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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!

 

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High Altitude Spring Expedition 

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High Altitude Spring Expedition
May 31st – June 18th, 2026 (17 nights)

Almost a year has gone by since our fantastic Fourth of July Lake Tahoe trip last summer and, it was so great, we thought it was worth repeating.  This time we planned it to be even bigger and better, although not during the 4th of July weekend.  We’ve introduced some new locations and new campgrounds and extended our stay time at Lake Tahoe.   Additionally, we shortened some of the drive time by taking Highway 395 (which we typically avoid during the summer due to high temperatures in parts) and strategically chose a couple of campgrounds which are known to be beautiful and typically “not too hot” during spring and summer.

Whitney Portal Campground (8,300’ elevation)
This campground is only about twenty minutes up Whitney Portal Road from the quaint town of Lone Pine.  But, to get here, one must drive the treacherous steep mountain road which climbs over five thousand feet from Lone Pine to the base of Mt. Whitney.  It serves as the base camp for climbers hiking Mt. Whitney (the highest mountain in the continental US at a height of over 14,000 feet).  Due to the campground’s elevation (at around 8,300 feet), it is usually about 20 to 30 degrees cooler than campgrounds surrounding Lone Pine (at about 3,000 feet elevation).  On this trip, it was in the upper 80’s when we arrived in Lone Pine and enjoyed lunch at the popular Alabama Hills Cafe, but only in the 60’s when we arrived at our campsite at Whitney Portal Campground.  This makes summer camping possible in the high desert Lone Pine area in the warmer months.  Note:  we greatly enjoyed staying in the famous Alabama Hills (free dispersed camping right outside the town of Lone Pine) on a past trip, but it’s too hot there this time of year.

The Whitney Portal area is absolutely stunning with magnificent sheer granite cliffs standing thousands of feet in all directions above the campground.  The area feels very similar to Yosemite, which is about 155 miles away by road.  The Jon Muir Trail connects the two areas via a 211 mile trail.

Whitney Portal Campground is a small USDA Forest Service campground with 43 campsites.  Lone Pine Creek runs right through the middle of the campground, which makes it nice to fall asleep to the soothing sounds of rushing water.  Most of the campsites ($34/night or $17/night with a Lifetime Senior Pass) are small, so it’s important to check the pad length when making reservations on recreation.gov. (although even on the reservation website it may be hard to tell the exact length).  We walked the campground and our favorite site (which we think will fit our Scamp 13′  and Volvo XC40 tow vehicle) is campsite #28 due to partial shade / partial sun and magnificent views of the granite mountains which loom thousands of feet above the campground.  We had campsite #17 on this trip, which is a nice shaded campsite within the pines (pad length about 28′).  There is a water spigot close by this campsite and, with the host’s permission, we connected our three water hoses to connect this spigot to the Scamp.  There are no dump stations or electrical hookups.  Verizon mobile service is poor here — we were able to get one bar (enough for texts without images).  We were able to use our Starlink Mini dish, but even this wasn’t optimal as the campground is heavily forested with pine trees.  Even still, the Starlink speeds were fast when positioned flat looking straight up.

This campground is an active bear area, so all food and scented items should be stored in the metal bear box at each campsite.  We were told it was probably ok to keep toothpaste and shampoo in our Scamp as well as items in the refrigerator.  The host told us he’s been working at this campground for the past six years and has seen car windows smashed, car doors opened, and other bear vandalism (but never a bear attacking a person).  He said the black bears here are like racoons and generally avoid direct confrontations with campers.  He did also say the bears are opportunistic and will swoop in when people aren’t watching and grab food or a backpack.  The first night we were here we were told a bear stole a climber’s backpack in the middle of the night.  The host told us the bears only come out at night here.  Currently there is a mama black bear and two cubs that like to frequent this campground during the middle of the night.  The host told us that sometimes a bear might stand on their hind legs and put its paws on the side of a camper and shake it.

Plan to take it easy on the first day or two as the campground is at high elevation (around 8,300 feet) and altitude sickness may be possible (this sickness has no correlation with fitness levels).  The campground is beautiful, nestled within the pines, and a river rushing through it:  a great place to set up chairs and/or hammocks to laze away the afternoons.

There are lots of hiking opportunities right from the campground, even if one isn’t hiking Mt. Whitney.  One of the popular hikes is the Meyson Lake Trail, with the first lake being about 5 steep miles up from the campground.  It’s a highly demanding 11.5 mile out-and-back “acclimation” hike used to prep for hiking Mt. Whitney.  The trail climbs over 4,000 feet of elevation to a stunning alpine lake, offering gorgeous Eastern Sierra views.  Campers can also take the campground hike to the Whitney Portal Store & Grill, yum!  The trail to the store/grill is steep with plenty of obstacles, so a good alternative is to walk the main road or drive up to the Whitney Portal Store & Grill (which is located right next to the Mt. Whitney trailhead).  We enjoyed a couple of meals here — 1) a breakfast which included their “World Famous” giant pancake (cake-like delicious and about 14″ in diameter), easily feeding four people, and 2)  great burgers for lunch.

Gull Lake Campground (7,600’ elevation)
We had several things to do and stops to make before checking in at the Gull Lake Campground (right on the shores of beautiful Gull Lake, near the quaint town of June Lake).  We filled our Scamp’s fresh tank before leaving Whitney Portal Campground, stopped for gas at Fort Impendence, and shopped at the well-stocked Manor Market in Bishop for more essentials.  Lastly, we stopped at the “hard-to-find but free” dump station at Convict Lake (on the left side when climbing the hill towards the campground and right before the campground starts).

Gull Lake Campground (USDA Forest Service, elevation 7,600 feet) sits next to small picturesque Gull Lake within walking distance to the little town of June Lake.  This area is aptly named “The Switzerland of California” for it’s beautiful alpine lakes, meadows and snowcapped granite peaks.  Seagulls can regularly be seen flying along the shores, thus its name.  There are 11 campsites ($32/night or $16/night with a Lifetime Senior Pass)  and a number of them are directly on the lake (our lake front favorites – #7, #9, #10, and #11) .  There are no hookups or central dump stations.  There are water spigots (painted blue).  Verizon mobile phone service was good during our stay.  We had campsite #10 which even has it’s own small boat launch!  Note — because there are only a small number of campsites here, it’s difficult to get a good one.  We were only able to reserve one adjacent to the main road, but we saw a “See Host’ sign on a great river adjacent site (#10) and we asked the host and she switched us!

There are lots of fun activities to do at the campground including hiking, paddleboarding, fishing, and boating.  There are a couple of trails here — one goes around the lake (about an hour walk) and the other trail heads into town (5 – 20 minutes).  The Gull Lake Loop is an easy, mostly flat nature trail with spectacular alpine and mountain views.  If walking into town, make sure to try some of the delicious gourmet meat and fruit pies at Pinos Pies.  Kayaks, paddleboards, and pontoon boats can be rented at the marina (47 E. Granite Avenue — short walk from the campground).

Fallen Leaf Lake Campground (6,342’ elevation)
We  stayed at this beloved “bear country” campground last year and came back to visit our friends Kat & Dave, who we met last summer at Nevada Beach Campground (and attempt to see a bear this time).  Our friends have incredible knowledge of life on the road with a travel trailer as they spend most of the year in their Airstream at campgrounds.  On this trip we were able to get a campsite (#80, $47/night or 1/2 off with a Lifetime Senior Pass) right next to theirs.  There’s a central RV dump (currently $10).  There was little to no Verizon mobile phone service at our campsite but we used our Starlink mini satellite dish (pointing straight up as trees surround our campsite) for fast internet and phone calls.  There are water spigots throughout the campground.

Fallen Leaf Lake is a beautiful small lake adjacent to South Lake Tahoe.  Our campsite is within an easy walk to the lake.  Campers can swim (cold water), stand up paddle board, kayak, and fish on Fallen Leaf Lake.  There’s a nature center close by and bald eagles are sometimes seen.  There are many bike paths that wind along Lake Tahoe’s beaches.  Having a bike is a fun way to wander through the campground and along the lake. There’s a large private campground next door, called Camp Richardson, which has a very popular ice cream shop.  Last summer a bear broke into this shop and was found behind the counter eating all of the strawberry ice cream.

Camping at Fallen Leaf Lake has at some campsites become synonymous with “almost for sure” bear encounters.  It’s common to hear campers banging pots and pans and blowing air horns to scare bears away during mealtimes.  Food is required to be in the bear box at each campsite.  We had a close encounter of the bear-kind while staying here on this trip!  The female black bear was very large and walked toward us while grazing on shrubs and berries on the outer perimeter of the campground.  We kept some distance, making sure not to startle her.  The bear looked at us calmy and continued foraging.  Currently there are no grizzly bears (AKA brown bears) in California.  However, a California senator currently wants to reintroduce them because the grizzly is on the state flag, but this would make bear encounters and camping much more dangerous, as grizzly bears are regarded as much more aggressive than black bears (and they can be much larger).  Note:  Bear types can’t be accurately identified by color, as black bears can be many colors (including brown or cinnamon like the one we saw).  The way to identify the difference between a brown and black bear is by anatomy (grizzlies have smaller ears, wider faces, and large humps on their backs).

Sugar Pine Point State Park Campground (6,229’ elevation)
About 30 minutes north of Fallen Leaf Lake, Sugar Pine Point State Park Campground is the largest state park campground in the Tahoe area.  The park has about 2 miles of coastline on Lake Tahoe’s west shore and spans 2,339 acres with a primeval forest, sandy beaches, and the historic Hellman-Ehrman Mansion.  It is located about 10 miles south of Tahoe City.  The area (then owned by the Ehrman family) hosted the cross-country ski and biathlon events for the 1960 Winter Olympics.  The legacy continues at the park as the biathlon and cross-country courses were built within the current campground area.  About 15 kilometers (about 25%) of the original 1960 Olympic Nordic trails have been restored for hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing.  The campground is one of the only California state parks in the Sierra Nevada to allow winter camping.

