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California Redwoods & Oregon Adventure

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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. 

How to Replace a 7-Way Flat Pin Socket Connector on Your Tow Vehicle

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How to Replace a 7-Way Flat Pin Socket Connector on Your Tow Vehicle

On our last trip, the plastic flap covering our tow vehicle’s 7-way hitch socket connector broke.  This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but without the flap, the trailer cable won’t stay in the socket since it relies on the flap’s flange to keep it in place while driving.  While we were descending a steep hill on our final leg home, our 2020 Volvo XC40’s brakes began to pump.  We had never heard this noise before, and then at about the same time an orange warning light lit up indicating a failure with the trailer cable connection.  We pulled over and found that our Scamp 13’s cable had pulled out.  This would explain the noise of the Volvo’s brakes working hard, since our Scamp’s brakes were disconnected.  The trailer cable is essential for the operation of the trailer’s brake and safety light system,  powering the trailer’s turn signal lights, brake lights, hazard lights, running lights, and also activating the trailer’s brakes. When the connector broke, all of these critical features no longer worked.  Fortunately, we had some zip ties which we used for a temporary fix to get us home.

I called Volvo when we returned home and was told that the connector is molded into the entire Volvo wiring harness and they don’t sell just a replacement flap.  They said the only way to fix it with Volvo parts is to replace the entire wiring harness, and the harness cost would be $167 plus labor!  This seemed to be a very high cost for just a broken plastic flap replacement.  Our 2020 Volvo XC40 has been a reliable workhorse for us, and I wanted to find a simple inexpensive solution to fix the broken flap.  Since we sometimes do off road boondocking, we wouldn’t want to have to replace the entire wiring harness any time the little plastic flap breaks.  Fortunately, I was able to find another solution at a fraction of the cost.  This inexpensive 7-way socket and mini harness currently sells for around $17 on Amazon.  I was easily able to replace the broken Volvo 7-way socket connector with this new connector by joining this new mini harness to the existing Volvo wiring harness.

This new 7-way flat pin socket connector should work with most tow vehicles as long as the wiring colors/pin locations are the same as the existing vehicle’s wiring harness colors/pin locations.  To make sure everything works well, the first thing to do is test the continuity of each of the new connector’s 7 wires (with a continuity tester) to verify that the wiring and pin locations are identical by color to the tow vehicle wiring.  If each of the wire colors is continuous with the same pin locations on the new connectors as the tow vehicle’s 7-way socket connector, everything should work great.   I noticed on our Volvo, the center pin wire on the Volvo wiring harness is purple, but the center pin wire on the new connector harness is red.  So, I just had to connect the purple wire to the red wire so the Volvo continues to send the correct signal to the center pin of the new 7-way socket connector.  All the other wire colors/pin locations on our Volvo’s old connector did correspond to the new connectors’ wire colors/pin locations.

Once confirming wire colors and pin locations are matched, I verified that our Scamp cable plugs securely into the new 7-way socket connector.  I then clipped the wires from the existing Volvo 7-way socket connector, unbolted it and removed it from its mount.   Once removed, I also verified its wire colors and pin locations with a continuity tester.  I then attached the new 7-way socket and mini harness to the Volvo’s existing wiring harness, making sure to pull the new mini harness through the mounting hole before making the connections.  I stripped each wire and then used the provided preinstalled butt connectors to join each of the wires (by color, except for the purple/red combination).  For the white wire, I used a WAGO connector to connect the two white wires since the white wire on the original harness is already grounded (I just clipped the circular grounding connector from the white wire on the new mini harness and joined it to the white wire on the Volvo wiring harness).  After the wires were all connected, I mounted the new connector with the existing bolts and tucked the wiring harness up behind the bumper (and used Gorilla tape to help keep it in place).

To test the system, I connected the Scamp’s trailer cable to the tow vehicle and ran the Volvo’s automated trailer lights check.  I observed all lights working properly.  The key to doing this installation successfully is to make sure to correctly match each of the wires to the proper flat pin locations.

Project Supplies and Tools:

  1. Anto 7 Way Trailer Plug: https://amzn.to/3xXw11z
  2. WAGO 221 Connectors: https://amzn.to/3Nn2Hr8
  3. Wire stripper:   https://amzn.to/3M6CyME
  4. Continuity Test: https://amzn.to/39T82J7
  5. Gorilla Tape:  https://amzn.to/3Nh6y9a

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. 

Idyllwild

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

Building an Interior Closet Shelf for a Small Travel Trailer

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Building an Interior Closet Shelf for a Small Travel Trailer

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

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

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

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

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 Stop Your MaxxFan From Beeping & Shutting Down When Using Solar Power

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How to Stop Your MaxxFan From Beeping & Shutting Down When Using Solar Power

Our 2020 Scamp 13’ was delivered from the Scamp factory with a Maxxair MaxxFan, an incredible fan which can either blow or suck air into the trailer (depending on the setting).  Since we don’t have air conditioning in our camper and use it off grid quite a bit, we really depend on this fan to keep us cool during warm weather (as well as blowing out smoke when cooking and also clearing humidity from the trailer when showering and sleeping to prevent detector alarms).

We soon discovered that our MaxxFan doesn’t like voltage variations beyond 12 volts.  When boondocking (without shore power), we usually use our solar panel briefcase to provide power to our Scamp 13’.  Voltage in our trailer can vary quite a bit when on solar power and is usually higher than 12V, sometimes reaching just over 15 volts (based on our internal voltmeter).  It’s common for our MaxxFan to complain (beep and stop) when we are running solar.  It especially doesn’t like it when our Scamp 13’ is running on solar and simultaneously running another appliance (like a water pump to provide water pressure to our sink when boondocking).  It generally will beep and stop in this situation.  We’ve learned that we can often keep it running as long as we don’t exceed the 30% speed setting.  On one occasion, our fan stopped altogether and wouldn’t restart.  To get it to run again, we had to pull the fuse (fuse labeled “rear of trailer”) to reset the fan.  Ughh!

