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Pismo Beach

California Central Coast 2022

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California Central Coast 2022
August 20nd – August 27th, 2022 (7 nights)

Santa Barbara
When heading to the Central Coast, Santa Barbara is a great stop.  It’s a beautiful place to visit and we have relatives there with whom we enjoy spending time.  We left our home in Carlsbad early Saturday morning (a must to beat the Los Angeles traffic) and arrived in Santa Barbara in about 3 ½ hours (a quick drive).  We packed breakfast so we could get right out and eat on the road.

On this trip, we visited Montecito, home to the rich and famous (including Meghan Markle and Prince Harry)!  This tony city has a small downtown, called Coast Village, where there are swanky stores and tasty eateries.  It takes about half an hour to walk up and down both sides of the main street.  If you look closely, you may see some famous people (locals told us Ellen DeGeneres hangs out at the Starbucks)!  But, we are more interested in seeing nature and animals, so we headed for the trails right up the road.  One trail close to Coast Village, Hot Springs Canyon Trail, leads to natural hot springs where one can soak in multiple pools (the hottest at the top).  We took the McMenemy Trail for a short hot August late afternoon hike; then dinner with relatives for some delightful paella.

Since check-in time at Islay Creek Campground in Montaña De Oro State Park, about a 45 minute drive up the coast, isn’t until 2 p.m., we had time on Sunday morning to take a hike at the Douglas Family Preserve with my cousin Jon and his wife Ida (as well as with their yellow lab, Charlie).  It’s a beautiful public park high on a mesa above Arroyo Burro Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  Hope Ranch, another exclusive enclave, can be seen on the ridge opposite the park.  Douglas Family Preserve, the largest area of coastal open space within the city limits of Santa Barbara, has over three miles of park trails (and dogs can run wild once inside the park).

We could have stayed in Santa Barbara much longer with so much to see and do, but we had reservations at Islay Creek Campground in Montaña De Oro State Park!

Montaña de Oro State Park
Montaña de Oro State Park is about two hour’s drive north of Santa Barbara and is very close to Morro Bay.  With over 8,000 acres, including seven miles of shoreline, Montaña de Oro is one of the largest state parks in California.  Because Islay Creek Campground within the park has no RV dump station, we dumped our tanks ($7.50) at the 76 Station on Winchester Road in Goleta on the way up the 101.  We also filled our Fresh tank in Santa Barbara, which was good because the water spigots at the park are gravity fed from large drums and, thus, are very slow to fill water jugs.  We arrived at Islay Creek Campground at around 3 p.m.  We had site #16 ($25/night + $7.99 reservation fee).  The spacing between sites is good and each site can accommodate RV lengths of up to 27’ (and tow vehicles can generally park side by side with the trailer).  There is no cell phone reception within the park, but cell phones will work just a short five minute walk up the road to the beach.  The beach is easily accessible and wide, but the surf can be rough with rip tides.  At the water’s edge, there’s a large rock some like to climb onto (it can be more tricky than it looks because of slick sand) — great for photos above the rocks and sea.  One of the first things we explored upon arrival was the Visitor’s Center, housed in the historic Spooner home.  The home was owned a rancher family and has beach views and great docents anxious to tell the history of the place.

Being right inside the park, Islay Creek Campground is the perfect base to explore the many trails that Montaña De Oro State Park has to offer.  The most popular trail, the Bluff Trail, is high up on the bluff and goes on for a couple of miles (about two hours round trip from the campground).  There are spectacular ocean views on the Bluff Trail, featuring dramatic rocks towering high above the rough ocean below as well as pelicans and gulls constantly flying by.  We also had a chance to go into PG&E property (sign in required at entry) and explore the Point Buchon Trail (open 8AM – 5PM, Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays).  Similar to the Bluff Trail, the Point Buchon Trail has other unique aspects, such as a large sink hole which features an ocean cave and beach!  Security inside the PG&E property is high as the Diablo Canyon (Nuclear) Power Plant is just miles down the road.  We were advised that if we didn’t check out by 4:45 p.m. that a security detail would be sent to get us.  We made sure we were back in time!

There are also some great back country trail hikes right above and behind the campground.  We hiked the Oat Peak Trail, Beebee Trail, and took the Badger Trail through Rattlesnake Flats back down to the Bluff Trail.  Some of the trails go on for over 30 miles.  There are certainly plenty of trail hikes to keep an avid hiker busy for days!