This is now one of our all-time favorite campgrounds.  We love it because the campground is positioned in a pristine forest on Lake Tahoe’s beautiful West Shore within easy reach to many area highlights by bike (accessible by taking the West Shore Bike Trail).  One can even ride the bike trail to Tahoe City (about 10 miles north).  There are a myriad of enjoyable hiking trails within the campground’s forest and beautiful beaches within walking distance.  There’s a free RV dump station when driving into the park.  The Verizon mobile phone reception during our visit was adequate (about 2 bars).  We had campsite #131 ($35/night) which is a good one and the park is very spread out so it doesn’t feel crowded (despite its 175 campsites).  There are water spigots throughout the campground.  We found this campground much more accessible (e.g. easier to make reservations) compared to some area local area favorites, like Nevada Beach Campground (which was recently rated by the popular RV camping website, The Dyrt, as the most difficult campground to get reservations at in the entire country!).

We took a drive north to Tahoe City (about 20 minutes by car) and spent the day checking out shops, museums, and restaurants.  Tahoe City feels like a very nice upscale village which sits right above the water.  There are a couple of malls (Cobblestone Center and Boatworks at Lake Tahoe) which have boutique shops and restaurants which are worth a visit (including a chocolate shop specializing in home made chocolates).  We had a fantastic lunch at Mountain Slice Pizzeria and Creamery, which included a crunchy thin crust pizza featuring truffles and onions, and for dessert homemade mud pie and banana chocolate chip cream.

On our last day at the campground, we toured the historic Hellman-Ehrman Mansion ($15/person at the time of our visit).  It was sold to the park by the Hellman-Ehrman family in 1965.  The family completed the building of the estate (also known as Pine Lodge) in 1903.  The Mansion is over 11,000 square feet and sits on a hill looking down on Lake Tahoe’s west shore.  This historic summer home features Craftsman architecture, extensive use of local pine, and a massive two story fireplace as well as modern indoor plumbing and electric lights.  The tour takes about 50 minutes and is very historically interesting (how American elite families vacationed in the early 1900s).

Nevada Beach Campground (6,100’ elevation)
Nevada Beach Campground was named in 2024 by the popular online camping website The Dyrt as the hardest campground at which to get a reservation in the entire country!  To learn more about how we secured a reservation, click here.

We stayed at campsite #11 ($47/night, 50% off with a Lifetime Senior Pass) for five nights.  It’s a prime campsite with a lake view and a short walk to the lake.  There is good Verizon mobile internet as well as water within the campground (threaded water spigot near the bathroom). There’s no RV dump station here, but there is one a few minutes down the road at Zephyr Cove Resort ($10).  We did notice many people using outdoor showers within the campground so as not to fill up their grey tanks.  A ranger I asked said this is OK as long as biodegradable soap / shampoo is used (since the shower water falls directly onto the ground).

This is one of the most beautiful campgrounds we’ve ever been too – the combination of striking views of Lake Tahoe with dramatic snowcapped mountains in the background and awe-inspiring trails through meadows and pine filled forests is amazing.  And, the beach is very beautiful.  Dogs are even welcome on part of the beach!  With only 54 campsites the campground never feels crowded.  Definitely bring your bike (our new rack worked out really well) as there are fantastic paved paths through wonderful pines to enjoy. Walking is fine too if you don’t ride.  You can even ride your bike or drive into town and do some shopping at The Shops at Heavenly Village.

Looking across the lake, one can usually spot the snow high up on a peak in the shape of a “T” on the mountain (Mt. Tallac).  The “T” on Mt. Tallac is a cross shaped snow formation visible in spring and summer associated with interesting folklore, particularly among the Washoe people.  The Washoe people considered Mt. Tallac sacred.  One legend says that if the snow melts out of the cross completely then a harsh winter will be coming to Lake Tahoe.  This natural phenomenon is particularly famous because it was used as the backdrop for the opening sequence of the classic TV show Bonanza (aired 1959 – 1973); the specific location where the opening sequence was filmed was Nevada Beach!

Mammoth Lakes (7,800’ elevation)
Mammoth Lakes, located seven hours north of San Diego by car, is an outdoors playground high up in the Eastern Sierra (almost 8,000 feet above sea level).  During the winter and spring, there is fantastic skiing/snowboarding at the world famous Mammoth Mountain ski area as well as opportunities for cross country skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and sledding nearby.  Spring, summer, and fall allow for camping, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, horseback riding, canoeing, paddle boarding, as well as many more activities (such as leaf peeping when the leaves change colors to vibrant yellows and oranges in the fall)!  Click here to see our fall leaf peeping adventure!).

This was our second stay in town at New Shady Rest Campground (note – there is also Old Shady Rest Campground right next store).  New and Old Shady Rest campgrounds are run by the Inyo National Forest service.  The campground is right in the middle of all the great things Mammoth Lakes as to offer, so it makes for an excellent location for exploring.  There are no hookups at this campground, but there are water spigots and central dump station ($12). We reserved site #158 ($32/night, half price with a Lifetime Senior Pass) which is very spacious and at the top of a hill.  We received two bars of Verizon mobile phone service.  There is a water spigot close by and the spigots are threaded:  so, we were able to use our hoses to pump the water to our trailer, instead of having to use our dolly.

New Shady Rest Campground is within the town center of Mammoth Lakes and the 7.8 mile paved Town Loop bike path is right at the campground as well.  The Mammoth Lakes Welcome Center is walking distance and offers a lot of information on things to do (including trolley maps) as well a nice tourist shop.  We brought our mountain bikes (hitched to the back of our Scamp 13’) and enjoyed riding from the campground through town as well as on the paved Town Loop bike path.  The path leads high up above town and offers spectacular views of the Eastern Sierra (still snowcapped in mid-June).  We road our bikes to the Warming Hut restaurant one day for lunch and enjoyed some great meals!  There’s also a nice mostly flat paved trail that goes from the campground through a Jeffrey Pine forest to Shady Rest Park (about 1 mile each way).  We enjoyed walking this path every day during our stay.  The smells of the pines are wonderful.  Although we were warned about bears, we never saw any.  The last bear seen in the campground was a day before our arrival.  The black bears are mostly regarded as a nuisance in the campground by foraging for food, but are rarely aggressive towards people.

Mammoth Lakes has an excellent free trolley system which traverses all over town as well as to the lakes.  Some of the trolleys even look like the old fashioned bright red trolleys with open sides!  Each trolley route is designated with a color, so it’s important to get a map at the Mammoth Lakes Welcome Center (or view online) to determine which colored route is the right one for your destination.  Some of the trolleys even have bike racks, so you can bring your bike with you.  The trolley stop right up the street from the campground is designated #12.  We found most of the trolleys, regardless of colored route, go to The Village, where one can catch the Lake Basins trolley to the lakes.  The Village is designed like a posh European alps village and has various stores and eateries.  We had fun taking the trolley up to the lakes and hiking the Panorama Dome, which features spectacular views of the mountains, Twin Lakes, and waterfalls.  We also took the trolley to the last stop and enjoyed a picnic lunch on beautiful Horseshoe Lake.

Although we only stayed three days in Mammoth Lakes, there are so many fun things to do, that one could easily spend a couple of weeks here and not get bored.  In the late spring, there is great biking, fishing, hiking, boating, shopping, restaurants … to try.  Don’t forget about taking the shuttle to the Devils Postpile National Monument and hiking to Rainbow Falls.  And, Yosemite is less than an hour’s drive away!  We also found it very relaxing sitting in a comfortable chair at the campsite and watch the puffy white clouds pass high above the tall Jeffrey pines.  Whatever, you choose to do, make sure to get outdoors, inhale the fresh air, and wonder at the beautiful natural surrounds.  The sign at the entrance of town has it right as it says, “The mountains are calling, … John Muir”.

Big Pine Creek Campground (7,700’ elevation)
The last stop on our way home was Big Pine Creek Campground, which is accessed via a steep high mountain road with plenty of switchbacks, climbing around four thousand feet from the town of Big Pine, which sits on the desert floor of the Owens Valley.   It was 96 degrees in Big Pine when we started our ascent up the windy mountain road to the campground.  When we reached the campground the weather was in the upper 70’s and much more comfortable.

There are many similarities with this campground and Whitney Portal Campground.  Both campgrounds are located high up a mountain above towns which sit along the desert floor.  And both campgrounds are surrounded by stunning snow-topped granite mountains which are perched thousands of feet above them. Additionally, both campgrounds are small, limited space USDA Forest Service campgrounds with roaring creeks running through them.

Big Pine Creek Campground only has 30 campsites ($26/night or half off with a Lifetime Senior Pass), which are nestled along Big Pine Creek.  Like all the other campgrounds we stayed at on this trip, all food must be stored at the bear box at your campsite.  Although this is listed as an active bear area, we didn’t see any bears.  During our visit in mid-June, the creek was moderately full, flowing rapidly, with the sound of rushing water creating a relaxing atmosphere.  We had campsite #25 which is nicely shaded but very difficult to pull into (very narrow campground road and obstacles like rocks and trees on each side of the road and campsite).  Our favorite sites are #21, #22, and #24 which are situated along the creek and would all likely be able to accommodate our Scamp 13′ and Volvo XC40 tow vehicle.  Campsite #30 isn’t right next to the creek but is close and scenic.

Because there are few amenities here (only trash receptacles), make sure to bring plenty of water and dump your trailer before arriving.  Bring solar panels if your “travel trailer house batteries” don’t have plenty of capacity for a couple of days (e.g. lead acid batteries).  The water spigots at the campground are not functioning.  We made sure our Scamp 13′ had a full fresh tank before leaving Mammoth Lakes (and we also filled two 6-gallon jugs) and we dumped at Convict Lake dump station before arriving.  Bring your Starlink Mini if you want internet and mobile communications (there is no mobile carrier service here up in the mountains).  We received fast Starlink speeds at our campsite by pointing our dish straight up (in the North direction).

Next door to the campground is the private Glacier Lodge, which is a tiny store with a sometimes operating small grill and also rents cabins.  We asked about a meal during our visit and were told they ran out of food over the weekend.  They said they sometimes also have outside BBQs on the weekends.  The Glacier Lodge Trailer Park is an RV area on terraced dirt pads ($55/night) next to the lodge which have water and electricity.  Unless you need these hookups, the Big Pine Creek Campground next door is much greener with well-spaced campsites by the river (at less than half the price).

