April 2023 – Scampgrounds

Idyllwild

https://scampgrounds.com/wp-content/themes/osmosis/images/empty/thumbnail.jpg 150 150 gavin gavin https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/99f9cd14e6ca957f921a5ace7d1dcdf0fccde566155f0e4da610ff0b7f10e2b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g April 25, 2023 April 24, 2023

By: gavin

April 25, 2023

Idyllwild
April 17^th – 20^th, 2023 (3 nights)

Idyllwild is a small mountain town located high up (elevation 5,300 feet) in the San Jacinto Mountains (above Palm Springs) about two hours’ drive from San Diego. The town is known for outdoor activities, art galleries and quaint shops. The town hosts a variety of cultural events, including the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema (March) and the Jazz in the Pines music festival (July). For hiking, the best time to visit is spring and fall as the temperatures are moderate and pleasant. Summer can be hot and crowded and winter can bring lots of snow (making certain trails inaccessible). A few weeks before our visit, the campground and town area was covered in snow (heaviest snow fall in decades)! We were lucky that the weather warmed up and the snow cleared by the time we arrived (for the most part)! For those without trailers, consider staying at the historic Idyllwild Inn (est. 1904) right in the center of town. This hotel gets good reviews and is reasonably priced.

We chose to stay at Idyllwild Campground (Mt. San Jacinto State Park) which is right in town and an easy eight minute walk to all the shops and restaurants. The other main campground (Stone Creek), which is about a ten minute drive from town, doesn’t open until May 1st. We found that even though Idyllwild Campground is close to town and adjacent to the main road (Hwy 243), it was relatively quiet during our mid-week visit. The 28 campsites are well spaced apart and three (01, 02, 26 @$45/night) have full hookups and three have electric hookups (04, 05, 06 @ $35/night). The tent campsites are $25/night. There are water spigots throughout the campground (and flush toilets), but no dump station (other than the sewer hookups at the campsites that have full hookups). We found Verizon mobile phone service to be very good. There is a PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) campsite section that accommodates many of the PCT hikers that pass through the area and need a place to set up tent for a night or two. We saw many of these hikers in the campground!

We reserved site 02 with full hookups (which allowed us to leave our solar panels at home and travel with an empty Fresh tank). The maximum trailer length listed for the campground is 24 feet, although we saw some spaces that possibly could accommodate much longer trailers (e.g. our friend’s campsite, 04, looked like it could fit a 30 foot trailer along with a tow vehicle). We met another couple who fit their 27’ Class A motorhome in campsite 26. So, if you stay within the 24’ maximum, there shouldn’t be any issues fitting into the campsites. However, one thing we did notice though is that the angle between the road and the campsites isn’t correct if following the direction of the signs, making backing in almost impossible. So, we drove into the empty campsite opposite ours to make backing into our campsite easier and our friends (with their longer RPOD) could only get into their site by driving the opposite direction of the implied traffic route. Though, some of the campsites are pull through.

The weather during our stay was ideal for hiking and shopping, with sunny cool days (in the high 50’s) and chilly nights (30’s). We rarely saw any bugs as well with the cool temperatures. We brought our new, small, lightweight, electric, ceramic space heater and we left it running all night long every night and it worked great (quietly keeping our Scamp as warm as we wanted and saving from having to use our propane). We very much enjoyed hiking the trails with our friends Phil and Claudia on this trip. Many popular hiking trails include: Devil’s Slide Trail (2.5-mile), Ernie Maxwell Trail (5.2-mile), Suicide Rock Trail (6-mile), Mount San Jacinto Peak Trail (10.6-mile), and South Ridge Trail (7.6-mile). We could not complete the Ernie Maxwell Trail because the river was running too hard to cross. We instead hiked a portion of the Deer Springs Trail which is very scenic. Make sure to get a free Wilderness Permit at the campground ranger station before going on any of these trails (one copy immediately goes into the permit box and the hiker submits the white copy when they return — this allows the rangers to see who didn’t make it back safely at the end of the day and send out a search party). One day we drove over to the closed Stone Creek Campground to hike Saw Mills Flats Trail (1.7 miles). We made it about halfway before getting stopped by very heavy snow on the trail (hip deep).