Pismo Beach
Just about forty five minutes south of Montana De Oro State Park (or an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara) is Pismo Beach.  Our favorite campground here is Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground.   We reserved site #29 for four nights – it’s a premium site directly in front of the beach.  To get this type of site, one usually needs to reserve it right when the reservation window opens six months in advance.  This stretch of beach also has a number of private campgrounds, but the campsites at the private campgrounds are generally very tightly spaced together (but many have full hookups).  There are also two fully equipped RV supply stores right across the street from the campground, so if you need any parts for your RV, this location has you covered!

Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground is fantastic.  The campsites are very spread out and the beach is just over a little sandy hill adjacent to the campground.  There are no hookups, but there are water spigots and a central dump ($10 at this time).  We set up our solar panel briefcase to recharge our batteries during the day and used our “Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution” to drain our Grey water tank after a couple of days.  The beach in front of the campground is very wide and beautiful with a great view to the north of the Pismo pier.  There are some nice walking paths that are on the perimeter of the campground.  One goes south on a wooden boardwalk above the beach toward Oceano.  We saw many whales feeding close to shore while walking along this path (look for a “feeding frenzy” – this is when there are swarms of birds low over the water and indicates a run of sardines or anchovies)!  We could see whales popping their heads out of the water as well as blow spouts.  Don’t ever paddle into a feeding frenzy or this could happen!  Another trail from the campground goes into the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove.  This site hosts over 10,000 butterflies annually.  The Monarch Butterflies flock to Pismo Beach from late October through February, seeking shelter from freezing northern winters.  The butterflies cluster in the limbs of the large Eucalyptus trees that tower over the grove.

Walking over the sand dunes from the campground onto the beach and taking long walks is a favorite activity for many campers here.  We enjoyed walking the sand from the campground to the pier and strolling out to the end of the pier.  Exploring  the town of Pismo Beach is also entertaining. There are a lot of shops and restaurants and plenty to see.   For example, we enjoyed perusing the toys and kites at “The Sky’s The Limit” on Dolliver Street.

We met with my brother-in-law Bob for a couple of days during the trip, and then we needed to replenish our food supplies.  San Luis Obispo County has a number of farmer’s markets and we went to a couple on a Wednesday (Arroyo Grande & Pismo Beach).  We were able to buy farm fresh fruits and vegetables from various farmers.  There are also popular food stores close by, such as Trader Joes and Sprouts markets.

Other notable places within a short drive (or bike ride) of the campground which we enjoyed are Margo Dodd Park and Eldwayen Ocean Park.  Both are ocean front bluff parks which offer great sea life watching, including birds and sometimes whales.  There are giant rocks that rise high out of the ocean which the gulls and pelicans roost on.  We also drove over to Harford Pier, a commercial pier which also has some recommended restaurants on it, and enjoyed walking down the pier.  We saw a playful sea otter diving and surfacing and swimming on his back right below us!  Here’s some video we took from Pismo Beach.

We didn’t stay long enough to explore everything this area has to offer and we definitely would like to come back sometime in the Fall to see the Monarch Butterfly migration.  Our friend Jim who lives in Avila Beach gave us some additional places to visit for next time, like exploring the Architectural Graveyard on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus,  taking a walking tour of the old Victorian houses in San Luis Obispo, enjoying a docent led tour of the Mission of San Luis Obispo, going to the Mission Plaza, visiting Cave Landing, and having lunch at Fat Cats or Mersea restaurants.   Until next time!

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

Central California  

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Central California  
August 22nd – August 29th, 2021 (7 nights)

This adventure was put together at the last minute after plans for our Mammoth Lakes trip were scrapped due to poor air quality (as a result of summer fires in California).  The locations were chosen based on towns showing good air quality on the AQI air quality map, the amount of time we had available for travel (7 days), and campsite availability.  We also had just purchased new bikes and a bike carrier for our Scamp 13’ and wanted to go places where we would be able to ride.

Santa Barbara
Whenever we head north, we make it a point to stay over a night in Santa Barbara (a 3 ½ hour drive from our home in San Diego).  Not only is it a fantastic location with great scenery and plenty to do, but our cousin Jon lives here and he lets us camp in his driveway!  This trip was a little different though.  When we arrived, we discovered a car in his driveway.  Jon’s son, Melvin, was in Italy and his car keys were nowhere to be found!  What to do with the Scamp?!!!  Fortunately, my cousin’s next door neighbor saw us and realized what had happened.  He generously offered to let us stay on his property (and even provided electric and water hookups)!  Phew!