Campers here come to enjoy 1) fishing for trout from the North Fork of Big Pine Creek, which runs through the campground, 2) hiking spectacular mountain trails, and 3) relaxing by the creek on its private beaches.  We saw many families with children who seemed to also enjoy fishing at the The Trout Pond next to Glacier Lodge.  The hiking here is phenomenal as the area is a launching point for the John Muir Wilderness, which is tucked into a massive alpine bowl directly below a wall of majestic 14,000 foot snow capped peaks.  The Palisade Glacier which sets the backdrop for the campground is the largest glacier in the Sierra Nevada and the southernmost perennial glacier (the farthest south a block of land ice can exist while surviving the summer without completely melting) in North America.

The hiking route of most interest here, the North Fork Big Pine Creek Trail, is the one that goes up to Lakes 1 through 7.  These alpine lakes are collectively known as the Big Pine Lakes.  It’s an out-and-back trail which is about 14 miles round trip.  It’s rated as a challenging hike, with altitude gain of about 4,000 feet of elevation.  The lakes are famous for the turquoise blue-green waters and the trail features spectacuar alpine scenery.  Lakes 1 and 3 are directly fed by the melting waters of the Palisade Glacier.  As the glacier grinds down the mountain, it creates super-fine rock powder called “glacial flour” or “rock flour”.  This flour stays suspended in the water and scatters sunlight, producing a stunning, milky turquoise color (most intense during late summer and early fall).  Since Lake 7 receives mostly normal snowmelt and fresh rainwater it looks like a classic, clear Sierra lake (dark blue, emerald, or deep forest green depending on the sky and surrounding trees).  Allow a full day for a hike up to Lakes 1 – 3 (13 miles round trip, about 7 to 9 hours).  We didn’t have time to complete the full hike on this trip, but we plan to come back to reach the lakes!

Final Thoughts
This trip was definitely filled with unusual travel adventures and exciting times.  Being prepared through extensive planning and having the right gear made our travels flow smoothly.  Although weather can be hard to predict, scheduling this adventure in early June and picking campsite locations strategically resulted in optimum conditions (not too hot or cold).  We were able to make a direct path up Hwy 395 through the high desert, choosing high altitude locations along the way for lower temperatures (e.g. Whitney Portal Campground above Lone Pine and Big Pine Creek Campground above Big Pine).  This strategy allowed us to traverse the hot Owens Valley while staying cool (and still being in beautiful locations!).

Careful equipment choices also made things easy on this journey.  1)  The new epoxy coated magnets we substituted for the old steel ones work much better by preventing corrosion in the shower (used for holding down the shower curtains in the Scamp 13’s wet bath).  2)  Having two propane tanks allowed us to stay warm at night throughout the trip where average nightime temperatures were in the 40’s and the Scamp 13’s furnace and hot water heater kept us comfortable.  Two tanks allowed us to refill one at Lake Tahoe when it was empty while the other was in use.  And the new propane regulator we recently installed automatically switches between tanks when one runs out.  We ended up using over two full tanks of propane on this trip, which is a record for us.  3)  Although we packed rain gear (e.g. water proof rain pant shells, waterproof jackets), we never needed it (although it’s always good to be prepared; it snowed in Lake Tahoe the week before our trip started!).  4)  Having the Starlink Mini allowed us to stay connected with friends and family while also not wondering what was happening in the world news while we were in remote areas.  We maintained a balance of only using it at select times during the day so it wouldn’t distract from the adventures.   5)  Having a 100Ah lithium battery and DC-DC charger is a game changer — we can spend almost 10 days without electric hookups or solar panels and can charge the battery while driving at 30% per hour (while running our 12V refrigerator!).  This allows us to easily stay at state campgrounds (which often don’t have hookups) witihout the trouble of placing solar panels on the ground.

Being flexible allows one to make adjustments when necessary to keep the adventure going strong.  Because of some last minute scheduling changes in Lake Tahoe with our friend Bruce, who we were visiting at Nevada Beach Campground, we decided to leave after five nights (leaving us three nights to schedule somewhere else).  Having the recreation.gov app on our phone made the process easy.  There was no charge to reduce the number of days from 8 to 5 nights at Nevada Beach Campground and we got a full refund back on our credit card for the unused nights.  Using the same app, we decided to reserve a few nights in Mammoth Lakes since it was almost four hours south in the direction home and we enjoy the town.  This made the drive home easier, reducing the number of driving hours in one day.

So, everything we did in preparation for this trip made it a lot smoother and more fun.  A famous ancient philosopher (Sun Tzu) once said, “Plan for what is difficult while it is easy.”  We find this advice to be very true.

 

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.

Removing Our 2020’ Scamp 13’ Bench to Fix a Water Leak   

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Removing Our 2020’ Scamp 13’ Bench to Fix a Water Leak   

The fresh water sensor on our Garnet See Level II Tank Monitor stopped working while filling our Scamp 13′ 2020 trailer’s fresh water tank at the end of our latest California coastline adventure.  We were in Oakland and used a Camco water tank fill hose attached to a hose to fill the tank.  We often prefer to use our fresh water tank instead of having a city water hose connected at all times.  This avoids having to turn the city water off at the spigot when leaving the trailer (for safety), avoiding a possible tripping hazard, and making it faster to leave the campsite the next day. During the fill in Oakland, the tank monitor changed from a numeric reading to OPEN.  This usually indicates a problem with the sensor (e.g. it went bad or it became detached from the tank).

The fresh water tank in our 2020 Scamp 13’ is located under the passenger side fiberglass bench seat.  To access the compartment, the first thing to do is to remove the seat cushions and the compartment access panel.  Our tank monitor was firmly secured to the fresh water tank and looked fine.  I then felt around on the inner bench seat floor and could feel the floor was wet.  Unsure where the water was coming from and not able to clearly see inside the compartment as the access hatch is very small, I emptied the fresh water tank (using a lever inside the compartment which drains the fresh water underneath the trailer).  I decided to wait a few days once home to work on the issue to let things dry out and give the tank monitor a chance to dry and work again after getting wet.

I called Scamp Trailers on the drive home and was told that the most likely scenario for the water leak was one of the hose clamps at the ends of the inner fill hose on the fresh water tank becoming loose.  Because this area isn’t visible or accessible with the bench seat in place, I was advised to remove the bench.  For most Scamp trailers, simply removing eight square #2 screws (5 on the top of the bench, 2 inside the bench on the floor, and one on the passenger door side inside a cabinet) will allow the bench to be lifted away.  I used a square #2 impact bit, with a small electric screw driver to do the job (similar to this one).  Before removing the bench, I made sure to undue the 12 volt electrical connections between the Propane / CO Alarm and the USB 12 VDC panel I added which are mounted to the bench.  To make it fast, I previously installed the wiring using WAGO connectors which allow wires to easily be removed by unclipping each connector.  I also used painters tape and color coded each wire so the wires weren’t confused when reinstalling (e.g. all the blue taped wires went to one connector and all the white tape wires went to the other).

I was easily able to remove the 5 top screws as well as the 2 screws inside the bench on the floor.  However, the eighth left side screw wasn’t visible.  I used a razor blade to scroll along the left side of the bench seat to cut open the white caulking.  After all this was done, I tried to remove the bench, but it was still stuck to the left side (where there is a cabinet on our trailer).  I looked inside the lower cabinet but didn’t see any screws.  I couldn’t break the seal by rocking left and right, but I was successful when I rocked the bench front to back.  It turned out that two inaccessible screws were screwed into a wood bar that was epoxied to the underside of the bench.  But, there was no access to the heads of those screws.  In any case, I removed the bench and moved it into the garage.  This left the entire fresh water compartment wide open and easy to work on.

To diagnose where the water inside the bench compartment was coming from, I tried to reproduce the original leak by using the Camco water tank fill hose and a drinking water safe RV hose to fill the tank.  The first thing I noticed was that the hose clamps were firmly in place and not loose.  Next, I noticed the inner water hose was leaking in the center.  After stopping the water, I had a helper inside the trailer inspect the hose while I pushed the Camco water tank fill hose into the trailer.  She immediately noticed that the tip of the Camco fill hose was protruding through a significant slit in the inner fill hose.  This would explain why filling the fresh tank with city water would overflow out onto the floor of the fresh water compartment.  My guess is that the Camco fill hose was gradually wearing down the inner fill hose over the six years of using the trailer, eventually causing a rupture.  Having found the issue was a big relief as being able to identify the cause of the problem is probably the biggest challenge in fixing a fresh water leak in a travel trailer.  The Scamp Trailer repair tech told me other causes of water leaks in the fresh water tank compartment include breaks or seam separations in the plastic tank itself, cracks in the tank stems, or separation issues with connected pex hoses.

I ordered a replacement for the broken 1-1/4” inner fresh water fill hose online through R & P Carriages Trailer Parts (an Ebay seller which sells trailer supply parts).  While I waited for the new hose to arrive, I prepared for the repair.  I vacuumed the compartment area, as it hadn’t been cleaned since we purchased the trailer new six years ago.  I then epoxied 3M Velcro tape to both the bar to which the two screws were attached and also the underside of the bench.  This way, the bar could be pressed back to attach under the bench (since there is no access to the screws inside the cabinet).  Lastly, I removed the existing inner fresh water fill hose – which, initially, proved very difficult to pull each end of the hose off their respective connecting flange / water inlet.  To make it easy, I sawed the middle of the hose in half and easily pulled each off their flanges.

Once the new hose arrived I used a pex cutter tool to easily cut the hose to the correct length (I measured the old one at 6 ½”).  Before installing the new hose, I trimmed a new fresh water fill hose (this one temporarily replaces the fresh water fill cap while filling the tank, attaching in the same place and keeps the hose from falling out).  This new fill hose allows for the vinyl portion that goes into the tank to be cut short so it doesn’t contact the inner fill hose (preventing damage to the new fill hose).  Installing the new inner fill hose was initially difficult – the hose diameter was very tight against both flanges.  However, using a small RV hair dryer made the task super easy.   After heating each end of the new hose for about ten seconds, the hose easily slipped right over the flange all the way to the farthest positions at the back of each flange on each end.  Make sure to slip on the hose clamps before attaching the hose ends.  It’s very important that each hose clamp rests flat against the hose all the way around.  If the hose is clamped down and it is not completely flat against the hose then there could be gaps between the hose and the flange which might allow water leakage.  Ensure that the hose clamp is very tight.

