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Tuolumne Meadows

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Tuolumne Meadows
August 18th – August 24th, 2026 (6 nights)

Tuolumne Meadows Campground in Yosemite National Park has been one of our top places to visit for a while.  This high elevation campground sits far above Yosemite Valley (where most tourists go when visiting Yosemite) at about 8,600 feet.  Tuolumne Meadows Campground has been closed for years undergoing a $26 million dollar renovation and just reopened last summer (2025).  Because the season is so short (mid June to mid September) due to extreme weather, the opportunity to secure a reservation at this campground is very limited.  This year, the campground used a rolling reservation window split into two parts (every two months or every two weeks).  We logged onto www.recreation.gov two weeks before our trip date and pressed the reserve button at 6:59:58 (trying to be the first to get into the recreation.gov system at exactly 7 a.m. when reservations for Tuolumne Meadows Campground open).  There were only two sites available that would accomodate our trailer, and probably hundreds of thousands of campers clicking at the same time.  To our surprise, we were able to secure one of those two campsites!

Because it’s such a long drive directly to Tuolumne Meadows Campground from San Diego, we chose to break up the trip and stay a night at Four Jeffrey Campground high above Bishop.  We picked this campground because it’s only about a two hour drive to Tuolumne Meadows and it’s at high elevation, so much cooler than Bishop.  We’ve stayed here before and love it because of the spectacular Swiss Alps type views.

Traveler Note:  never use cruise control when towing your trailer down a steep grade as the engine downshifts to slow the car plus trailer down and this can cause the engine to overheat.  Instead, drive the car manually and use the brakes to slow.

Four Jeffrey Campground (8,100’ elevation)
Before heading up the mountain to Camp Four Jeffrey, we stopped for lunch at The Mana food truck (formerly called Lemon Food Truck before its recent sale a couple of months ago) in the neighboring town of Independence.  It was 100 degrees in town when we arrived!  After a great Mexican food meal, we continued on to Bishop (where the outside temperature was about the same).  Since Four Jeffrey Campground is high up the montain at over 8,000 feet, the temperatures are usually much cooler.   However, this time the temperature only dropped about 10 degrees to around 90 when we arrived in the late afternoon.  With no hookups, the only relief from the high temperatures were shade and the Scamp’s powerful MaxxFan.

Four Jeffrey Campground is a large campground (with only the first 30 campsites reservable during the time of our visit) and has potable water spigots and an RV dump station (with two dumps) — dumping is free if you are camping here.  There’s no reliable cell phone signal, but signals come and go throughout the day and night in various locations throughout the campground.  For a more reliable cell phone signal, there’s a utility access dirt road across the main road that climbs for about 1/2 mile and overlooks Forks Campground down below.  We now use Starlink for satellite internet, so we had no issuees getting extremely fast internet service (comparable to fiber optic service at home).  Note:  on our last visit there was also free Starlink service at the Cardinal Village Resort in nearby Aspendell, CA.

This is one of the most dramatically scenic campgrounds we’ve been to as it’s surrounded by high Sierra mountains (covered in snow most of the year, with no snow visible during our visit this time in mid August).  Also, aspen trees grow throughout the campground which present in full yellow popping color in the Fall.  There’s a creek that runs through the campground and many campers enjoy fishing here.  We chose campsite #45 (not sure why we were able to reserve it since it’s not in the first thirty campsites and no other campsites were able to be reserved in this loop when we made reservations) because it sits high above all the other campsites and has dramatic views.  It was the second time we stayed at this campsite.  Some of the water spigots at the entrance are threaded and we used one (near campsite #93) to fill up our Scamp 13’s fresh water tank on the way out of the campground.  There are also unthreaded water spigots through the campground.

We only spent one night here on this trip as a stopover to Tuolomne Meadows Campground.  It was a good stop because it allowed us to get somewhat acclimated to over 8,000 feet elevation before climbing up Tioga Road and reaching the high country in Yosemite.

Tuolomne Meadows Campground (8,600’ elevation)
The two hour drive on Highway 395 from Bishop to Tuolomne Meadows Campground past Mammoth Lakes and climbing Tioga Mountain Pass was fairly easy.  In order to stay at Tuolomne Meadows Campground one first must pay the entrance fee at the Yosemite Ranger Station since the campground is within the Yosemite National Park.  When we pulled up to the ranger station which had posted “credit cards only accepted”, we were greeted by a smiling ranger who told us it was our lucky day because the park’s computer system was down and she was waiving our $35 entrace fee!  Note — the annual America the Beautiful pass or Senior Golden Pass can be used to enter the park without having to pay additional fees.

