Campinn In Tent Sites

Getting a jump on making our summer reservations. What have others experienced in booking tent sites? Will most campgrounds allow our trailers in sites designated for tents?

Thanks,

Randy

 

US Forest Service and BLM - Yes! Usually there will be a maximum vehicle length published, so, you’ll want to know your combined length of camper and TV.

Oregon State Parks - Yes!

Sometimes a tent site is designated as “walk-in”, those don’t allow trailers. Sometimes a loop will be designated “no RVs” due to tight turns, which would seem to rule out a trailer.

 

Great question, this is always a concern for us when booking sites. Generally tents sites are the best and we like to be away from the big rigs and generators. So I will always choose a tent site when we are staying at an actual campground and not boondocking. To this date, knock on wood, we have had no problems. If it's a tents site that you pull your car up to, you should be fine. As someone else mentioned make sure it's not a walk in site. My worry is that the personality of campground hosts can vary greatly. Most are very chill and relaxed but some are militant about rules and may make a case that you can't be there. This has not happened to us but if it does we have an argument prepared about how our campinn is just a hard sided tent on wheels..........

 

Ya, that's the way I see it is as well. I booked a site in July that has a long paved driveway with the actual tent site in the dirt beyond. Plan is to back in to the end of the drive and set up the canopy on the dirt. Just hoping they don't give me any grief. Don't know why they would. To your point, it's really no more than a hard sided tent.

Thanks!

 

When in campgrounds I always take the tent sites and have never had a problem. Recently we camped at the Belknap campground in the southern Sierras (an outstanding place, BTW) where bold print specifies "Trailers are not permitted!" due to the tight curves in there. I called the forest service office for the area and described my trailer and was told that I wouldn't likely have any problem and to go ahead. He was right.
Take advantage of that dinky trailer!

 

Booked it few times, and never had any problems.

 

We've had mixed luck with tent sites - it seems like more recently, it's been a pretty consistent NO. Now this is mostly Midwest where campsite material might make a difference - we've stayed in a lot of grassy parks lately and I think it's the size of the parking pad that's the issue - they don't want the wheels/weight on the grass. And then there's the actual tent campers to consider.

It seems like the distinction being made at a lot of campgrounds is electric vs non-electric and any actual "tent only" sites are cart-in sites with a limited parking area. I wouldn't assume, especially for popular parks/high volume days - it would be really bad to be turned away from a tent site reservation only to find all of the RV sites occupied!

If you think it could be a physical access issue, like tight, steep turns or a poorly maintained road, I would definitely call the park and clarify. We've taken our regular-height 550 over some pretty sketchy Forest Service roads and it can handle bad roads a lot better than I can!

Note: we've done a couple of longer no-reservation road trips and I've found a few campgrounds on All Stays that were marked "tent only" - I called the DNR/Forest Service and in every case, RV's were allowed up to a certain combination length (which, of course, we fit). If you do find a mistake/omission in All Stays, you can send an e-mail to apps@allstays.com with the corrected information and they'll update the app right away - at least that's been my experience.

 

Are you finding most Tent sites have electric, is this usually indicated on the reservation page? State Parks or something else. So far, when I have looked at tent sites for State Parks, it seems there is no electricity. I'd love to be in a tent site, but we are not set up for solar yet.

 

Most tent sites in the West do *not* have electric, but it really varies.

How many nights can you go between battery charges? For us, at least 3 nights...

 

We don't know yet. We have always had electric. My husband has CPAP, so I'm guessing not many. We need to figure that out. We just got our 560 on April 26, 2018. The furthest we have gone is from OH to FL and I went solo, so no CPAPm and again I had electric. (Thankfully, as it was July in FL, and I ran the A/C at times). Other than that we have just been in Ohio, and at the CICO in Wisconsin.

We still have a lot to learn. Heading to CO in July.

 

Electric-service camping is great, and a must for the AC...

Alternatives exist, even for CPAP users. My CPAP power odyssey is written up here:
Cpap Power For Boondocking

I ended up adding a second battery system dedicated to the CPAP, with the trailer batt available for backup.

Many of our favorite camping spots are National Forest campgrounds, which don’t have electric service, so, finding alternatives for power over several nights is important. Mostly we’re camping in the west coast states & BC, but also thinking about a longer trip with CO at the far end.

***edit***
I was just re-reading the thread... Yes, the online reservation systems I’ve used *always* indicate what services are available at the site, including electric.

 

Nicely put Bear!

We always recommend walking the person at the campground office outside to peek at the camper. They generally "get it" once they see it, especially if explained well in the manner Bear detailed.

Cary

 

I think the key here is you called ahead. Do your homework ahead of time and am sure you will be welcomed - rather than just doing it.