Once the repair is done and the water fill has been tested again to ensure no leaks, the bench can then be screwed back down into place inside the trailer by aligning the bench snugly against the wall and trying to align the same holes the screws originally went into.  I moved the screws around a little until they easily went into the plywood under the bench.  Once the bench is screwed down, it should feel very secure with no movement when gently pushing and pulling it from the freshwater compartment hatch opening. I didn’t bother re-caulking the side of the bench near the door as it is covered by the cushion (not visible) and there is a solid floor in the compartment underneath.

Whether your issue was related to a hose or other cause, it feels like a great accomplishment to make a successful repair.

 

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.

Free Camping in Anza Borrego Desert State Park

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Free Camping in Anza Borrego Desert State Park
February 23rd – 25th 2026 (2 nights)

Sometimes a spontaneous midweek break is the perfect way to take an adventure.  And, fortunately, there are numerous wonderful places for outdoor adventures to be had near our home in San Diego.  Anza Borrego Desert State Park is one such place.  This beautiful desert oasis, located just two hours east of San Diego, generally has great weather in the winter and early spring.  It’s renown for spectacular wildflower blooms in the spring as well as dark skies for celestial viewing, and hiking trails with unique outdoor scenery.  It’s also an escape for many snowbirds from colder weather environments who fill up the campgrounds within the park during the winter.  Palm Canyon Campground is one of Anza Borrego’s most popular campgrounds and offers hookups for water and electric and is located near the city of Borrego Springs.  This campground has an excellent Visitor’s Center, fun trails, and is a quick bike ride to its cute little town.  It was the first campground we visited after we received our 2020 Scamp 13!  Check out our trip report here.

Although traditional campgrounds can be great, sometimes one just wants to get off the grid — get away from neat rows of RVs, get off the asphalt, not see so many people, and maybe just hear the wind, birds, and other wild animals.  And avoiding the daily rate to rent the campsite pad can be a nice bonus as well!  So, how is this done?  Fortunately, there are plenty of resources for how and where to free camp (also called boondocking) online.    Anza Borrego Desert SP has a website which outlines the free primitive campgrounds within the park.  The free primitive campgrounds are called primitive because they lack water, trash collections, and other amenities/hookups.  No permits and fees are needed at any of these campgrounds.  However, there are still rules — such as packing all trash out and not leaving any traces on the ground (along with many others rules).

Before going out to free camp (whether it’s in a tent, car, van, RV, or travel trailer), it’s important to have a good mastery of one’s equipment, be aware of what and the amount of resources will be used (e.g. food and water, clothing, power, etc.), and have backup / emergency plans in case things don’t go according to schedule (e.g. always let someone know where you will be going and for how long).  Free camping in a travel trailer, like the Scamp 13′, is really nice because the Scamp is fully self-contained with it’s own bedroom, kitchen (including stove and refrigerator), furnace, shower, and entertainment system.  Our Scamp has two onboard propane tanks (offering plenty of fuel to power our stove, hot water tank, and furnace for weeks).  There’s also an onboard lithium battery which provides a large power bank for onboard electronics (such as pumps and lights).  We carry an additional battery to power our Starlink for communications when there is no mobile phone service.  We also carry emergency supplies such as a first aid kit, shovel, off-road tire traction boards, lithium battery engine jump starter, and more.  Here’s a list of our essential items.  We use GAIA GPS and download offline maps for all campgrounds we visit as many adventure locations have no mobile service.

Our plan for this trip was to try “free camping” primitive campgrounds within Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  Blair Valley Primitive Campground and Culp Valley Primitive Campground are well reviewed online and within thirty minutes of each other.  Both campgrounds are high above the desert floor above Borrego Springs, offering 5 – 10 degree cooler weather.

Blair Valley Primitive Campground (2,500 feet elevation)
Our first stop (after fueling at a nearby gas station on a Reservation called Santa Ysabel Roadside, off Highway 79) was Blair Valley Primitive Campground.  It’s located right off the Great Southern Overland Stage Route (a small highway).  Access to the campground is hard dirt and was relatively easy to navigate on its roads.  Because of the rain a couple of weeks ago, there were very large and deep pools of water on some of the access roads, but we were able to avoid these by taking higher adjacent tracks.  The campground is located in a large valley and the number of campsites is expansive (but not expensive — since it’s free!).  Beware:  the farther one travels down into the valley’s access roads, the sandier the roads get.  There were lots of nice sites with plenty of site separation right near the entrance, so we chose one of these when we arrived.  There are pit toilets at the front entrance (good for tent and car campers).  It’s best to arrive mid-morning as the sites are first come first served.  Though, there were a number of sites available at all hours the two days we were there on Monday and Tuesday in late February.

We chose a campsite at the base of one of the boulder mountains surrounding the valley.  Many of the campsites are clearly defined with a firepit.  It was tricky getting our Scamp 13′ level, even using our leveler.  We learned that it’s best to orient the trailer in the direction of the hill as there is much more ability to level front to back with the hitch jack (many feet) than side to side with a leveler (usually only about 6″).  The campsites in the center of the valley, on the flats, were much easier for people to level up.  During our visit, we had 1 to 2 bars of Verizon mobile service — enough to send texts (although sending images was very slow).  There is no water here, nor trash receptacle nor dump station.  We made sure to bring 3 full six-gallon water jugs as well as arriving with our Scamp 13’s 12-gallon fresh water tank completely full.  We saw a handful of other campers during our visit and everyone was very friendly.  Some were travelling across the country.

There’s plenty to do in Blair Valley, and even if you want to just relax it’s great too.  Shortly after we arrived, two F35 fighter jets made a low pass over the valley and pulled out hard, making a radical bank as they turned away!  That was the most noise we heard during our two day stay!  We brought our mountain bikes and road on the Blair Valley Loop trail (sometimes very sandy), which goes on for miles.  There are Indian pictographs and other artifacts to be seen on this route.  There are a number of hiking trails in the area as well.  We enjoyed sitting outside and taking in the beautiful sites and sounds of Blair Valley.  At night, a large owl hooted from a branch extending from a rock outcropping directly overhead!  And, stargazing is incredible as this is a dark skies park.

Culp Valley Primitive Campground (3.400 ft. elevation)
Located about 35 minutes from Blair Valley, Culp Valley Primitive Campground is off Montezuma Valley Road S22 going down into Borrego Springs.  It’s the highest campground in the park and offers cooler temperatures than many of the other campgrounds.  The campground is down a small, almost hidden dirt road and is much smaller than Blair Valley Primitive Campground.  Coming from above, there is no sign, just the dirt road is visible.  A street sign saying Culp Valley Camp is posted for drivers coming up the S22 from Borrego Springs.  There are only about 12 campsites and we estimated only a handful were suitable for small travel trailers.  In turn, arriving here midweek and early in the day is essential.  We would recommend choosing one of the few campsites on the main road and avoiding the lower and higher roads (at least not without scouting them on foot first).  During our visit, the lower and higher roads were extremely rutted and would not be suitable for a travel trailer.

The Culp Valley is not as expansive as Blair Valley, but still is surrounded by mountains with plenty of boulders.  Just like Blair Valley, there are not many amenities other than pit toilets.  And like Blair Valley, the price was right (free)!  There is almost no Verizon service here (we received an occasional one bar).  However, at the top of the Culp Valley Trail, which is a high overlook to Borrego Springs below, there is excellent Verizon coverage!  The half-mile long trail is easy and well defined.  There’s a longer 2.2. mile hike to nearby Pena Springs as well.

Impressions of Free Camping in Anza Borrego Desert State Park
Free Camping in Anza Borrego Desert State Park is amazing.  There are so many different options for camping and each provides a somewhat different experience.  We really enjoyed Blair Valley Primitive Campground for it’s beautiful natural environment and lots to explore.  Culp Valley Primitive Campground provides a smaller feel with a trail that offers a spectacular view of the Borrego Springs valley floor below.  It also is a bit cooler due to its higher elevation than the other campgrounds within the park.

For ease of access, Blair Valley Primitive Campground is the clear winner between these two campgrounds as it is easy to get into, there are seemingly almost an endless number of campsites (and often can accommodate large trailers), and the roads are in better condition (or were at least during our visit).  Blair Valley also provides a nice loop for mountain bike riding.

Free camping takes the visceral feel of nature to another level beyond traditional camping.  Being immersed in all the scenery — the sights and sounds of plants, animals, and stars — without so many people and asphalt around creates an elevated experience.  For those perhaps intimidated to try free camping due to the isolation, Anza Borrego Desert State Park makes the experience easy as the campsite areas are often marked and there are usually other campers and park employees around to provide assistance if necessary.

We can’t wait to return for the Spring wildflower bloom (and perhaps super bloom due to all the rain)!  Perhaps we will try another one of the Anza Borrego Desert State Park’s free campgrounds!

 

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.

Searching for Monarchs on the California Coast

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Searching for Monarchs on the California Coast
January 18th – 26th 2026 (8 nights)

After two weeks of strong winter storms, California was finally given a reprieve.  Clear blue, sunny skies and warm conditions followed.  The nice weather presented an opportunity to finally visit the Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach.  We had visited the Grove many times in the past, but only during off season (Spring, Summer, and Fall) when no butterflies were around.  Peak season for the migrating Monarch butterflies is during the winter (with mid-November through December presenting the highest numbers).  With good weather forecast for the next ten days, we planned a last-minute trip which included a visit to Pismo.

We made our first stop on our way up the California Coast in Santa Barbara (about a three and a half hour drive from our home in Carlsbad) to visit our cousin Jon and his family.  We situated the Scamp 13′ in my cousin’s driveway for an overnight stay.  After setting up the Scamp, we had a great lunch at the line-out-the-door Pang Zi Noodle Shop.  We then walked off lunch along the waterfront (there’s an arts and crafts show on Sundays — ) and down Santa Barbara Stearns Wharf Pier.

