USA camp site recommendations
 

Two 70 year olds plan to van & tent camp along I-90 from Rushmore to Teton to Glacier to Puget Sound.

Then we plan to go I-5 Seattle to Sacramento, tour The Bay to Monterey to Yosemite and Sequoia NPs to Las Vegas.

We wish to see canyons to the north side of Grand Canyon then drive south to Flagstaff and Sedona.

Will cross petrified Forest then up to Mesa Verde NP and on to Colorado Springs.

Some of what you input will decide which routes to take or avoid.

From Colorado Springs to Springfield, MO we haven't decided which routes to travel. Haven't a clue what is worthwhile to see.

Check www.blackhillscampgrounds.com

Thanks.

Anyone else done any camping?

Sylvan Lake Campground near Mt. Rushmore http://www.sdgfp.info/Parks/Regions/...sylvlkinfo.htm

KOAs. All over US (just google "koa")
Friendly w/clean bathrooms

We camped right in the park at Mesa Verde. The tenting area was virtually empty.

I avoid KOAs whenever possible. Most of them are crowded and noisy, and often the sites are very narrow.

A better source of advice about campgrounds would be web discussion boards dedicated to camping or RV travel, such as RV.net .

My preferred route between CO and MO would be to choose something that borders Route 70; depends on whether you want the superhighway, or the scenic route.

What time of the year are you doing this trip?

If you want to camp in Yosemite Valley (which I highly recommend for location, location, location) you will either need to make reservations which might be impossible until fall...or try and get in the first come first serve walk in campground. You will need to be there pretty early to use the first come, first serve campground in the summer.

I believe you will want to make reservations for the N. Rim Grand Canyon if you plan on staying there.

Don't know if you plan on visiting Zion National Park on the way. There are two really nice campgrounds, South and Watchman in the park. You can make reservations at Watchman and they have tent only loops. If you are going to be arriving late in the day, I'd call a head a couple of days and make reservations.

The Madison campground in Mesa Verde is very nice and never fills up. Great place to camp.

For camping in the Mt. Rushmore area I'd try camping at Custer State Park. You might want to make reservations there. OR if you don't mind camping at a place that looks like you're camping on the moon you might camp at Badlands National Park.

There are some very nice National Forest campgrounds near Pikes Peak...which isn't far from Colorado Springs. I'll look up the name of the one we stayed at if you are interested.

Utahtea

Starting from Midland, MI - 22 Aug.
Leave Rushmore - 26th.
Puget Sound - 8 Sep to 16 Sep.
Portland 17 to 23 Sep.
That puts us into Yosemite around 28 Sep
Canyon country 31 Sep to Oct 5, maybe.
We may speed along faster then that and be in Yorktown by Oct 5th.

I'd camp in the National Parks as much as possible and then the National Forests. Full bath/shower facilities aren't available at the NF's, but they are just beautiful campgrounds. Alternate with NP or cabins. Consider the Frontier Cabins at North Rim.

It was years ago but I still remember the tent only campsite that we had in the Tetons--it was our most beautiful site ever. There were 3 sites on a peninsula overlooking the lake. Absolutely beautiful. It was part of the national park, don't know the name of the campground.

On the same trip we also enjoyed camping at Custer State Park--really nice campground.

At the time, you could not make campground reservations at Yellowstone so we stayed in the cabins by Old Faithful Lodge and the cabins at Roosevelt Lodge.

We always tried to camp in the National and State parks and the national forests.

I know some don't like KOAs, but the north campground in Durango (there are two) is one of the prettiest camping spots I've been in. Right on the river. Pancake breakfasts - and I think they even have internet access now.

I would camp there over Mesa Verde probably. I've camped at the campground at Mesa Verde, but enjoyed being closer to town while in Durango area.

While in the Black Hills and the Rushmore area I would suggest the Center Lake CG in Custer State Park. In the Yellowstone area one of the two NPS CG's along the Lamar Valley or Soda Butte (NF) just east a mile or so from Cooke City MT. In Glacier, pick a campground on the west side near Apgar, totally different climate on the east side. You could also check the National Park service and the Forest Service web site for campgrounds along your planned route of travel. We are a year or so your junior and do a lot of tent/van camping and this is the way we normally do it. We are traveling now and were Camping in the Black Hills and Yellowstone last month. Hope it is a little cooler for your trip than it has been so far for ours.

At Sequoia, we enjoyed camping at Lodgepole campground. It is a larger campground than I usually like, but we were on the edge of a loop across the river from everybody else, in a site overlooking the river. Very nice and we only had a few neighbors. We also had the convinience of hot showers close by and a well stocked store.

In the Santa Cruz mountains, Big Basin has some really nice campgrounds. It is crowded in the summer time, but well laid out so as to afford privacy. Butano is great too, and less crowded.

Along the Monterey Bay, I think Manresa state beach has camping. I know that New Brighton does, but I think it is all or mostly RVs. Good location though.

Boy oh boy, WHAT A BIG HELP!

LindainOhio
Your Tetons campsite, 3 sites on a peninsula overlooking the lake, part of the national park ...do you recall the name of that lake?

Do any of you recall the pros or cons of campgroungs from Tacoma to Santa Cruz, to Yosemite?

As we leave out of Seattle, we plan to hit Olympia, Mt Rainier, Mt St Helen, Columbia Gorge, Mt Hood, Portland, Oregon coastline, Crater Lake, Napa Valley, San Francisco.

Around Mt. Hood, two good camping areas are Lost Lake and Timothy Lake.

Do you know about the "tent cabins" at Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park? They look pretty cool!

If two 70 year olds are going to be doing that much driving and camping, do you know about the KOA Kamping Kabins? I've used them going cross country when stopping for just one night at each place - rather than setting up and breaking camp each day.

I looked at the website. It was Jenny Lake---tents only and only 49 sites. It was the most beautiful campsite we ever had.

The website notes that the campsite fills up at 8:00 a.m. We were there in August. We needed three campsites so we sent the men down early in the morning to get the sites and the wives and kids met them there.

We had a moose and her calf that spent a lot of time wandering the campground.