It was warm on our recent trip to Big Bear Lake and we really wanted to use our fan at a high speed setting, but it wouldn’t cooperate.  Our MaxxFan just kept turning off when turned up higher than 30%.  With our solar panels soaking up the bright mountain sunlight at Big Bear, the voltage coming into the trailer reached 15.6 volts.  At this point, we needed a better solution.  Upon doing considerable research, we found that, indeed, voltage intolerance is a known problem for MaxxFans.  When the voltage is too low or too high the fan will often beep and stop.  It seems this fan has “Goldilocks Syndrome” as the voltage has to be “just right”.  A call to MaxxAir, maker of the MaxxFan, confirmed that there have been considerable issues with voltage affecting fan operation which have prompted the company to update the motherboard to accept voltages up to 15 volts.  The MaxxFan tech I spoke to said the motherboard used to have a voltage range between 10.8 volts – 13.8 volts (our model), but once more people started using solar panels and lithium batteries (leading to higher voltages within their rvs) the company came out with a new motherboard (sometime after 2020) to accept a wider voltage range (10.3 volts – 15 volts).  The tech told me that even with the new motherboard, the fan will still have problems with voltages outside the new voltage range.  Although some people have gone as far as replacing their motherboards in the hope that the more recent circuit boards will fix this issue, others have taken matters into their own hands by implementing other solutions.  The simple and inexpensive solution we implemented was to install a voltage regulator between the trailer power leads and the fan (the MaxxFan tech agreed with us that this is a good solution).  The voltage regulator we chose accepts 9V – 36V input (a much higher range than the new MaxxFan mother board accepts) and puts out a consistent 12 volts, and is rated waterproof, dust-proof, moisture-proof and shock-proof (and currently sells new on Amazon for less than $15!).  It’s also really small and fits nicely in the MaxxFan housing.  So overall, the nice thing about this solution is that it’s inexpensive and addresses both very low and high voltages.

The installation of the voltage regulator inside the MaxxFan is fairly simple and just about anyone should be able to do it in less than an hour with the right supplies and tools.  A significant point to note is that it is very important to figure out the polarities of all the wires before connecting them because some trailers (and even the MaxxFan itself) have some strange things going on with polarity.  Specifically, for example, our Scamp trailer has a positive black wire and negative white wire providing power to the fan.  Additionally, MaxxFan also wires their fan this way with the black wire being positive.  This wiring convention is contrary to what most people learn, being that black is usually negative and red is positive.

A voltmeter is a good simple way to determine polarity (set your voltmeter on DC V and use the black probe on the black wire and the red probe on the other colored wire – if the voltage shows a positive number, then the black wire is negative polarity, if it shows a negative number, then black is positive polarity).  On our installation, we determined that our Scamp 13’ black wire is actually positive and the white wire is negative. These are the wires that provide power to the fan and attach to the input side of the voltage regulator.   On our voltage regulator, the input and output polarities are clearly labeled (with black being negative and red/yellow positive).  The MaxxFan wiring polarity matches our Scamp trailer with black being positive and white negative.

Project Supplies and Tools:

  1. MaxxFan
  2. 12V DC Voltage Regulator
  3. Voltmeter
  4. Wago wire connectors
  5. Scotch Fastener Tape
  6. Gorilla Tape
  7. Braided copper wire (AWG 14)
  8. Robertson Square #2 Screwdriver or
    1. Electric screw driver which accepts ¼” bits
    2. Robertson Square #2 bits 
  9. Wire cutters
  10. Wire stripper

Here are the Project Steps I took to install the 12V voltage regulator in the MaxxFan (also, reference video).

Project Steps:

  1. SAFETY: I made sure my Scamp 13’ was parked on a flat level surface (my garage), the tongue jack was stable, and I used heavy duty wheel chocks to prevent the trailer from rolling.  I also wore safety glasses to help prevent anything from getting into my eyes while working.  I made sure there was no power to the fan while working on it (by pulling fuse).
  2. Cut power to fan by removing fuse powering fan (fan won’t turn on after fuse is removed)
  3. Take off the fan screen by rotating the holders
  4. Remove the bezel/trim using the Robertson Square #2 Driver.
  5. Remove fan with Phillips head screwdriver (including screw on black manual fan knob).
  6. Unclip zip tie on the fan holding wires together
  7. Remove a bit more plastic sheath on each of the wires coming out each side of the voltage regulator to allow for more exposed copper to plug into the Wago connectors.
  8. Apply scotch Velcro tape (two sides) to the backside of the voltage regulator.
  9. Tape the voltage regulator into one corner of the inner casing of the fan.
  10. Cut trailer power wires attached to fan and test their polarity.
  11. Attach Wago connectors to the end of the trailer power wires as well as the voltage regulator wires and fan power wires.
  12. Create wire extensions and once polarities are identified, connect the trailer power wires to the voltage regulator and the voltage regulator wires to the fan (all using Wago connectors).
  13. Plug in fuse and test fan to ensure it works.
  14. Carefully insert wiring back into fan (using zip ties and Gorilla tape to secure loose wires)
  15. Screw fan back into place using a Phillips head screwdriver.
  16. Reattach bezel/trim using Robertson Square #2 Driver (and notch out bezel if necessary)
  17. Clean fan screen.
  18. Reinstall fan screen.

 

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. 

Joshua Tree National Park – Ryan Campground

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Joshua Tree National Park – Ryan Campground
February 13th – 15th, 2023 (2 nights)

Joshua Tree National Park is a fantastic place in the high desert to visit in the winter, spring, and fall (too hot in the summer).  The Joshua trees (not really trees but succulents), unusual rock formations, hiking, rock climbing and dark night skies are the main draws.  The best reason for staying overnight in the park is because once the sun sets, the daytime crowds go, leaving quiet peacefulness.  And, the stars are so bright here; it’s the perfect place for stargazing (away from all the city lights).  It’s also not too far a drive for us from San Diego, making it a fantastic mid-week break for rest and solitude.  We chose to visit Ryan Campground (one of many campgrounds inside the park) because it is small and away from the busier tourist areas.  We purchased an annual park pass (America The Beautiful Pass, $80) when we visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in September, so we avoided the $30 entrance fee.

