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Ojai Spring Experience: March 23rd – 29th (6 nights)

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Ojai Spring Experience
March 23rd – 29th, 2024 (6 nights)

Ojai is a great place to explore nature and enjoy small town life.  The city is located about forty-five minutes south of Santa Barbara and at about 745 feet about sea level.  In town, there are luxury hotels, spas, great restaurants, hiking, biking, horseback riding, boutique stores, art galleries, wine tasting rooms, and many other fun things to see and do.  There are also serene mountain campgrounds high above Ojai in the Topatopa mountains about 15 miles north of town, with one, Rose Valley Campground, boasting a spectacular 300 foot two tier water fall (Rose Valley Falls).  It’s fun to combine both flavors of camping into one trip!  We spent a couple days at each location.

We started the trip at Rose Valley Campground, about a thirty minute mountain drive from Ojai.  The mountain road winds and climbs up into the Los Padres National Forest to about 3,450 feet above sea level.  The campground is very remote with the closest stores and gas stations located back in Ojai.  The roads leading to the campground are paved, but we did have to drive across a couple of creeks to enter the campground.  Click here to see us crossing one such section of creek.

Rose Valley Campground is a primitive campground (US Forest Service) with almost no amenities (only trash cans and a vault toilet).  We saw a ranger only once during our visit (he knocked loudly on our door shortly after we arrived and asked if we had a reservation).  There is no water or cellphone/internet reception here (except maybe if one has Starlink).  We made sure to arrive with our Fresh tank full and also brought an additional 6 gallon water jug (which we used) as well as 4 gallons of drinking water.  Since our Scamp’s house battery is lithium, we didn’t bring our solar panels (we use only about 10% of our lithium battery’s 100ah capacity per day and recharge them when we drive at 30% capacity per hour via our DC-DC car charger, click here to read more about this).  The campground is very small, with only 8 campsites (some of which cannot be reserved, but are only available first come, first served).  We reserved campsite #3 ($30/night) which we think is the best campsite for those with small travel trailers.  This campsite is fairly private and has a fantastic view of the Rose Valley Falls.  Campsite #2 is great for tent campers, but because access is across a small section of creek and there is no place to turn around — it would be very difficult to back in a travel trailer.  For larger trailers and RVs, campsite #1 is a good choice (but is a first come first serve site).

If one wants serenity, to unplug, and a place to relax, Rose Valley Campground is the place.  Looking out our Scamp 13’s back window up at the 300 foot Rose Valley Falls made this place seem almost Yosemite like.  It’s a great place to get close to nature.  We could hear the creek and frogs from within our Scamp.  And, we saw plenty of animals and birds including hawks, red-winged black birds, egrets, ducks, and many other bird species, squirrels, snakes, … Coyotes, deer, bobcats, and mountain lions also live in this area, but we didn’t see them.  Bears have been occasionally sighted too.

There are many great hikes originating from Rose Valley Campground.  The featured hike is the one of “Rose Valley Falls” and starts at campsite #4.  It’s short (less than a mile or 30 minutes round trip) and overall easy, with one creek hopping required.  The falls were raging during our visit (as California has been having a lot of rain this year).  The bottom 100 foot tier of the falls, lower falls, can be seen from the base, where this hike ends.  Hiking to the upper falls is not recommended as there are not well maintained trails and there is a lot of loose gravel.  We hiked up a portion of one of the routes, but decided it was too treacherous due to the condition of the muddy earth and loose shale rock.  In addition to Rose Valley Falls, there is a pleasant road walk from Rose Valley Campground which passes the 3 local lakes: Upper Lake, Middle Lake, and Lower Lake (it’s an easy roughly two mile round trip walk — although there are a couple of creek crossings along the way which require careful traversing due to slimy and slippery algae beneath).  Fishing is allowed at the lakes with a fishing license.  On our last day, we drove a few miles up to Piedra Blanca Trailhead — features three popular trails (a $5 Adventure Pass or Interagency Pass is required to leave in car at parking lot): leave all valuables at home says the sign at the trailhead.

After a couple of days of being unplugged and roughing it (hardly) at the remote Rose Valley Campground, we made the thirty minute drive down the mountain and pulled into Camp Comfort with full hookups at each campsite (run by Ventura County Parks).  Camp Comfort is only a few minutes’ drive from downtown Ojai, which makes it an excellent base for exploring the town.  The first thing we did when arriving was dump our Grey and Black tanks (although we had to do it at another site as a few sites here, #13-16, have the hookups on the wrong side — passenger side! Oops!)  The ranger couldn’t explain what happened, other than a supposed mistake was made during the construction of the campground.  Other than that, our campsite #13 ($49/night) is a fantastic site–only one of three campsites adjacent to the creek.  Campsite #11 is probably the top pick here (with #12 coming in 2nd).  This campsite has amenities: full hookups, a raging creek, and super-fast free wifi (no sign in is required).  It’s located in a nice park setting and the campground itself is a small parking lot (but still plenty of space between sites).  Camp Comfort was extremely quiet during our visit at the end of March.  We enjoyed falling asleep to the sounds of the creek flowing and the frogs, crickets, and birds (with owls hooting in the trees above early morning).

We spent our first day exploring downtown Ojai.  We visited a very unusual bookstore, Bart’s Books, that has many of its used books on outside shelves facing the street!  The books are left outdoors and payment after hours is on an honor system with a can left out to accept money!  There is also the main street, called the Ojai Arcade, with nice stores, eateries, art galleries, and wine tasting rooms.  After spending a couple hours walking around downtown and refreshing ourselves at Sanders & Sons with their delicious gelato, we visited Ojai Meadows Preserve and took a nice hike within the wetlands preserve.  On day two of our visit to Ojai, we explored the wondrous estate of the Ojai Valley Inn, a beautiful hotel on sprawling grounds.  The estate is so large that the staff hands out maps to help visitors navigate the area.  The gardens, Wallace Neff architecture, restaurants, and other facilities on the property are enough to keep one entertained for hours.  We enjoyed a soap making class at their Artist Cottage & Apothecary center, bringing home six of our own soaps!  We picked up a simple Mexican lunch at the Ojai Tortilla House (a very small establishment, known for its homemade tortillas, that can hold only about two or three people inside to place orders for takeout only.  The line outside was not long).  We walked to the town park, Libbey Park, down the street and relished our quesadilla and tacos on a park bench (we saw a few other people there doing the same).  We ended the day at the Ojai Community Farmer’s Market (Thursday afternoons 3 – 7 p.m.) and purchased some quail eggs (an elusive find).  With more time and a treasure chest full of money, there are a many more highly enjoyable adventures to be had in Ojai.  There are excellent hikes, bike rides, shows (Ojai Art Center), art galleries, workshops, music events, wine tasting rooms, stores, horseback rides, restaurants, spas, golf, tennis …. April starts the Pixie Tangerine month in Ojai…maybe next time!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Whitewater Preserve (Palm Springs Area)

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Whitewater Preserve (Palm Springs Area)
February 12th – 14th, 2024 (2 nights)

Located only about 20 minutes northwest of Palm Springs, Whitewater Preserve (2,851 acres) is situated in a beautiful canyon with spectacular views of the mountains and Whitewater River.  This preserve is just one of many throughout the State of California managed by the Wildlands Conservancy.  Whitewater’s campground, park, and Visitor Center and Ranger station were built on the foundation of the historic Whitewater Trout Hatchery (which closed in 2006).

We probably never would have heard about this place had it not been for our friends Colleen and Perry.  They roll their Oliver travel trailer out of their home base in Ontario, Canada every Fall and often make Palm Springs and its surrounds their winter basecamp.  Once they discovered Whitewater Preserve, they told us we had to come and visit.  So, we organized a two day trip to meet and explore Whitewater Preserve and its trails.  There are no fees at this private preserve and camping is free (call to make reservations (760) 325-7222).  There is a large grass field for tent campers and a parking lot for trailers (and day use).  They have a 20 foot trailer length limit, but the rangers were flexible with our friends’ 24’ Oliver trailer (they were able to park across multiple parking spaces lengthwise between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m.).  The park is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  (free admission).  Camping is also free ($0/night).  We chose to stay two nights.

This preserve doesn’t seem very well known and there were not many people here during the week.  The winter weather was perfect (pleasant days in the high 60’s/low 70’s and cool nights in the high 30’s).  We and our friends were the only campers the first night.  A car camper and a van camper shared the large parking lot with us on the second night.  There are water spigots (potable water) in the campground, but no electricity, sewer, or trash services.  Numerous trails originate or are very close to the campground and offer spectacular hikes.  Some of the trails follow the river and others climb high onto ridgelines overlooking the valley.  One of the trails leads to the Pacific Crest Trail.  There are also nice meandering paths along some of the ponds within the park.  The park puts on many scheduled events, including the morning ornithology tour we went on.  A biologist led the bird watching group and took us all on a long trail walk, pointing out and naming different birds along the way.  There are many species of birds at which to gaze.  We noticed the binoculars of choice among this bird group were those produced by Swarovski Optics.

The sky became pitch black soon after the sun set behind the mountains.  The stars came alive and we could hear a symphony of sounds produced by the frogs and other animals along the river.  This is one of the special treats offered to campers who are allowed to stay in the park after it closes to the general public at 5 p.m.   There are also plenty of other animals that might be roaming the campground!  The area is also home to bighorn sheep, California black bears, coyotes, mule deer, raccoons, roadrunners, mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes.

After spending the first day hiking around Whitewater Preserve, we joined our friends in Palm Springs to enjoy some of what this iconic city has to offer.  We did a very special hike at Tahquitz Canyon.  On the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation, visitors (for a $15 fee) can enjoy a self-guided hike up a scenic canyon to a seasonal 60-foot waterfall (swimming is allowed).  The path also features rock pictographs made long ago by indigenous peoples.  After the moderate two mile hike, we had a great lunch at Low Desert Modern Mexican restaurant.  We ended our day in Palm Springs before returning to Whitewater Preserve visiting the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum ($10/person).  This museum is dedicated to showcasing the culture of the Agua Caliente People.  There are some very interesting presentations which feature projection systems to create a very immersive experience (highly recommended).

Although this was only a short two night stay, Whitewater Preserve was just what we needed to rejuvenate our souls after being in the city for the past several months (a lengthy time for us).  John Muir once wrote:  “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

20 Essential Safety Items for Your Travel Trailer

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20 Essential Safety Items for Your Travel Trailer
Now that we’ve owned our 2020 Scamp 13’ for almost four years and have done a bit of travelling in it (205 nights at 116 locations so far, but who’s counting?), we’ve had a chance to identify some essential safety items one may consider (especially if travelling to unpopulated locations with no cellphone service, like Bureau of Land Management areas).  We’ve created our safety item list below.  Before all else though, it’s important to note that having a reliable tow vehicle (keep maintenance up to date and run it regularly) is a major key in keeping out of trouble.

#1.  Smoke Detector
Our 2020 Scamp 13’ did not come with a smoke detector and the service representative I spoke to at Scamp couldn’t say why Scamp doesn’t install them.  Perhaps the reasoning for not installing one is that the kitchen is in the same room as the bedroom and false alarms might happen often.  Regardless, we feel having one is a very important safety item, so we purchased a smoke detector with a 10 year battery and installed it in the far corner of our Scamp under one of the cabinets.  We are happy to have it installed and there hasn’t been one false alarm!

#2.  Fire Extinguisher
All RV’s are required by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to have a fire extinguisher.  The fire extinguisher should be located within 24 inches of the main exit to provide means of escape in case of fire.  Travel trailers should come with them from the factory and they should generally be replaced every 10 years (or after use).

#3.  Carbon Monoxide / Propane Gas Detector
It’s essential that every small travel trailer has a carbon monoxide / propane gas detector alarm because carbon monoxide and propane gas exposure can be lethal.  Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas that cannot be seen or smelled and is produced by liquid propane.  CO gas can potentially enter the travel trailer via a gas stove or gas powered water heater (or gas powered heaters and generators).  Carbon monoxide is especially toxic when built up in a small enclosed space like a small travel trailer.  Propane gas is an asphyxiating gas, making it difficult or impossible for one to breath if exposed to large concentrations.  So, it’s really important that the detector is functioning properly, tested regularly using the test button, and is replaced by the manufacturers recommended replace date.  It’s also imperative that an alarm be taken very seriously as it could mean the difference between life and death.  If an alarm does sound, the recommended procedure is to quickly exit your trailer and turn off your propane tanks outside (leaving the trailer door open to ventilate).

The Atwood Carbon Monoxide / Propane Gas Detector in our 2020 Scamp 13’ is located near the front door under one of the dinette seats.  It has a Test/Reset button which we use on a regular basis to make sure the alarm works.  If the fan on our Scamp isn’t running and bringing in fresh air, the detector often has false alarms when we shower (related to moisture).  For more information on false alarms, click here.

Atwood rates the detector’s lifespan at 7 years, after which time its sensors are no longer reliable and should be replaced.

Propane Safety
Propane gas is highly flammable and can start a serious fire or explode, so never drive with open LP tanks (although some people do, so they are able to run their propane refrigerators on long trips – tip:  if you have a 3-way refrigerator that can run on 12V, consider a DC-DC car charger – click article here).  All it takes is a small leak when the propane valve is open and one spark (perhaps from a flat tire, road debris, or the refrigerator’s pilot flame) and the trailer can go up in flames.  If propane isn’t necessary in the campground (e.g. not needed for cooking, furnace, refrigerator, etc.), then consider keeping the tank valves closed as a safety precaution.  And, if pets are being left in the trailer (even for a short time), keep the tank valves closed (to prevent catastrophe if a pet accidentally turns on the stove).  Lastly, when cooking with propane, always make sure the window above the stove is open and the fan is running to vent the fumes to the outside of the trailer.  Note:  we use our fan on low setting and keep a window open when we sleep (regardless of the outside temperature or if we are running the furnace) to make sure the air is fresh inside.

#4.  First Aid Kit with Case
Without a doubt, this is an important safety item anyone travelling in a travel trailer should have.  There are a couple ways to put the kit together.  One is to buy an already made kit, like this one.  Or, you can put together a customized kit by purchasing a first aid bag and individual items.  We decided to do both so we can have the basics hanging on our wall but also have a more comprehensive first aid bag with specialized items in our Scamp’s closet.  At a minimum, the first aid kit should have adhesive bandages, gauze, tape, wound disinfectant, and pain relief solutions (pill and topical).

Our Scamp 13’ custom first aid kit includes:

Supplies (click on links below):

Bag

Disposable gloves

Adhesive bandages

Self-adhesive bandage wrap

Cloth tape

Neosporin Antibiotic Pain Relief Ointment

Sterile Gauze Pads

Calendula Cream (rashes, skin irritations, bites, sunburn)

Hand sanitizer spray

Surgical wound glue closure

Emergency wound closure device

Medications:

Pepto Bismol  

Antibiotics to treat infections / gastrointestinal illnesses (by doctor prescription)

#5.  Cellular Phone
This goes without saying, but in many cases having a phone can really save you in case you need to call for help (and the most recent iPhone has an emergency satellite communication feature).  If one plans on travelling often to areas without cellular phone coverage, then considering an iPhone with satellite communication or a satellite phone / messenger may be a good idea.  Cellular phones are also great for providing maps.  We recently started using Gaia GPS and think it’s great.  It offers up-to-date maps (including National Geographic maps and high resolution satellite imagery, which can be downloaded for offline use), shows trails, and can record and map hikes (providing detailed statistics).  At the time of this writing, the “Outside” membership is discounted to $24 for the first year.

#6.  GMRS Radios
Two way radios are a great way to stay in touch at the campground (when cellphone service may not be available).  GMRS radios are like walkie talkies, but generally have better range and can receive NOAA weather channels.  They can also be used on GMRS repeaters to greatly extend their range.  We use them when backing up our trailer into a campsite, allowing one of us to stand outside and behind the trailer to give the driver directions.  We also like using them when one person stays in the Scamp and the other is walking around the campground.  We really like these radios because they are rechargeable (and can be charged during our trips via their USB-C connectors).

Note:  an FCC license is required to operate GMRS radios in the United States, but no test is required.  Simply go to the FCC website, register and pay the $35 fee (at the time of this writing) which covers the entire family for 10 years.  This should only take a few minutes and the license is usually issued within 24 hours.

#7.  Flashlights
When things get dark, you need these!  You can’t do much in the dark without light.