We stayed at Tuolumne Meadows Campground in Site #H3 ($36/night) for four nights.  It’s a shady site within the pines.  Most of the sites here seem desireable.  One thing we noticed is that water spigots are only at the restroom areas (not near the campsites).  Fortunately, with a dolly and jug this wasn’t an issue.  There’s little to no cell phone service in the campground (occassional one to two bars on Verizon, but only barely useable, usually in the early morning hours).  We did find though that we could sometimes maintain voice calls with one bar and occassionally be able to send texts without attachments.  We ran Starlink, which worked really well.  There is a free dump near the Visitor’s Center.  Since there’s only one dump station, we went on a late Saturday afternoon the day before departing and no one was there.  Additionally, there’s a free fresh water fill station beyond the dump station.

Tuolomne Meadows is stunningly beautiful — sparkling alpine lakes and rivers, georgeous meadows, and huge granite rock formations.  There are seemingly endless numbers of hikes available as well as other activities such as fishing and kayaking.  There are also ranger programs throughout the day and night.  Part of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) runs through the park and PCT hikers can be seen making their way along the trail or grabbing a snack in town (most notably at The Grill which is a small grill offering inexpensive burgers, salads, and more.)  The Grill is just ouside the campground and serves breakfast, lunch, or dinner 8a.m. to 6 p.m.  We enjoyed their soft serve cones (“frosties”) on a warm summer day (and you can order any flavor — so long as it’s vanilla, chocolate, or swirl combination).

Most tourists stay in Yosemite Valley and there are a number of campgrounds and hotels (such as the luxurious Ahwahnee hotel) within the valley.  We stayed at Upper Pines Campground on a previous trip and found the area and trails to be beautiful but also crowded.  Yosemite Valley tends to be extraordinarily busy during the summer months when kids are out of school and families go on vacation.  It also can be very warm.  That’s why we loved our stay at Tuolomne Meadows Campground.  The weather was cool — in the mid 70’s during the day and in the 40’s at night.  And, the campground was quiet.  In addition, we only occassionally saw other people on our hikes!  It felt like a private Yosemite vacation.

Plan to take it easy on the first day or two as the campground is at high elevation (around 8,600 feet) and altitude sickness may be possible (this sickness has no correlation with fitness levels).  The campground is beautiful, nestled within the pines, with the Tuolumne River running beside it:  a great place to set up chairs and/or hammocks to laze away the afternoons.

There are lots of hiking opportunities right from within the campground.  There’s a short hike to the Visitor’s Center (very  small, not many souvenirs).  Once at the Visitor’s Center, there’s a fantastic, easy hike across the Tuolumne Meadows that crosses the Tuolumne River over a bridge and leads to Parsons Memorial Lodge and Soda Springs.  The meadow itself is beautiful and looks out onto forests, giant granite domes, and craggy peaks.  It’s common to see horse riders on this trail as well as mule pack teams crossing the meadows.  There are all sorts of animals on the trail including deer, squirrels, birds, and even marmots!  We saw a really friendly marmot at the bridge.  He seemed to enjoy our company and sat next to us when we took a break at the river.  After crossing the bridge, make sure to visit the Parsons Memorial Lodge (once a hiker refuge for those seeking shelter from lightning storms).  It’s now run by the park service.  And, next to the lodge/refuge, check out the Soda Springs — a rusty looking area of shallow water that bubbles up from springs down below.  Other highly recommended hikes are EASY:   Lyell Canyon via the John Muir Trail (stunning river and forest views), MODERATE:  2.8 miles / 3 hours, Dog Lake / Lembert Dome (dome and lake views), MODERATE: 4.8 miles / 4-5 hours Elizabeth Lake (glacier-carved lake at the base of Unicorn Peak)(note:  we saw no hikers on this trail on Saturday morning around 7 a.m. and we completed the hike in about two hours) and MODERATE: 7 miles / 4-6 hours Cathedral Lakes (beautiful lakes).

Lone Pine Campground (5,900’ elevation)
In order to break up the drive down Highway 395 coming home, we stayed at Lone Pine Campground (about a three hour drive from Tuolomne Meadows).  We stopped for lunch on the way down to Lone Pine at Crearee, a top rated Mexican restaurant in Bishop (highly recommended for tacos, burritos, and quesadillas).  Their jackfruit taco was excellent.