Located at an elevation of around 4,400 ft., Ryan Campground has only 31 campsites @$20/night (reservation only) and is centrally located within the national park.  There are also 4 equestrian sites ($15/night) and 3 bicycle sites ($5/night, first come first served).  There is no running water at the campground and only pit toilets.  There is no cellphone reception here, so if you want to be connected bring your Starlink (or be prepared to drive about 10 minutes back toward the entrance where the hilltop overlooks the valley below).  There are some nice hikes from within the campground and exhibits within a close drive.  On our first day, after setting up our Scamp 13’ in campsite #5 (a nice one) and having lunch, we hiked from the campground to Ryan Ranch and then onto Lost Horse Well.  It’s a short hike (only .3 miles) to the decaying adobe walls of the ranch house and bunk house (circa 1896).  Lost Horse Well is just a little farther.  We also walked part of the Geology Tour Rd. trail from the campground (6.6 miles).  Although we didn’t see any Bighorn Sheep (which are known to be in the area,  we did see a number of strikingly beautiful bluebirds (bright sky blue color) called Mountain Bluebirds.   After hiking, we drove to Keys View — a short drive up to the top of a crest of the Little San Bernardino Mountains.  There are benches at the top and panoramic views of the Coachella Valley below– including the Salton Sea, Santa Rosa Mountains, 10,800 peak of San Jacinto Peak (behind Palm Springs), and the snow-covered peak of 11,500 San Gorgonio Mountain.  The San Andreas Fault can be seen below along the eastern part of the Coachella Valley with its jagged slabs of rock and other geological anomalies.

The wind started kicking up strongly on our first night with 20 to 30 mph winds with gusts up to 60 mph.  We had received a Severe Weather Advisory email from recreation.gov when driving into the park without further details (and we didn’t have internet access to research what was coming our way once we arrived at the campground).   Tent campers were having a rough time with their tents sometimes folding up in the wind; many of these campers slept in their cars for shelter.  One man, who is travelling the country by bike, told me he was almost swept off his feet when trying to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Since campgrounds here have no water, we arrived with our Scamp 13’s fresh tank full (giving us some extra ballast).  Our rear stabilizers were down which also helped weather the gusts.  We were unhitched, but the Scamp handled the strong wind well (with only occasional shaking, despite the wind hitting the Scamp directly on its side – the Scamp’s aerodynamic shape likely helped).  The wind was so loud that, despite wearing earplugs and playing white noise, it was difficult to sleep (it sounded like we were on a boat in a fierce storm at sea).  Meanwhile, temperatures dropped into the 20’s and we cranked up our Scamp’s furnace to stay toasty.

The wind continued to blow hard the next day.  It was sunny, but cool and windy.  We bundled up in our down jackets with wind breakers over them.  We drove to the visitor’s center (about 30 minutes) to see their exhibits and souvenirs and also spent some time on our phones (since we had cellphone reception here).  On the way back to Ryan Campground, we stopped at numerous outdoor exhibits and trails which included Cap Rock & Intersection Rock (including .3 mile nature loop) and Creosote Trail.  We also stopped at some popular rock climbing spots.  Some of the names of these rocks are interesting:  Hemingway Buttress, Banana Cracks, Heart of Darkness, Target Rock, The Oyster Bar, Split Personality Rock, Agent Orange, East Wall Hall of Horrors, Exorcist, Diamond Dogs, and Nurn’s Romp.  We tried to visually connect the names of the rocks with the rock shapes, but they didn’t really match.  We guess the rock names are more aligned with the climbing experiences rather than the rocks’ appearances.  The most epic experience though, was walking along desert trails filled with Joshua trees (sights that cannot be matched anywhere else).  The trees, actually a type of Yucca, were, according to legend, named by Mormon immigrants crossing through the desert in the 1850s.  They saw the gnarled outstretched limbs of the trees as reaching their hands up to the sky in prayer (and/or pointing toward the Promised Land) and, so, named them after the biblical figure Joshua.

The wind calmed a bit in the evening of our last night, only to pave the way for an unexpected snowstorm!  Click here for a short video of the snowstorm at our campsite.  Yes, it was actually snowing!  We sure were glad to have two filled propane tanks on board (although we only used a small fraction of one) so we could run our heater all night.  We were very comfortable inside the warm cozy interior of the Scamp (watching movies and playing Sequence and Backgammon games). Looking out the Scamp’s panoramic windows watching the snow blanket the desert floor was a mesmerizing site.  Equally as captivating, was watching the tent campers scrambling to their cars for supplies during the blizzard.  It was difficult to imagine how they were able to bundle up enough in the cold to sleep in their tents (most likely didn’t have propane heaters and we witnessed some sleeping in their cars).  We heard some scary stories the following morning from tent campers who battled extreme cold during the night (temps in the teens).  People also exchanged hot food and hot drinks the morning after the snowstorm.

Our last morning at Ryan Campground was calm with blue skies (temperatures in the 20’s).  We had a chance to take a nice early morning hike (Keys View Rd trail) from the campground (around a two mile round trip flat desert walk) before heading home.  Because we plan to come back, we made note of a number of ranger programs which look interesting–including, Keys Ranch Tour  ($10 for adults, reservations the day before), All About Joshua Trees, and the Evening Program.  Although we experienced a wild weather ride on this trip, it was really exciting and satisfying.  It was great to see how our Scamp 13’ pushed through the challenges with flying colors.  And, these experiences will no doubt elevate our game for future trips.  Speaking of future trips, our next planned trip is back here next month at Jumbo Rocks Campground!  Stay tuned!

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. 