Nice small one:

https://amzn.to/45G2wB8

Medium sized:

https://amzn.to/3sLjfV8

Lantern lights:

https://amzn.to/3LdeB8U

#8.  Portable Car Battery Jumper
If your tow vehicle battery goes dead when you are out in nature (or anywhere), you are going to need help to jump start your car battery.  If no one is around, and it’s in a remote area (as seen in this video when we stayed at Alabama Hills), the situation could be very serious.  If you bring along jumper cables, you will still need to find someone with a car who is willing to help (and no one may be around).  However, if you get a 12V lithium (rechargeable) portable car battery booster, you will not need anyone’s help!  These devices can jump start a car battery using their own power and cables!  (This is what many AAA tow truck drivers now use to jump start dead batteries).

We went with the Hulkman Alpha85, which can jump start gas engines up to 8.5 liters and diesel engines up to 6 liters.  We really like the Alpha85’s large display and high capacity (20,000mAh).  A nice feature of this battery is that it has auxiliary ports (12V DC, USB-A, and USB-C) which can be used to charge a variety of devices like cellular phones.  It also has a built in flashlight and has different flashing modes.  It comes with all the necessary cables and fits in our Volvo XC40’s inner trunk area, even with its complete packing box (with all cables inside).

The Alpha85 is rated to hold charge for up to 18 months and provide up to 60 jump starts on a single charge!  Even so, make sure to leave it in your trunk with a good charge and remember to charge it periodically (e.g. every 3 months).  It charges from 0% to 100% in about 90 minutes using a wall charger.  Don’t leave home without it!

#9. Portable Power Station (Lithium)
Speaking of charging up auxiliary devices, having a portable lithium battery dedicated for that purpose leaves your trailer house battery energized to focus solely for its main tasks (powering lights, water pumps, furnace blower, fan, …).  We purchased this Jackery 500 in 2020 (hint:  it’s often on sale on Amazon, also check Costco deals) and use it for charging our camera batteries, drone batteries, phone batteries, electric toothbrushes, smart watches as well as running our Scamp’s 12V television when we are without electric hookups.  The Jackery 500 has 3 x USB ports, a 12V/10A DC port, as well as an inverter for a 110V plug.  It can be charged while driving with the included 12V DC cable, using AC with the included 110V wall charger, and with optional solar panels (Jackery sells solar panels separately or as an add-on with matching input plugs).

#10. Car Tire Inflator
Having a portable air compressor on board the tow vehicle is a great idea.  It’s inexpensive and small, so it’s easy to carry in the trunk.  It can be used to inflate car tires as well as camping air mattresses.  We purchased the Hausbell Portable Air Compressor.  It has a nice digital display and runs off the tow vehicle’s (or trailer’s) 12V DC outlet.  One sets the desired pressure and turns on the unit and it pumps and turns off automatically when it reaches the set pressure.  We use it at the start of every trip to ensure our Scamp’s and Volvo’s tires remain properly inflated.  This can save on fuel as well as make the car/trailer’s handling reliable.

When our Scamp is plugged into an AC outlet, we use this AC-DC converter accessory and plug it into our Scamp’s auxiliary 110V outside outlet.  We then plug the air compressor into the converter so it’s not necessary to use our tow vehicle’s 12V DC outlet.

#11 & #12. Shovel & Tire Traction Boards
There have been times during our travels when a shovel and tire traction boards would have been a godsend.  One was at a remote location near Trona Pinnacles, California.  We were on an off-road trail (due to bad signage and directions) and the temperature was over 100 degrees.  You can watch a video of us on this trail here.  Fortunately, we did not get stuck, but we did break a water pump underneath the Scamp.  On another recent trip, we were temporarily stuck in sand when we were unable to turn around at a beach campground due to the turnaround being washed out by a recent storm.  We were able to get out by unhitching our Scamp and having another camper push our tow vehicle.  In scenarios like these, where the tow vehicle’s tires lose traction with the ground (e.g. sand, mud, snow), having a small shovel and tire traction boards can mean the difference between being stranded (or getting an expensive tow) and quickly solving the issue yourself.  If the tow vehicle is stuck and the driven wheels are just spinning, use the shovel to dig sand/mud/snow away from the front of the driven wheels and insert the tire traction boards under each of the tires before attempting to drive out.   It’s best to do this right after traction is lost to prevent the tow vehicle from digging itself in too deep.  Having had close calls in the past, we recently purchased this shovel as well as this tire traction board set.  The shovel folds into a small bag and is made of high quality powder coated carbon steel and only weighs around 2 pounds.  The mini recovery traction boards are made of reinforced 100% Nylon and are only 22” long (so they easily fit in our Volvo XC40’s inner trunk along with the shovel and car starter).  The “tooth surface” of the boards’ “recovery track” provides a “bite effect”, or friction, to help the vehicle climb out of the situation.  The boards are rated to withstand extreme temperatures and weights up to 22,000 pounds.

#13. Wheel Chocks
Heavy duty wheel chocks are essential for properly securing one’s trailer.  The chocks keep the trailer’s wheels from moving.  Upon arriving at the campground, the wheels should be chocked before the trailer is unhitched.  We have been using these wheel chocks for almost two years and have never looked back – they are the best chocks we’ve ever used.  These rubber chocks are large and heavy (4.2lbs each) and provide solid support for our Scamp 13’ (they are also rated for aircraft, boats, trucks, and RVs).  They are described as “slip resistant, weather resistant, and oil resistant” and rated for heavy usage.  They have a long connecting rope between each chock, so it’s easy to pull the chocks away from the wheels when one is ready to depart the campground.    We ordered two pairs for our Scamp 13’ (one pair for each wheel).

#14, #15, & #16. Receiver Hitch Pin Lock, Trailer Coupler Lock, & Safety Chains & Trailer Brakeaway
One significant concern to most trailer owners is the possibility of the trailer becoming unhitched from the tow vehicle.  This could possibly lead to a devastating crash or, in the case of a parked tow vehicle/trailer, the trailer being stolen.  To mitigate this risk, one can use a high quality hitch pin lock to secure the trailer’s hitch to the tow vehicle’s hitch receiver and a premium trailer coupler lock to keep the coupler secured and locked down on the hitch ball.  Note:  safety chains should always be used to secure the trailer to the tow vehicle just in case the two become disconnected, as well as the emergency breakaway which activates the trailer’s brakes if the trailer and tow vehicle become separated.

Instead of using a traditional hitch pin & clip, to secure the trailer’s hitch and ball mount to the tow vehicle’s hitch receiver, we opted for a more secure hitch pin which securely locks on the end (vs. a clip that can be pulled out).  This provides piece of mind that the hitch pin will stay secure while driving (locked end less likely to fall off than a clip) and while parked (preventing easy theft of the trailer).  With a clip, thieves can easily pull it out, swing the trailer away from the parked tow vehicle and attach it to the getaway truck (thieves can use a trailer dolly if the trailer hitch weight is too high to move the hitch manually).  We also use a trailer coupler lock to keep the coupler secured and locked down on the hitch ball.  This not only keeps the coupler from opening while driving, which could result in the trailer detaching from the hitch ball (tow vehicle), but also prevents thieves from easily opening the locked coupler when the tow vehicle/trailer are parked and stealing the trailer.

#17. Repacking Wheel Bearings and Brake Adjustment
The wheel bearings on a trailer are located inside the wheel assembly hub (behind each tire).  This connects the wheel to the axle to allow for frictionless movement.  Greased bearings allow the wheels to spin freely.  However, over time, the bearings can get dirty or damaged which can lead to serious issues on the road.  Feeling the wheel hubs (center cap of wheel) immediately after driving the trailer can help to identify issues – the hubs should be somewhat cool after driving (not hot).  If the center hubs are hot (which can occur when there is resistance with the bearings or brake issues), this indicates a problem.  But, it’s best to be proactive and not wait for a serious problem to occur with the bearings and brakes.  Instead, have them serviced on a regular basis.  Service interval recommendation times vary – however, a general recommendation given by many mechanics is that RV bearings should be repacked with grease every year or every 10,000 to 20,000 miles, whichever comes first (brakes should be checked and adjusted, if necessary at the same time).  Still, there are varying opinions on the interval.  When we first had our bearings repacked two years ago (after about two years of regular use), the mechanic said the bearings were still super clean so he recommended coming in every two years.  We take our Scamp 13’ to Sonrise RV in Escondido (San Diego).  They currently charge around $270 per axle (the Scamp has only 1 axle with two wheel hubs) — to remove our Scamp’s wheels and drums, clean and inspect the brakes, clean/inspect & grease/repack the bearings, replace the seals and reassemble & test brakes.  The brakes are adjusted by jacking up the trailer and spinning each wheel.  The wheels should spin freely with little resistance.  After the brakes are adjusted, the trailer should be test driven on hills and, then, the hubs should be checked.  They should be cool or lukewarm to the touch in most cases.

#18. Replacing Travel Trailer Tires
Important Note:  Never use passenger tires on travel trailers!  Passenger tires are usually rated at Load Range B to allow for flexible sidewalls for a smooth ride.  They are not engineered to stabilize heavy loads or handle the temperatures that build with them.

Recommendations on when to replace travel trailer’s tires very widely.  Various recommendations found online are:  every 10,000 – 15,000 miles, when the tread is worn down to 2/32nds of an inch, between 3 to 6 years,… How and where the travel trailer is used are very important considerations on replacement timing.  For example, if the trailer goes off-road often or is stored outside in the sun then these factors could expedite the need for tire replacement.  Risk tolerance is also a factor – more conservative trailer owners will replace their tires more frequently.  Because tires are so critical for travel and a blowout on the road has the potential to be disastrous, our rule is to replace our Scamp 13’s tires every three years (even though the tires appear fine).  Tires for small trailers are inexpensive and can be replaced at local tire stores, like Discount Tire (America’s Tire).

Our Scamp 13’s first tire replacement was last summer.  We purchased Hartford ST175/80R13 tires at Discount Tire for around $50 each.  Since the Scamp 13’ is single axle, there are only a couple of tires to replace which makes the process inexpensive.  These Hartford tires are rated to carry a maximum load of 1360 lbs (C1 index).  The index indicates the maximum weight a tire can support with proper inflation.  These tires have a speed rating of up to 87 mph.

Amazon also sells similarly rated trailer tires, like this one.

#19. Sanitize Fresh Tank
Algae, bacteria, and other harmful microorganisms can grow in your trailer’s Fresh and Grey tanks as well as other parts of the water systems such as the pipes, hoses and water heater.  It may be possible to see the algae or it might just be that your water has a funny smell.  Algae and other microorganisms have the potential for not only making the trailer water smell funny and clogging up water lines, but also could be dangerous to one’s health.  Personally, we only drink water that we bring from home that is produced in our reverse osmosis system and stored in 4 gallon BPA free plastic jugs.  But, even showering and washing dishes and hands with contaminated water could be potentially dangerous (e.g. skin, stomach, and lung issues).  Whenever possible, use a water filter when filling the Fresh tank.

For complete instructions on sanitizing tanks, click here.

#20. Keys & Cash Stash
There may be a time when having cash or access to your extra trailer/car keys will be a life saver.  When we first started travelling in our Scamp 13’ we never carried cash.  However, over time, we found that carrying cash is a good idea for a number of reasons.  First, cash is sometimes needed to pay Iron Rangers (metal lock boxes sometimes found at BLM and other remote campgrounds).  We found this to be the case at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.  It is one of our favorite campgrounds and we wouldn’t have been able to stay there had we not had cash.  Cash also comes in handy for paying small businesses one might encounter when travelling.  For example, we enjoyed a great horseback ride when visiting Alabama Hills and cash was the only payment method accepted.  Finally, when on long trips, we find it very convenient to have several rolls of quarters in our Scamp’s closet so we can use coin operated laundry machines.  We recently used our quarters when doing laundry at the Laughing Alpaca RV Park & Campground in Cave Junction, Oregon.

Along with cash, we keep a set of backup keys in our Scamp 13’ (the Volvo backup keys) and Volvo XC 40 tow vehicle (the Scamp backup keys).  That way if our keys for a vehicle aren’t able to be located we likely will have access to its backup keys.

We use a small zippered pouch to store the cash and keys together in our Scamp 13’.  The pouch prevents loose bills from getting lost as well as keys from moving around or falling into gaps.  In our tow vehicle, we use a small compartment in the center console to hold the cash/keys.

Final Thoughts on Travel Trailer Safety
We use many of the above items and ideas every day we travel, and others we carry for peace of mind (an insurance policy) which, hopefully, we will never have to use.  Or, it might be that we use them to help others.

Beyond the above mentioned safety products, there are other serious considerations to think about when taking adventures with your travel trailer.  It’s important to make sure that the “house battery” (the one that powers everything electronically operated in the trailer, such as lights, pumps, blower fan, etc.) is capable and that solar panels (we carry a solar panel briefcase) are available to charge the house battery if necessary.  It’s also important to make sure you carry enough propane if you have a gas powered furnace, refrigerator, stove, and water heater.  We carry two 17# Viking composite propane tanks, making sure each is full for every big trip.  We’ve been on 20+ day trips where we’ve completely exhausted one tank and have had to switch to the 2nd tank.  We’ve seen unexpected snow showers, watching campers run out of their single tank of propane exposing them to freezing temperatures.  Our advice is carry two propane tanks if you plan on taking trips lasting more than a week.  Packing enough food and water for your trip is vital, as well as carrying appropriate clothing (including hats, jackets, sunglasses, and sunscreen).  And, your small travel trailer should also have sleeping bags and blankets just in case the furnace malfunctions (or propane runs out).  With proper planning and utilizing appropriate safety essentials, stress levels will fall and the odds of having a safe and fun trip will be greatly increased!

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Utah National Parks & More Adventure

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Utah National Parks & More Adventure
October 13th – 29th, 2023 (16 nights)

The primary goal of this adventure was to see Utah’s national parks (except for Zion which we visited on a previous trip).  We were able to reserve some of the national parks long in advance, except for Bryce which was first come first served during the time of our trip.  However, for those national parks where reservations weren’t available, we found alternative locations, such as surrounding State parks and private campgrounds.  Because our home base of Carlsbad (San Diego) is far from Utah, we traversed through the states of Arizona and Nevada on this journey.  We didn’t make reservations in advance for Arizona because we wanted some flexibility in selecting cool locations in case the weather didn’t dip down in time for our trip.

Days 1 & 2:  Prescott, Arizona
The night before our trip, we checked weather for our first planned stop, Painted Rock Petroglyph Site and Campground (about five hours from home).  It turned out temperatures were still in the upper 80’s.  Since we had no reservations here, we looked at our route and, instead, headed for the mountains to Prescott, Arizona (low 70’s daytime temps, 40’s at night).  We made calls on the way and found a private campground, Point of Rocks, nestled up in the Granite Dells area near Watson Lake (only about 8 minutes from downtown Prescott).  We were offered site #50, a premium site which butts up against granite stones (part of the Dells) (around $60/night).  The site has full hookups (water, electric, and sewer) and there is free WiFi (which was fast — we were able to stream movies).  The area is spectacular with stunning scenery of granite stone formations.  There is a trail right from the campground that leads to Watson Lake and a series of trails that follow the lake’s perimeter.  One could spend days hiking here.  We also enjoyed walking through historic downtown Prescott.  There is a town square with a clock tower and historic court building.  We walked streets lined with old Victorian homes (built in the 1800s) which are beautiful.  The farmer’s market (Saturday mornings 7:30 -Noon) was also really interesting — we purchased catsclaw honey, concord jam, Aebellskyvers (Swedish donuts), homemade berry pie, and turkey eggs!  We enjoyed our first day so much, we asked if we could stay another night and, luckily, they accommodated us!

Day 3:  Flagstaff
Our next stop was supposed to be Sedona (a must visit for anyone who hasn’t seen the spectacular red rocks here).  However, like our initial planned stop, the temperatures in Sedona were in the upper 80’s.  So, instead, we continued to head to a higher elevation with cooler temperatures.  At over 7,000 feet, Flagstaff is a cool place to visit (daytime temperatures during our stay in the low 70’s, mid 30’s at night).  We found out the the state campgrounds had just closed their season (around Oct. 10th), so, again, we researched some private ones and found a nice one very close to downtown Flagstaff (Woody Mountain Campground).  We chose one of their very private campsites (A70), which is dry ($49/night) (although they have many with hookups for not much more money, but the sites are closer together).  There is free WiFi, but we found it to be very slow at our campsite.  However, our Verizon here was extremely fast (over 100mps download), so we opted to use it instead of the campground WiFi.