On this trip, we visited the Old Santa Barbara Mission and walked around downtown Santa Barbara to eat lunch at our favorite Mexican food restaurant, Taco Pipeye.  We also rode our new bikes from my cousin’s house all the way down to the Goleta bike path, past the end of the runway of Santa Barbara airport, and toured UC Santa Barbara!  We also had a great dinner with my vegan cousin Jon and enjoyed his ocean view while we ate on his balcony.  Overall, we had a very enjoyable and busy 24 hours in Santa Barbara.

Pismo Beach
Just about an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara lies Pismo Beach.  Campsites in this beautiful beach town are very difficult to get.  However, we got lucky and two of the best possible sites at Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground just happened to show available when I was looking (likely last minute cancellations)!   In order to stay 3 nights though, we had to move from site #27 after the first night to site #29 for the remaining 2 nights.  Both of these sites are premium sites and right next to each other and directly in front of the beach.  The only downside with splitting the reservation is paying the reservation fee ($7.99) twice and being required to completely leave the campground between Noon to 2 p.m. the day the next reservation begins (for campsite maintenance).  “Rules are rules” is what we were told by one of the camp hosts!  So, we packed up after our first night and headed to a nearby horse lot where we ate lunch before returning to check in for our second campsite at 2 p.m.  On our way back to the campground, one of our tail lights on our Scamp 13’ blew out (our tow vehicle gave a warning on the dashboard showing short circuit).  Fortunately, there are two fully equipped RV supply stores right across the street from the campground and had the bulb we needed for less than 3 dollars a pair!

Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground is fantastic.  The campsites are very spread out and the beach is just over a little hill adjacent to the campground.  There are no hookups, but there are water spigots and a central dump ($10 at this time).  We had no problem staying 3 nights (even with the two of us taking a shower each night) by using our solar panel briefcase to recharge our batteries during the day and our “Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution” to drain our Grey water tank after a couple of days.  The beach in front of the campground is very wide and beautiful with a glorious view north of the Pismo pier.  There are some nice walking paths that are on the perimeter of the campground.  One goes south above the beach toward Oceano.  Another leads into the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove.  This site hosts over 10,000 butterflies annually.  The Monarch Butterflies flock to Pismo Beach from late October through February, seeking shelter from freezing northern winters.  The butterflies cluster in the limbs of the large Eucalyptus trees that tower over the grove.  Although we saw Monarch butterflies on this trip, we did not see even one at the Grove (not the right time of year)!

Walking over the sand dunes from the campground onto the beach and taking long walks is a favorite activity for many campers here.  We enjoyed walking the sand from the campground to the pier and strolling out to the end of the pier.  Exploring  the town of Pismo Beach is also entertaining. There are a lot of shops and restaurants and plenty to see.   For example, we enjoyed perusing the toys and kites at “The Sky’s The Limit” on Dolliver Street.

Bringing bikes to North Beach Campground is definitely recommended.  We had a blast riding our mountain bikes up the coast along streets, bike paths, and dirt trails.  We pedaled almost all the way to Avila Beach (stopping right before the steep drop into town) – about 8 ½ miles each way.  We used Google Maps for directions and selected “Walking” so we would be off the main roads whenever possible.  Every day, we enjoyed cool ocean breezes and sounds of the waves from inside our Scamp 13’ so much that it was hard to leave after just a few nights.  We met one nice couple in an Airstream that reserves a spot here every summer for 2 weeks at a time as an affordable family yearly gathering spot!

Solvang
After using the central Dump on our way out of the Pismo Beach North Beach Campground, we drove about an hour south and inland to the quaint Danish town of Solvang.  We stayed at a Boondockers Welcome location, a home just a couple of miles from the center of town.  Our host location was part of a parcel that was once a large farm.  We stayed in their large driveway and the hosts provided us electricity and water ($5/night).  Our hosts were very friendly and gave us fruits and vegetables from their farm as well as shared bicycling tips for good routes throughout this wine country.  The only noise we heard in the evenings was the loud chirping of crickets!