Temecula

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Temecula
January 27th – 29th, 2023 (2 nights)

Temecula is a wine and olive tree growing region about an hour northeast of San Diego.  It gets really hot here in the summer, but is the perfect winter location to hike and go on wine and olive oil tasting tours.  It’s a great destination for a long weekend coming from Los Angeles or San Diego.  We made our trip plans last minute, so we couldn’t make an online reservation at Dripping Springs Campground (about a 20 minute drive from Old Town Temecula); reservations for the campsites are blocked four days before each date. However, we decided we would risk it and show up before noon on Friday and see if we could get a spot.  The process of getting a campsite in person is easy.  Just drive into the campground and find an open campsite and park.  We really wanted campsite #10 (a normally first come first served campsite anyway) because it is at the farthest end of the campground right near the hiking trails.  We arrived at Dripping Springs Campground around 11:30 a.m. after a short drive from Carlsbad and drove straight back to campsite #10.  It turned out to be open and we parked!  After parking, campers have thirty minutes to get a pay envelope and fill out their vehicle information and campsite number, put money (cash or check) in the envelope ($15/night for trailers), and deposit the envelope in the iron ranger drop box (located next to the host trailer at the campground entrance).

After setting up our Scamp 13’ and having lunch, we drove to Old Town Temecula to explore.  Along the way, we stopped off at the Olive Plantation, a family owned and run small olive oil farm.  The sign said tours are available on weekends, but, being a Friday, we were lucky when the owner saw us in the driveway and opened the gate!  She gave us a private tour and tasting.  Of course, they also sell olive oil, and we purchased a $25 bottle of one of their first pressings.  Although small, this olive oil farm has won global awards for the quality of their oil.  After our tour, we continued toward Old Temecula.  Many of the buildings here went up around 1883, when the Southern California Railroad brought travelers and commerce to the Temecula Valley.  Some of these old structures still stand, but have been converted to shops, restaurants, and bars.  We strolled down the main street of Old Town and also walked up and down the side streets.  There are antique shops, places to eat, an olive oil tasting room (Temecula Olive Oil Company), and even a community theater.  We spent a couple of hours wandering and then were ready to retreat to the quiet solitude of Dripping Springs Campground to relax.

Dripping Springs Campground, located in the Cleveland National Forest, is a small but very beautiful campground run by the US Forest Service / USDA (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).   Sitting in a canyon nestled between mountains and adjacent to the Agua Tibia Wilderness, the campground has a creek that runs alongside and a number of very popular hiking and horseback riding trails.    This is also the home of the two inch arroyo toad (a species of toad endemic to California and Baja California, Mexico) whose picture is featured on a sign next to the creek.  The campground has 34 single campsites, 9 equestrian sites (although we saw tent campers using these sites), 2 horse corrals, potable water, and vault toilets.  The best sites are the ones on the farthest end, closest to the trailhead and creek (the host said if you can fit into it, including tent only sites, you can take it!).  We really enjoyed the peacefulness of site #10, which is adjacent to the creek.  We could only get Verizon cell reception at the entrance to the campground.  We downloaded movies onto our laptop at home, so we were able to enjoy cinema in our Scamp in the evenings!

We scheduled an olive oil farm tour at the Temecula Olive Oil Company for Saturday; eight minutes south of our campsite in Aguanga.  We also invited our friends Colleen and Perry (travelling from Canada and who happened to be staying at an RV park in the area for a couple of weeks).  We met at the farm at 10 a.m. and had a really interesting tour which lasted until noon.  The farm owners and tour leaders (a married couple) began their careers with extensive experience in the wine industry and worked in various roles for large corporations.  They then switched their focus to olive oil and have worked their farm for the past twenty years.  During the tour, we were given an inside look at what it takes to grow olive trees and mill olive oil, as well as told personal stories of the owners’ lives and how they came to establish the Temecula Olive Oil Company.  We sampled over ten varieties of their oil and vinegars while listening to the farm and family’s history.  With our bellies full of high quality olive oils and our minds full of olive jokes (yes, olive ‘em)…, we walked the grounds and saw some of their animals (including their pigs) before enjoying a great picnic lunch next to the magnificent olive grove.

We had two beautiful clear sunny January days during our Temecula visit, with rain approaching on Sunday.  So, we did what any meandering Scamp nomad does when foul weather approaches: we cranked up our stabilizers, hitched up, and headed out!

Replacing the RV Door Lock on a 2020 Scamp 13’

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Replacing the RV Door Lock on a 2020 Scamp 13’

Our 2020 Scamp 13’ was delivered from the Scamp factory with the Global Link RV Entry Door Lock which is commonly used across many travel trailer brands.  This lock serves to secure the trailer’s door by providing two locking cylinders (the main cylinder and a dead bolt) within the latch.  Typically, if the door latch does its job then one doesn’t really think about it.  But, for our Scamp, this wasn’t the case.  The original lock was not only very difficult to lock and unlock, but also sometimes wouldn’t unlock (from both the outside and inside of the trailer).  On one of our first trips with our Scamp, we found ourselves locked inside the trailer subject to a lock that wouldn’t open regardless of the inside lock positions.  We ended up having to remove the lock and reinstall it (which seemed to work for a while).  Eventually, on another trip, the end of the key snapped off inside the lock when attempting to lock the deadbolt from the outside of the trailer.  Since our trailer was under the first year warranty, Scamp replaced the lock without charge.

The replacement lock we received wasn’t much better than the first one.  This second door latch was always very difficult to open and lock, and, similar to the first one, presented a lot of resistance when engaging the deadbolt.  We learned to live with it and were always very careful when turning the key when locking and unlocking the deadbolt.  The lock was always a source of concern whenever using it; we always wondered when it would fail next.  A couple of years later, the key snapped inside the lock when we were on a trip at Sequoia National Park.  Fortunately, we were able to still lock and unlock the deadbolt with just the remaining part of the key (with more than half the key still broken and stuck inside the lock) for the rest of our trip!  Not wanting to try a third example of this same lock (“fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”), we began searching for a lock replacement as soon as we arrived home.  We originally liked the idea of a keyless entry lock as it would be great not having to deal with keys.  We looked closely at this lock as well as another one.