Our car thermometer read that it was 104 degrees when we cruised through the town of Lone Pine (elevaton 3,272 feet).  We decided not to drive up to Whitney Portal Campground this trip since we had just stayed their in June and only needed a place to stay overnight and that drive is extreme (steep cliffs up mountainous turns), so we chose Lone Pine Campground which is not nearly as far or steep a drive as to the Whitney Portal.  The rule of thumb is that for every 1,000 feet of elevation gain, the temperature drops 3 to 5 degrees.  This rule held pretty well in our case — it was about 12 degrees lower (or around 92 degrees) when we arrived at the campground.  The heat wasn’t too bad because it was very windy.  We sat out back behind the Scamp 13′ in the shade and enjoyed the breezes.

Lone Pine Campground is small with only 44 total campsites.  There are bathrooms and water spigots (some with threads).  There is no mobile phone service or RV dump station in the campground (the closest dump station is at the Tuttle Creek Campground closer to town).  It’s only about a 12 minute drive up Whitney Portal Road to the campground from the town of Lone Pine below.  We stayed in site #24 ($34/night), a very nice campsite at the lower part of the campground.  Lone Pine Creek can be heard at site #24 all year long as it’s a perennial mountain stream fed by Sierra snowmelt and springs.  The water is very cold and crystal clear.  There’s a short path from Site #24 to the creek and we sat down on the rocks to cool off.  Looking out at the panoramic views of the Eastern Sierra and jagged peaks, it may feel like you are in Switzerland.  The sights are so amazing here that they are worth the trip even if you do nothing else but sit back in a relaxing chair and take in the scenery.

If you have time to explore and are not visiting in the heat of the summer, make sure to have breakfast (cinnamon rolls, breakfast burritos, and pancakes) and lunch (burgers, tuna melts) at the Alabama Hills Café, a local favorite diner in downtown Lone Pine.  Also, be sure to visit the Museum of Western Film History ($5 per person).  The museum has galleries full of pictures and memorabilia from movies filmed in the area.  In the museum’s screening room, watch their educational film for a great background on the movie industry in Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills.  To see an old Western film made in the Alabama Hills, click here.  An extensive list of films made in the Alabama Hills can be found here.  And, hike a bit in the famous Alabama Hills.  For our complete report on the Alabama Hills, click here.  To see us driving through Alabama Hills click here.

Final Thoughts
Tuolumne Meadows is a very special place filled with natural wonders.  Yosemite is about the size of Rhode Island and 95% of the public only sees about 5% of the park.  And of this 5%, most of the visits are within Yosemite Valley.  This leaves Tolumne Meadows largely untouched and a place of wonderful exploration for those who are able to make the trip and get reservations.  We found Tolumne Meadows much more enjoyable due to the lack of crowds common in Yosemite Valley.  Of the many hikes we took on this trip, we were either the only ones on the trail or among the few people exploring the trails.

Note to Starlink users — Starlink worked well within the Tuolumne Meadows Campground despite the trees.  We had cancelled our subscription earlier in the year, but it only took a few minutes to reactivate it online before leaving.  Starlink kept our billing period the same.  Since we restarted the subscription ten days after the start of our billing period, we received a prorated discount ($44 for 100GB instead of $55).  And, because we cancelled before the next billing period started, it means that the only charge for the trip for Stalink was the prorated amount ($44).  Despite intermittently using the internet daily, we didn’t get anywhere close to the 100GB data limit.

Planning for this trip was relatively last minute because one of the reservation windows at Tuolumne Meadows Campground is available only 14 days in advance.  We had no plans for August because we generally don’t travel during this month due to hot weather and crowds.  However, we found travelling to Tuolumne Meadows in August definitely worth it as the weather was ideal (70’s to low 80’s during the day and 40’s at night) and the crowds were all down in Yosemite Valley.  A ranger working at the Parsons Lodge during our visit told us that it’s even easier to get a reservation if you are willing to reserve just six days in advance during the “cancellation window” when people change their plans and spots suddenly open up.  This reminds us of a saying, “In order to have a change of fortune at the last minute, you have to take your fortune to the last minute” — Terry Pratchett.  So, we highly recommend waiting until the last minute and booking a trip to Tuolumne Meadows Campground in Yosemite!

 

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 right.

Secret Planning Tools & Strategies For Long Distance RV Trips

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Secret Planning Tools & Strategies For Long Distance RV Trips
Planning a long distance RV trip with multiple stops can be overwhelming.  Questions such as:  Where to go?  Where to stay?  How much will campgrounds cost?  How long to stay at each stop?  Are there amenities such as hookups?  Where are dump stations along the route?  and many others often arise when arranging such a trip.  Where to begin?!!!  I’ve put together a number of tools and strategies below which hopefully will help answer many of these questions and make the process of trip planning fun.