After walking most of the afternoon, we were ready for dinner!  We met my cousin Jon and his wife Ida at the Santa Barbara Public Market and had a chance to catch up with what’s been going on in each others’ lives.  There are a number of restaurant stalls inside the Public Market, offering a variety of foods.  We had excellent pizza at Ca’ Dario Pizzeria followed by some of the best ice-cream we’ve ever tasted at Rori’s Artisinal Creamery.

The next morning, we went for a long hike with our cousin Jon, his wife Ida, and dog Toby (a Sheepadoodle).  We hiked through the beautiful Elings Park.  It’s the largest privately funded non-profit park in America, at 230 acres.  Everything was so green after all the rain.  During our hike, we discovered the Santa Barbara Model RC club and their small model airport within the park and enjoyed speaking to some of the members and watching them fly their models.  From Elings Park, we hiked through to the Douglas Family Preserve, a smaller park but with spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.  After having a very fun visit with family, we continued our journey north to Pismo Beach to see the butterflies (and our good friend Jim)!

Pismo Beach North Beach Campground is a campground adjacent to the beach behind sand dunes in Pismo Beach.  It’s a very popular campground, offering premium beach side campsites for only $25/night!!!  There is good Verizon mobile phone reception here along with water spigots and a pay RV dump station (currently $10).  We reserved site #83 (pull through site) at the last minute, which is one of the best sites since it is right behind the dunes with a short walk to the beach and Monarch Butterfly Grove.  Sometimes great sites become available at the last minute as people often cancel for various reasons.  The first thing we did after setting up our Scamp 13′, was to visit the Monarch Butterfly Grove next door.  It was late afternoon and cool though, and the butterflies, we were told, were all sleeping!

The next morning we learned that the Monarch butterfly population is at historic low levels this year (down from tens of thousands a few years ago and hundreds of thousands in the 1990’s to only a hundred now).  Some reasons given for the population downturn are increased pesticide / herbicide use, climate changes, and shifts in milkweed growth (the exclusive food source for Monarch caterpillars).  The Monarchs seen at the Pismo Monarch Grove are the “migratory super-generation” that make their way over thousands of miles from Canada, down the coast of California, to the border of Mexico.  A ranger mentioned that because of the heavy rain this past year, there’s a chance the numbers will rebound next year.  There’s an app that allows tracking of some of the Monarchs (they are tracked with an extremely small and light bluetooth transmitter which is attached to their body).

We had a great lunch with our close friend Jim catching up and enjoying the excellent food at Old Juan’s Cantina in Pismo Beach.  We revisited the Monarch Butterfly Grove after lunch and saw more Monarchs which were enjoying the sun and warm afternoon temperatures.  We then walked from the campground down to the beach and along the boardwalk to the Pismo Beach Pier.  The SLO Cal pro surf event was happening during our visit and we had fun watching the surfing from high above on the pier.  Before leaving town for our next stop, we had to try the Old West Cinnamon Roll shop (established in 1972) as it is frequently mentioned as offering the best cinnamon rolls on the West Coast.  It did not disappoint!

Our next stop, New Brighton Beach State Park Campground, is one of the most popular beachfront campgrounds in California.  About a three hour drive north of Pismo Beach, the campground is located close to the cute beachside towns of Capitola and Santa Cruz (home to UC Santa Cruz), offering plenty to see and do.  The campground is at the top of the bluffs, looking down at China Beach and the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, with some premium campsites offering spectacular ocean views (a number with electric hookups).  We had site #72 ($35/night) which is a good site with a partial ocean view ($50/night for premium sites).  There’s a threaded water spigot nearby and we were able to connect two hoses to directly fill our fresh tank (also using a velcro strap to hold down the water valve).  There is an RV dumpstation at the park exit which accomodates four RVs simultaneously (currently $10).

We had plenty of things to do during our two day stay at New Brighton Beach State Park.  There’s a trail which goes down to the beach from the campground, along the water and then up a stairway back to the campground (about a mile loop).  We saw sea birds and dolphins on our morning walks.  We explored the little town of Capitola (with attractive beach shops, restaurants, and pier).  There are some colorful photo-worthy Mediterranean townhouses (24) and a hotel (17 units) near the pier called the Venetian Court.  They were built in 1924 and represent one of the first condominium style developments on the California coast!  Next, we drove to the town of Santa Cruz, walking along the wharf (recognized as the longest wooden wharf/pier on the West Coast of the United States).  Hundreds of sea lions hang out under the pier on the rafters.  They put on a show, barking loudly and playing.  The sea lions are a lot of fun to watch.  At the end of our visit to Santa Cruz, we enjoyed touring the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center.  Lastly, we hiked The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, a nature preserve with over forty miles of hiking trails.  The Marks family of Salinas, California deeded more than 9,000 acres to the State for use as a public park in 1963.  It’s a forest of dense coastal redwood trees that cover most of the park which provide a peaceful experience.

Visiting family in Oakland was the final stop on our coastal adventure.  Just under two hours from Santa Cruz, “The Town” offers a myriad of fun things to do.  We always enjoy walking in the redwoods, visiting Alameda Island (posh eateries, architecture, and walks), playing pickleball at the local Montclair courts, riding the Bart, and enjoying celebrating birthdays with family and friends.  This time we celebrated a birthday by taking some scenic walks (one through a district with historic Queen Anne style homes), going to our favorite bakery (their almond croissants are phenomenal) and playing pickleball.

On the journey home, we stayed near Bakersfield at the Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area campground to break up the eight hour drive from Oakland to San Diego.  Our lake front site (#41) with full hookups cost $33 for the night.  It’s a relaxing place which we’ve enjoyed before.  Just make sure to avoid visiting in the summer as it can be very hot in the Central Valley that time of year.

We had such a great time on this trip, even though it was planned last minute and we didn’t see that many butterflies.  It shows that sometimes following a goal can lead to detours that become the highlight of the journey!

 

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.

Camping Outside (and inside) the Box in Los Angeles

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Camping Outside (and inside) the Box in Los Angeles
March 22nd – 26th 2024 (4 nights)

What started out as a planned weekend to celebrate my friend’s birthday in Los Angeles, evolved into a trip leading us to discover some hidden campground gems.  Los Angeles itself has very few campgrounds for travel trailers.  According to The Dyrt, there are no public campgrounds in Los Angeles!  One usually has to travel to the distant foothills or the coast to find any places to park a trailer.  We found this to be the case too for many large cities we’ve visited, including San Francisco and Portland.  However, we did discover two nice campgrounds very close to Los Angeles that provide for beautiful natural experiences!

Valley Village, Los Angeles
We needed a spot to stay overnight in the center of Los Angeles since we planned to hike at Griffith Park on Sunday morning.  However, after finding no public campgrounds in the area, we brainstormed possible solutions.  We first tried Harvest Hosts (a subscription service which offers free stays at farms, museums, restaurants, etc.) and found nothing.  We don’t subscribe to their partner service, Boondockers Welcome, which lists private driveways, so we couldn’t determine if any driveways were available to rent.  We also tried Hipcamp, but nothing there either.  Since we grew up in Los Angeles, we thought of relatives living in the city who own homes that might be close to the park and have a driveway.  We got lucky — a relative living only 6 miles away from Griffith Park in Valley Village (a city in the San Fernando Valley) let us to stay on his driveway for the night!

We had a nice quiet evening at our relative’s home with our Scamp 13’ parked under a beautiful large Magnolia tree.  We enjoyed walking the quiet streets of this safe neighborhood in the early evening and morning.  Valley Village dates back to the 1930s when workers at nearby motion pictures studios built homes here.  The area was known for its apricot trees, orange and walnut groves, peach orchards, and cornfields.  It gets hot and dry here in the summer, but fortunately we had good moderate temperatures during our visit in March.  We probably wouldn’t stay in the San Fernando Valley during the summer months, but if we did we would definitely bring our portable AC for our Scamp 13’.

So, if you are travelling and need a place to stay where none exist or it’s not economically feasible, you might be surprised to discover you already have a close friend or relative living in the area who may provide you accommodation.

Malibu Creek State Park
Our friend’s birthday celebration dinner was at Paul Martin’s American Grill, a popular restaurant in Westlake Village (a city a bit north of Los Angeles).  In reviewing the location and campground map, we found Malibu Creek State Park a beautiful campground located halfway between the ocean and the valley in the Santa Monica Mountains.  The campground is only a short drive (about 15 minutes) from Westlake Village but feels worlds away from any city, isolated in a beautiful meadow in the Santa Monica Mountains.  Malibu Creek SP exceeded our expectations in many ways.  The campground is isolated from the rest of the park, so it’s very quiet.  And, it’s located in a beautiful meadow surrounded by tall mountains which light up at sunrise and sunset (reminding us a little of Yosemite).  Many television shows and movies have been filmed here throughout the decades, including M.A.S.H. and Planet of the Apes, with trails and signs leading to the filming locations and providing details.

Campsites at Malibu Creek State Park (no hookups) are $45/night.  We had campsite #62, which looks out directly over the meadow at the mountains (a great campsite).  There’s a central dump, which we were told costs $10 (we didn’t need to use).  Instead, we used our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution which effectively allows us to stay off grid for about five days.  There was acceptable, but not fast, Verizon mobile service during our stay (decent enough that we didn’t need to activate our Starlink Mini service).  We stayed here a couple of nights.

On our first day here, we visited our friends who were displaced from their home in Pacific Palisades due to the historic fire which burned down a significant portion of Pacific Palisades on January 7th, 2025.  Our friends were fortunate in that they quickly found a beautiful beach condo in Malibu which they have rented for a year while their home is being rebuilt.  Our friend Bruce gave us a tour of the fire destruction on the Malibu coast and Pacific Palisades.  Even though we’ve seen images of the aftermath of the fire numerous times on television, seeing the devastation in person was extremely impactful.  Walking through the Palisades village (where we grew up) felt like what we would imagine touring a war zone would be like.  Pictures of the scenes can’t adequately describe what it’s like in person.  After the tour, my friends joined us at our campsite and we sat outside on the grass under the oak trees and enjoyed each other’s company nibbling cheese, crackers, and sipping cold drinks.  While savoring the warm sunny spring day, we noticed a couple of campers having difficulty starting their tow vehicle.  A couple of rangers came by to help them start it with their battery jumper, but after a half hour they gave up.  I walked over and had a chance to use our Hulkman Smart Jumper Starter for the first time.  Being able to deliver up to 2,000 amps peak current, this jumper can even jump 8.5L gas / 6.oL diesel engines!  The Hulkman had their tow vehicle started in under a minute!  The campers were extremely grateful and the rangers were super impressed!