However, because the 2020 Scamp 13’ door is designed with a small recessed fiberglass space for the door lock, none of the keyless entry systems we could find would fit (because of their extra wide design which accommodates the numbered buttons).  So, we concentrated on finding a lock design that would match the original lock’s physical specifications so it would fit inside the hole in our Scamp’s door.

There are numerous locks available which look virtually identical to the original Global Link RV Lock which was installed on our Scamp by the factory.  However, not all locks that match our physical specifications for the lock cutout are:  highly reviewed, comprised of 100% metal (some have plastic parts), and have unique laser cut keys.  We chose this lock by Welluck because it meets the above criteria.  Additionally, it is waterproof and comes with 4 laser cut keys (cut on the inside for enhanced security).  The company states that each key set is unique (although we haven’t been able to confirm this).  Lastly, we really like that the Welluck lock is offered in white, a very unique color among locks, and matches our white 2020 Scamp 13’.

If there is appropriate cut out space in the door, installation of this lock should be very easy (see video above).  Simply remove the existing lock by unscrewing the 4 bolts on the back plate, 2 door plate bolts, pull existing back plate, and then pull the front of the lock out from the front of the door.  Installation of the new lock is the reverse of the same procedure.  First, push the front of the new lock through the hole in the door front, screw in the side metal cylinder plate, and then align the hole for the deadbolt pin and position the handle slider mechanism forward and secure the back plate with the 4 bolts.  Check to see the proper operation of the handle/deadbolt and keys after installation.  After installation, we were pleased to find that this new lock is very sturdy and much smoother in function than our previous two manufacturer supplied locks!  And, the key to our hearts with locks is a key that works without struggle or hesitation!

 

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. 

Using a Rivet Gun to Mount a New Scamp LED Bathroom Light

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Using a Rivet Gun to Mount a New Scamp LED Bathroom Light

Warning:  always use eyewear protection when working with tools!

Having a bright LED light in the Scamp bathroom is great.  Our 2020 Scamp 13’ came with a large oval 12V light (about 6 inches long, 3.5 inches wide) by Dream Lighting.  The light is energy efficient (4.5 Watts), very bright (300 lumen) for the Scamp’s small bathroom and lightweight (less than 3 ounces).   LED lights are especially nice because they don’t require a lot of energy to run and they usually last a very long time.  That’s why when our bathroom LED light started malfunctioning (flickering, dim, only partially lighting), it was surprising.  Fortunately, this light is very inexpensive (currently $11 on Amazon) so replacing it seemed like the easiest thing to do (vs. trying to repair).  I did pop open the cover and flipped the switch a few times to see if it could be something obvious.  However, the problem wasn’t apparent and it could easily be a circuit board issue (as all the LEDs sometimes would occasionally light, but often very faintly).

Replacing the LED light with an identical light from one purchased on Amazon seemed like it would be super straightforward.  My thoughts were that I would just unscrew the existing bad light, remove the wire nuts from the black (positive) and white (negative) wires, and attach the new wire leads from the lamp to the Scamp wiring, and then screw the new one in.  However, as is often the case with travel trailers, things aren’t always as they seem.  Once I popped open the light’s opaque white plastic cover, I noticed some strange metal tubes coming out of each end of the lamps’ mounting holes.  I called Scamp and they explained that the LED lamp is riveted to the wall.  After they explained why Scamp uses rivets on their trailers, it made perfect sense.  Rivets don’t usually loosen with vibration (which happens to bolts when driving). They are also good for joining parts where there is little separation between them.  The downside is that installing them generally requires a special tool (rivet gun), some learning, and often a drill to drill out the existing rivet (if replacing something already riveted in place, like the old Scamp LED shower light).

Fortunately, rivet guns are relatively inexpensive and I thought that since so many things on the Scamp are riveted, it would be nice to have a rivet gun for potential future use (also, I don’t know anyone who has a rivet gun I can borrow!).  It’s not the most popular tool these days (unless you hang out with RV veterans who like working on their rigs).  After doing a little research, I discovered that rivets are pretty common in RVs, often used on aluminum siding, hinges, latches, and many things attached to the RV walls.  While working on this project, I took a close look at the outside of our Scamp and noticed many white plastic rivet caps!  So, it seems many items inside the Scamp are riveted in place from the outside of the trailer.

The rivet gun I ordered also comes with 200 aluminum rivets (50 of each of the four most common sizes) and four drill bits (used to drill out already mounted rivets).  The rivet gun has four different head attachments which accommodates each size rivet [3/32”(2.4mm), 1/8”(3.4mm), 5/32”(4.0mm), and 3/16”(4.8mm)].  I was told by Scamp that the bathroom LED light utilizes 3/16” (4.8mm) rivets which are also 9/16” long.  The first thing I did was remove the opaque white cover on the existing bad LED lamp, then I removed the two white plastic caps covering the rivet heads inside the upper cabinet on the opposite side of the wall of the shower, and I utilized the 3/16” drill bit to drill out the rivet heads (x2) (this size bit easily drills through the 3/16” rivet head).  I found the bit quickly cut through the rivet head with little effort (since they are aluminum) and the heads wound up on the bit.  When the second head was drilled off, the bad bathroom LED light came off the wall and dangled, supported by its wiring.

Removing the bad bathroom LED light was simple once it was off the wall.  I simply removed the two wire nuts (making sure not to let the white and black wires touch each other to avoid a short circuit).  Before installing the new LED light, it was easy to test it by connecting it to the two wires (white to white and black to black).  After verifying the new LED light worked well, I removed it and took it to the work bench.  The two plastic mounting holes on each end needed to be slightly drilled out (they are a little too small in diameter for the 3/16’ to fit through).  I first removed the white opaque LED light cover so I wouldn’t accidently drill through it from behind.  Then, I used the same 3/16” drill bit I used to drill out the old rivet heads and I drilled out the two holes from the back of the LED light so the 3/16” rivets were able to fit through the holes (the long rod, or mandrel, goes into the rivet gun and then other end of the rivet goes through the cabinet wall and then through the back of the LED bathroom light holes).