In addition to hiking and enjoying the campground, we also had fun strolling through town. There are a number of fun shops selling all sorts of tourist novelties (e.g. tshirts, cups, etc.) as well as some good places to eat. We purchased t-shirts and local blueberry jam. One morning, I spotted the mayor of Idyllwild (Mayor Max) and his assistant (Assistant Mayor Meadow), both golden retrievers, along with their handler in front of one of the local donut shops, Donuts and More! The handler let me sit down with them and hug both. To learn about the history of Idyllwild dog mayors visit here. We had great burgers for lunch at The Lumber Mill Bar & Grill.

Idyllwild is a fantastic place to relax and rejuvenate for a few days or even a week. Breathing in the fresh mountain air and smelling the pines are great ways to de-stress and reinvigorate oneself! And, being able to stay at the campground amongst giant trees … well, we hope it stays idyll and wild!

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Building an Interior Closet Shelf for a Small Travel Trailer

By: gavin

April 4, 2023

Building an Interior Closet Shelf for a Small Travel Trailer

Our 2020 Scamp 13’ is loaded with more things than most people can believe – including a full size bed, kitchen dinette, kitchen (with two-burner gas stove, sink and refrigerator), furnace, bathroom (including shower), HD TV, and storage cabinets. However, being only 10 feet long (3’ is the hitch length), there isn’t a lot of interior storage space in our Scamp. I like to keep my laptop inside the Scamp because I load movies onto it before each trip (see How To Watch Movies in the Wild) which we often watch at night. I used to place the laptop on the kitchen floor underneath the kitchen table, but wanted to find a more secure and out of the way storage location. When looking for possible storage areas in such a small space, one has to keep an open mind and keen eye to identify any space which isn’t being used. I found one such space in the main clothes closet just above the clothes hanger. The unused empty space seemed perfect to suspend a small shelf which could be used to store a laptop as well as a few other small items. Having just completed my AC window project, I had some leftover ½” thick plywood. I took some measurements, and using my jigsaw and belt sander it was a quick and easy job to create the shelf.

The first thing I did was measure the space to calculate the maximum shelf measurements which would fit. I calculated that a shelf 14” wide in front, 12” deep (10” on the shorter curved side), and with 5” high walls would accommodate my laptop and maximize the storage space in this area. Since the Scamp main closet curves at the back, I had to cut a corner in the rear shelf tray (reducing the rear right side tray by 2” to 10” deep). I thought I might need a wall piece for the back corner, but it was unnecessary as the tray rests against the back wall (which acts as a shelf wall). The back wall piece came out to 9” long x 5” high. After all the pieces were cut, I drilled pilot holes and used glue and wood screws to join all the pieces. Lastly, I cut 4 small pieces of plywood and used them as mounts. These mounts are glued and screwed into the top of the shelf side walls (see video).

Once the shelf is fully built, it’s just a matter of having an assistant hold it in place inside the cabinet. After positioning in the right area, use screws to attach the mounts to the wood ceiling. Once I secured the shelf, I decided to cut some holes on the left side wall so, if necessary, I could insert a screwdriver through the shelf to tighten the collars on the hot/cold PEX lines (in case there was a drip). The only thing left is to create a front cover (if desired). I wanted the ability to be able to quickly see inside the shelf but needed a front cover so my laptop wouldn’t fly out while driving, so I opted to use a clear Lexan (high strength plastic) polycarbonate piece (which I attached to the cabinet using rare earth magnets hot glued to both the Lexan and plywood) (5” high x 15” wide).

I have used this shelf on several trips already and it has performed very well. The rare earth magnets have always held securely during travel. Hinges might be considered to avoid having to pull the Lexan off the front and setting it aside while putting things in and out of the shelf. Though, I’ve found the magnet solution to work really well and don’t mind setting aside the front piece while accessing the gear inside the shelf. So, if you have any small items in your small travel trailer that you need a home for, consider shelving them!