We spent our second day in the campground and park.  The Main hiking trail is up Crags Road, which follows the meandering Malibu Creek.  The small Visitor Center is open on the weekends (we only looked in the windows) and features information on the area.  We hiked up past the Visitor Center, through Ape City (where scenes from Planet of the Apes was filmed), and onto the M.A.S.H. set (a very popular television series which ran from 1972 to 1983 about a medical unit serving in the Korean War).  The weather was perfect and the trails are beautiful.  The Crags Road Trail up to the M.A.S.H. set is easy to moderate with only the last short section a bit challenging due to small rock fields (care is needed to prevent twisting ankles).  The hike was about 6 miles round trip from the campground, with an 837 foot climb, and took about two hours.

We left Malibu Creek SP feeling refreshed and very satisfied of our visit.  The experience felt like being in a very remote location even though it wasn’t too far from any city.

Crystal Cove State Park (Moro Campground)
We learned the street in front of our house was scheduled to be repaved the day we were supposed to arrive home.  So, instead of having to deal with parking our Scamp 13’ on the street and leaving it sit overnight, we decided to extend our stay and chose this beautiful location in Laguna Beach to spend the night.  Moro Campground (Crystal Cove SP) is usually booked solid year round, but we got lucky when a premium hookup campsite (#8) opened at the last minute on just the day we needed.  The premium sites are pricey at $75/night + reservation fee, which comes out to about $83/night (Electric / Water).  We normally don’t pay anywhere near this amount, but did want to try this campground as it has an excellent reputation and is in a beautiful area.  The central dump here is free (and we were surprised the park has 3 dump stations for just 28 designated RV and trailer campsites!).  The Verizon mobile service here was very fast during our stay.

The rangers at this campground are very strict on arrival time (we’ve only seen this strict adherence to the time once before – at Pismo Beach North Beach Campground) – check in is at 3 p.m., and if you show up any earlier (like we did), you are directed to park in one of the beach parking lots (we parked for free at Rock Ridge Beach parking lot and had lunch in our Scamp 13’ and then took a walk along the bluffs overlooking Crystal Cove SP). The campground itself isn’t particularly notable (though some of the front sites have ocean views) as it’s high up on a bluff away from the ocean and the sites themselves are close together.

The main draw of Crystal Cove SP are the beautiful beaches and bluff trails.  There’s also the historic district along the beach featuring beach bungalows (which can be rented) built in the 1930’s.  There’s a parking lot above the beach and one can either ride the free shuttle to the beach or walk down through a tunnel.  One of the beach bungalows (#13) was featured in the 1988 movie “Beaches” with Bette Midler.  The bungalows each have tags that have a number and the name of the bungalow.  The Shake Shack restaurant sits up a flight of stairs from the beach.  It’s usually crowded with tourists and locals forming lines to buy their popular milk shakes (they also serve hamburgers, fries, …).  If one tires of the beach, there’s a free trolley which runs through downtown Laguna Beach (plenty of shops and eateries).

Conclusions
Sometimes a short trip can be configured to become a fun adventure.  When no locations to stay at seem apparent, sometimes out of the box thinking can be rewarding.  You may have a close friend or relative who can accommodate a night’s stay or there may be private alternatives for parking your camper.  Exploring campground maps, like the one available on The Dyrt, can also provide ideas and alternatives for new campsites.  In this trip, we probably wouldn’t have gone out of our way to stay in Los Angeles without the need to attend a friend’s birthday party.  But, it forced us to keep an open mind and find options where none seem to exist and we ended up finding some hidden campground gems.  So, throw away the box, and let your thinking carry you to new horizons!

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

Reflections on Owning a 2020 Scamp 13’ for Five Years

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Reflections on Owning a 2020 Scamp 13’ for Five Years (Nov. 2024)

Note:  This is a follow up article to one written after two years of owning our Scamp

It’s already been five years since we took delivery of our new 2020 Scamp 13’ from the factory in November 2019!  It seems like just yesterday when the friendly Scamp driver pulled up to our house in San Diego after making the several day drive from Backus, Minnesota.  Since that time, we’ve taken 39 trips to 148 locations and have spent 266 nights in our Scamp!  To see complete articles on every trip we’ve taken, click here.  It now seems like a good time to reflect on our decision to buy our 2020 Scamp 13’ and what’s happened over the past five years.

We were very hesitant before purchasing our 2020 Scamp 13’.  We never had a travel trailer before, or even camped anywhere.  We were used to travelling, but did so by airplane and staying in spiffy hotels.  Before getting our Scamp, we had already travelled to six out of seven of the world’s continents (all but Antarctica) — but had hardly seen any places in the U.S. or Canada.  We figured that travelling by land would be a great way to see North America.  But, we weren’t sure if we would even like camping or towing a trailer.  We could have rented a used travel trailer to get some idea of what it’s like, but, instead, decided to go all in without a trial since it had been in our dreams for awhile.

At first, we did a lot of online research until we narrowed our choice to the Scamp and a few other models. We seriously considered other brands, including Airstream, TAB, and Safari Condo, before choosing Scamp.  And, we visited dealerships and spent a lot of time comparing models.  We even flew to Quebec City, Canada to visit the factory of Safari Condo!  For a detailed article on how we compared different trailers, click here.  We also visited a local Scamp owner who was referred to us by Scamp who owned a Scamp 16’.  She was very friendly and let us check out her trailer and told us stories about her adventures.

We ultimately chose Scamp due to its construction, features and size.  We wanted a fiberglass trailer because fiberglass trailers have a reputation of excellent quality and longevity generally not found in other trailer construction types.  We also desired a trailer we could fit in our garage and tow with our four cylinder car.  We did modify our garage height so we could have our Scamp at home (great for getting ready for trips) and not have to pay monthly storage fees or spend time driving to RV storage lots.  Click here to see how we raised our garage height from 7’ to 8’ to accommodate our Scamp 13’.  We learned that in California, trailers 16’ or shorter aren’t subject to yearly annual registration fees (it’s just an inexpensive permanent trailer plate fee every 5 years – currently $10), so getting a small trailer made good economic sense as well.

Our concerns about getting a travel trailer were quickly dissolved after taking delivery and experiencing our first couple of trips.  Although there was a learning curve, it wasn’t very steep.  When something didn’t work like we expected, we figured it out (sometimes by calling Scamp).  We also made good friends on trips and a few became excellent references for answering trailer questions.  Towing the trailer didn’t take much time to get used to (here are a couple of articles on our experiences towing and how we hitch up — towing and hitching up).  We learned a lot as we took more trips and rigorously documented our Scamp journey by blogging so others might benefit from our experiences.  Our Scamp blog not only lists all our trips, but also everything we have encountered along the way and all the modifications we have made on our Scamp 13’.

Having a small travel trailer has allowed us to travel considerably more often and more spontaneously than we would have if travelling by air / car / hotel.  It’s great being able to schedule a trip on a moment’s notice whenever we want.  Although campgrounds can be difficult to get into during peak months, we’ve always been successful at either booking last minute (if we didn’t make a reservation in advance) or finding alternatives.  And, it’s satisfying knowing that we will be sleeping in our own comfortable bed with our own clean bedding (and not having to be concerned about extra fees or hidden nightmares).  Additionally, the cost differences between taking a trip in our Scamp and reserving a hotel room are substantial.  Since we usually stay in State and National Parks, we generally don’t pay more than $40/night for a campsite (and, if you are 62 years old or older, National Parks and other federal lands, such as BLM & Forest Service parks, slash these costs in half if you buy a Lifetime Senior America the Beautiful Pass — currently $90 including fees).  A lot of campgrounds in the Eastern Sierra are run by the Forest Service and fees are generally around $32 / night (so, someone who has a Lifetime Senior America the Beautiful Pass would only pay 50%, or around $16/night at these campgrounds).

The average daily rate of a hotel room in the US was $148 in 2022 (Statista).  That’s at least a $100/night savings by travelling in a travel trailer versus staying in a hotel.  A simple calculation based on the 266 nights we’ve already stayed in our Scamp 13’ over the past five years shows we would have spent at least $39,368 (266 nights x $148/night average) for hotel rooms had we opted to stay in average priced hotels instead of buying our Scamp 13’ (which cost around $18K, including shipping)!!!  For an article on how we selected options and purchased our Scamp 13’, click here.  And, generally, prices for nice hotels in California are well north of $200/night.  And, hotels within National Parks (if they are available) tend to be very expensive.  For example, room rates at the Ahwanee Hotel in Yosemite National Park currently range between $578 and $1,347 per night.  Travelling in a small travel trailer brings other cost savings as well, such as not having to go out to eat for every meal.  We enjoy great home cooked meals in our Scamp for most days of our trips (although we do enjoy going out to eat occasionally).  Driving instead of flying plus renting a car can also be less expensive.

Over the past five years, we fortunately haven’t had any significant issues or maintenance costs with our 2020 Scamp 13’.  There have been some minor issues (e.g. replaced exterior door handle, bathroom door handle, hookup valve handle,  toilet spring cartridge kit, shower drain pump, and shower valve — all of which we installed ourselves), but nothing very expensive.  We take our Scamp 13’ to Sonrise RV every two years to have the bearings repacked and greased and the brakes adjusted (about $200).  And, we replaced the standard battery with a SOK 100ah lithium battery ourselves (now priced about $300) — click here to see how we did it.  We had a shop install a RedArc DC-DC battery charger (about $1,000) for fast charging of our Scamp’s lithium battery when we drive.  We have replaced the Scamp 13’ tires once ($50/tire) and plan to replace them every three years regardless of wear (see this article for more details).  We do most repairs ourselves, but a local shop could also easily do them for someone not wanting to do work on their trailer themselves.  We wax our Scamp 13’ every spring with our favorite marine wax.