Flagstaff is a university town (Northern Arizona University) and, thus, the downtown is very busy with lots of students.  There are numerous shops and restaurants and the famous Route 66 runs through downtown.  There is an Amtrak station in the middle of town and over 100 trains a day pass through!  We spent a couple of hours walking around and perusing the shops before heading back to and enjoying our quiet campsite.  There are a number of interesting things to do in Flagstaff, including visiting the world famous Lowell Observatory.  The Visitor’s Center at the Amtrak Station provides a lot of good information.

Day 4:  Monument Valley, Utah
Back on our regularly scheduled itinerary, we arrived in Monument Valley, Utah at one of the few campgrounds within the valley — Gouldings RV and Campground.  Gouldings is a private campground which also has a lodge as well as individual homes that can be rented that overlook the majesty of Monument Valley.  We had campsite #66 ($65/night) which has full hookups.  The site is spaced out ok, but, if we came back, we would ask for campsite T10, which is priced the same as #66 but is an end spot overlooking the valley.  The campground provides Wi-Fi, but it is very slow.  However, when we tried our Verizon service, we received even slower data rates (even though we had 5 bars!).  We’ve been in other remote areas before (e.g. Death Valley) where Verizon shows 5 bars but the service is barely useable.  Gouldings is a full resort and campground reservations include access to all the amenities (e.g. movie theater, indoor swimming pool, laundry room, etc.).  There are also some nice nature trails that originate from the campground.

Monument Valley is Navajo country and one gets a feeling of the old West when visiting.  Gouldings warns campers not to leave their shoes out as wild dogs may chew on them in the night.  We encountered a number of roaming dogs (likely from the Navajo reservation) in the campground and on the trails.  However, they were well behaved and kept their distance.  The main draw for visiting Monument Valley is to take in the grander of the magnificent rock formations (e.g. buttes, spires, mesas, …) and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  If one has time, Gouldings sells tours through Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park — a seat on one of their open air trucks (covered by tarp) that last 2 or more hours (about $80/person).  Alternatively, one can buy entrance into the park ($8) and drive the 17 mile road on their own (although it is unpaved and can be bumpy).  We didn’t have time for a tour, but found plenty of excellent scenic viewing areas while driving out of town on the way to our next stop, Dead Horse Point State Park.  We left early so we had plenty of time for photographing the dramatic rock formations within Monument Valley.  While taking some aerial images along the road, a herd of wild horses ran by us!

Days 5, 6, & 7:  Moab, Utah
Moab is the town that is home base for many tourists and rock climbers/boulderers flocking to the area to explore.  There are nice hotels, shops, restaurants, and numerous adventure outfitters.  Tour companies here offer off-road buggy trips into the desert among many other outdoor adventures.  And, Arches National Park is located only about ten minutes outside town.  Of course, if one has a small travel trailer, it’s not necessary to stay where most of the tourists congregate.  Instead, numerous campgrounds provide more natural and uncrowded surrounds.  We did explore Moab a couple of times — once when driving into the area on our way to our campground (we had lunch and bought some t-shirts) and another time after visiting Arches National Park to have lunch (try Quesadilla Mobilla for an awesome quesadilla!) and do laundry (Moab Laundry Express, which is across the street from Quesadilla Mobilla).  Make sure to fill your tow vehicle when in Moab as there are no gas stations outside the town (in the state and national park areas and campgrounds).

We chose to stay at Deadhorse Point State Park (DHSP), which is about 45 minutes away from Moab.  The location is ideal because the state park is located between two of Utah’s five national parks.  Arches National Park is about a 45 minute drive in the direction of Moab, and Canyonlands National Park is about 20 minutes’ drive in the opposite direction of Deadhorse Point State Park.  There are at least a couple of campgrounds inside Deadhorse Point SP, Wingate Campground and Kayenta Campground, as well as some dispersed camping.  Of the two organized campgrounds, we chose Kayenta Campground because of its beautiful natural surroundings on a canyon rim.  We stayed in campsite #3 ($50/night) for three nights, which has a spectacular view of the canyon.  The site has an electrical hookup along with a firepit, BBQ, picnic table and pavilion.  This is the first time we used our 30A extension cord — it came in handy in allowing us to back our 2020 Scamp 13′ all the way next to the picnic area pavilion (which provides shade), while at the same time being able to reach the electric hookup pedestal.    There are no water spigots, but we were able to attach our portable drinking water safe hose with water filter onto the threads at the dish wash station to fill our water jugs (for shower and sink water).  The campground does have a free central dump station.  There is almost no cellular service here, but the Visitor’s Center close by has free Wi-Fi (along with a nice gift shop) and we also found some signal up at Deadhorse Point Overlook.

There is plenty to do just inside Deadhorse Point State Park itself for a few days without even considering the national parks nearby.  We are glad we scheduled three nights here but could have been very content and busy doubling that time.  The best view of the Colorado River as it snakes around a bend is up at Deadhorse Point Overlook.  We watched a sunrise and a couple of sunsets here.  We found sunrise the best time for photographing the river against the bright orange backsplash of buttes, spires, and mesas.  Visitors are only allowed to fly drones here November through February (with a permit).  There are a number of trails connected to the campground.  The West Rim trail is a recommended highlight as is mountain biking (if that’s your thing) on the Intrepid Trail.  Make sure to leave a half day for exploring Canyonlands National Park and another half day for hiking through Arches National Park.  Having an America Beautiful Pass ($80 annual pass) makes things convenient and avoids the $30 vehicle entry charges (if you are 62 years old or older, get the Senior Pass as it is a lifetime pass for the same price and gives 50% discounts at many campgrounds).  Reserving a timed entry slot ($2) at recreagtion.gov is necessary for Arches National Park if you want to visit the park anytime between 7am to 4pm (we made ours using the Visitor Center WiFi the night before our visit —  a limited number of slots open after 6 p.m. the night before for last minute reservations but up to 3 months in advance for those planning way in advance).  A timed entry reservation isn’t necessary if arriving before 7 a.m.  If possible, plan to go as early as possible to avoid the crowds and the heat of the day.  We reserved a 7 a.m. – 8 a.m. slot at Arches, arrived at 7:15 a.m. (no line), and finished our tour of the park by around Noon.

Both Canyonlands and Arches national parks have nice visitor centers with great stuff to buy, including cool t-shirts and souvenirs for those friends and family holding down your home fort.  Our highlights at Canyonlands were visiting Mesa Arch (0.6 mile walk), Buck Canyon Overlook, Grand view Point Overlook (1.8 mile hike), and Upheaval Dome 1st Overlook (0.6 miles).  Our favorite stops at Arches were Balanced Rock (view), Windows Section with 2 arches (0.5 miles easy trail), Delicate Arch (difficult 3 mile trail, but families with small kids do it!), a petroglyph panel, and finally Devils Garden (with the widest arch of the park, Landscape Arch) (1.9 miles, moderately easy).

Days 8 & 9:  Goblin Valley State Park
We left Deadhorse State Park heading to Goblin Valley State Park, one of the most remote places in the United States, without any assurances we would have somewhere to stay.  We tried to make reservations at the campground at the earliest possible time (months in advance), but due to the popularity of the place and limited availability (only 24 campsites and two yurts) we were unable to secure a campsite.  We crossed our fingers that perhaps the campground sets aside a few “first come first serve” campsites (like we had seen at other campgrounds).  Our backup plan would be to look for a free dispersed campsite outside the park (which we had read about online).  We made sure we used the dump for our Scamp 13′ before leaving Deadhorse Point SP and fully loaded it with water (plus our three 6 gallon water jugs which we filled at the DHSP dish wash station).  These supplies would allow us to stay several days without hookups if necessary.  Note:  there is a free drinking water pump at the Goblin Valley State Park entrance adjacent to the Visitors Center and campers not staying in the park can dump here for a $15 fee.

We arrived at the Goblin Valley State Park (GVSP) entrance station about 11 a.m. on Friday morning.  But, our campground hopes were quickly dashed by a park ranger who told us no GVSP spots ($45/night) were available.  He recommended trying the free dispersed campsites down the road and mentioned the park had purchased surrounding land from the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) last year and had created defined sites out on the dirt land off the main road, each with a firepit.  He said anything that was cleared was a legitimate free site (e.g. no parking directly on shrubs).  So, we drove back down Goblin Valley Road, the one we had just driven to get into the park, about 6 miles from the park entrance and turned left at the first dirt road we saw (a clue was that there were travel trailers parked out in the area).  Luckily, after just a very short drive down only a slightly bumpy dirt road, we were able to secure a really nice free spot (first come, first serve) with a great view (click here for video).

We were also able to intermittently get one bar on Verizon service to send and receive texts at this spot.  The tradeoff was having to drive about 10 minutes to get into the park, and we did have to pay $20 for a 48 hour access pass to the GVSP park.  Note:  on our second day, we saw another expansive area of free state park dispersed camping on the road leading to Little Wild Horse Canyon trailhead (although it seemed like there was absolutely no cellphone signal with Verizon in this area).

The main draw inside Goblin Valley SP are the goblins of course!  These magical stone hoodoo structures, formed from deposits laid 170 million years ago by a vast inland sea, stand like giants in a remote forest full of goblins.  There are three main connected valleys, named appropriately:  Valley 1, Valley 2, and Valley 3.  We only explored Valley 1, but one can keep hiking for miles to meander through miles of these stone hoodoos.  Even though we visited in October, the sun was intense midday and hiking around for an hour or so was enough until dark (the fun doesn’t end at sunset here — we were told the park pass allows one to stay inside the park until 10 p.m.).  So, we came back after dark on our first day to explore the park at night.  We attended a really interesting ranger station talk about scorpions.  After the talk, the ranger led everyone on a trail and used a black light to find and show everyone scorpions (they glow under the light)!

Goblin Valley State Park is so remote that it gets really dark here at night.  In fact, it is one of the darkest places on Earth and is a certified Dark Sky Park (offering unparalleled views of the Milky Way, especially in the summer months).  A trip here wouldn’t be complete without wandering through the goblin fields under the light of a billion stars.  One of our favorite activities during our visit was to photograph some of the goblins under the stars (particularly the Three Sisters formation) on a warm Fall night.

On our second and last day here, we hiked the Little Wild Horse Canyon trail (just outside the park about 5 miles down a side road).  Instead of hiking the entire 8 mile loop (which can take up to 8 hours), we turned around after about 2 miles, returning the same way we came.  This took us about two hours going at a steady rate (it’s difficult to go very fast because of uneven stone flooring and fun obstacles on the path).  This is one of the most amazing hikes we have ever done and is a must when visiting if one is able to do some climbing over small boulders and walk on uneven terrain.  The canyon walls are like varied works of art, with different colored earth hued tones smoothly blended onto one another, crafted by millions of years of water erosion. One shouldn’t have claustrophobia to do this hike, because there are parts of the hike which may require turning to one’s side to get through the narrowest parts!  The hike is rated as “easy to moderate”, a mostly flat and shaded walk, and we saw many families with kids doing it (the trail is like a jungle gym and obstacle course for both kids and adults).  But, this doesn’t mean anyone can do it.  Being agile and sure footed is mandatory, as the rocks are slippery due to fine sand!  One can always try for a while and turn around if it gets to be too much.  It’s important to note that slot canyons can be very dangerous during rain storms as flash floods through the narrow canyon walls can be tragic to hikers caught by surprise.  So, always check the weather and make sure there’s no chance of rain (not just in the immediate area, but surrounding areas that may affect the canyon).  We were told to avoid hiking in these canyons entirely during the area’s monsoon season (June – September).  Also, take plenty of water on your hike and stay hydrated.  Note:  we wanted to buy some tshirts at the Visitor Center after our hike.  But, there was a long line of cars which looked like over an hour wait to access the Visitor Center parking lot and park entrance and only one lane (e.g. meaning campers and park pass holders still had to wait)!  So, instead of driving in, we parked our car at a close trailhead outside the park and walked past the waiting cars which were at a standstill waiting on the main road.  At this point we were really glad we weren’t staying at the park campground!  After buying a shirt, we walked back to our car and drove down the road without any wait!

Make sure to stop by the Visitor Center before leaving!  They have some excellent souvenirs, including great t-shirts, caps and arrowheads.  It’s also a good place to get connected with free Wi-Fi (and make Wi-Fi calls/emails/texts).  Lastly, drone permits can be purchased for $10 which allow pilots to fly and conduct photography missions over the Goblins!

Days 10 & 11:  Capitol Reef National Park
An often overlooked national park (4th most popular out of 5 in Utah), Capitol Reef National Park (CRNP) is definitely worth a visit while on the Utah National Park circuit.  The outstanding scenery includes impressive colorful rock formations, petroglyphs, and historic fruit orchards.  Capitol Reef NP is also a dark sky area, providing a vivid night time window into the galaxy.  Along with the scenery, there are some very cool hikes to explore.  The area is named for both the Navajo sandstone rock formation which resembles the US Capitol building’s shape and the reef-like towering cliffs which were formed over millions of years by geologic forces (known as the Waterpocket Fold).  In addition, there are arches, bridges, and twisting canyons among other natural wonders.

The first thing we noticed when pulling into this national park was there are no entrance gates or anyone to collect fees or ask for passes.  One is able to go directly to the campground and pull right into one’s space.  We reserved a campsite in the Fruita Campground months in advance.  We arrived a bit early for the 11 a.m. check-in, so we parked across the street from Gifford House (gift store featuring historic items, including their famous fruit pies) in the large dirt area known as Jorgenson’s Pasture.   Not wanting to waste time, we wandered into the historic Gifford House and purchased some home-made souvenirs and a mixed berry and a cherry pie (we were told pies sell out usually by 1 p.m, especially on weekends).  The pies are delicious (cherry, mixed berry, apple crumb, pumpkin, strawberry rhubarb, peach right now) and definitely a must try while visiting.  The following day we purchased the apple as well as the peach pies and can verify that these are also excellent!

We reserved campsite #23, a shady spot with a nice close-up view of impressive colorful cliffs.  The campground has a park like feel.  Most sites do not have hookups, and our site didn’t either.  We used the free central dump when arriving and departing.  There is also potable water at several water fills, and a general sink for grey dump and/or dishwashing.  The camp host Karen was very kind, and told us that in August 2023 the campground flooded on her watch, due to monsoon rains, and emergency procedures were enacted.  There is absolutely no cellphone signal here, however free Wi-Fi is available just a mile down the road at the Visitors Center.  We were able to make phone calls over Wi-Fi.  Mule deer roam the campground, giving the area a very natural feel.  Feeding the deer is prohibited (as they are not shy) and the general rule is to give them at least 30 feet of space.  Some of them are quite large with antlers.  The deer families seemed very calm and mostly just grazed or sat on the lawns.

One could easily spend a week here with all the things to do, but since we only scheduled a couple of days we had to pick and choose some of the favorites recommended by local rangers and campers.  We explored Jackson Orchard (which is one of many historic orchards in the Fruita Historic District where the Fruita Campground is located) and picked Red Delicious apples.  You can eat all the fruit you can pick for free as long as you are in the orchard, otherwise it’s $2/pound (cash only, self pay).  Since we were visiting in October, all the other orchards were already closed and Jackson was on its last few apples.  Fruita orchards have apple, peach, pear, plum, apricot, and almond trees.

We took the Scenic Drive which is about 8 miles each way from the campground, and it highlights the natural towering cliffs.  At the end of the Scenic Drive there is a dirt road which goes on for a couple of miles (family cars can handle it) and ends in a small parking lot at the trailhead to Capitol Gorge Road / The Tanks.  The hike starts out easy along a river wash and within a narrow slot canyon (but not nearly as narrow as Little Wild Horse Canyon).  The last short bit (which is optional) goes up a steep stone section that leads to The Tanks (holes in the rocks which hold water).  Some hikers before us told us they had just seen big horn sheep hiking to The Tanks.  The entire hike took us about one hour to complete at a moderate pace.  Since this is considered a slot canyon, all the advice about weather safety applies, aka not for rainy season times (and there are warning signs along the way).

The Fruita Visitor Center is only a 1.2 mile easy trail walk from the campground, so it makes for a good morning walk for some free Wi-Fi, pies, and souvenirs.  Amazingly, our GMRS radios were able to communicate well between our Scamp 13′ and the Visitors Center (despite the mountainous terrain)!  The Visitors Center has some nice souvenirs, as does Gifford House (which is adjacent to the Fruita Campground).  Our favorite things at Gifford House were unique soaps, apple pie, Fruita inscribed kitchen towels, homemade bread and butter pickles, jams, and syrups.

