Cross Country Camping from New York to Califronia (trailer, park, campgrounds)
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I am planning on being in New York in July of 2010 and will be staying for one week, and then my brother and my son and I want to drive to California, wanting to see the Bad Lands, Mt Rushmore, Vancouver, and from Washington down through Oregon, northern Califronia and down to L.A., We want to save money by camping the entire route. Does anyone have any suggestions? And is it cheap to rent a pop up trailer?
I personally hate those "convenient" KOA campsites, if that is you idea for cross country highway camping. They aren't cheap, they are noisy, some are not particularly safe.
So then you get wilderness campsites, which are not really conductive to a cross country trip because you have to get off the highway and potentially drive for miles through a state park/national forest/etc. But it's doable. Once you get to western South Dakota your camping options increase tremedously in quality. Maybe stay in a few Motel 6's until you get there.
For Badlands N.P. there are two campsites, one near the eastern entrance in the park and one in the west. Go to the west one, which has no amenities but is just sublimely beautiful and is essentially an open buffalo grazing ground. Wake up to a buffalo outside your tent. Takes some effort to get to however.
Pop up tents. Not sure but an option is to rent a minivan, pull out the seats to add room, and get an auxilary tent. Buy a little stove. Not sure you need much more.
Camping can be a lot of fun and a lot of work. Pop up campers are nice and easy to tow, and don't cost much to rent. They are not easy to load with supplies unless they are set up, and there isn't a lot of room anyway. Setting up every night can become tedious, and setting up in the rain isn't my idea of a great time. That said, we wore out two pop up campers over the years.
Staying at places that have hook ups for your convenience is probably a good idea if comfort is of importance to you. Air conditioning is just about necessary unless you are camped at higher elevations where temperatures stay comfortable. On a long road trip like you mention, you will likely have a lot of hot nights camping so keep power in mind in your camping plans.
State parks are a good option for traveling campers that can make plans in advance. Having a camping reservation takes most of the stress of a travel/camping trip away. Most federal campgrounds do not have camping hookups. Most state facilities have hookups. As mentioned above, private RV parks are an option but we never cared much for them as the quality of camping experience can vary greatly from place to place.
Get maps and check out each state's travel website. You might like a night or two in a national forest campground if you are willing to forego power hookups. State wildlife areas offer camping opportunities in almost every state. BLM land in the west offers free camping too. Learn about staying for free on public land at www.rv-camping.org/Boondocking.html , and the home page at that site has links to every states camping opportunities including US Army Corps of Engineers, USFS and BLM, State parks and forests and more.
Finding places to stay near large metro areas can be a problem. Sometimes the places you pick are not the best, and you get what you pay for at times. If you are on a tight schedule, you may be disappointed as camping is work to some degree, and take down and set up of an RV is not something everyone is willing to do on a daily basis. A campground directory is likely in your future... Woodalls and Trailer Life are two of the best in my opinion.
I personally hate those "convenient" KOA campsites, if that is you idea for cross country highway camping. They aren't cheap, they are noisy, some are not particularly safe.
So then you get wilderness campsites, which are not really conductive to a cross country trip because you have to get off the highway and potentially drive for miles through a state park/national forest/etc. But it's doable. Once you get to western South Dakota your camping options increase tremedously in quality. Maybe stay in a few Motel 6's until you get there.
For Badlands N.P. there are two campsites, one near the eastern entrance in the park and one in the west. Go to the west one, which has no amenities but is just sublimely beautiful and is essentially an open buffalo grazing ground. Wake up to a buffalo outside your tent. Takes some effort to get to however.
Pop up tents. Not sure but an option is to rent a minivan, pull out the seats to add room, and get an auxilary tent. Buy a little stove. Not sure you need much more.
I noticed your response about the Badlands NP...we are planning a trip in about another month. Could you tell me about campsites in the Badlands? We have an RV...are the roads good into the park? Is there electric or water available? Thank you!
I noticed your response about the Badlands NP...we are planning a trip in about another month. Could you tell me about campsites in the Badlands? We have an RV...are the roads good into the park? Is there electric or water available? Thank you!
I think there's a decent KOA campground in the Badlands that has hookups. The public campgrounds do not, as I recall. It's been awhile since I've camped in the Badlands, but I'm pretty sure that's accurate info.
I am planning on being in New York in July of 2010 and will be staying for one week, and then my brother and my son and I want to drive to California, wanting to see the Bad Lands, Mt Rushmore, Vancouver, and from Washington down through Oregon, northern Califronia and down to L.A., We want to save money by camping the entire route. Does anyone have any suggestions? And is it cheap to rent a pop up trailer?
It'll probably cost you $1000-1500 to rent a popup for a month. You might consider buying a used one for that price. Lots of people use tents too -- not as nice as a popup, but they're cheaper and will do the job.
Camping can be about as cheap as you want to make it. If you plan ahead you can sometimes find city or county parks or BLM land where it's free. Even national forests are usually free if you stay out of the campgrounds and just find a place a few hundred feet away from any roads.
State parks and US Forest Service campgrounds often have no-hookup campgrounds that'll provide you with water and public toilets, sometimes with showers. In the midwest and west, these will usually run in the $15 range. They normally have picnic tables and a grill and/or fire pit.
In the Rockies and much of the northwest, you could get by very easily without air conditioning. Even in the high plains, night time temperatures will fall into the 50s or 60s on all but the very hottest nights. I camped for decades without air.
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