Everything seemed to be going very smoothly.  I even tested a sample 3/16” rivet on the bad LED light (I had to drill out the plastic hole like on the new one).  To operate the gun, just place the long metal rod (mandrel) into the front of the rivet gun, put the rivet through the items that you want to join, and then squeeze the trigger multiple times until the rod breaks off (it takes some strength) (watch my attached video).  When squeezing the trigger, the head of the rivet compresses the rivet’s body (shortening and widening it) and pulls tightly together the two items being joined.  It’s here that I encountered an issue.  The 3/16” (4.8mm) diameter rivets I was using, which came with the rivet gun, were too short!  They didn’t have enough length to go all the way through the shower wall and plastic LED light mounting holes.  I reviewed my notes and found that Scamp mentioned that the length of the rivets they use for the LED shower light are 9/16”.  The ones that came with the rivet gun are the same diameter, 3/16”(4.8mm), but only 5/16”long, not counting the rivet head.  And, they would be even shorter once compressed by the rivet gun.

I couldn’t find 3/16”(4.8mm) rivets with 9/16” length on Amazon, so I ordered ones advertised as 3/16” x 5/8”since 5/8” or 10/16” is very close.  They showed up the next day (got to love Amazon!) but things were not as they seemed!  The rivet body on the new ones looked really long and I measured them to be 13/16” long!  The label on the package was clearly printed showing 3/16” x 5/8”.  Dumfounded, I searched online and found that the first measurement of the listed rivet size is the diameter (which is what I expected), but the second measurement is the “maximum grip range” and not the rivet length (despite what some of the Amazon sellers show on their charts).

The story thickens.  As it turns out, the “grip range” is the range of thicknesses that the rivet can hold together once it is compacted by a rivet gun.  For example, if one is riveting two pieces of material together and the two pieces together will be 5/16” thick then you will need a rivet with a grip range that covers that thickness. A rivet with a grip range of 4/16” – 6/16” would be a match since 5/16” thickness falls in the middle of the range.  A rivet with a smaller grip range would be too short to hold the pieces together and one with a larger grip range would hold the pieces together, but would be too loose (allowing separation of the parts).  The thickness of the materials for the LED bathroom light and Scamp wall is around 6/16” (I measured by inserting a wire rod through the cabinet wall hole and all the way through the thickness of the LED lamp as it was held against the shower wall.  I used a marker to mark the length of wire which I then measured with a ruler, see video).  Upon speaking to Scamp a second time, I was told that the industry number of the rivet they use for the LED bathroom light is a #6-6 rivet.  The first number is the diameter in 32nds – so, 6 is equal to 6/32” or 3/16” diameter.  The second number refers to the maximum grip length in 16ths – so 6 is equal to 6/16”.  This is the maximum length to which the rivet body will compress.  So, the #6-6 rivet Scamp uses has a maximum grip length of 6/16” which will accommodate the thickness of the LED shower light materials I estimated at 6/16”.  So, it would make sense then that the first rivets I ordered on Amazon which had a maximum grip range of 5/8” (or 10/16”) would have been too long for the thickness of the materials (around 6/16” thick) and the LED bathroom light would probably have just dangled from the wall if those were used.  I ordered the #6-6 rivets and they worked perfectly — just the right size to hold the LED bathroom light tightly against the bathroom wall.

The hardest part of a rivet project is figuring out the correct size of rivets to use.  Once that is known, then actually using the rivet gun and attaching the rivets is very easy.  I positioned the LED bathroom light wiring behind the light so that the wiring nuts were tucked inside the recessed area in order to get the light body to sit flatly against the wall.  Then, I inserted each rivet into the hole, squeezed the handle on the rivet gun several times until the mandrel fell off, and that was it!  The LED bathroom light attached really tightly against the shower wall!  Of course, there are many other items in the Scamp 13’ that use rivets, and armed with this new knowledge and a new rivet gun, we look forward to the next riveting project!

 

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 Arizona Fall 2022

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Southern Arizona Fall 2022
November 13th – 22nd, 2022 (9 nights)

Late fall and winter bring cool temperatures to most U.S. locations, prompting many campers to place their travel trailers into storage until spring.  However, southern Arizona’s weather is very welcoming during this period (usually 60’s-70’s during the day and cool nights) and, in turn, lots of snowbirds flock here for the pleasant temperatures.  We wanted to capture the best weather southern Arizona has to offer, so we planned a trip along its southern border.  We chose six locations across the state and kept most drive times to three hours or less.  Our longest drive was from our home in Carlsbad, California (San Diego county) to our first campground, Painted Rock Petroglyph Site Campground in Arizona (about 4 ½ hours).  We chose Painted Rock as our first stop because we needed to break up the drive and it sounded interesting.