There are a lot of great hikes which can be done directly from the Fruita Campground.  We enjoyed the Fremont River Trail.  It’s a moderate 2 mile hike which includes an easy walk along the river and then climbs up quickly to a viewpoint high above.  The trail was, at times, poorly marked so having Gaia GPS really made things easy!  This hike took us about one hour to complete.  Next, right down the road, past the Visitors Center, are the Petroglyphs (it’s a quick stop with boardwalks for observation).  Our last hike during our visit was to see the Hickman Bridge (again the Gaia GPS app really saved us on this one as the trail lacked markings in places).  Hickman Bridge is a close drive and starts at a trailhead in a small parking lot.  This hike is labeled as moderate as the trail ascends up to a good elevation.  Hikers are rewarded by a view of Hickman Bridge, which is basically a stone arch.  This hike is about 2 miles round trip and took us about one hour to complete.

At the end of our second day here, we felt like we had just scratched the surface of Capitol Reef National Park.  But, with so many places to visit, it was time to move on!

Days 12 & 13:  Kodachrome Basin State Park
After a big drive over the mountains (9,600 feet elevation peak), we reached Kodachrome Basin State Park (which was named Kodachrome by National Geographic in 1949 with the consent of Kodak Film Corporation).  Take one look at the magnificent colorful cliffs and towering red and white stone monolithic spires and the name seems an obvious choice.  There are about 67 spires in the park and one can use their imagination to guess what each resembles — for example, one of the monoliths is called “Fred Flinstone” and another “Ballerina”!  Click here for an aerial flyby made at sunrise.

The first thing we noticed when driving into the park is that the Visitors Center is super nice (it’s the park’s pride and joy after its natural wonders)! They had just done some renovations in the last year and it really shows.  There is a great store with unique t-shirts and souvenirs along with archery bow rentals, a mini frisbee golf course, a small rock climbing wall, many flavors of ice cream for scooping into cones or cups, a really nice fire pit with comfy chairs in front, and open extra-long hours.  There’s a seated bar inside for visitors wanting to have something to drink and perhaps work on their laptop.  This Visitors Center makes one feel as if everyone is their special guest and they have tried to make one feel very welcome!  Guided horseback riding is also available with reservations ($65/hour or $103/2 hours per person — 435-679-8100).  The Wi-Fi is fast & free (we made Wi-Fi calls since there is no cellphone service in the park, with the exception of some trails — we found signal at the top of Panorama Point Trail).  We enjoyed early morning walks along the main road to the Visitor Center from the campground (about 1.3 miles / 30 minutes each way) to catch up on emails and news while sitting in front of the roaring outside fire pit.

We had a really nice partial hookup spot, #K-33 (at Basin campground — one of three campgrounds here) ($35/night), which is very private and has water and electric hookups.  There is a free central dump as well.  Having electric hookups was great here because it got down into the 20’s at night and having electric power at the campsite meant we could use our small ceramic heater all night long as well as electric water heater and avoid burning up our onboard liquid propane.  There’s also an awesome laundry building, called the Red Dirt Laundry (open 24/7!), on the road between the Visitors Center and the campground which we used during our trip.  We have found just packing enough clothing for about 8 days on long trips is a great way to travel light because usually there are campgrounds (or areas close by) that have laundromats (we do laundry once per week).  Note:  always make sure to carry some detergent, dryer sheets and a few $10 rolls of quarters with you!

This is a great park to ride your mountain bikes because there are plenty of accessible trails (not all trails allow bikes, but the two major ones d0).  Having bikes meant that we could cover a lot of terrain in one day which would have taken us several days of walking.  Our favorite rides were the Grand Parade Trail (1.5 miles, easy for hiking and biking), the Panorama Trail (3 miles, easy/moderate, hiking or biking) and the Panorama Point (1 mile extension to the Panorama Point trail, breathtaking views).  Note:  some parts of the trails (even the easy ones) had some erosion with steep ruts and might require one to dismount the bike and walk over the area.  There are plenty of other great trails here as well if time permits!

Days 14 & 15:  Bryce Canyon National Park
Only about a 45 minute drive from Kodachrome Basin SP, Bryce Canyon NP is just a short hop away.  Because our visit was in late October, the campgrounds had already changed from reservations to first come first served.  We arrived at the campground around 11 a.m. and there was no wait at the entrance of the park.  We pulled up to the gate station, and once we showed the attendant our America the Beautiful Pass we proceeded directly to Sunset Campground (one of two campground in the park).  The other campground, North Campground, is right near the Visitor Center at the park entrance.  We chose Sunset Campground, just about a mile and a half down the road from the Visitor Center, because many of the main trails are within walking distance of the campground (and parking space at the trail parking lots is difficult to find even in late October unless one arrives very early).

Because nighttime temperatures had started dropping very low (into the 20s), the park decided to close all RV loops within Sunset Campground with the exception of Loop A on the day of our arrival.  The free central dump (located at North Campground) was also closed due to freezing weather.  We had dumped when leaving Kodachrome Basin SP, so we had no issues for the two days of our visit.  Most of Loop A was vacant when we arrived on a Thursday morning.  The procedure is to pick a site (all are dry sites with no hookups) (make sure no one has taken it already / no tag clipped to post), park in it, and then go to the Iron Ranger at the entrance to Sunset Campground and fill out an envelope (add cash, $30/night for RVs), and put it into the payment box.  Then, go back to the campsite and attach (clip) the tear off section from the envelope onto the campsite post.  We chose campsite #240 because it is an end site (a bit more privacy and less chance of noise and smoke) and was long enough for our Volvo XC40 and Scamp 13′ with room to spare.  There is a water spigot at the central bathroom.  We found cellphone coverage through Verizon to be good here with fast speeds (fast enough to stream video).

We found the Visitor Center here to be large and very crowded.  There’s also a lodge, which has a dining room (tourist prices).  In contrast, the campground provided good solitude from the more trafficked tourist areas.  And, there were tourists visiting from all over the world — we heard a lot of different languages spoken on the trails.  Going early morning for hikes meant less people (and easier parking if driving).

We found Bryce Canyon NP to be amazing.  The geologic wonders of the rock formations (spires and cliffs) and the number of these formations throughout the park is remarkable.  The red rocks and varying hues provide dramatic color to the interesting shapes.  There are two main hikes that are a must if one is capable (otherwise, there are observation points along the canyon rim).  The Queen’s/Navajo Combination Loop is the most recommended hike and is a complete loop that passes through dramatic scenery of spires and other interesting rock formations.  We recommend starting at Sunset Point (an easy walk from Sunset Campground) and dropping down the steep switchbacks of Navajo Loop and then making the way around with the final ascent of Queen’s Garden to Sunrise Point (Sunset Point>Sunrise Point).  Then, walking back along the rim from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point provides nice overlooks of the hoodoos below (and then onto Sunset Campground).  This is the opposite direction recommended by the park (but we found that it was less busy and avoids the quite steep ascent of Navajo Loop to Sunset Point at the end of the hike).  Along the way, there are hoodoos which represent Queen Victoria and E.T.!  It’s also fun assigning traits to other hoodoos seen on the hike!  This hike is rated as moderate as there are some steep walking sections.  We spent about 3 hours on this hike (including about 1/2 hour stopping) travelling 5.8 miles on this route (with an ascent of around 625 feet going from the valley floor back up to the rim).

The second “must” hike (if one can do it), which was our favorite, is Peekaboo Loop.  It is rated as strenuous because there are many switchbacks and a climb of about 1,560 feet (more than double the climb of the Queen’s Navajo Combination Loop).  It’s best to get to the parking lot at Bryce Point before 9 a.m as the lot is small and fills up quickly (it’s a bit far of a walk from Sunset Campground).  Overall, we found the hike to be thoroughly manageable for people of all ages (as long as they stop for rest when needed).  Our new friend Dwight, who we met (along with his wife Sharon) at Capitol Reef NP (click here for their website), joined us on the hike (since they also came to Bryce).  Just like the first hike, we opted to do the hike counterclockwise (instead of the recommended clockwise direction) and felt this was a good way to go.  We took our time and spent 3 1/2 hours hiking the loop (which included about 30 minutes of stops along the way).  We thought this hike is the most dramatic as the valley is densely filled with hoodoos (including the Wall of Windows, The Alligator, and Hindu Temples).  And, every turn is filled with an awe inspiring photo-worthy sight!

Day 16:  Lake Mead National Recreation Area
About a half hour outside Las Vegas, Boulder Beach Campground is an oasis within Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  The entrance fee is covered by the America The Beautiful Pass (or, without a pass, there is a $25 per vehicle entrance fee).  We reserved campsite 83 ($20/night), which has no hookups and panoramic lake views.  There is a free central dump at the entrance and water spigots are located throughout the campground.  The campground overlooks Lake Mead and is connected to many lake side communities via a paved 34 mile bike path.

Having only a day to spend, we drove to the Visitor Center about two miles down the road from the campground.  It’s well-staffed and we received maps and recommendations on things to do.  We spent the day riding our bikes from the campground toward the Visitor Center and then along the flat DG-paved Historic Railroad Trail.  The trail can be walked or biked and follows the path high above Lake Mead that was carved out in 1931 by construction firms working for the federal government to build nearly 30 miles of railroad connecting Boulder City with the Hoover Dam.  The railroad was used to bring construction materials to build Hoover Dam.  The connection to the Hoover Dam became public in 2007.  The Historic Railroad Trail is 3.7 miles (one way) plus getting to it from the campground along the paved bike path is about 2 extra miles.  So, the ride to and from Hoover Dam from the campground is about 12 miles round trip.  There is only a slight grade going to the dam and we found the ride to be fairly easy.  There are fantastic views of the lake along the trail and five train tunnels which are really fun to walk/ride through (click here to see our video).

There are a couple of sections of short climbs when approaching the dam parking area.  We used our bike locks to secure our bikes while we took a tour of the Hoover Dam.  The 30 minute tour cost $15/person and gives an interesting look inside the dam, including views of the turbines which are used to make electricity as Colorado river water passes through them.  Biking back to our campground was a bit quicker due to the slight downward grade.  Overall, this stop exceeded our expectations by offering excellent lake views (and great weather), fantastic bike riding on a historic trail, and an interesting inside look at Hoover Dam.

Final thoughts:
This was a fantastic journey and highly recommended for anyone who enjoys nature and transcending scenic beauty.  We found creating this trip by linking the national parks and complementing the gaps between them with state parks is a great way to build an epic adventure.  There were so many highlights on this trip that it seemed like we had been travelling for months, rather than just a couple of weeks.  And, having to be spontaneous due to weather and finding unexpected treasures in new locations added to the thrill of unique and exciting travel.

Preparation was the key to making the trip easy.  Before the trip we had our Scamp 13’s bearings repacked (which we do every two years) and also had our Volvo XC40’s rear brake pads replaced.  Packing plenty of food and water to last two weeks allowed us to focus solely on seeing the sights.  Many of our favorite stops didn’t have water, so carrying three extra 6 gallon jugs filled with water for the Scamp fresh tank (along with 12 gallons of reverse osmosis drinking water) was mandatory and allowed us to stay hydrated and showered daily.  Plus, the lithium house battery and DC-DC car charger we installed was a real game changer (see DC-DC charger article).  First, we saved a lot on campground costs by not having to find sights with electrical hookups.  And, we were able to run our 12V refrigerator when driving between locations, keeping our food chilled, and always arriving with 100% charge on our battery.  We did not need to take our solar panels on this trip and never would have needed them, providing valuable extra space in our tow vehicle!  Gaia maps was essential during many of our hikes when trail markings were poor or non-existent.  Having downloaded maps for each location (often no cellular service in these areas) meant we always had detailed geographical views of each trail.  Additionally, the record feature on the app makes it easy to back track one’s path if necessary—like leaving breadcrumbs!  The Victron shunt installed on our lithium battery was also invaluable in showing our lithium battery’s state of charge (SOC), even when driving!  The GRMS radios were also very useful.  Not only did we use the radios for backing up into campsites, but they came in handy for staying in contact when one person stayed in the Scamp and the other took walks (we experienced a little over 1 mile line of sight range, which was often the perfect distance between our campsite and a visitor center where one of us used Wi-Fi to catch up on email and news).

This trip reaffirmed how travelling over land with a travel trailer is an excellent way to see natural sights.  Being able to stay within national and state parks provides the best possible location and the ability to experience these parks at night when the stars and many animals come out.  Additionally, the costs tend to be much lower than staying in hotels/motels (without the travel and time costs to access the parks daily).  There is also an affinity among campers staying at the campgrounds, and, in turn, it’s easy to make camper friends.  On this trip, we met Dwight and Sharon, at Fruita Campground within Capitol Reef National Park, and later met up again and hiked with them at Bryce Canyon National Park.  It’s not uncommon seeing the same people at campgrounds again and again when doing a tour of area parks.  We have made a number of good camping friends over the past four years who we never would have met had we been staying at hotels.  Now that we are home, the only thing left to do is to plan our next adventure!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Wireless Weather Station for Travel Trailers

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Wireless Weather Station for Travel Trailers

We’ve wanted an indoor/outdoor thermometer for our Scamp 13’ for a long time.  We’ve been on many trips over the past several years where knowing the outside temperature before opening the Scamp’s door would have been extremely helpful.  Seeing the outdoor temperature on a big digital readout inside our Scamp 13’ helps us to assess if it will be necessary to turn on our furnace, what clothing / jackets to wear, as well as predict when to remove a fresh water connection due to extended freezing temperatures.  Having a hygrometer (humidity gage) is also very helpful in determining when the Scamp’s fan should be turned on (too much humidity can trigger a false alarm with the carbon monoxide – CO- detector).  CO detector false alarms can be extremely unnerving when they happen in the middle of the night!

After spending a lot of time researching many different weather stations, we decided on this one made by UNNI.  There’s also a different version which is capable of showing data from 4 sensors (3 outdoor and the inside unit).  Though, we’ve found one sensor to be enough for using with a travel trailer.  Although it is inexpensive, this weather station has received excellent reviews from thousands of customers.  We were also impressed that the unit is advertised as using a Swiss made high-precision sensirion sensor.  The claimed temperature accuracy is +/-0.5 degrees F and humidity accuracy is +/- 2%.  The unit is also capable of displaying the heat index, the dew point index, and the mold index at each sensor location (one at a time).  We leave the heat index showing – which is what the temperature feels like when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature.  Additionally, the weather station provides a pictorial daily weather forecast (shows clouds / sun / rain / snow) based on the unit’s barometric weather sensor (it is said to be around 75% accurate – hence, we don’t rely on this device for weather forecasts).  The UNNI manual can be found here.

The key to getting good readings on this weather station is proper placement of the outdoor sensor.  The outdoor sensor is rated to connect to the weather station if it is within a few hundred feet, so there should be plenty of good mounting options when using it for a travel trailer.  We used double sided Scotch Extreme Fastener tape to mount the sensor under one of our propane tanks.  This way, the weather sensor doesn’t get direct sunlight or wet (which can not only make the temperature readings inaccurate but also potentially ruin the sensor).  In order to protect the outdoor sensor from damage when travelling, we place it under the propane tank when we arrive at the campground and move it inside our Scamp when we are driving.  This keeps the outdoor sensor from getting destroyed by road debris (including wetness) as well as falling off while driving.  The entire system is wireless (powered by 3 AAA indoor weather station batteries and 2AA outdoor sensor batteries).  The battery life appears to be excellent.

We have been using this weather station for a couple months now and it seems to be very accurate (when compared to internet weather websites).  We really like all the great features as described above, which make our trips more comfortable and fun.  One last feature which we utilize is the light (which goes on simply by swiping a finger over the light bulb icon at the top of the display).  Having the light makes it really easy to see the temperature / humidity even when it is pitch dark inside the Scamp 13’.  So, the next time you are out in nature, give one of these weather stations a try so you don’t ever have to guess or walk outside your travel trailer in your pajamas trying to figure out what to wear!

 “Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot; whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not, we’ll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether we like it or not.”

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Four Jeffery Campground, Eastern Sierra

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Four Jeffery Campground, Eastern Sierra
September 18th – 22nd, 2023 (4 nights)

While looking for somewhere cool to go (as California was experiencing very warm weather), I did a Google search for towns in California with the highest elevations (figuring higher altitudes would mean lower summer temperatures).  Jumping out at number 3 on the list (8,500 ft. elevation), the small town of Aspendell (pop. 100) stood out as a great place to go.  It’s easy to get to (only a 25 minute drive up into the mountains from Bishop) and has stunning scenery, excellent campgrounds, magnificent hikes with beautiful lakes, trout fishing, boating, horseback riding, and some great places to eat.  We had never heard of this location before, but it turned out to be one of our all-time favorite places we have ever visited!  We chose to stay at Four Jeffrey Campground.