When and Where to Go?
The answer to this question is often dictated by the weather.  Unless one has an important reason to go somewhere specific, such as a business trip or family gathering, most of us will head to locations where the weather is good so we can enjoy our RV vacations (which usually involve a lot of outdoors activities).   In planning trips for our Scamp 13’ (with San Diego as our home base), paying attention to good weather usually means planning coast and mountain trips in the summer, all types of trips in the late spring and early fall, and coast and desert trips in the winter.  By following this method, we usually avoid temperature extremes, which can not only be extremely uncomfortable, but also damaging to the pipes (e.g. freezing) in small travel trailers.  Living in California, we are lucky in that there are usually locations throughout the year where the weather is favorable for small travel trailer trips.

In addition to the weather, it’s also a good idea to plan trips around locations of interest to you.  It only makes sense going places you will enjoy.  I have a friend who likes to attend the big annual quilting show in Sisters, Oregon every July.  Another friend loves fishing and has a standing reservation at Silver Lake Resort.  Building a trip around these activities is the perfect way to enjoy your small travel trailer and a fun interest at the same time.  Personally, I enjoy going to National and State Parks for the outdoor activities and many of my trips are to these locations.  After all, one of the big advantages of having a small travel trailer is being able to stay within these parks (often where hotels are non-existent or extremely expensive like the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite).  But, I also enjoy going to unique locations of interest, such as farm stays or specialty locations.  For example, I’m currently planning a fall trip through Oregon and hope to stay at several specialty stops including this alpaca farm, airport and airplane museum, small railroad depot, and organic farm.

Lastly, it’s often our schedules that dictate when we go.  For example, families may only be able to travel in the summer.  In these cases, pay close attention not only to the weather but also the potential for crowds when trip planning.  Even if the weather is good at a particular location during the planned travel month, if may not be a lot of fun if there are big crowds (such as at certain National parks).  I’ve found that going to lesser known parks can be equally enjoyable during the summer months.  For example, we had an awesome time at Lassen Volcanic National Park this past July and probably enjoyed it as much as our Yosemite trip two months earlier.

Planning Tools
Once you have decided when and where you want to go, it’s time to utilize some key travel planning tools which will not only help you decide on the best travel routes, best places to stay, and where to dump, but also potentially will save you a lot of money and make your trip more memorable!  The first tool I recommend is using Google Maps to search drive times between your planned stops.  Search “drive time from X to X”.

We try to limit our daily driving to no more than 4 hours per day (and driving no more than 2 consecutive days in a row).  However, we do sometimes make exceptions to facilitate certain trips (occasionally driving 5 or 6 hours if necessary and/or driving more than 2 consecutive days in a row if the drives are 3 hours or less and we want to visit a certain location).  For example, in the summer we go to Mammoth Lakes in the mountains (about a 7 hour drive), but it’s not possible to stay overnight midway as it is the desert and too hot.  However, when we arrive we often stay several days at each location, making the long drive on the first day worthwhile.

A second free tool is the AAA Triptik Travel Planner.  It’s free, but you have to have a AAA membership if you want to save your trip (which isn’t really a big deal unless you are plotting out a lot of stops and want to come back to refer to the website map in the future).  This is a fantastic route planner because it gives a lot of great information.  It shows your route on a map along with pins at each stop (which you can print).  You can set a time or distance interval that highlights with a circle on the map each interval.  For example, if you want to limit each day to 4 hours driving, you can set a 4 hour interval and then the tool highlights these intervals on the map with red circles.  The map lists trip total drive time and miles along with complete step by step driving directions (if you want).  There is also a selectable legend that will show gas stations, campsites, restaurants, and other areas of interest on the map.

Sometimes it may be necessary to find an RV DUMP Station along your route.  Having this information in advance can be very useful as it may allow you to stay at free locations (such as Boondockers Welcome or Harvest Host sites) without having to spend money for a campground just to have access to a dump.  This RV Dump Stations Map by Roundabout Publications (publisher of travel books) is a third free tool which shows Dump stations all over the country (note:  I have not verified the accuracy of this map so use at your own discretion).  In addition to showing dump station locations, the map also has a legend indicating the cost of the station (some are even free!).  In our experience, private dumps generally charge between $7 to $10 per dump.