Putting aside how doable buying and using a small travel trailer is and the potential huge cost savings small travel trailers provide compared to other types of travel, the main question for us when getting a travel trailer was “will this be fun?”.  Looking back over the past five years, the answer for us to this question is a resounding yes!  We have had so many outstanding adventures and met so many good friends during our travels, that getting our 2020 Scamp 13’ has been extremely fun and rewarding.  And, one of the biggest benefits of owning a small travel trailer is being able to stay in highly desired locations only possible by having one (such as inside a State or National Park).  We’ve been to so many beautiful areas with the closest hotel/motel lodging being thirty minutes or more drive away.  And, experiencing these places at night takes the park experience to another level (e.g. many animals come out at night and hearing and seeing them is fantastic!).  Plus, the quiet spent in nature once the day users leave is very special.  For anyone considering buying a small travel trailer, we would highly recommend the experience.  Owning a small travel trailer might change your life for the better!

 

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

Falling for Color in the Eastern Sierra  October 13th – 20th 2024 (7 nights)

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Falling for Color in the Eastern Sierra
October 13th – 20th 2024 (7 nights)

One of the most spectacular places in the country to see the annual fall leaf color change is in the high Sierra.  Leaf peepers from all over the world come to the Sierra to feel the chill in the crisp fall air and observe the vivid colors which pop in yellows, oranges, and reds.  October is usually the month to go, but the actual timing per location varies.  One notable website tracks the color changes by offering onsite reports (the website published two feature articles about our adventure on their website during our trip).   The first article was about our experience at Sabrina Lake — click here to see the article with our photographs.  The second feature was on our visit to Lundy Lake Campground — click here to see this article with our photographs.

In order to get a good chance of seeing some fall color, we scheduled stops at various locations in the Eastern Sierra.  Our leaf peeping locations included two sites in the Aspendell area (above Bishop at around 9,000 feet elevation–at Sabrina Lake Campground and Four Jeffrey Campground), a stop at Lundy Canyon Campground an hour north near Mono Lake (elevation 7,800 feet), and lastly a visit to Convict Lake Campground (7,500 feet) near Mammoth Lakes.

Many of the campgrounds are either closed or closing at the middle to end of October, so it’s very important to research which campgrounds are still open if planning a visit this time of year.  Winter can bring extremely strong storms, including snow, and this area often becomes inaccessible after the first storm or two.  And, it’s not uncommon for a surprise snow storm to hit even in early October when campers are still at the campgrounds so it’s important to pack accordingly (this happened to us at Lundy Canyon Campground)!

Come prepared with your propane tanks full (ideally two tanks) as the weather can get very cold at night.  It was sunny and pleasant during our visit with temps in the high 60’s / low 70’s, but the evenings and mornings were cold (in the high teens and low 20’s)!  We set our furnace to keep us warm at night and early mornings, and were very glad we were sleeping in our 2020 Scamp 13′ instead of a tent!  We set a record on this trip by burning through an entire tank of propane in just six days!

Fuel stop tips:  we discovered a few good low priced gas stations during our drives — 5 Points Petroluem (Adelanto, CA), Fort Independence Travel Plaza (Independence, CA), and Yuhubi Nobi Gas Station (Bishop, CA).  Gas stations in Mammoth Lakes and Lee Vining (which we avoided) were significantly more expensive (around $2 more per gallon) than the service stations listed above.

Food stop tips:  the Alabama Hills Café (can be crowded on weekends) for great American food (Lone Pine) and the Lemon Food Truck for great Mexican food (Independence) make good stops for nourishment and help break up the long drive into the Eastern Sierra.  Glen’s Taqueria Food Truck (Independence) was also recommended to us, but we didn’t get a chance to try it.

Lake Sabrina Campground
This is a first come, first served campground with about 20 campsites.  There is no cell phone service here, but they do have potable water spigots, trash cans, and vault toilets.  Note:  the Cardinal Village Resort down the road offers free Starlink WiFi service (good enough even for phone calls).  We arrived at around 2:45 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon, figuring most people would have left the campground by the end of the weekend.  However, when we arrived, we found only two sites available!  Fortunately, the site we selected (campsite #20, $34/night) was not easy to spot, yet a very good one (we drove right by it on our first pass and the campground host showed us where it was)!  Make sure to bring either cash or a check for the iron ranger box.  The campground is very scenic and is situated along the Middle Fork Bishop Creek.  The abundant aspens in the campground had already starting turning color, with popping yellows.

The trail at the end of the campground off of North Lake Road led us through some spectacular fall foliage in magnificent red, orange, and yellow leaves.  We also drove up North Lake road to North Lake (a small lake popular for fishing) and enjoyed some stunning scenery of the fall color changes.  Sabrina Lake is about a mile and a half up the road.  There’s a trail that goes around the lake as well as a boat rental house.  The high Sierra mountains pose magnificently in the background thousands of feet above the lake.  One of the most popular activities here is fishing for trout, and even in October we saw a number of fishermen and fisherwomen.  But, probably the most popular activity in this area was taking photos in front of the lake and several leaf peeping worthy backdrops.

Another trip highlight included testing out a new tech toy.  We purchased a Starlink Mini for this particular trip and had ample opportunity to try it out at Lake Sabrina Campground.  There is no phone service near here and it was nice to conduct some additional research of the area, stay up to date on the news/weather and emails, and contact friends and families via calls and texts when not hiking or exploring the area.  The Mini is great because it is very compact (about the size of a laptop), the router and power supply are internal, and it uses low power (we can run it for hours on our Jackery 500).  We are able to store it in the small closet cabinet we constructed in our 2020 Scamp 13′ along with our laptop and tablet.  To set it up, just point it north and use the app to make fine adjustments.  We found the speed to be very fast (over 100Mbps download and around 10 Mbps upload).  We chose the roam plan which, at the time of this writing, is $50/month for 50GBs of data (additional GBs of data cost $1/GB).  We only used 11GB of data during our entire eight day trip (including streaming a few news broadcasts from Sling).  The plan can be paused (by the month) when not travelling. The upfront cost of the Starlink Mini hardware is currently $599.

Camp Four Jeffrey
Just about fifteen minutes down the road from Sabrina Lake Campground towards Bishop, Camp Four Jeffrey is off South Lake Road in the direction of South Lake.  Camp Four Jeffrey is a larger 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’ve found a reliable signal here on this as well as a past visit.  (Link to previous report).  Additionally, there’s a cell phone lot between Camp Four Jeffrey (although we didn’t try it) as well as the free Starlink service at the Cardinal Village Resort.  Or, if you have Starlink yourself, it works great at the campground.

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 very little snow visible this fall).  Also, aspen trees grow throughout the campground, and were presenting full fall yellow popping color.  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.  Some of the water spigots at the entrance are threaded and we used one to fill up our Scamp 13’s fresh water tank on the way into and out of the campground.  There are also unthreaded water spigots through the campground.

We spent a couple of days here and enjoyed hiking through the fall colors in the area as well as at Cardinal Village Resort.  While staying here, we decided to go back up to the Sabrina Lake area (since it is only about 10 minutes away from Camp Four Jeffrey) and drove up North Lake drive to North Lake.  We were rewarded with vibrant fall foliage at the lake.  There were quite a few people wading into and fly fishing in the lake.  After exploring, we enjoyed a satisfying burger lunch at the Cardinal Village Resort (they make pie daily here too).

Lundy Canyon Campground
After a couple of beautiful days at Camp Four Jeffrey, we made our way down the mountain to refuel in Bishop (Yuhubi Nobi Gas Station) and then drove north on Hwy 395 for an hour to Lundy Lake Campground (passing Mammoth Lakes and June Lake) .  We heard the leaves were changing color here too.  The campground is up Lundy Lakes Road just past the town of Lee Vining and Mono Lake.  Cell phone coverage ends shortly after entering the canyon and climbing up towards Lundy Lake (Lundy Lake is about five minutes past the campground, with hiking trails).

Lundy Canyon Campground (7,660′ elevation) is primitive with rough roads and no amenities.  There’s not even a camp host.  Instead, once we found a campsite we liked (#10) at this first come first serve campground (36 campsites along a 0.8 mile long scenic bumpy road), we took our cash ($16/night) for our two night stay and deposited it in the iron ranger box which is located near campsite #20.  Campsite #10 is surrounded by aspen trees that were bright yellow during our visit.  Most of the campsites were empty while we were here midweek in mid-October.  An evening rain storm made many campers leave as we were arriving, including a camper with a Scamp who left early fearing the Tioga Pass could get closed by snow.

After lunch, we drove around with the intention of checking out Lundy Lake, but the storm was fast approaching with fog and drizzle making hiking and taking pictures challenging.  So, instead, we headed down the canyon road to Mono Lake to check out the Tufas!  The Visitor’s Center was closed for the winter, but we briefly surveyed the gift shop which had a lot of books, t-shirts, and other souvenirs available for purchase.  After our store visit, we drove to the South Tufas, which are incredibly otherworldly rock like figures which naturally inhabit the shores and waters of Mono Lake (a must see).  Parking is either $3/person or free with an America the Beautiful Pass (which we displayed in our windshield).

Tufas are formed when calcium flows up from springs under the lake bottom and bonds to carbonates in the lake water, forming calcium carbonate (a type of limestone).  The calcium carbonate builds up on itself over time, gradually forming a tufa tower.  When the lake level drops, the exposed tufa stops growing.  A visit to the South Tufas is a fantastic way to explore the scenery and observe the magnificent and fascinating tufas.  There are paved paths and boardwalks which meander along the shore for at least a quarter of a mile.  There is free dispersed camping in the area near the lake, but the bookstore was unable to provide a detailed camping map.  Certain areas are off limits to camping, including the South Tufas and Navy Beach (where you can kayak), so further research is needed before planning a camping visit near the Tufas.  There are a lot of trails in the area including Panum Crater, so lots to do for a fun few days.  We hiked the rim of Panum Crater (entrance is one mile from the bumpy dirt road and driving speeds are less than 10 miles/hour). It was, however, worth the drive to see the stellar views of Mono Lake below.  The crater was formed by a volcano that blew its top, leaving a ring around a crater and a plug (volcano top) in the middle.