The drive from our home in Carlsbad, California to Four Jeffrey Campground is about six hours straight.  However, we chose to break it up by spending the weekend in Los Angeles with family.  It took us about four and a half hours to drive to the campground from Los Angeles.  The drive goes up Highway 14 through Mojave and surrounding desert communities and then up Highway 395 past Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine, and finally to Bishop.  We stopped in Lone Pine on the way up to eat lunch at the Alabama Hills Café (the burgers are great as are their homemade pies).  https://www.alabamahillscafe.com/  Note:  we spent a week camping up in the Alabama Hills on a previous trip which we really enjoyed.  We stopped in Bishop for gas and an RV dump (free if you fill up there, otherwise a monetary donation is requested) at Speedway Bishop. From Bishop, it’s about a twenty five minute drive up into the mountains on Highway 168.  There are many campgrounds in the area, but the biggest is Four Jeffrey Campground which has water spigots, an RV dump (free if staying at the campground, otherwise $10) as well as flush toilets.

Four Jeffrey Campground is spectacular, featuring stunning views across the Eastern Sierra.  There was snow in the mountains even in late September due to the high elevation (Four Jeffrey Campground is at 8,300 feet elevation).  We stayed in two campsites alongside Bishop Creek ($30/night, note:  America the Beautiful Senior Passes (age 62 or older) are accepted for half priced camping @$15/night)  – we were at campsite #10 the first night and then moved over to campsite #8 the next couple of nights.  When talking to regulars, we learned campsite #8 is a favorite.  There are a couple of campsites right across from campsite #8 which can accommodate large trailers.  There’s almost no internet service here (we encountered 1 bar on Verizon in certain areas when walking around the campground).  However, there is a short 10 minute hike up a utility service access road across the street from the campground which leads to a spectacular view over the valley and has about 4 bars on Verizon.

We felt like we were in the mountains of Switzerland while camping at Four Jeffrey Campground.  The air was crisp and cool (60’s during the day and 30’s/40’s at night).  The campground is in a valley surround by high mountains.  The evenings were filled with dark skies and brilliant stars (although we were also gifted a dramatic thunder and lightning show one night!).  We had fun spending one night outdoors photographing the stars and Milky Way (best seen in dark sky locations during the summer).  The South Fork of Bishop Creek runs through the campground and many of the campers brought their fishing rods and reeled in a lot of trout.  Everyone seemed very happy here.  The campground was not crowded during our stay, but perhaps that was because it was mid-week and the end of the tourist season in the Sierra.  It was cold at night and we ran our propane furnace to keep the Scamp warm inside.  We had a great hike from the Bishop Pass Trailhead past South Lake up to Long Lake.  The trail is clearly marked but somewhat difficult due to rocky and steep terrain.  There are many connected lakes and some people tent camp outdoors overnight when hiking to farther areas.  It took us a few hours round trip from South Lake to Long Lake and the hike was one of the most scenic hikes we have ever done.  The scenery of the lakes and mountains is stunning – seemingly untouched and unknown.  After our hike, we went to the Cardinal Café, in the small town of Aspendell, and had a tasty meal.    We also had a chance to take a horse / mule ride up to South Lake using the services of Rainbow Pack Outfitters ($100 per person for 2 hour ride at the time of this article).  The horses / mules are friendly and the guide was very good at getting us up on the animals and leading us along the trail (even beginners are welcome).  Rainbow offers longer trips as well as overnight trips into the backcountry.  We had such a great time up in this area of the Sierra, we didn’t want to leave.  There are enough activities that one could easily stay a week or longer.  And, for those without a travel trailer, Parcher Resort (adjacent to Rainbow Pack Outfitters) has cabins which can be rented.

Instead of driving straight back to San Diego, we stayed overnight at Red Rock Canyon State Park (about halfway to home).  We had camped here before and really enjoyed the area.  This campground is first come, first serve, but was easy for us to get a choice spot during the week when arriving around noon.  We chose site #29 ($25/night), which is one of the best campsites at the base of the bluffs.  There is plenty of room between campsites too.  There is a water spigot across from site #29.  The only cellphone service we found was at the visitor’s center, along with free WiFi, which is about a ¾ mile walk from site #29.  There is also a private RV dump across from the visitor’s center ($20).  The visitor’s center is stocked with some great souvenir values (we purchased a Red Rocks t-shirt and sweatshirt).

Red Rock Canyon State Park is true to its name, featuring brilliant red bluffs which are especially vibrant at sunrise.  There are trails that go up the bluffs, offering spectacular views of the surrounding desert.  It was around 85 degrees when we arrived, so we waited until sundown to hike.  The wind kicked up in the early evening, but didn’t exceed 30 mph and the gusts were minimal.  As we were getting ready to leave the next morning, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise (and the sounds and sights of two large owls perched on the bluffs directly above our Scamp 13’ hooting a friendly hello to start the day)!

We enjoyed this trip so much; we definitely plan to go back.  There is an area of free dispersed camping on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, called the Buttermilks (between Bishop and Aspendell), which we were told are similar in their unusual rock formations to the Alabama Hills.  The Buttermilks access road was closed during our visit so we couldn’t check them out, but we plan to on a future trip!  The area acquired its “Buttermilks” name in the 1970’s when a dairy operated here, but the rock formations also look like piles of curdled buttermilk so the name stuck.

In a crown of jewels (camping areas of special parks offered in California), Four Jeffrey Campground and surrounding areas in the Eastern Sierra are hidden gems — few talk about and even fewer experience the magic of this place.  Highly recommended for the trip of a lifetime!

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

 

Why & How I Easily Converted My Scamp Travel Trailer from a Lead Acid to Lithium Battery

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Why & How I Easily Converted My Scamp Travel Trailer from a Lead Acid to Lithium Battery

Why Switch?  The Benefits of Lithium Batteries
Our 2020 Scamp 13’ came with a wet lead acid battery (Northern brand Group 27 – est. capacity 67 -100 amp-hours) which was manufactured in June 2019.  [Note:  the term amp-hours (Ah) is a measure of battery capacity.  For example, a 100Ah 12-volt lithium battery can provide 100 amps to a 12-volt 100 amp device for one hour (after which time the battery would be completely depleted).  The same 100Ah battery could supply power for 4 hours to a 25 amp device (100/25=4).].  We find we use about 12 amp-hours per day (running LED lights, pumps, etc.) when boondocking (no electrical hookup), giving us about 8 days of power (100/12=8.3 days) if we don’t use any source to recharge the battery.

The lead acid battery is considered “wet” because it has liquid solution (battery acid) and requires monitoring levels.  If the liquid levels get too low, the battery can be damaged.  So, periodically, the plastic caps have to be opened on the top of the battery and distilled water added (other maintenance is also recommended on occasion such as periodic equalization and checking electrolytes – but, who does this?!!!).  These batteries can also off-gas hydrogen when charging, so they need to be vented to release the fumes (on a travel trailer, this means they are mounted outside on the trailer’s tongue).  The average lifespan of a lead acid battery is 3 – 5 years but can vary depending on the manufacturing process, the care it receives, and the conditions in which it operates (e.g. extreme heat may greatly reduce the life of the battery).  The figure of 1,000 charging cycles is often cited by manufacturers for this type of battery.

Our Scamp’s lead acid battery had served us adequately, although its limitations were apparent since day one.  First, lead acid batteries should not be discharged more than 50% (about 12.0V) or irreversible damage may occur.  So, effectively, only half of the lead acid battery’s capacity can be used (so the 100ah battery is equivalent to about 50ah)!  We needed to closely monitor the Scamp battery when using multiple appliances at night to make sure the voltage didn’t drop below 12.0 volts for too long. We spend a lot of time boondocking (without electric hookups) and the battery ran down fairly quickly (within two to three days of use running our LED lights, fan, water pump, shower pump, furnace, etc.).  Our 100 watt solar panels, though, had saved us on many occasions when hookups weren’t available by allowing us to charge the battery during the day in good weather.  The Scamp’s lead acid battery also had to be maintained periodically by filling it with distilled water (when levels were low).  Fortunately, our friend Phil helped us test and maintain the battery using distilled water and a kit to test electrolytes.

Our Scamp’s 2019 lead acid battery began to show its age this year.  At about four years old, it was nearing the end of the average lifespan for this type of battery.  We noticed that the full charge didn’t seem to last quite as long.  Instead of trying to milk it for a few more years, we decided it was time for a change.  We planned the switch to a lithium battery ahead of a big trip to the coastal California redwoods – knowing there would be long periods without electric hookups (under densely shaded heavy foliage in the forest which would limit solar charging).  Not wanting to deal with lead acid batteries any longer (or battery issues on our trip), I extensively researched lithium batteries.  The first thing I discovered is that modern RV lithium battery chemistry, LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate), is considered very safe (said to be the safest of the lithium battery types) and unlikely to catch fire (very different than other types).  They have a very low risk of overheating and catching fire due to their more stable cathode material and lower operating temperatures.  Additional benefits over lead acid batteries include increased capacity (about double lead acid batteries), faster charging (4 x faster), reduced weight (about ½ the weight), and longer lifetime (10 years or more — 2 to 3 times lead acid battery average lifespan).  Additionally, high quality LiFePO4 batteries have a built in BMS (battery management system) that protects the battery from overcharge, over-discharge, and short circuits.  Some even have a temperature controller to shut down charging when temperatures dip below freezing (which can damage LiFePO4 batteries).  After learning about these additional benefits in lithium battery chemistry, I was really motived to keep researching.

Trailer Converter & Wiring Compatibility
Before purchasing a lithium battery, I wanted to verify that I would be able to charge it safely with the Scamp’s Progressive Dynamics 45 amp 9245C converter (converts AC to DC 12V when hooked up to an AC outlet to run the Scamp 12V appliances, like lighting, and charging the Scamp battery) running through the trailer’s existing wiring (I was told by Scamp they used 12-gauge wire on 2020 models).  LiFePO4 lithium batteries generally require a charging voltage between 14.4 – 14.6V (higher than lead acid batteries).  So, the converter needs to be able to output this voltage for sufficient charging.  SOK Battery recommends 20 – 40 amps charging current (i.e. charging a 100ah battery at 20 amps will take it from 0 to 100% in five hours – very fast). However, I wasn’t too concerned about getting this many amps to the battery to charge it quickly because we generally stay at the campground at least 24 hours – so, slower charging would be acceptable.  So, the main questions I had were if the 12-gauge wire (rated for 20 amps — and there is a 20 amp fuse on the positive converter connection at the Scamp battery) would handle the current output by the 45 amp converter going to the battery (wouldn’t blow the 20 amp fuse at the battery) and if the converter could output a minimum of 14.4V.

I called Progressive Dynamics and spoke to a tech.  He told me that the PD9245C converter that our Scamp 13’ came with can charge lithium batteries with the optional pendant (sold separately here).  It’s a little box that plugs into the converter (less than $15 at the time I purchased) and has a button which allows the converter to output 14.4 volts in Boost mode (for four hours at a time when its button is pushed).  Otherwise, the converter won’t get up to the required minimum voltage (14.4V) to fully charge lithium batteries.  He also said that whatever current isn’t used in the trailer will be sent to the battery (potentially up to almost 45 amps!).  So, he strongly recommended changing the existing wiring going from the converter to the fuse box to the battery (both positive and negative wires) to 6-gauge wire.  He said that the 20 amp fuse at the battery would likely blow often if this wasn’t done.  Because our Scamp 13’ has a bathroom and the wires run behind it, the job would involve running the wire up to the refrigerator area in the front of the Scamp and then cutting a hole in the floor and running it under the front part of the trailer up to the battery.  I took a look under the bench seat where the converter is mounted and followed the wiring to the fuse box next to it (and removed the fuse box from the wall to look closely at the wiring) and then onto the side of the trailer by opening the side refrigerator panel.  From there, the wiring goes into the wall behind the bathroom and comes out the front of the Scamp through the front closet floor.  This didn’t seem like too difficult a job, so I ordered the copper 6-gauge wires, battery lugs, brackets, etc. ($271 altogether on Amazon at the time of my order).  Fortunately, all of the supplies I ordered were returnable, because, as you will read below, I ended up not using them!

Choosing A Brand
Once convinced our next Scamp battery would be a LifePo4 lithium battery, I shopped brands (and there are a ton of choices) and watched YouTube videos of experts taking apart these batteries to conduct extensive analysis on them to help distinguish between the high quality from the numerous poor quality batteries.  Here’s one such video that reviews a variety of Chinese brands.  After a couple of weeks of this type of research, I was able to identify some of the highest quality US and Chinese brands of LiFePO4 batteries.  I also called battery distributors carrying the best US and Chinese brands and asked about build quality and return rates between the batteries.  What I learned was that one of the leading Chinese made batteries, SOK Battery, is comparable in quality and return rates to one of the leading US brands but costing about half the price.  After doing this research, I purchased a 100ah SOK marine battery which has a battery management system (BMS, including low temperature charging shut-off) and Bluetooth.  This battery fits perfectly within the Group 27 plastic battery box that came with our Scamp 13’and sits outside at the front of the trailer near the hitch.  Many of the batteries I researched (including other SOK batteries) were too big to fit inside our existing battery box.  I ordered a marine battery version (water tight enclosure) because, although the battery goes inside a plastic battery box, the battery/battery box sits outside on the trailer’s tongue and is exposed to the elements.

I ordered the SOK 100ah marine battery with BMS and Bluetooth directly from the manufacturer’s website here, priced at $500 (free shipping) at the time of this article (in comparison, a decent new sealed 100ah AGM battery – an advance type of lead acid battery — cost between $200 and $300).  The SOK battery comes with a 7-year manufacturer warranty.  SOK ships to US customers from their US warehouse and I received the battery, which was well packaged in protective Styrofoam, in about five days.  The SOK marine battery is super clean looking in a nicely sealed black plastic case.  I weighed both the old lead acid battery (48 lbs.) and the new SOK battery (24 lbs.) and was pleased how easy it is to lift the new SOK battery.

Installation and Configuration
The SOK battery fits perfectly into the Scamp’s existing plastic Group 27 battery box, taking up about the same amount of space as the old lead acid battery.  It was easy attaching all the battery connectors from the Scamp’s various systems (e.g. converter, brake, electric jack, etc.) to the SOK battery terminals because I was careful to label each wire (and indicate which was positive and negative) before removing the wires from the old battery.  I downloaded the ABC-BMS app to my Android phone, opened it, and it did not connect to the SOK battery.  I guessed the battery was in a deep sleep after being shipped from China, so I plugged the Scamp into the AC wall outlet and the app quickly connected.  Note:  the battery also goes to sleep every six hours without use.  Simply turn on the shower floor water pump or other appliance that has significant current draw and the battery will wake up and the app will then connect.  Another way to wake up the battery is to plug in the trailer to shore power (and perhaps press the button on the Wizard pendant to get the voltage up over 14v).

I initially liked the app because it not only shows State of Charge (SOC) of the battery in percentage but also a lot of other really useful data.  One extremely helpful piece of information on the app is the current flow (amp) into and out of the battery.  I relied on this extensively when testing the new lithium SOK battery and it allowed me to forgo rewiring the Scamp because I saw that the current flow to the battery when charging was never over 20 amps (the rating for the circuit breaker at the battery).  Eventually, though, I grew tired of having to wake up the battery to get the app to work and I also found the SOC value to become inaccurate when the Scamp was sitting for long periods in the garage.  The voltage would continue to drop over a couple of weeks, but the SOK app would still show 100% SOC.  The app fails to register small parasitic loads from appliances when calculating the SOC (which quietly drain the battery over time just by being plugged in, even when all accessories are off).  I contacted SOK and they advised that an external shunt would be much more accurate than the internal BMS for measuring SOC.  In turn, I purchased a Victron SmartShunt which is extremely accurate and works whether or not the battery is sleeping.  The external smart shunt, which sits between the lithium battery negative terminal and all negative loads, very accurately calculates SOC by effectively measuring all the current going out of the battery.  The Victron SmartShunt app shows that my Scamp has a drain of about .14 A when sitting in storage in the garage.  Here’s a video I made showing much more detail on how the Victron SmartShunt is installed and set up.

Victron calibration guide:  click here.