The days were hot (90 degrees) but the mornings and evenings cooled down considerably (high 50’s).  We rode bikes in the early morning and late afternoon and relaxed during the day to avoid the heat.  The quiet country back roads of the Santa Ynez Valley are magical and we cycled passed beautiful vineyards and farms.  If you are in this area, we recommend these neighborhood streets to bike on:  Calzada, Samantha, Robler, and Baseline, with the winery called Bridlewood being the caketopper highlight (on Baseline).  We also had a chance to explore the Danish town of Solvang with its Old Mission Santa Ines and Danish shops and bakeries.  After a couple of nights and days of exploring, we bid our generous hosts goodbye and headed toward the ocean again.

Oxnard
Our last stop before heading home was to see our friends Cheryl and Hugh.  They were scheduled, with us, to go to Mammoth Lakes / Silver Lake before that trip was cancelled.  Instead, they invited us to stay in their driveway at their home near the beach in Oxnard (about 1 ½ hours south of Solvang).  The temperature really dropped as we drove up and over the mountains down to the coast.  The searing heat was replaced with cool foggy air – a welcome relief from the hot temperatures of the Santa Ynez Valley.  Our Scamp 13’ easily fit at the side of our friends’ driveway along with our tow vehicle.  They even have a Dump port in their driveway which we used to dump our Grey water!  Oxnard is a beach community with a harbor with shops and restaurants.  Cheryl and Hugh live only a short walk from the sand.

Our friends Cheryl & Hugh are super generous and treated us like royalty.  They fed us a great lunch, took us on a tour of downtown Oxnard on their new golf cart (with the Beach Boys music cranking on the stereo), and later treated us to a fantastic seafood restaurant dinner!  And, Cheryl made her famous gluten free Lava Cake (dark chocolate cake with molten chocolate oozing everywhere) for dessert back at home (of course there was vanilla ice cream on the side)!  To top it all off, they even gifted us plates with images of camper trailers on them for our Scamp 13’!  We are always blown away by their hospitality.  We had a fantastic visit with Cheryl & Hugh.  And, we also thoroughly enjoyed playing with their Havanese dogs, Avatar & Gidget.  On our way out the next morning, Hugh made sure we took a couple of King Salmon filets that he caught on his recent trip to Alaska (which we ate a couple of days later and were delicious)!  We drove back to our home in San Diego (3 hour drive) early enough to get our Scamp cleaned up and ready for our next trip!

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

Why it’s Smart to be a Zen Boondocker, Even if You Never Plan to Go Off-Grid

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Why it’s Smart to be a Zen Boondocker, Even if You Never Plan to Go Off-Grid
If you plan on using your small travel trailer anywhere other than at a RV park or home with hookups, it will benefit you greatly to have the skills to go off-grid (even if you never plan to do serious off-grid camping).  Many National and State Parks (as well as regional parks) offer no hookups (although shared water spigots are very common and sometimes central Dump stations are available).  On a recent visit to Joshua Tree National Park, we discovered some water spigots at the entrance, but no hookups at the end of the long road at the Jumbo Rocks Campground.  Taking ample water supplies for our kitchen and shower along with fresh drinking water made the trip there very pleasurable.  And having solar panels and a separate battery power station meant we didn’t need to worry about running down our Scamp’s onboard 12-volt battery.  Propane provided power for our gas stove, refrigerator, water heater, and furnace.  And, using our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution effectively doubled our Grey Water tank capacity and, in turn, staying capacity to about 5 – 6 days!

To make things even more interesting and enticing to be a Zen Boondocker, there is also often a significant daily rate difference for sites with and without hookups for campgrounds which offer them.  We discovered this on our visit to Oceano Dunes Campground in Pismo Beach.  Hookup spots (Electric & Water only) at this campground were $40 per night and only $25 per night without hookups at the time of our trip!  While it’s tempting to select campsites with hookups over ones without if they are available, there is often another substantial benefit other than monetary to choose a non-hookup site instead.  Hook-up sites are sometimes at newer locations within a campground which may be less scenic and/or with sites much closer together than older sites farther away from the utilities. For example, at Oceano Dunes, the hookup sites were much smaller and closer together all clustered at the front of the campground in a parking lot near the entrance.  And, the non-hookup sites were much farther back from the entrance in their own section with much more green space surrounding them (each with a picnic table and fire pit!) and alongside a scenic lagoon and walking trails.  So even when visiting campgrounds with hookups, it’s still a great benefit to be able to choose a non-hookup site and go for a few days without having to plug into an electric outlet, hookup to a water hose, or connect to a dump line.