Painted Rock Petroglyph Campground is about 1 ½ hours east of Yuma on the 8 Freeway.  There’s a gas station in Sentinel, AZ (they sell Middle of Nowhere t-shirts) about thirty minutes away from Painted Rock Campground, which is a good place to fill up before leaving the 8 and turning off at Painted Rock Road to the campground.  The campground is about 12 miles up Painted Rock Road (paved road, with a small gravel section at the very end) and is an easy drive.  There are no facilities here (no water, electric, or sewer/dump station), so come with your fresh tank full and black and grey tanks empty.  We received good Verizon cellular phone signal here at this very isolated and desolate location.  The fee at this BLM campground is $8 per night (payable to the “iron ranger”, metal box).  However, the fee is only $6/night with an “America the Beautiful Pass” and $4/night with the “Golden Age or Access passport”.  We paid $8 for the night despite having the “America the Beautiful Pass” because the discounts were only posted at the Day Use section of the campground!  So, most people driving in will pay $8/night since the discounts are not posted at the RV campground entrance.  We did save $8 by not making a reservation and avoiding the reservation fee.  We read in advance that the campground usually has a lot of empty sites and since we were going on Sunday afternoon we figured we wouldn’t have an issue getting a spot.  As it turned out, the campground was mostly vacant with only a handful of campers spread out over a very large area.  We chose site #27 which is a great open location.  There is a camp host here, but we only saw someone in the morning near the host trailer riding a tractor and playing with a dog.  We enjoyed the remoteness, quietness, and privacy at the campground, the stars at night, and walking around the volcanic stone mounds trying to decrypt the petroglyph symbols (ancient graffiti) displayed on the rocks.  This stay over was a perfect place to get a great night’s sleep and refresh before the drive to our next stop, Catalina State Park.

Catalina State Park is a two and a half hour drive from Painted Rock Petroglyph Campground and is located in the upscale community of Oro Valley (Valley of Gold), about fourteen miles north of Tucson.   The campground is at the foothills of the beautiful Santa Catalina Mountains and only a quick bike ride to the nice town of Oro Valley.  We immediately noticed on our drive into Oro Valley the vast network of bike paths alongside the roads, a large number of popular stores and restaurants, a Ritz Carlton resort, a large hospital, and nice homes all set within the stunning backdrop of the Santa Catalina Mountains.  This place obviously is a well thought out planned community, where many families and retired people call home.  The first thing we did when arriving at Catalina State Park was to use the free central dump on the way to our campsite.  Our site, #18 ($35/night), has electric and water hookups with a spectacular view of the mountains.  Verizon cell coverage was poor, but a useable signal was obtainable by walking around the campground.  The daytime temperatures were in the 60’s, but our water filter was icy the next morning which slowed water flow inside the Scamp (overnight temperatures in the 20’s), so we switched to our internal fresh tank the next night and had no issues.  Fortunately, the fresh tank is inside the Scamp 13’ (underneath the right side bench seat), so it stays warm even in freezing temperatures (assuming the interior of the Scamp is kept heated).  We spent a couple of days here enjoying numerous hikes, including the Romero Ruins hike.  One of the highlights of our stay was when an owl landed on our Scamp’s roof right above our heads and hooted (similar to our Scampgrounds logo)!  Scamper quick tip:  when the night temperatures are forecasted to be cold and electric hookups are provided, bring a small electric ceramic heater (like this one) to avoid using your propane gas (save your propane for when no electric hookups are provided to use for the furnace, refrigerator, gas stove, and hot water heater).

It’s about a two hour drive from Catalina State Park to Patagonia Lake State Park, directly south on the 19 Freeway.  The route goes almost straight down to the Mexican border town of Nogales.  Patagonia Lake is very isolated and is surrounded by rolling hills.  The campground is spread out with its own store, boat ramp, marina, and plenty of picnic tables and small docks available to launch canoes and kayaks.  Cabins are also available to rent for those without RVs.  We had a nice campsite by the lake, #22 ($30/night), which has electric and water hookups (there is also a free central dump at the campground).  Because lush vegetation grows along the shores of the lake, there are few campsites with expansive lake views.  But, campers can walk down to the area of the Visitor’s Center and there are plenty of picnic tables with great water scenery.  Verizon service was only useable in certain locations (e.g. near the Visitor’s Center).  We ran our ceramic heater at this location as well since it was chilly at night and we had an electric hookup.  Individuals and families who enjoy time out on the water with inflatable boats and other types of kayaks/canoes flock here throughout the year.  We also saw people fishing (both from shore and boats).  The area is also popular for birders, as there are a large variety of bird species in the area (including ones from Mexico).  There is also access to Sonoita Creek State Natural Area (which we hiked) close by that is a popular preserve among birders.  There are a lot of trails near the lake and the Sonoita Creek area.  We spent a couple of days hiking, watching wildlife (including birds and deer), and even seeing some free range cows.  Pontoon boat tours ($7 per adult/$5 per child) are offered on Saturdays and Sundays at various times which focus on both avian and discovery interests.  And, bird walks are led by rangers Monday and Friday mornings at 9 a.m. (meet at the Birding Trail near site 12).  Note – tour types, days and times are subject to change, so call ahead to confirm.  We made sure to use the free central dump on the way out of the campground as our next stop was somewhere quite remote and without dump facilities.

Continuing our journey further east for two and half hours, we made our way to Chiricahua (pronounced cherry-cow-a) National Monument (Bonita Canyon Campground), not far from the Arizona – New Mexico border.  The campground is hidden in the mountains thirty five miles southeast of Willcox, the closest town to the area.  We filled up our gas tank in Willcox before heading out onto quiet Highway 186; we didn’t see any cars the entire forty five minute drive to the campground (the drive was easy on paved roads).  Not having learned much about the campground, we expected it to be fairly isolated with minimal facilities or support staff.  We made sure our fresh tank was full (just in case water spigots were not working) and black and grey tanks were drained before arriving (since there is no central dump).  Our expectations were happily turned upside down upon arrival; we passed a beautiful Visitor Center (with a natural rock exterior similar to ones found in Yosemite) and were greeted at our site by one of three volunteer rangers who live at the campground!  Several deer stood by next to us, seemingly unfazed, as we navigated our Scamp 13’ into our site, #14 (nice spot looking out at the mountains, $20/night, no cell phone service, no hookups, but there are working water spigots, a grey water sink for disposing of grey water, and free WiFi at the Visitor’s Center)!  The ranger gave us a brief rundown on some of the trails and made some recommendations on where to explore in this “Land of Standing up Rocks”.

