Winter Camping: Tire Chains And Other Questions

We are thinking about camping at Yosemite Valley over New Year's, and tire chains may be required. Does anyone have any information about what tire chains to get for the camper? What other issues will we need to worry about? (We have a heater.)

Thanks!

 

No worries really. We do this a lot. Here are the things I can think of:

1. Get reservations. If it is mild enough to camp, the period from Christmas weekend through New Years Weekend is absolutely filled.

2. Condensation. You will want to crack the roof fan vent and a window to let some moisture out of the trailer when you sleep. You may run the furnace a little more, but that is low cost.

3. Water. We don't use the water. We keep it winterized and don't worry about it when the weather changes or is unpredictible.

4. The days are short. More board games and DVDs.

5. Tire pressure. I watch it more closely because it is cold.

6. Ice. We don't worry about ice. We put water bottles out to get cold over night, and move them into the cooler each day. Easy.

This is all I can think of. I can't comment on tire chains. We just leave enough space in our schedule to avoid this problem.

 

I made reservations at the Upper Pines campground.

We put in a Froli spring system underneath the mattress, but I might look for something to go underneath the mattresses for the bunks to help with air flow, too. What do you use for hot water when you are winter camping?

Thanks for the warning about tire pressure. I will make sure we keep a pressure gauge in our kit. Yosemite requires that you carry tire chains just in case. I will have to look at that more closely.

Do you have/use a winter-friendly tent?

 

We take a pressure cooker to heat up water quickly. We also bring a big thermos but rarely use it. We also use the pressure cooker to cook legumes, pasta, steel cut oats....

You will love the Froli.

We just use a screen tent with a fly, similar to the Eureka Northern Breeze. (It is an old LLBean Screen Shelter with Fly and Floor.) It is a warm living room, game room, yoga studio, dining area, and dog area during the day. This year, we are going to take a ceramic heater. I am aggravated because we had to get an electric site. But since we had to, we are thinking the heater might be nice.

Something else I thought of. Make sure to wash the salt off.

 

We'll be staying at Upper Pines campground in Yosemite, so we won't have access to hookups. I'm a little worried that our food will freeze overnight in the bear box, so I'm thinking I will take pre-mixed eggs and stick to scrambled.

Our screen shelter is a summer-only screen room with no fly or floor, so I'm looking for something that will work (preferably less money than the Northern Breeze for now; maybe we'll upgrade if we find we like winter camping).

I'm also wondering how we can make our battery last. I am planning to bring headlamps and battery-powered lights so we don't have to use the camper's interior lights and run down the battery to play games in the evenings.

 

I don't believe you will need chains for your camper. Put your chains on the driving wheels on rear wheel drive vehicles. My understanding is that they can help your steering and braking on ice, so you might want also to consider a pair for the front. If you drive something that is all wheel drive, then you will need two pairs. I can't see what good chains would be on the trailer itself. Chains reinforced with small hardened lugs last longer and bite very well. They are awful on clean pavement (reduced braking) so take them off as soon as you're able.

Warning: I am kind of old-fashioned and there might be newer theories, but the methods above have worked for me for many years.

For a small Subaru I had 20 years ago, I bought a pair of the spring chains that are easy to put on and they fell apart after only a few minutes. Worse than useless. I recommend real chain, but some cars do not give you the clearance you need, and the chains can rip your brake lines and cause general mayhem. With the exception of the little Subaru, I have used them only on pickup trucks. Your owners manual should tell you if real chains will be safe for your vehicle.

 

We'll be there 4 nights before we head back down to Malibu/Los Angeles to thaw out. Hopefully, we won't be too miserable and bug out for a hotel. Thanks for the toilet seat warning! Maybe I'll bring one of those padded toilet training seats just to add a little cushion. Had to look up Luci lights. I don't have those, but I was thinking about getting some battery-powered Christmas light strands.

Would you recommend winterizing the sink/water/gray water for this trip? It would be nice to have the sink when we get down to Malibu, but not if it means freezing pipes.

 

It is very important if you are going camping in winter seasons or going at some place with glacier then you must need tire chains. Because of it very slippery there.

 

In Oregon, when chains are required on vehicles, “drag chains” are required on all trailers. “Drag” is how the state patrol refers to them, they’re just tire chains.

My understanding is that this is to prevent jack-knifing when stopping, but I’ve not towed in such conditions.

 

Many states require drag chains. Some on both wheels, some just on one. Then you get into tandom axles where some states require just on one and some states say both axles.

Applying brakes to just the trailer will keep it straight but you loose a lot of stopping power.

 

Would love to hear how the trip went.

I have made multiple trips to Yosemite Valley in the winter. No towing, just my vehicle. I try to go just as the snow storm is ending and usually arrive while it is still snowing in the valley.

The valley itself is only 4,000 ft. So it really doesn't get a lot of snow during winter, and when it does, it doesn't last long at all. Something else to know about driving there is that they do a superb job of plowing the roads in the valley when it does snow. Chain requirements seldom exceed R-2, which means if you have an AWD vehicle you will not be required to put chains on. Yes, you are required to carry them, but I've not had them ask to see any once they saw my car was AWD.

Roads can be slippery (especially Southside Drive) and you should obviously drive slow and with care. But AWD should do you fine should you decide to go during the winter. You should also approach and enter the park from 140 since this will keep you from reaching higher elevations where you could run into snow and chains could well be required to pass. 140 will keep you from exceeding 3,000 feet of elevation from 99 all the way to the park.

I highly recommend a winter trip when it snows. It's beautiful and you have the park almost to yourself. (Except the couple of weeks in February when it is overrun by photographers trying to shoot the firefall.)

 

Your photos are beautiful. I wrote about our trip here: Yosemite Np In Winter Without Rangers

 

Thank you. And thank you for the link. Sounds like you had a good time with a little excitement as well. I usually make multiple trips to Yosemite every year and have been camping in Upper Pines every spring the last few years until getting cancelled last year. Tomorrow morning I'll be trying to make reservations for next May, hoping to get the reservations and then not have them cancelled.

 

Oh that bear story makes me shudder!

 

Having read through this thread, I purchased a set of “s” clearance chains for the trailer. I did a trial fit and found that there is a pinch point between the tire and the frame at the front. The clearance is about ¼ inch. Its also pretty tight along the bottom edge of the front of the fender. I suspect something would break loose in use. Any experiences in actual use?

 

I did further research on winter towing with my car (Subaru Outback), and found that the car manufacturer recommended only putting chains on two tires of the car, and recommended against chains on the trailer and on all four tires. That said, we haven't tried winter camping again since our trip to Yosemite, and there was no snow when we went, so I don't have any real world experience with towing in snow conditions to report to you.

 

Thanks. I have a 4x4 xTerra and the manual states to use chains only on the rear.

 

Thanks for reminding me to book my stay in Florida

Don't forget to think about waxing the aluminum. Take if from me, that salt eats aluminum and you'll never get it to look quite right ever again.

Cary has mentioned Marine Max in the past.