State and regional parks often have websites and maps showing state and regional campground site locations (the 4th free tool).  For example, on the Oregon trip I’m planning, I referred to the Oregon State Parks “Find a Park” map extensively.  And many regional parks have campground maps that provide campsite locations.  For example, Sonoma County has this regional campground map.  I’ve found that state and regional parks campgrounds often offer very generous amounts of campsite space and tend to be an excellent value.

If you think you might enjoy some niche stays, such farms, wineries, museums, or people’s homes/driveways, consider joining both Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts (inexpensive annual memberships).  With this 5th tool, just a couple of stays will offset the cost of the annual subscription.  Before signing up, go to their websites and view host location maps.  The Harvest Host map even lets you plot your route and shows stay locations on the map!  If it looks like there are many places to stay on your route, perhaps give it a try.  We’ve had great stays using these memberships and enjoyed meeting the hosts.  Also, memberships can allow you to save a lot of money if you stay at multiple locations throughout the year (as individual stays are free / although we generally give a small gift or make a purchase).

Power Tools:  Using All Tools Together
I’ve found it incredibly efficient to use all of the above tools simultaneously together to review maps regarding the route and stops (Google Maps / AAA Triptik), Dump station locations (RV Dump Stations Map) , available campgrounds (AAA Triptik / State & Regional Parks map), and boondocking sites (Boondockers Welcome / Harvest Hosts).  To do this, just open up multiple browsers so you can jump back and forth comparing all the information.  Doing this allowed me to quickly see driving times and possible campsite locations on my planned trip.  I was also able to identify some interesting boondocking possibilities without being concerned about a lack of a dump station at these locations (since I also had the Dump Station map and knew there were dumping options on the drive).

Fun Things to Do
Now that you have figured out when and where you are going, made a map of your trip (and chosen stops so you aren’t driving much longer than 4 hours per day and limiting travelling to no more than two consecutive days of driving), it’s a good idea to get some insider information on fun things to do at your locations.  A few sources I’ve found helpful (beyond just Google searches) are campground reviews, State tourism commission websites, and a couple of travel websites.  For example, when I searched Wallowa Lake State Park campground reviews, along with actual reviews of the campground, I found some great tips.  There are recommendations for things to do and places to go, like taking the tramway to the top of Mount Howard, trails to hike, great restaurants (like the Wallowa Lake Lodge), good shopping (including art and bronze galleries) in the town of Joseph, and fishing.  State tourism commission websites are also good sources of local knowledge.  I checked Oregon’s “Travel Oregon” website for our upcoming trip and found some interesting things to do that I didn’t see anywhere else.  For example, I definitely plan to reserve a pedal train car with Joseph Branch Railriders!  I did something like this in Sweden and it was a blast!  Tripadvisor and TripSavvy are a couple of travel advisory websites that are good for providing lists of fun things to do.  Here is the TripSavvy list for Joseph, OR.

Conclusion
Now that you are armed with these Secret Planning Tools and Strategies for your future long distance RV trips, you can rest easy knowing that “you’ve got this”!  You can now plan RV trips like a pro and have fantastic experiences without the stress which typically comes with figuring all this stuff out!

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. 

The Economics of Owning a Small Travel Trailer

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The Economics of Owning a Small Travel Trailer

If you’re like me, you probably want to stay in a nice place when travelling.  A place that is both clean and comfortable and located in a desirable location.  And, the lodging cost must not be exorbitantly expensive.  Everyone has different standards regarding what is an acceptable accommodation, and this will greatly determine the outcome of a cost comparison between buying a small travel trailer vs. staying in a hotel when travelling.  For people who don’t mind staying in inexpensive motels and whose main objective is to save money (and perhaps don’t desire or appreciate the experiences and beauty of staying right inside a National or State Park or are not concerned about bed bugs), buying a small travel trailer may not make economic sense.  But, for many, the case for buying a small travel trailer is compelling.

A lot of people who own small travel trailers likely don’t purchase one with the sole purpose of saving money.  They like the freedom of having their own home on wheels they can take with them whenever they get the desire to travel.   And they enjoy the comfort a small travel trailer provides — having a small travel trailer means the interior can be tailored to the owner’s preferences, including colors, deluxe bedding and personalized amenities (like shampoos, gourmet food, etc.).  And, there are far fewer concerns about germs since everything in your space is yours!  This is especially true during the pandemic.  For us, the main reason we decided to buy a small travel trailer is so that we could stay in the midst of beautiful State and National Parks (where it would be almost impossible, extremely expensive or uncomfortable to stay otherwise).