Testing New Battery
The first thing I did after installing the new SOK battery was plug in the Scamp to the AC wall outlet to see if I would need to change out the trailer’s existing 12 gauge wire.  The battery arrived at 60% SOC and I intended to charge it to 100% while carefully monitoring the amps received at the battery using the SOK app (after putting the converter into 14.4V Boost mode, by pressing the button on the pendant).  Without any electric appliances running in the Scamp, the SOK app showed 9 to 10 amps going into the battery from the converter (so nothing like the high number of amps the Progressive Dynamics tech warned about).  At 10 amps, the 100ah battery charges at about 10% per hour and would take 10 hours at this current to go from 0 to 100% charge.  Since the SOK battery was already at 60% SOC, it only took about 4 hours to charge to 100%.  During the charging process, I periodically felt the + and – converter wires at the battery.  They remained cool the entire time, the 20 amp fuse never blew, and the charging current never exceeded 10 amps (far below the 20amp rating of the existing 12 gauge wire on the Scamp).  I also tested the current from the 7-pin connector plugged into our Volvo XC40 tow vehicle when the SOK battery was at 82% SOC.  With the ignition off, the app showed no power coming or going from the SOK battery.  With the car running, the app showed the SOK battery receiving 4 amps from the 7 pin connector.

Because lithium batteries take more current and charge faster when they are at a lower state of charge (Ohm’s law:  Current (amps) = Voltage [voltage charging – voltage battery] / Resistance), I decided to run some additional experiments with the SOK battery at a much lower SOC.  I used the three way refrigerator in 12 volt mode to deplete the battery (at 82%) down to 20% SOC (it took about 6 hours to do this since the 12V refrigerator uses around 10 amps).  As expected, the charging current rates when the SOK battery was at 20% SOC were significantly higher than previous tests at 82% SOC.  But, were they high enough to heat up the wiring and blow the converter wiring’s 20 amp fuse at the battery terminal?  Fortunately, they were not.  With the Volvo XC40 plugged into the Scamp via the 7-pin connector, the SOK battery received between 8 – 10 amps when the car was running (no amps when the car was off) compared to only 4 amps previously when the SOK battery was at 82% SOC.  When the Scamp was plugged into the AC outlet, the SOK battery received between 14-16 amps.  As the SOK battery charged, the current rate fell back down to around 10 amps (at 45% SOC).  So, it seems the battery follows Ohm’s law and gets noticeably hungrier and draws in higher current when charging at very low state of charge (less than 30%).  But, even so, the wires remained cool the entire time, and the 20 amp fuse never blew (keeping below the 20amp rating of the existing 12-gauge wire on the Scamp 13’).

Charging Scenarios
There are at least four ways to keep a lithium battery charged when travelling.

  1. Electrical Hookup
  2. Solar Panels (optional)
  3. 7-pin car charging
  4. DC-DC Car Charging (optional)

Each of these methods is discussed below.

Real World Testing –20 Day California Coastal Redwoods – Oregon Adventure
As testing predicted, our Scamp’s existing 12-gauge wiring did work well for charging with the converter when staying at campsites with an electrical hookup and also with the 7-pin connector while driving.  But, a big question was whether the 100ah SOK battery would be sufficiently charged for our style of camping.  In other words, would the mix of our camping between campgrounds with and without electrical hookups (with solar panels when there was sunshine) and driving distances (charging with the 7 pin connector and running our 12 volt refrigerator while driving) be sufficient to keep our 100ah SOK battery charged on long trips?  Since we often spend long periods of time (up to a week) boondocking (no electric hookup – at one or multiple locations) and only periodically stay at campgrounds with electrical hookups, considering all forms of charging seemed like a good idea.  Fortunately, our recent twenty day trip up the California coast into the redwoods and beyond into Oregon offered a mix of different types of camping, providing perfect testing conditions for our lithium battery and insight into the best ways to keep it charged for our travelling style.

We travelled with the Scamp’s 12V refrigerator running to test the actual draw on the SOK battery while driving since the goal is to keep refrigerated food cold without having to run propane (we don’t want to take the safety risk of running the refrigerator from propane while driving and also the inconvenience of having to turn the propane off before entering gas stations).  We found that running the refrigerator while driving consistently depleted the SOK battery at about 10% of charge capacity per hour.  So, for example, when we left a campground with our SOK battery at 100% charge and drove four hours we would arrive with our battery at 60% SOC.  Fortunately, we had no issues on this trip because we used our solar panels to charge up at most campsites after arriving.  However, we decided to add a DC-DC car charger (see below) after this trip so we can run the refrigerator and charge our SOK battery at the same time while driving.

1.  Electrical hookup
Using shore power (AC outlet) is the simplest way to charge a lithium battery.  When the trailer is plugged into an AC electrical hookup, the trailer’s converter will provide around 14.4 volts power to charge the battery (as discussed previously, our converter required an add on “wizard” pendant to increase the voltage to 14.4 volts which is required for charging lithium batteries).  Standard (“non-lithium”) converters will not be capable of fully charging a lithium battery, so it’s important to research what converter is in your trailer and either replace it or upgrade it (like we did) if necessary so that it is capable of charging the new lithium battery.  Our 100ah SOK lithium battery charges at about 10% per hour when plugged into an AC outlet (mostly while in “boost mode”, which is when the pendant button is pushed on the “wizard” and the voltage is increased to 14.4 volts).  The SOK battery charged well at campgrounds with hookups.  We found our battery fully charged every morning on our recent trip.

2.  Solar Panels
We have a 100 watt solar briefcase which we had been using successfully to charge our old lead acid battery at campgrounds without hookups.  The panels are capable of supplying up to 8 amps (100 watts/12 volts, from the formula amps x volts = watts) of power.  So, on a sunny day, with eight hours of good sun, the panels could possibly provide the 100ah SOK battery up to 64ah of capacity (8 amps x 8 hours) or 64% of the total battery capacity!  Because we usually have good weather when camping (i.e. good solar charging conditions) and estimate our daily battery use at around 12Ah or less, the solar panel solution seemed like it would work great for the lithium battery.  The only change we made was replacing the existing inexpensive solar charge controller to one that has a LiFePO4 setting.  The solar charge controller sits between the solar panels and the battery and regulates the charge states so the battery is safely and properly charged.

We opted to purchase a high end charge controller since we are charging an expensive LiFePO4 battery with double the useable capacity (and ½ the weight) as our old lead acid battery.  This Victron Energy smart controller features MPPT technology (as opposed to the PWM technology that basic controllers have) with a long five year warranty.  Without getting into a lot of detail, MPPT is widely recognized as more efficient (up to 30% more efficient) than PWM technology, which generally means higher amps collected from the panels and sent to the battery (faster battery charging times).  The downside of MPPT controllers is that they are generally much more expensive and complex than PWM controllers.  The PWM controller we used for our Scamp’s original lead acid battery was only $16 on Amazon and seemed to do a good job charging it (although not compatible with LiFePO4 batteries).  However, because we wanted to make sure the much more expensive SOK battery is safely and efficiently charged, we decided to spend more ($112 at the time of this article) on the Victron smart controller which is compatible with LiFePO4 batteries.  Having the extra charging efficiency is helpful because there is more battery capacity to replenish with a lithium battery compared to a lead acid battery.  This is because a comparable lead acid battery should only be allowed to run down to about 50% capacity or 12 volts whereas a 100ah lithium battery can be safely discharged to a much lower SOC — some manufacturers say safely to 0%, others 10-20%.

The Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 75V 15 amp 12/24 volt solar charge controller with Bluetooth arrived quickly after ordering from Amazon and was easy to install.  I removed the old controller (which I had attached to the back of the solar panels with Scotch extreme fastener tape), screwed down both the positive and negative wires from the panels and the battery leads into the new Victron controller (being careful to make sure the red positive wires and black negative wires went into their respective slots), and used extreme fastener tape to secure the controller to the back of the panels.  Fortunately, the thickness of the new Victron controller was thin enough to allow the panels to fully fold up into a briefcase and lock.  To program, I opened up the panels inside my house and exposed them to some outdoor light to power the controller (the panels were not connected to a battery).  I used my mobile phone’s reader app to scan the QR code on the controller, which opened up the Victron app page on the Google Play store to download.  Downloading the Victron app was fairly quick and it required a couple of updates after downloading.  The only thing I adjusted in the settings was for the battery type, LiFePO4, which sets the parameters for this type of lithium battery.  After the quick setup, I took the panels outside and connected them to the Scamp.  All the information shown on the Victron app is amazing.  The app shows voltage generated by the panels and the regulated voltage and current going into the battery.  There are also graphs that can be generated showing a variety of different parameters.  It was interesting comparing the Victron data against the SOK battery data in real time, which, it turns out, were very similar.  For example, the current and voltage coming from the panels as displayed on the Victron app was very similar to the current and voltage going into the battery shown on the SOK app.

The solar panels coupled with the Victron controller did a great job recharging our SOK 100ah lithium battery on our recent trip.  We often arrived at campgrounds without hookups with our lithium battery depleted to between 60% and 80% SOC as a result of running the 12v refrigerator.  In most cases, placing the solar panels out in the sun resulted into a full charge to our SOK battery in less than 6 hours.  Under partly cloudy to sunny skies, the panels usually output between 6 to 7 amps per hour to the SOK battery.  The panels didn’t produce much if any electricity at all under heavy cloudy skies or no sun conditions (like we experienced in the dense redwoods forests).  In these cases, the DC-DC charging scenario of charging comes into relevance (see below).

 3.  7-pin car charging
Connecting the travel trailer to the tow vehicle with the 7-pin connector not only allows the trailer’s tail lights to mimic the tow vehicle’s signal lights (e.g. turn signals, brake lights) and control the electronic brakes, power can also pass through it between the tow vehicle and trailer.  On our twenty day trip to the California redwoods and Oregon, the power flow was usually around 4 amps from the tow vehicle into the Scamp lithium battery.  However, on some occasions, the flow was actually negative, with power going from the Scamp battery back to the tow vehicle’s battery.  Current usually flows from high voltage to low voltage (known as “potential”), so when the travel trailer battery has a higher charge than the tow vehicle, current may transfer from the trailer battery to the tow vehicle battery.   Since we like running our 12V refrigerator while driving, we found that even with the 7-pin connector providing some power, our new SOK lithium battery usually loses about 6 to 10 amps of capacity per hour while driving.  So, after a typical four hour drive with our 12v refrigerator running, our SOK lithium battery state of charge (SOC) would often be around 60% (when starting at 100% SOC).  The bottom line is that the 7-pin connector cannot be relied on to charge the trailer battery while driving as it puts out very little current for this purpose.

4.  DC-DC Car Charging, “The Game Changer”
We chose to install a DC-DC car charger so we could drive with our 12 volt refrigerator running without depleting our 100ah SOK lithium battery.  It allows the tow vehicle (assuming the tow vehicle’s alternator can output enough amps) to charge the trailer battery at a very fast rate.  Heavy gage cable (6 gage cable in this case) is run from the tow vehicle battery (hidden under the cars body panels) to Anderson SB50 quick connectors at the back of the tow vehicle.  The DC-DC charger is installed next to the travel trailer battery.  The DC-DC charger takes power generated by the tow vehicle’s alternator and regulates the voltage up to a certain amount (just over 40 amps in this case).

Without the DC-DC car charger, our lithium battery generally is depleted by about 10 amps or 10% of its charge per hour when driving with our 12 volt refrigerator running (as mentioned above).  In many cases, we can make up this shortfall in capacity by using our solar panels at the new campground.  However, in some circumstances (like we experienced in the dense foliage of the redwoods on our last trip) arriving with 100% SOC is a better plan (especially if staying for a long period of time).  Bad weather (e.g. windy, rainy, heavy clouds, etc.) or being in a sketchy environment (where risk of solar panel theft might be high) may also throw a wrench in charging plans, sidelining the use of solar panels.  So, after reviewing experiences from our recent twenty day trip we decided integrating a DC-DC car charger would be desirable for how we travel.  The DC-DC car charger gives us peace of mind, ensuring that our lithium battery will be fully charged when we arrive at the campground (even when running our 12V refrigerator).

We did a lot of research and purchased a RedArc 40amp DC-DC car charger (RedArc BCDC1240D) with the RedArc 60A Fuse Kit (FK60).  RedArc is one of the highest regarded manufacturers of these chargers and makes some very powerful ones (like 40 amp and 50 amp versions).  A 50 amp DC-DC car charger can charge a 100ah battery in about two hours of driving!  This brand is one of the most expensive (and based on our experience worth it!), but there are also other brands (such as this Renogy 40 amp DC-DC charger) which may do a good job.   We chose a local company, Basil’s Garage, to install the charger as it requires removing body panels within the tow vehicle and installing heavy gage wiring from the engine compartment within underbody panel compartments to the back of the tow vehicle (installation was about $500 and took about 3 hours).  The techs at Basil’s Garage are excellent and really know their trade.  Additionally, a cable is needed to the tow vehicle’s fuse box to keep the DC-DC charger from stopping when the smart alternator drops the voltage to save power.  After the installation, the SOK app showed 42 amps going into the battery (vs. about 4 amps from the 7-pin connector when the DC-DC connector was disconnected).  And, after turning on the 12V refrigerator, the SOK app showed 32 amps still going into the SOK battery with the tow vehicle running!   We put our new DC-DC car charger to the test with a trip up the coast to several beach campgrounds (see trip report here).  Indeed, the DC-DC charger worked wonderfully during our trip supplying our Scamp’s lithium battery up to 32 amps of power when needed while powering our 12 volt refrigerator at the same time.  The system worked so well that we didn’t even need to use our solar panels (we arrived at each campground with cold refrigerated food and our lithium battery SOC at 100%)!  We consider DC-DC charging a real “game changer”.

Final Thoughts
Now that the price of high quality LiFeP04 batteries for travel trailers has come down to more reasonable levels, it seems like a no brainer to swap out a trailer’s lead acid battery for a LiFePO4 lithium battery.  For just two to three hundred dollars more, one can buy a lithium battery that compared to a lead acid battery is ½ the weight, gives 2x the capacity, doesn’t off gas hydrogen, doesn’t require maintenance, lasts 10 years or more (2 to 3 times lead acid battery average lifespans) and charges much faster.  Additionally, the LiFeP04 battery in a travel trailer sitting in storage can sit a lot longer without getting depleted by parasitic loads from appliances due to higher useable capacity.  This can mean fewer trips to the storage facility to charge the battery.  Lastly, there are a lot of great optional methods (e.g. AC hookup, solar panels, and DC-DC charger) available to quickly charge up a travel trailers LiFePO4 battery when travelling.  And, because LiFePO4 batteries charge much faster, there’s a better chance of having battery capacity when it is needed!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Southern California Beach Camping

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Southern California Beach Camping
August 5th – 11th, 2023 (6 nights)

When the weather gets hot, the best place to direct your travel trailer is toward the California coast.  And, with so many fantastic locations from which to choose, it may even be possible to book a few beach campsites at the last minute!  That’s exactly what we did when we needed a short trip to test out some new systems on the Scamp (and also enjoy some cool ocean breezes).  Using the Reserve California website, we were able to find stray single night availability campsites (often from last minute cancellations or gaps in reservations) and piece several together from different beach campgrounds to create a nice trip along the coast.   The Reserve California website is great because it shows many campground locations within a given area, so that if the one you are searching is booked there are others pictured which may show availability.  To see a short video we made on our trip, click here.

Gaviota State Park (Gaviota, “meaning Seagull in spanish”)
Located about thirty minutes north of Santa Barbara, Gaviota State Park is a small parking lot style campground adjacent to a nice beach.  We were camped in site #038 ($45/night + $7.99 reservation fee, good Verizon cellphone coverage) toward the back of the campground.  There are water spigots, but no other hookups here.  We read it can get quite windy here (sometimes blowing away tents), but it was calm during our stay.  When we arrived, we inadvertently started testing our Scamp systems when we discovered that, even though our water pump was on, we had no water at our sink!  Fortunately, I remembered what our plumber Oscar had taught us – if you don’t use your plumbing for a while, your water pump can lose its prime.  I removed the PEX connection at one side of the pump, and, with the pump on, let the water squirt out for a couple of seconds.  Then, I reattached the PEX and the pump’s prime was restored and the water worked!  Phew!