The terrain here is much different than many of the Arizona desert campgrounds.  This mountain campground sits at over 5,000 feet elevation and there are over 1,200 species of plants in the surrounding area.  There are pines, firs, yuccas, agaves, prickly pear cactus and many others.  There is also abundant wildlife, including birds, coatimundi (raccoon like creatures), Arizona white-tailed deer, Javelina (pig like, but not a pig), black bears, Chiricahua fox squirrels, mountain lions, black-tailed rattlesnakes, and mountain spiny lizards.  Our site, #14, has a fantastic view of some of the mountains with stone rock formations for which this area is famous (note:  Site #13 has unobstructed mountain views and is, along with #14, a top choice for future visits).  The Mexican Jay birds are very bold and will stand at one’s feet looking for handouts.  Just ignore them (it’s also prohibited to feed wildlife) and they will go about their business foraging for acorns.  The first thing we did after setting up our Scamp 13’ was to take the half mile trail to the Visitor’s Center.  It’s well stocked with Chiricahua related items (including t-shirts) as well as snacks.  We were given a large map and one of the rangers gave us her list of must see attractions.  We still had enough time before dark on our first afternoon to hike to Faraway Ranch (a ranch homesteaded in 1886 by Swedish immigrants Neil Erickson and Emma Peterson) where a number of ranch buildings are preserved.  Along the way, we saw numerous deer, wild turkeys, and a band of coatimundi (about 20 of them with their tails straight up)!  None of these animals were startled by our presence and walked right by us within a few feet.  It seems this is a land time has forgot where wildlife hasn’t been too disrupted by mankind.  We felt like visitors to the animals’ home and they treated us well.  Here is some video of animals we took close to the campground.

We took the eight-mile scenic drive above the campground to Massai Point (elevation 6900 ft.) on our second day to look out over the Chiricahua National Monument vistas.  We walked the easy half-mile Massai Nature Trail (some Verizon signal here) and marveled at the expanse of standing rock columns formed by volcanic eruptions 27 million years ago.  The unusual rock formations reminded us of our time spent in Cappadocia, Turkey, known for its distinctive “fairy chimneys”.   We were astonished that something like this existed in Arizona.  To get an even more immersive experience, we parked at the Echo Canyon parking lot a little way down the mountain and hiked the moderate 3.3 mile Echo Canyon Loop Trail which winds its way through the mesmerizing Echo Canyon Grotto (a fairytale like series of stone columns nestled closely together).  We didn’t have time for the Heart of Rocks Loop (7.3 miles strenuous loop) which has some of the famous balancing rock structures (like the Big Balanced Rock, Pinnacle Balance Rock, Punch & Judy, and Duck on a Rock), but hope to return and do it in the future.  We are glad we had at least two days here, but if we had known there are so much fantastic scenery and things to do in this area, we would have booked a minimum of three nights.  We met one fit hiker who told us she had been here six days and was just able to complete all of the Monument’s main hikes!  The ranger was right when he told us when we first pulled in that this place is a hidden gem!

We left Bonita Canyon Campground the next morning with a full fresh tank as the next campground, Picacho Peak State Park, notified us that fresh water was not available due to the drought (this was a first for us)!  We headed down the mountain back into Willcox and then continued west past Tucson (a two and a half hour drive from Chiricahua National Monument).  Picacho Peak State Park is located off the 10 Freeway between Tucson and Phoenix.  It’s a largely flat desert landscape with some tall mountains (including Picacho Peak, of which the campground sits at the base).  The freeway can be seen and heard (along with trains) in the distance from the campground (some noise).  We were excited to arrive because we planned to meet Canadian friends (Colleen and Perry) in person for the first time who we know from Instagram (who also travel by fiberglass travel trailer).  We used the free central dump when pulling in and then found our site, #C27 (electric hookup, no water, $30/night, good Verizon cell service).  Site #C27 is fairly private and well located with nice mountain views.  As we finished setting up our Scamp 13’, a horn honked, and we saw our friends pulling in with their Oliver Elite II travel trailer.  We found we had a lot in common and all took a nice walk together after lunch.  Our friend Colleen cooked a fabulous Mexican dinner for us and we enjoyed it at their campsite.  The next morning, we took a very challenging hike to the top of Picacho Peak!  It’s a strenuous hike and some parts are very vertical, requiring the use of steel cables which are anchored into the rock.  It’s recommended to wear leather gloves to avoid getting hand injuries while grabbing the cables.  We made the ascent in about one and a half hours and the descent in a little over an hour.  It’s a thrilling and strenuous hike, and definitely not recommended for the faint of heart (or those with a fear of heights)!  We had a marvelous time here with our new friends and really enjoyed the campground (even though it is close to the city and freeway).  The desert scenery, including cactus and mountains, made for a peaceful stay.

To avoid a six hour ride straight back home to San Diego, we headed to Yuma (3 hours from Picacho Peak SP) for a stay over at Hidden Cove RV Park ($45/night, full hookups).  Hidden Cove RV Park (located in Arizona) is situated right on the Colorado River on the Arizona-California border.  The people here are very nice and this RV park is very close to the highlights of downtown Yuma.  We didn’t have much time though in Yuma to explore, since we hiked Picacho Peak the same day as our departure to Yuma.  We enjoyed a late lunch at a local burger place, Eddie’s Grill, in Yuma before relaxing in the evening (including a walk along the Colorado River path).  There was a beautiful sunset allowing for a nice opportunity to launch the drone for photos.  The next morning, before leaving for home, we walked along the long dirt road across the street from the RV park which parallels an aqueduct and meanders along farmland (which provides miles of peaceful walking terrain).

This turned out to be a fantastic trip.  We didn’t know what to expect, which is part of what makes trips to new places so fun.  We always read about our destinations in advance when planning trips, but the reality is usually different and the sights, sounds & smells of what’s experienced can never be replicated online.  It’s the excitement of the unknown–visiting new locations and meeting new people—that has the potential to greatly broaden one’s horizons.  We never come back from a trip exactly the same as when we left (and this is usually a positive thing!).  It’s the mystery and discovery of what’s just around the next corner that keeps us going!

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.