The average rate at a Hilton hotel in the U.S. last year was around $145 / night and slightly over $200 / night at a Marriott.  And, rates at hotels within National Parks are often much higher.  For example, as of this writing, the rate at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite for June 2021 starts at $341 / night (and goes up to $1,302 / night).  Lodging rates in larger popular cities, such as San Francisco, also tend to be particularly high.  In contrast, campsite rates at State and National Parks are typically $45 or less / night.  It is important to note that there is often rate inflation, annually pushing nightly hotel rates continually higher year after year.  In contrast, once you buy your small travel trailer, the only rate inflation you may experience will be the campground fees (which generally are very low).  And, after spending a night at a hotel, you’ve spent your money and walk away (just carrying away the experience).  In contrast, at the end of your trip staying in your small travel trailer, you get to drive it home and use it again and again!  And, interestingly, small fiberglass travel trailers like the Scamp, typically hold their value very well over time so you shouldn’t experience significant depreciation either.

Because everyone’s situation is different (e.g. hotel preference, RV preference, number of people travelling, type of tow vehicle, food preference, # of days travelling….), it would be very superficial to draw a specific exact numerical conclusion on the cost savings which may be achieved by travelling by small travel trailer.  But, in general, the savings tend to be significant because nightly rates at campgrounds are usually significantly less than at hotels and food can be brought along and prepared in the trailer vs. paying a premium at restaurants.  However, there are some considerations that may make travelling by small travel trailer more expensive or less desirable.  For example, if a tow vehicle is not already owned, this could be a significant expense.  Also, driving long distances each day can significantly raise the cost of a driving trip due to fuel costs.  Additionally, buying a more expensive small travel trailer (e.g. Airstream) or paying a lot to rent one can eliminate any cost savings as well.  And, some people may just prefer hotels and eating out at restaurants despite higher costs.  And, in some situations, hotels may be better situated for a specific location preference.

Having just completed our first year owning our 2020 Scamp 13’ small travel trailer — spending 31 nights during 6 trips and visiting 22 locations – our experience has been extremely positive and economically sound.  We paid about $18K for our almost fully loaded Scamp (with wider 54” bed and front bathroom), including the $2,195 delivery charge (driven from the Scamp factory in Backus, Minnesota to our home in San Diego, California).  We store our Scamp in our garage, so there are no storage costs.  We pay less than $400 / year for travel trailer insurance.  California PTI registration (for travel trailers 16’ or less) is only $10 every 5 years!  Maintenance costs on small travel trailers are extremely low.  Our campground stays for the year averaged around $33 / night for a total of just over $1K for our first year (31 nights) of travelling in our Scamp 13’.  One contributing factor to this low rate is that a number of stay overs were for free at either relative’s homes or Harvest Hosts or Boondockers Welcome sites.  We also brought our own food along for all our trips or had meals with relatives at their homes.  If we had stayed in hotels for the 31 nights and purchased meals each day, we probably would have conservatively spent around $200 / night or over $6K for our first year [31 nights x ($150 / night + $50 / meals / day for 2 people)].  So, in our case, based on our first year of travel, we saved roughly $5K in one year by owning a small travel trailer, which is almost 30% the cost of the trailer in savings.  It’s easy to see, that if one purchases a reasonably priced small travel trailer (<$20K), it will likely pay for itself in just a few years of travel if used regularly.

We’ve found the benefits of owning and travelling with a small travel trailer go way beyond economic.  We’ve been able to experience exquisitely beautiful locations in a variety of different settings in State and National Parks over the past year (see our Adventures section).  Despite what is regularly reported in the news, we did not experience crowds at the campgrounds we’ve visited.  We did have some difficulty in finding open campgrounds at the last minute, but always found alternative available locations.  The campsites have usually been extremely quiet.  And, we have not missed the typical noises coming from behind a hotel room wall, sheet inspections of a hotel room bed, being very hygienically careful in hotel bathrooms or wondering about food safety when eating out.  It’s been great waking up in nature and making pancakes on our stove or meeting up with friends also staying at the campground for a hike.  Watching a movie at a remote location is also a special treat (see How to Watch Movies in the Wild).  We’ve also enjoyed staying over in relatives’ driveways to visit as well as free stay overs at farms (Harvest Hosts / Boondockers Welcome).   Lastly, we’ve made a number of friends who we never would have met without staying in campgrounds.

Owning a small travel trailer can not only be an economic win as a travelling solution, but may also provide unexpected social, culinary, fitness, and soul filling opportunities along the way.  Highly recommended!

 

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.