Another great benefit of being a Zen Boondocker is that it makes staying on friends’ and family’s driveways and Boondockers Welcome sites nice and easy (even if they don’t have a water hose or electrical outlet at the driveway).  No problem!  We’ve found that for longer trips (e.g. travelling from our home in Carlsbad to northern locations like Lake Tahoe or even Oregon) stop overs at family homes in Santa Barbara, Oakland, and even Boondockers Welcome locations provide great break points to reduce overly long tiring drives.  So, being able to easily spend a night or two with no concerns about water, power, or dumping makes our small travel trailer truly self-contained and very useful.

Site availability is another factor which allows Zen Boondockers with small travel trailers more campground options.  It’s not uncommon for the larger sites with hookups to completely book out very quickly, often leaving the smaller non-hookup sites as “scraps”.  However, we’ve found these “scraps” to not only be more likely available but also often ideal and more desirable.  For example, at D.L. Bliss State Park in Lake Tahoe, we skipped the larger hookup sites farther from the lake, and, instead, opted for a tiny 15’ spot in the tent camping area.  The site we chose was the closest to the lake and had no hookups.  However, there was a water spigot close to the site and we were able to set up our solar panel.  It turned out the site was fantastic and we could see the water from our bedroom!  After looking over the entire campground, we felt our site was probably the best one because it was so close to the lake and had a fantastic view.

Factors for Zen Boondocking
Here are the essential factors to consider in order to become a Zen Boondocker and enjoy all of its benefits:

Conservation
We try to use water sparingly, but are not overly obsessive about it.  Many boondockers are super conscious about catching water and reusing it, taking bird baths or only bathing once per week, ….  Our philosophy is to be comfortable during our trips while still being able to extend our stays without having to relocate.  We do try to rinse our dishes outside if water is available and it’s allowed at the campsite.  But, we also take short hot showers at the end of each day and brush our teeth at the sink.  In order to compensate, we plan our trips so we are not dry camping more than a few days straight which means with the measures taken below it’s possible to be a Zen Boondocker and glamp out (2 showers a day, etc.) at the same time!

Food & Water
It’s helpful to know how long you will expect to be gone on your trip to help plan out your food and water needs.  Provisioning (e.g. store shopping) during the journey may be necessary if it is a long one.  We’ve found that for a 10-day trip, we can carry all the food and drinking water we need in our SUV.  However, we do need to resupply our fresh trailer water reserves during the 10-day trip around every four days (assuming we are carrying our two 6 gallon jugs of resupply fresh water for sink/shower/toilet).

Food
We always map out our trip before leaving and write down every meal for each day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).  We turn on our Scamp’s refrigerator a couple nights before our trip and then fill it the day before we leave (our Scamp is stored in our home’s garage and has electricity).  We load most of our food into cardboard boxes and store them in our SUV.  We can carry up to 12 days (enough for 2 people) of food in cardboard containers within our SUV.

Drinking Water
We always bring two 4 gallon BPA-free water jugs in the back of our SUV for all our drinking and cooking needs when we go on a typical 10-day trip in our Scamp.  We fill these tanks at home by using our reverse osmosis system.  By carrying an additional 8 gallons of fresh water in our tow vehicle, we are effectively increasing our Fresh water tank supply by 67% (12 gallons Fresh increased to 20 gallons)!!!  This gives us a lot more fresh water supply.  Health experts typically recommend a person drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day (8×8 rule), which is about ½ gallon of water per person per day.  So, by using this rule, two people would bring 10 gallons of water on their 10-day trip (1/2 gallon/day x 2 people x 10 days).  We tend to drink slightly less water than this amount because we also drink coconut water, macadamia milk in our cereal, oat milk in our tea, sometimes soup for lunch, and we eat a lot of juicy fruits (like oranges).  So, for us, bringing 8 gallons of fresh water on a 10 day trip works out great (we always have extra water when we return home).

Fresh Water for Trailer
In addition to bringing drinking water, we also will fill two separate 6-gallon jugs if we are heading straight for a dry campsite (no water or water spigots nearby).  We use these to refill our Scamp’s fresh water tank (12 gallons + 6 gallons in hot water heater tank) when it runs low (usually after a couple of days with 2 people showering daily).  We stayed at a Boondockers Welcome location right outside Joshua Tree National Park which had no hookups.  Having the extra 12 gallons of fresh water to fill our Scamp’s Fresh water tank made a couple day stay smooth.  And, with our portable jugs, it was easy for us to refill them at a visitor’s center close by without having to relocate our Scamp.  We can go about four days before having to refill our Scamp’s Fresh water tank.