The public pier (with a boat hoist) is now closed due to damage sustained from past storms.  One of the most striking features at the campground is the 811-foot span, 80 feet high Gaviota railroad trestle (erected by Southern Pacific Railroad in 1900) which towers over Gaviota Creek as it enters the Pacific Ocean.  The trestle is one of Amtrak’s most photographed landmarks anywhere in the country.  To capture a photo of the trestle with a train passing over, use Amtrak’s train tracker to get an idea when the train is coming.  We found that trains arrive at the trestle within about 15 minutes of leaving or arriving at Gaviota station.  Freight trains also pass over the trestle but their schedules may be harder to determine.

In addition to enjoying the beach (swimming, relaxing, kite flying, fishing), there is a nice trail (strenuous, 3 miles round trip) that goes to the Gaviota Wind Caves up in the mountains behind the campground.  Walk up Hollister Ranch Road toward Hollister Ranch (adjacent to the campground station entrance) and access the trail at the top of the grade through the gate on the right.  The dirt path leads up a strenuous mountain trail to the striking sandstone caves with distant ocean views. Hollister Ranch Road also makes for a nice walk adjacent to and above the ocean and we could spot several dolphin pods on a morning walk.  You can also drive north down the road, but there is a guard gate at the entrance to Hollister Ranch which is only open to residents and workers.  Hollister Ranch is a gated 14,000 acre private residential community amidst a working cattle ranch.  Some of the residents include filmmaker James Cameron, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, and musician Jackson Browne.  There is much controversy here about the ranch and its residents blocking public beach access to its pristine beaches (among some of the best surfing beaches in the country).  For a detailed article on this click here.

An interesting recent study by UC researchers using motion activated cameras found a myriad of unexpected animals visit the beach here (including coyotes and bears)!

Emma Wood State Beach (Ventura)
Emma Wood State Beach is about an hour and a half south of Gaviota State Park.  We stopped along the way at the Winchester 76 gas station in Goleta to dump ($7.50).  Emma Wood State Beach campground is “primitive” with no hookups (no bathrooms, electricity, or dump, not even water spigots).  Only travel trailers are allowed and they must be self-contained with bathrooms (tents are not permitted).  We had site #055 ($40/night + $7.99 reservation fee, good Verizon cellphone coverage) which was incredibly close to the water’s edge (we estimate waves breaking less than 30 feet from the rear of our Scamp at high tide!).  A notice on the parks website says “high tides may close the campground at any time.”  Looking and listening out the Scamp’s back rear window facing the ocean made us feel like we were on a boat.  The breaking waves were loud, masking any possible road noise from Pacific Coast Highway above.  Even the occasional train passing by was hard to hear.

Due to the proximity to downtown Ventura and an excellent bike path, there’s a lot to see and do at the campground.  We went out to lunch with our friends Cheryl & Hugh to Andria’s Seafood Restaurant in Ventura Harbor.  They serve nice salads and all types of fish as well as burgers.  We hadn’t seen our friends for some time, so it was nice catching up.  We strolled through the harbor after lunch and checked out the boats and shops.  We also stopped in the Channel Islands National Park visitor’s center and at the transportation company shop, Island Packers Cruises, to find out about how to visit the Channel Islands (boats to the Channel Islands National Park islands leave from this harbor).  Back at the campground, we walked along the bike path which goes on almost all the way to downtown Ventura.  Many of the campers here brought their electric bikes and were riding the path.  Downtown Ventura is really quaint and inviting with a lot of interesting shops and restaurants.  The old Mission Basilica Buena Ventura here can be viewed for free during masses or by paying the $5 entrance fee.  We will bring our bikes the next time we visit this campground.

Thornhill Broome Campground (Pt. Mugu State Park, Malibu)
Only about thirty minutes south of Emma Wood State Beach, Thornhill Broome Campground is right on the sand (quite a distance back from the water).  We had site #17 (31 foot maximum length, $35/night + $7.99 reservation fee, water spigots, no cellphone service, no visitor center or store).  There’s a nice wide sandy beach here with a scenic view of Pt. Mugu.  There’s also significant road noise (as well as headlight glare at night) from car traffic on Pacific Coast Highway just behind the campground.  We needed to use ear plugs to sleep so we wouldn’t hear car and truck traffic noise.  The closest stores or town is downtown Malibu (about 8 miles south).

I used the app PhotoPills to time and plan an aerial sunset photo; the app has an AR mode which shows where and when the sun will be throughout the day.  Just a little ways down the road, Sycamore Canyon Campground is across the street from Sycamore Cove beach and offers a quiet canyon campground setting with an abundance of sycamore trees (free dump here).  A number of trails start at this campground.  We hiked the Scenic Trail and Overlook Fire Road Trail (about 2 miles round trip).  We would stay here if passing by again instead of Thornhill Broome Campground (due to less road noise, available dump, and easier turn around).

We had an unexpected surprise on the morning of our departure.  We found out the campground turnaround was washed out during a recent storm, so turning the trailer around would be difficult (as there was only about a car length of open width on the road).  I tried lifting the Scamp’s tongue to see if I could manually turn the Scamp around 180 degrees.  However, the tongue was too heavy for me to lift (somewhere between 100 and 200 pounds).  I think it would have been easy for me to turn the Scamp around manually  if I had brought my trailer dolly, but we didn’t know about the closed turnaround so we didn’t bring it.  (My friend Perry had a great idea which he suggested after the trip — try having someone sit on the Scamp bumper to help reduce the tongue weight).  We ended up getting a bit stuck in the sand (while being directed during our turnaround by another trailer owner), but finally managed to get out of the sand by unhitching the Scamp.  The other trailer owner helped us lift our Scamp by the tongue and physically pick up the trailer and turn it around.  We then hitched up and were able to get out of there!  Phew!  Life lesson – never drive in soft sand if there isn’t concrete under it!  Yikes!

Overall Thoughts on Beach Camping
The beach camping experience was a fantastic time (overall).  The scenic beauty of the ocean and trails, the sounds of the waves and nature, and the friendly people (and family) we met along the way made it all worthwhile.  It was also very satisfying experiencing how all the systems and knowledge in our Scamp we put together over the past several years really came together to make the trailer very self-contained.  And, the new lithium battery and DC-DC charger allow us to use our 12 volt refrigerator while driving and greatly extend the time we can stay without electrical hookups (almost indefinitely) (article forthcoming).  And, we seem to get stronger and learn whenever we have adversity on an adventure.  Fortunately, we didn’t have any issues we couldn’t solve during this trip!

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

How to Repair A Scamp Toilet (Dometic 711-M28)

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How to Repair A Scamp Toilet (Dometic 711-M28)

IMPORTANT — make sure to order the correct flush ball / spring cartridge / shaft kit for your toilet. I was originally given incorrect information on the type of kit, and the black faced cartridge in this video should not have been used for my Dometic 711-M28. I was told by Dometic a toilet with a metal lever has to use a white faced spring cartridge and toilets with all plastic pedals use a black faced spring cartridge. The spring cartridge cams are placed in different locations depending on color which will affect rotation. Additionally, the plastic shaft has been switched to brass for better wear. Here’s the kit I switched to after this video.  This is an essential tool which makes the job much easier.

When placing the seals on the toilet, make sure the cutouts on both seals are stacked on top of each other (the lower seal saying “This Side Up” and both stacked seals are aligned with the cutout on the toilet base). Also, the screw on the metal clamp band should be at the very back of the toilet (otherwise, there is a risk of seepage).

What happened to our toilet?
Our 2020 Scamp 13’s toilet has worked really well until very recently.  Two days into the start of a twenty day trip up the California coast into Oregon, the flush ball stuck on our Scamp’s toilet.  The white plastic ball is the main barrier between the toilet bowl and the black tank which sits below (preventing odors from coming into the bathroom).  The flush ball opens when the flush pedal is depressed (which also causes water to be released into the bowl simultaneously).  In the past, lubricating the seals around the ball with silicone has worked well to get it moving again after being stuck.  This time though, the ball was really stuck and I put a rubber glove on and forced it open.  Unfortunately, this resulted in the ball becoming completely inoperable.  We made it through the rest of our trip by plugging the hole at the base of the ceramic toilet bowl with a rubber toilet bowl plunger (saving us from having to cancel the trip).  This solution worked really well, but was only temporary.

What Else Can Go Wrong?
According to the Dometic parts list, there are 23 parts to the 711-M28 model toilet.  So, there are a lot of possible points of failure.  However, the usual culprits of toilet problems are a cracked water valve (results in leaking toilet), broken spring cartridge and/or rotor shaft (results in flush ball not opening/closing), and a dirty or damaged flush ball and/or bowl seals (results in flush ball not opening/closing, water not holding in bowl).  Dometic has a handy trouble shooting guide on page 6 of its handbook.

How can these issues be repaired?
Fortunately, it’s not impossible to trouble shoot and take apart the mechanisms of this toilet.  And, parts can be ordered online.  I’ve created a step by step video showing the disassembly of the toilet.  Often, just the first few steps will be necessary if one just wants to clean or replace the seals (flush ball seal and bowl seal) between the toilet and the base (e.g. for when the toilet bowl stops holding water or the flush ball becomes stuck).  To repair other parts though, the flush pedal cover and mounting screws may need to be removed to provide access to the water valve, spring cartridge, rotor shaft, and flush ball.  Make sure to dump and flush the Blank tank and turn off the water supply when working with the toilet.  Note:  be careful not to overtighten metal clamp (just tighten until snug and toilet bowl is secure and stable).  If the clamp is too tight, the flush ball may be compressed too much against the seals and the flush ball may get stuck, water may leak out of the bowl and/or the plastic half clamps may crack.

How to diagnose what’s wrong?
In addition to reviewing Dometic’s trouble shooting guide, the company has great customer service and will be happy to assist (800-321-9886).  Our issue was a little strange (inverted flush ball) and we were referred to a local tech center.  The guy who answered the phone was extremely helpful and answered all my questions.  In the end, no one really could explain how our flush ball became inverted.  The advice was to get the Flush Ball & Shaft Kit and replace the flush ball, rotor shaft, and spring cartridge.  After this repair (as documented in my video) everything worked great!

How to prevent toilet issues?
First, always keep water in the toilet bowl when travelling (except when driving) to prevent odors from coming up from the black tank and also to keep the seals between the toilet and its base from drying out.  Additionally, since one of the most common issues is the toilet flush ball getting stuck and/or the toilet bowl not holding water (e.g. water drains quickly into the black tank even though the flush ball is closed), a good preventive solution is to use plumbers grease and toilet seal lubricant regularly between trips to keep the seals from drying out and the flush ball moving smoothly.  One of the first signs of trouble is if the toilet bowl can’t hold water.  As noted above, water is important in the bowl because it keeps black tank odors from escaping.  Additionally, water draining from the bowl when the flush ball is closed can indicate dry or dirty seals or even damaged seals.  Before taking the toilet bowl off its base though, try using plumber’s grease and toilet seal lubricant (as shown at the end of my ten minute video).  If that doesn’t work and the toilet still can’t hold water, then remove the toilet from its base and try cleaning both seals (or replacing the seals if they appear damaged).  The company says the seals can last 15-25+ years, so it’s likely the seals will just need a good cleaning with soap and water and a toothbrush.  It is recommended to occasionally remove the seals between the base and the bowl when not holding water.  Soak them in warm water with a little dish soap to loosen any calcium scales, iron deposits or dirt build-up.  Let dry, then spray very lightly on both sides with silicone.  Note:  put seals back in same position with notch in the 4 o’clock position and the seal that says “This Side Up” under the black seal.  Also, make sure plastic half clamps come together at front of toilet bowl (they will have a gap at the back) and make sure the metal band screw is at the very back of the toilet (at the gap of the plastic half clamps).

Helpful items:

Toilet Seal Lubricant
Thetford RV Toilet Seal Lube & Conditioner

Plumbers Grease
Slik Seal Plumbers Grease

Dometic 711-M28 Toilet Parts:
Flush Ball & Shaft Kit:  Part #385318162
Genuine Dometic

Dometic Seal Kit:  Part#385311462
Genuine Dometic
Generic Version

Water Valve Kit:  Part#385314349
Genuine Dometic
Generic Version

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

California Redwoods & Oregon Adventure

 150 150 gavin
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California Redwoods & Oregon Adventure
May 31st – June 20th, 2023 (20 nights, 2,425 miles)

This was the longest trip we have taken to date in our Scamp 13′ and one filled with the most adventures!  The reason the trip was long is because the farthest destinations on this itinerary are not close to our home in San Diego (and we try not to drive more than four hours per day and like to stay at least a couple of days when exploring notable sights).  We only packed enough clothes and food for ten days (our usual trip length) and, instead, did laundry once midway through our trip (at the Laughing Alpaca Campground) and shopped for food a few times.  We really enjoyed shopping at the outdoor farmer’s markets in Oregon and were able to purchase organic produce including fresh organic duck eggs, fruits and vegetables, and local honey.  We did have one notable mechanical failure at the start of our journey which could have meant the immediate end to our travels (more on this later).  This trip also was the first test of two new systems (new marine grade SOK lithium house battery and new Victron smart lithium solar controller).  Usually we would have done a shorter trip first to test new systems just in case, but we didn’t have time.  So, there was some degree of risk on going out on a big journey without trying out these new items in the field.  Below are some of the trip highlights at each location.

Santa Barbara (Cousin Jon’s House):  Days 1-2
This was the first and last stop on our journey and always very memorable because we get to see our cousins!  Santa Barbara is about 4 hours from our home and makes for a good starting point on the way north.  We took a hike during the day (Jesusita Trail) and then went out to dinner with my cousins at Ruby’s Mexican Food.  Whenever visiting my cousins in Santa Barbara, we stay in my Cousin Jon’s driveway and are fortunate enough to be allowed to pick fresh fruit from their orchard (lemons and oranges).  This time we took a bag of lemons which gave us enough juice to make lemonade for half our trip (we made sure to bring our hand fruit juicer).  Although short, we had a great visit with my cousins.

During the drive to Santa Barbara, I was able to use the SOK lithium Bluetooth battery smart phone app to monitor the Scamp’s new lithium battery status.  This was important to get an understanding of the power draw while running our Scamp’s 12 volt option to power the refrigerator while driving.  With our Scamp’s original lead acid battery, we didn’t use the 12V option to run the refrigerator because it would drain the Scamp’s battery quickly (and we also chose not to run the refrigerator on propane while driving for safety reasons).  In turn, in the past, the refrigerator would stay off during drives – it would be cool but not cold inside since it wasn’t running.  Fortunately, the new lithium battery provides plenty of power to keep our refrigerator running using 12 volts (on this drive, using about 5 amps power draw per hour, so about 5% depletion of the 100ah battery per hour).  Because our 7-way connector was providing about 5 amps of power from the car to the trailer during driving, we arrived in Santa Barbara at 100% State of Charge (SOC).  Based on this successful test of the new lithium battery, we continued to run the 12V refrigerator throughout the trip while driving and it worked great!

Morro Bay (Morro Strand State Park):  Day 2-3
About two hours north of Santa Barbara, Morro Bay is best known for the giant rock that sticks up from the water.  Morro Rock is actually a volcanic plug formed about 23 million years ago when it exploded off the top of a volcano.  It’s been used as a navigational aid for over 300 years since it stands at around 576 feet tall.  In Spanish, “Morro” means crown shaped hill.  It’s also known as the “Gibraltar of the Pacific”.   There’s a road (causeway) that connects the rock to the mainland.  This is the first time we have visited Morro Bay when it was actually sunny.  On all our other visits, Morro Rock had been shrouded in fog.

On the drive up to Morro Bay, the SOC on the Scamp’s lithium battery ran down from 100% to 86% SOC.  We learned that there are many variables (including the tow vehicle’s battery charge) that may affect the current draw on the lithium battery while driving with the 12V refrigerator running.  On this drive, the lithium battery depleted at about 7% per hour of driving.  No worries though as this was the perfect opportunity to try out the new Victron smart lithium solar controller on our 100W solar briefcase.  And, it performed really well – providing over 6 amps per hour of energy back into the Scamp’s lithium battery under partly cloudy skies!  The Scamp’s new lithium battery was fully charged to 100% SOC within a few hours!

We had the opportunity to stay on the beach at Morro Strand State Beach Campground.  Morro Rock is visible from the campground and is a little over three miles south.  Normally, the campsites here are very difficult to reserve.  However, because our Scamp is only 13’ long, we were able to fit into the van and tent camp area (which was relatively empty).  There are water spigots in this area and good Verizon service.  The RV area down the beach has full hookups (water, electric, sewer) and was very crowded.  We had spot 001 ($35/night) and really enjoyed it.  We had a very memorable visit partly because we had a fantastic bike ride from the campground along the beautiful bike paths (some along the beach and others in wooded areas) all the way to Morro Rock (via the causeway)!  We saw seals and sea otters during the journey.  And, the bike ride took us through the charming seaside village of Morro Bay (with its quaint shops and restaurants).  It was a leisurely four hour ride which stretched into the early evening.

