are mostly wooded and quiet. If not, you can stay in Williams, we recommend taking the train to the Canyon. There are busses in Grand Canyon NP to take you to some of the areas, cars are not allowed everywhere.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by IrisnGerald

Colorado native, highly recommend making your trip while school is in session - either late spring or early fall.

The latest I’ve ever seen snow was the 4th of July, gone the next day. The earliest I’ve ever seen snow is Labor Day, same deal gone the next day.

See them all, each one slightly different from the others.

Hi

I would agree with this, except ....

By far the craziest backup we've ever seen at a National Park was heading into Rocky Mountain (mid week) when the colors had just changed in the fall. Absolutely crazy compared to any other time we've been there or to other parks.

There's always some sort of gotcha

Bob

[John Ware]

Originally Posted by Jeff Bittner

We want to travel from Iowa to the Grand Canyon or Zion or other places for the first time. Any suggestions on areas, campgrounds, how-to's? We are starting from scratch and don't know where to start. Thanks!

If you would like to go the book route there are 3 books that are extremely helpful and I think Amazon sells them as a set: RV Camping in State Parks, in Corps of Engineers Parks, and in National Parks. They have maps of each state with locations marked and info on each park with directions, phone numbers, facilities and more. I use them all the time along with the computer especially to make reservations. I try to limit my driving to 6 hrs. If you're on IH40, Homolovi is a great little park to stop at on the way to the Grand Canyon.