A cold rain storm swept through at night.  It was about 30 degrees around 7 a.m. in the Lundy Canyon Campground and our car was covered with slush.  By 11 am the sky had cleared, it had warmed up to 60F, and we travelled up the road to Lundy Lake and took the Lundy Canyon trail hike.  The road going up to the trail head was in disrepair with large holes and big deep puddles, so we parked right outside the Lundy Lake Resort (closed for the winter) and hiked up to the trailhead.  We spent a couple of hours walking the road and then up the trail to the third lake and back to our car.  The most scenic part of the hike was the lower part just above Lundy Lake Resort — there’s a pond and a fantastic view of a tall newly snow-capped mountain top.

On our last evening at Lundy Canyon Campground, the wind blew and we could only see white looking out our Scamp’s windows.  We enjoyed a good movie with our furnace keeping us toasty inside our Scamp.  The wind howled all night.  The campground and mountains were blanketed with snow the next morning.  The temperature was down to 19 degrees at 7 a.m.

We met a couple of ladies at the campground who encouraged us to drive 30 minutes further north to Bridgeport and walk the charming town with shops and especially the trading post (they had purchased some fine Navaho turquoise jewelry there which they were proudly wearing).  They also recommended taking a soak at the Travertine or Benton Hot Springs in that area as well.  We filed this information away for a future trip as we were just about to leave camp!  Next: Reservations at Convict Lake Campground were awaiting us!

Convict Lake Campground
Convict Lake is beautiful location with dramatic mountains surrounding a pristine lake.  The area has been featured in some commercials including Nature Valley and Delta Airlines as well as a number of movies including Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).

On the way up to Convict Lake, make sure to use the free RV dump station (if necessary).  This RV dump station is not labeled and easy to miss (we drove right by it on the way up to the campground).  The dump station is on the left just past the Convict Lake Resort (on the right side) and is notable for a number of orange metal posts.  There are two dump stations (side by side) along with a separate area for potable fresh water (threaded hose).

Convict Lake Campground has views of dramatic mountains which tower over the lake.  From the campground, it’s easy to walk to the lake and the Convict Lake Resort (which has a fine dining restaurant {$$$$} as well as a bar / lounge for simpler less expensive food).  A number of the campsites here are first come first served which can make the campground look fully booked when trying to reserve a site online even though there may be first come first served spots available.  We found that there were plenty of open campsites on the weekend and we selected campsite #7 ($37/night).  Campsite #7 has good space around it and spectacular views of the mountains (the lake is slightly above the campground, so it’s not visible).  There’s minimal to no cellphone service here (but free WiFi at the resort as well as an open sky for great Starlink).  There are water spigots within the campground as well as bathrooms.

We had a great salad and pizza dinner at the Convict Lake Resort next door (the bar/lounge section).  In the morning, we enjoyed taking the easy 2.5 mile hike around the lake (which took us about an hour).  Convict Lake is about fifteen minutes away from Mammoth Lakes; so, it’s easy to spend time doing other fun things in Mammoth Lakes if one has extra time or wants to try some different eateries, ride bikes and/or do some shopping (see our June trip report for more information on Mammoth Lakes).

Since it’s a long drive back home from Convict Lake (about eight hours with stops), we decided to split the trip in half and spend the night at either Fossil Falls Campground (BLM, $6/night) or Red Rock Canyon State Park Campground.  We first tried Fossil Falls (which we have stayed at in the past) on a late Saturday afternoon, but it was full (there are only a limited number of campsites that suitably accommodate RVs – sites 4, 5, 6, & 8).  The dirt rocky roads at Fossil Falls were in much worse shape than when we previously visited, so we would no longer recommend a stay here. Instead, we continued on about an hour further south to Red Rock Canyon State Park campground.  It’s a beautiful desert campground with towering red rock cliffs.  Many of the campsites are at the base of the cliffs.  The campground was almost full when we arrive late Saturday afternoon, but we did find a nice pull-though spot (#24 / $25/night)!  More information on both of these campgrounds can be found on our previous trip report here.  We are really glad we broke up the trip home as it made the drive much easier.  We left Red Rock Canyon SP early on Sunday morning (5:30 a.m.) and were home for breakfast (9:30 a.m.) and with plenty of time to wash our Scamp 13′, Volvo XC40, and do our laundry!

This trip was remarkable in many ways.  There’s something special about travelling off season in the fall with crisp mountain air and beautiful fall colors.  We were very fortunate in that the leaf color change was peaking at most of the locations we chose.  The fall colors were so dramatic during our visit that it was inspiring.  And, experiencing a surprise snowstorm at night and waking up with snow covering the ground was awesome!  We also learned about new locations which we may explore next July when travelling to Lake Tahoe (these locations include Mono Lake dispersed camping, Bridgeport, the Travertine hot springs, and Bodie Ghost Town).  We expanded our communications options to include satellite (with our new Starlink Mini) and will never look back.  Each of the locations on this trip had very limited or no cellphone reception and we greatly appreciated the ability to connect when off grid for an hour two each day (including the additional safety having communications provides).  Lastly, getting up in the Sierra mountains brings a form of serenity which is hard to achieve anywhere else.  The remote location, natural beauty, and fresh air reinvigorate the soul. John Muir described this feeling well in his quote: “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.  Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.  The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

 

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

Mammoth Lakes, California: June 8th – 14th, 2024 (6 nights)

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Mammoth Lakes, California
June 8th – 14th, 2024 (6 nights)

Mammoth Lakes, located seven hours north of San Diego by car, is an outdoors playground high up in the Eastern Sierra (almost 8,000 feet above sea level).  During the winter and spring, there is fantastic skiing/snowboarding at the world famous Mammoth Mountain ski area as well as opportunities for cross country skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and sledding nearby.  Spring, summer, and fall allow for camping, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, horseback riding, canoeing, paddle boarding, as well as many more activities (such as leaf peeping when the leaves change colors to vibrant yellows and oranges in the fall)!

Although we have visited Mammoth Lakes many times, this was our first stay in town at New Shady Rest Campground (note – there is also Old Shady Rest Campground right next store).  New and Old Shady Rest campgrounds are run by the Inyo National Forest service.  The campground is right in the middle of all the great things Mammoth Lakes as to offer, so it makes for an excellent location for exploring.  There are no hookups at this campground, but there are water spigots and central dump station ($10). We reserved site #76 ($30/night) which is very spacious and is heavily shaded by tall Jeffrey pines.  We received two bars of Verizon mobile phone service (although texting was not consistent – e.g. sometimes text would say downloading but never come through).  There is a water spigot close by site #76 and the spigots are threaded:  so, we were able to use our hoses to pump the water uphill to our trailer, instead of having to use our dolly.  Joining our 25’ and 50’ Zero-G lead free drinking water safe hoses together was still just a few feet too short from being able to fill our 2020 Scamp ’13 directly, so we filled a water jug instead.  Since this was at least the third time where our hoses have been just a bit too short to reach our Scamp 13’s fresh water fill port, we ordered an additional hose for future trips.

New Shady Rest Campground is within the town center of Mammoth Lakes and the 7.8 mile paved Town Loop bike path is right at the campground as well.  The Mammoth Lakes Welcome Center is walking distance and offers a lot of information on things to do (including trolley maps) as well a nice tourist shop.  We brought our mountain bikes (hitched to the back of our Scamp 13’) and enjoyed riding from the campground through town as well as on the paved Town Loop bike path.  The path leads high up above town and offers spectacular views of the Eastern Sierra (still snowcapped in mid-June).  We road our bikes to the Warming Hut restaurant one day for lunch and enjoyed some great meals!  There’s also a nice mostly flat paved trail that goes from the campground through a Jeffrey Pine forest to Shady Rest Park (about 1 mile each way).  We enjoyed walking this path every day during our stay.  The smells of the pines are wonderful.  Although we were warned about bears, we never saw any.  The last bear seen in the campground was about two weeks before our arrival.  The black bears are mostly regarded as a nuisance in the campground by foraging for food, but are rarely aggressive towards people.

Our Carlsbad neighbor and friend Rob surprised us with a visit (on his way up to Bend, Oregon for a family gathering).  He spent a couple of nights at New Shady Rest campground in his Honda Odyssey van which he converted into a camper van.  Rob is very familiar with the area as he has spent many years skiing and fly-fishing here.  We were fortunate to have him give us a tour of some of his favorite places, including a hike around beautiful Convict Lake and a viewing of the Minarets (mountain peaks) from Minaret Vista (the highest lookout point in Mammoth Lakes, elevation 9,276 feet).  The vista offers panoramic views of the famous Minarets, the backside of Mammoth Mountain, and the magnificent Sierra landscape.

Mammoth Lakes has an excellent free trolley system which traverses all over town as well as to the lakes.  Some of the trolleys even look like the old fashioned bright red trolleys with open sides!  Each trolley route is designated with a color, so it’s important to get a map at the Mammoth Lakes Welcome Center (or view online) to determine which colored route is the right one for your destination.  Some of the trolleys even have bike racks, so you can bring your bike with you.  The trolley stop right up the street from the campground is designated #12.  We found most of the trolleys, regardless of colored route, go to The Village, where one can catch the Lake Basins trolley to the lakes.  The Village is designed like a posh European alps village and has various stores and eateries.  We had fun taking the trolley up to the lakes and hiking the spectacular Panorama Dome, which features spectacular views of the mountains, Twin Lakes, and waterfalls.

Although we only stayed five days in Mammoth Lakes, there are so many fun things to do, that one could easily spend a couple of weeks here and not get bored.  In the late spring, there is great biking, fishing, hiking, boating, shopping, restaurants … to try.  Don’t forget about taking the shuttle to the Devils Postpile National Monument and hiking to Rainbow Falls.  And, Yosemite is less than an hour’s drive away!  We also found it very relaxing sitting in a comfortable chair at the campsite and watch the puffy white clouds pass high above the tall Jeffrey pines.  Whatever, you choose to do, make sure to get outdoors, inhale the fresh air, and wonder at the beautiful natural surrounds.  The sign at the entrance of town has it right as it says, “The mountains are calling, … John Muir”.

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

Wireless Weather Station for Travel Trailers

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Wireless Weather Station for Travel Trailers

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

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

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

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

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

 

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