After sunset, we tried out a new 4K Roku stick which allows phone mirroring (our old Roku stick gave out after years of use).  So, instead of having to hook up our laptop to play downloaded movies, we were able to connect our phone wirelessly to the Scamp’s television through the quick pairing setup and play a movie from the phone to the Scamp’s TV.  The mirroring on the device works really well and makes playing movies much easier than the laptop setup.  Note:  we had previously played movies from a Samsung Galaxy S9 directly to the TV via a cable, however, once we upgraded phones (to a Samsung Galaxy A52 5G), we discovered the new phones do not support HDMI video out.  In turn, we switched to the laptop method of playing movies.  So, it’s great to be back to the phone method since some services (like Paramount Plus) only allow downloading of content to mobile devices like phones and tablets (and block downloading to laptops / pcs).  For more information on how we play movies in our Scamp, click here.

The next morning we took a long walk along the beach, almost reaching Morro Rock.  We found a lot of sand dollars along the way and the fog had returned to Morro Bay.

Oakland (Sister’s House):  Days 3-4
We made it up to my sister’s house in about 4 ½ hours (parking in her driveway for the overnight stay), just in time to have lunch on College Avenue in Berkeley.  The area is usually buzzing with activity and this visit was no different.  We went to Rockridge Market Hall, a large indoor marketplace and deli, and ordered a garbonzo salad, some cooked bbq chicken and ravioli and sat at a table on the sidewalk to enjoy the meal.  Later, we had a great dinner with family and did a nice hike the next morning with everyone before heading farther north.   Just before leaving though, the mechanism that closes the ball in the toilet valve (which separates the contents within the black holding tank from the toilet bowl and preventing odors from coming out of the black tank below) broke (leaving the valve open)!  I was later told by the toilet manufacturer, Sealand, that it is likely the spring snapped in the mechanism and needed to be replaced (specialty part that needed to be ordered).  Just two days into our twenty day trip, we were presented with an obstacle that had the potential of turning us back towards home.  Instead, we borrowed my sister’s toilet plunger, removed the stick, and used it to cover the hole when the toilet was not in use.  It turned out to be a perfect fit and worked as well as the ball valve to close off the black tank!  Crisis averted!  Phew (Not Pew!)!

Bodega Bay (Wright’s Beach State Campground, Sonoma Coast State Park):  Days 4-5
With our toilet issue controlled, we still needed to dump our tanks before our next stop at Wright’s Beach campground in Bodega Bay.  This campground doesn’t have a dump station, but its sister campground, about five miles south, offers a free dump and water filling station for those staying at Wright’s Beach campground.  After dumping, we set up our Scamp 13’ on the beach (campsite WB13, with slight view of the ocean, across from the campsites directly on the sand which weren’t available when we made our reservation) at Wright’s Beach Campground.  There are no electric or dump services here, but there are some water spigots.  The Verizon service here is poor (although there is better reception above the campground when walking the Kortum trail).  The highlight here was walking the beautiful Kortum Trail high above the campground along the bluffs.  This easy flat bluff trail offers beautiful views of Bodega Bay.

Humboldt Redwoods State Park (Burlington Campground):  Days 5-7
We reached our first stop in the California coastal redwoods (Humboldt Redwoods State Park) after a five hour drive from Bodega Bay (with a brief stop in beautiful wine-country Healdsburg to break up the trip).  Our redwoods campsite, 037Bu ($35/night), was great – very private, spacious and within beautiful old growth giant redwoods.  There is a water spigot close to the site and we had poor Verizon service (although across the street on Grove Trail there was better reception).  There’s also free WiFi (about 3Mbs download when we were there) at the Visitor’s Center.  Because the water spigot was threaded, I was able to connect two hoses together (“two hoses” trick) to fill our Scamp’s fresh tank (and avoid having to use a water jug and dolly to move the water).  The campground is located within a dense forest which results in shade throughout the day, so using solar panels to recharge our Scamp’s battery was not possible.  Fortunately, our new SOK lithium battery has the equivalent energy of roughly two equivalent lead acid batteries – so, being in the forest for a week without electrical hookups or solar power wasn’t a problem.

There are a variety of great trails in the redwoods and we walked a lot of them.  They are mostly “easy” paths which meander through beautiful redwoods.  The size of these old trees is amazing (width as well as height).  We particularly enjoyed the Drury-Chaney Loop Trail, Founder’s Grove Trail, and Hidden Springs Trail (which leads down to the Eel River).  You can watch a video we took of the area here.

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park:  Days 7-10
Driving about four hours farther north, we reached Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park (about 18 miles east of Crescent City, California).  We stopped in Crescent City for gas and groceries (Wild Rivers Market, good selection of organic and healthy food) before heading inland to the campground.

The first thing we did when driving into the campground was use the free Dump and water fill.   We were fortunate enough to have reserved one of the premium river campsites (#56, $35/night) for three nights.  There was no Verizon reception, but we did get it on some of the trails (most notably on the Hiouchi trail, where we were able to stream the morning news from Sling while walking to the Hiouchi Café).  We were also able to use the “two hoses” trick to fill our Scamp’s fresh tank from the water spigot located across the road from our campsite (best done in the early morning before anyone is awake and driving around to avoid having your hose driven over).  This was an awesome campsite, with a private trail directly to the Smith River behind it.  Just like the Humboldt Redwoods, there was mostly shade at this location.  There are two visitor centers here with similar goods and services – however, the Hiouchi Visitor’s Center offers ranger talks.  We went on an afternoon Ranger led walk on the Simpson Reed Loop Trail (one of our favorites).  The Ranger had a particular interest in forest bathing (like sun bathing, but in the forest) which we learned is the process of calming and healing just by being in the forest and exposed to the oxygen producing trees for a couple of hours.  We really did feel a quiet calming being in the redwoods.  We learned that the redwoods are the tallest trees (like NBA players) while the sequoias are the biggest volume trees (like NFL players).  Grove of the Titans Trail is another great trail which leads through spectacular old growth redwoods.  We met a very friendly deer on the trail who followed us for a little while and didn’t mind being close.  On our last day, we tried the Hiouchi Café and ordered their famous 16” giant pancake (although we couldn’t eat much of it).  We were told by our waitress that in the four years she has worked at the café, she has only seen four people finish the pancake (and one was a skinny 14 year old girl)!

Click here to see a video we made while visiting Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Cave Junction, Oregon (Laughing Alpaca RV Park):  Days 10-12
We made it to our first stop in Oregon, Cave Junction, in an hour’s drive from the redwoods.  We had a beautiful campsite (#19) along the river at the Laughing Alpaca RV Park ($35/night, full hookup site).  There was free WiFi, cable TV, and good Verizon coverage at this park.  The owner, Jeff, is very gracious and greeted us upon arrival, helped us back into the campsite, and spent time telling us about all the things to do in the area (including a weekly farmer’s market which we attended).

The main draw for us here was to visit Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve (we had reserved the Discovery Cave Tour long in advance).  But, the short two day visit turned out to be much more.  We made friends with the owner of this RV park (along with his family and alpacas) and made a promotional video for his business (click here to watch).  We also found ourselves in the middle of an RV club outing (The Rogue River Ramblers), became friends with a number of the Ramblers, and were invited to their meals!  They were very generous and we had a fantastic rockfish dinner which was freshly caught and cooked up by one of their members from Newport, Oregon.

On Friday afternoon (starts at 4 p.m. on Fridays), we went to the Cave Junction Farmers Market in Kerby, OR, just down the road from Cave Junction.  It was a lively affair, with plenty of seller tents and a lot of produce.  We purchased organic duck eggs ($5/dozen), fresh strawberries, and local honey.  The next morning we drove to the caves (about 45 minute drive) to take the two hour cave tour.  There are some parts of the tour where low crouching is required and there are a lot of stairs and climbs.  Some of the rooms are very cavernous.  Overall, the caves were spectacular and the tour given by a park ranger was excellent.  Click here to see our video in the cares.  We did a little hike outside the caves which offered fantastic views of the Siskiyou Mountains.  Later in the day we washed our car because it was really dirty and a little sappy from sitting in the redwoods for a week.  I also purchased a really nice super slim and bright rechargeable flashlight (Nebo Slim Mini 250) at NAPPA Auto Parts that works really well in the Scamp (it has a magnetic base so I can hang it on the wall).  We also fit in laundry and the Rogue River Ramblers’ fish dinner, making it a very long day.  The next morning we left for Ashland.

Ashland, Oregon (Ashland Creekside RV Park):  Days 12-14
We made it to Ashland Creekside RV Park in about 1 ½ hours.  Our site, #24, was by the river with partial hookups (electric & water).  There is a free central dump station which we used when leaving.  Although the park offers free WiFi (which we found to be slow at our campsite), the campground does have fast (120Mbps download/16Mbps upload) Verizon connectivity.  There was a nice bench alongside our Scamp, so we were able to set up an outdoor mobile office with our laptop plugged into power from the Scamp’s external 120 volt outlets.  There are a few wineries in the area (we visited Weisinger Family Winery), but the main place to visit is the cute little town of Ashland which is about 5 miles away.  We walked Lithia Park, browsed the stores on Main Street, had homemade ice-cream (cherry-oatmeal flavor) at Mix Bakeshop (which was very refreshing on this sunny and warm day), and saw historic Victorian homes.  The town has a very friendly feel and is home of the world famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  We stopped for a visit at the Rogue Valley Growers Market (Tuesday mornings) on the way out of town on our last day.  It’s a very large farmers’ market and offers a wide variety of produce (among other things).  We purchased some local honey, coffee beans, and jams.

McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park:  Days 14-16
We drove the 5 Freeway south along Siskiyou Pass over Siskiyou Summit on our way back towards California.  It’s one of the most hazardous stretches of road along Interstate 5.  The summit is at an elevation of 4,310 feet and is the highest point along the 5 Freeway.  The road goes straight up and straight down (a steep 6% gradient) with plenty of curves!  In the winter, it can be covered with snow and ice.  Fortunately, we had no issues with our tow vehicle and trailer.

McArthur-Burney Falls is a special hidden gem (a couple of hour’s drive south from Ashland).  It’s located at the top of California about an hour north of Lassen Volcanic National Park.  We had a nice quiet campsite, #86, in Pioneer Camp (with great spacing between other sites).  There was enough sun at our campsite that we were able to recharge our Scamp’s lithium battery to 100% SOC every day.  We are glad we didn’t stay at Rim Camp because it was loaded with lots of tent campers and families all packed in fairly close together and there was a lot of noise and smoke whenever we walked through it.  There are threaded water spigots (and the “two hose” trick worked again to fill our Scamp’s fresh water tank!) and a central dump station here.  We had no Verizon reception at our campsite, but there was fast free WiFi and electrical outlets for charging devices at the visitor center (walking distance from our campsite).  Since the area is along the PCT (Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail), lots of hikers with big backpacks would often congregate at the visitor center in the morning (there’s a PCT camp here as well here).  Note:  plan your visit mid-week and make campsite reservations as far in advance as possible, as this campground is extremely popular (especially among day use visitors on the weekends).

The main draw here is the falls, which are spectacular.  They are visible right near the park entrance.  But, if you are willing to do a short hike (about a mile), there is a great loop that goes down to the base of the falls (highly recommended).  Click here to see our video.  This hike is minimally strenuous (it’s on both flat pavement and groomed dirt).  There are some really nice bridges that cross the river along this loop.  We did this hike every day.  There’s also a hike, Pioneer Cemetery Trail, which goes to an old settler cemetery and then on to Lake Britton (there are boat rentals and fishing).  The small town of Burney is about 10 minutes’ drive away and is the closest place to get gas and groceries (the visitor center does sell snacks).

Update:  8/26/23
An article came out today in the LA Times about the new found over popularity of McArthur-Burney Falls!  However, if you reserve a camping spot here midweek, you can avoid most of the problems mentioned in this article!

Castle Crags State Park:  Days 16-18
Only about half hour’s drive from McArthur-Burney Falls, Castle Crags State Park is very close to the 5 Freeway.  We decided to stay here because we had seen the unusual rock formations in the past while driving by on other trips and wanted to explore the area.  There is good Verizon reception at this campground.  We stayed at a campsite, #26 ($25/night), on one of the lower campground loops on our first night (we could hear freeway traffic from the campsite).  We were planning on leaving the next day, but decided to stay another night to avoid extreme heat at our next planned campground.  Our original campsite was rented for the following night, but the Ranger gave us a list of available openings and we found a really nice site, #54 ($25/night), at the top of the upper loop that didn’t have traffic noise.  The site did require us to use our Anderson leveler to its maximum position so we would be level.  There’s a nice trail, River Trail, which crosses a train track and then a pedestrian suspension bridge which goes over the Sacramento River and follows the river for some time.  But, the hallmark trail here, which we completed twice, is the View Trail.  As you may have guessed, the trail ascends up to a spectacular viewing area where both Mt. Shasta and the unusual granite rock formations (formed more than 170 million years ago) of Castle Crags are visible.  There are even free viewing telescopes and benches at the top.

We stayed overnight again in Oakland (Days 18-19) (about 4 hour drive from here) on the way to our next destination of San Luis Obispo.

Harford Pier, Port San Luis Harbor District (San Luis Obispo):  Days 19-20
Four hour’s drive south from Oakland is the small beachside community of Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo county.  Harford Pier is a commercial pier located on a beautiful seaside bay.  We stayed at one of their premium campsites, site CG8, which has full hookups (although the sewer hookup is at the very back of the campsite which was too far a reach for our Scamp’s short hose).  Even the big rig RVs staying at these campsites either had very long sewer hoses or two long sewer hoses connected to each other.  That being said, it wasn’t a big deal since we didn’t need to dump– but, since this is the most expensive campsite we have ever stayed at ($100/night), we did expect better hookup service.  However, the campsite views and location more than made up for this inconvenience.  We were located right across the street from the water and had a spectacular view of the entire bay.  Additionally, the tourist town of Avila Beach is a short bike ride away and is loaded with nice shops and restaurants.  We had a great meal at Fat Cats just a brief walk from our campsite along the water.  The fresh fish and chips and crab cakes were excellent (just make sure to arrive early as they fill up fast and it’s first come first served!).  The cherry on top of staying here was being able to ride our bikes (we also walked it) on the Bob Jones Trail (also known as the City to the Sea Trail, about 4.6 miles one way from the Harford Pier to the Bob Jones Trailhead).  This is a wonderful environmental trail (mostly smooth and flat) that wanders next to San Luis Obispo Creek and passes through many natural scenic locations.

We ended our trip back in Santa Barbara (Days 20-21) with some more great times with our cousins before heading home to San Diego.

Final Thoughts
Taking a longer trip is definitely worth doing as it can lead to more interactions with locals, more experiences, and more adventures.  This trip seemed a more immersive and present experience than our usual trips as we weren’t thinking about an imminent return to home but were more focused on enjoying the present moments. The usual thoughts of the responsibilities regarding our home seemed to drift farther and farther out of our minds as we moved forward on our journey.  We found we were very busy every day and didn’t really even have time to sit in our Scamp for any significant amount of time.  We learned that being flexible and thinking out of the box was essential to making such an adventure work (such as the time we had to come up with an immediate solution to solve the toilet valve crisis).  Also, being prepared with the proper tools and equipment paid itself off with dividends.  For example, upgrading our Scamp’s house battery to lithium right before the trip saved the day when we realized there would be no solar charging for a week in the redwoods.  And, having two hoses really made things easy (I actually didn’t use the dolly/jug I brought to move water the entire trip)!  We learned that slowing down and appreciating nature can be very healing (as we witnessed and experienced during our time Forest Bathing during our stay in the redwoods).  We were blessed with perfect weather the entire trip which was almost unbelievable (our rain gear stayed neatly packed away in the back of the Scamp closet)!  Our top favorite new places we visited during this trip were: Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Ashland, McArthur-Burney Falls, and Harford Pier.  Our favorite local experiences were shopping at the farmers’ markets in Oregon and interacting with other campers.  It seems campers are some of the nicest people.  Usually, they have a similar mindset of wanting to be out in and enjoying nature.  Now that we are back home, we can’t wait to plan the next long adventure!

 

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.