Electricity
It’s best to start your journey with your small travel trailer’s 12-volt battery completely charged.  We plug our Scamp into our 110-volt outlet in our garage a few days before we leave and keep it plugged in while we run our refrigerator before the trip.  The trailer’s 12-volt battery will also charge while we are driving since the Scamp is plugged into our tow vehicle and receives a charge.  To keep our 12-volt battery charged when we are at the campsite without hookups, we bring a 100-Watt solar panel briefcase and hope the sun is shining.  The solar panel does a great job of keeping our batteries fully charged during the day and provides enough power so our 12-volt battery can easily last the night.  We can still go a couple of days without the solar panel if we are careful to just run the essentials sparingly (LED lights, water pumps, fan, etc.).  To help reduce the draw on our Scamp’s 12-volt battery, we also carry an auxiliary battery power bank (which we also fully charge before we leave home).  Our Jackery 500 is a 518Wh lithium battery which we use for charging our phones, cameras, drone, television, and an electric toothbrush when boondocking to reserve all of our Scamp’s 12-volt battery power for essential devices/functions.  On longer trips between campgrounds, we usually place the Jackery 500 at the back of our SUV and charge it with the tow vehicle’s 12VDC port so the Jackery 500 energy is replenished during our drive.

Propane
Propane does a great job of powering all our appliances which can run on this gas.  Propane is efficient and can last a long time.  Appliances in our Scamp that can run off propane are the gas stove, refrigerator, furnace, and hot water heater.  The great thing about propane is that you can carry a lot of it (we always carry 2 Viking composite propane tanks) and it can be run without hookups.  One just has to take care to follow proper safety protocols when running propane.  Small travel trailers are usually outfitted with combination smoke / carbon monoxide detector alarms.  The one in our 2020 Scamp 13’ is located near the front door under one of the dinette seats.  It’s essential that every small travel trailer have one of these alarms because smoke and carbon monoxide exposure can be lethal.

Holding Tanks
These are the tanks that hold the Fresh, Grey, and Black water.

Fresh Water Holding Tank
The Fresh water holding tank has already been addressed above within the Food & Water section.

Grey Water Holding Tank
The Grey water tank is generally the Achilles heel for small travel trailers.  This is the place where used fresh water goes (e.g. waste water from the sink and shower).  For us two people (taking 2 showers each night), our Scamp’s twenty-one gallon Grey tank fills up in about three days.  To extend our time off-grid, I developed the Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution.  Using this solution (which utilizes four 5 gallon jugs), we are able to almost double the off-grid capability of the Grey water tank.  And, it certainly is nice not having to limit campground visits to only 2 – 3 days due to Grey water tank size.  For the Scamp’s 21-gallon Grey tank, this system effectively doubles time between dumps from 2 – 3 days to 4 – 6 days (depending on water use).  And, it’s also really great not having to pack everything up and drive to a central Dump in the middle of a trip and then have to drive back to the campsite to set up the trailer all over again (which we had to do in the middle of our 3-night stay at D.L. Bliss State Park at Lake Tahoe).

Black Water Tank
This is the holding tank for the toilet – it holds sewage and waste water.  In our Scamp, we’ve found that the 9 gallon Black tank takes much longer to fill than the Grey tank.  Our Black tank usually takes about 6 days (two people) before needing to be dumped.  There isn’t really a clean way (pardon the pun) to extend the time between Dumps for the Black tank.  Some people dump this biohazard material into portable containers to extend their time off grid, but we choose to only drain Black Water at a Dump station.  In turn, our Zen Boondocking needs to be refreshed with a Dump every 5 – 6 days.

Conclusion
Being a Zen Boondocker will open up new worlds for you and your small travel trailer.  You will not only be able to go to remote off-grid locations, but, more practically, enjoy the many advantages of choosing campsites without hookups and extend your stays at these locations.  For example, you might be able to stay at more scenic and roomy campsites for longer periods of time at a lower cost than campsites with hookups.  And, visits to places without hookups (such as Joshua Tree National Park) will no longer be limited to just an overnight stay.  So, find your center, and become Zen with your Boondocking spirit!

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.