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Feeling the Warmth in Southern Arizona  

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Feeling the Warmth in Southern Arizona  
February 6th – 15th, 2022 (9 nights)

Southern Arizona is a beautiful and fun place to visit during the winter.  Sunny skies, warm weather, and clear starry nights attract people from all over the world seeking winter warmth.  However, these are not the only reasons to plan a winter trip to the southern Sonoran Desert.  There are plenty of fun things to do along with some great campgrounds at which to stay.

On this trip, we left our home in San Diego and followed the 8 East freeway which parallels the southern border with Mexico.  In order to limit a long drive time to the first campground, we stopped overnight at a Boondocker’s Welcome location in Yuma, Arizona.  Yuma is in Arizona’s southwest corner and, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the “Sunniest City on Earth”, promising sunshine and warm weather 91% of the year.  Because of this great weather, Yuma also is very strong agriculturally, producing over 175 types of crops and providing over 90% of all leafy vegetables in the United States!

After our three hour drive to Yuma, we pulled into the adjacent empty lot next to our Boondocker’s Welcome hosts’ home in their RV community.  We were provided full hookups including fast WiFi for only the small price of the Boondocker’s Welcome annual membership!  We always give the hosts a small gift though for their generosity.   Since we arrived late in the afternoon, we didn’t explore Yuma’s old town.  Instead, we had a late lunch and walked around the very flat and wide streets which are surrounded by desert.  We headed for our first campground, Twin Peaks Campground, the next morning.

We followed the 8 freeway east through the Sonoran Desert and turned off on the 85 south at Gila Bend and headed straight toward the Mexican border.  After a few hour drive from Yuma and passing through a few small towns (e.g. Ajo population 2841), we reached Twin Peaks Campground within the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument park (just a few minutes from the border crossing at Lukeville).  The desert landscape here is accentuated by tremendous giant saguaro cacti, which also dot the campground.  Almost every campsite within Twin Peaks Campground has a beautiful giant saguaro cactus.  The campsites here are very spread out and private.  Ours was #57 ($20/night when we reserved), an end spot with a water spigot very close by.  There are no hookups here, which give this very remote location an even more far off feel.  Cell phone service in the campground is spotty.  We used our solar panel briefcase for charging our batteries and our grey tank jugs so we wouldn’t have to move our Scamp 13’ to dump until leaving (there is a free central dump station here).

When we arrived at Twin Peaks Campground, the park ranger advised us to keep our car hood open at night due to the pack rat problem (they like confined closed spaces and will chew through car wiring!).  We were also told to avoid contact with people wandering in the desert as they likely are smugglers or illegal immigrants.  The ranger said these people use black water bottles to avoid sunlight reflections which could get them noticed by border patrol agents.  Note:  we didn’t see any such activity during our three day visit and the campground felt very safe due to a well-populated campground, a good park ranger presence, as well as a lot of border patrol agents scouting right outside the campground.  On a remote path, we did see a high blue flag in the air marking two large blue barrels of water sitting on the desert sand, set up by the organization called Humane Borders to help immigrants in need of water while crossing the desert.  The yellow city lights from the Mexican town of Sonoyta are visible from the campground at night.

There are a lot of fun trails originating from within the Twin Peaks Campground.  We hiked the Palo Verde Trail to the Visitor’s Center on our first day (an easy 2.6 mile round trip hike).  Along this path, one can view magnificent giant saguaro cactus (some over 50 feet tall and 150 years old!) as well as the namesake Organ Pipe cactus (usually with multiple limbs clumped together at the base).   Every morning and evening, we walked along the Campground Perimeter Trail (an easy desert loop around Twin Peaks Campground).  And, we spent a half day hiking to the old Victoria Mine (4.5 miles round trip).  The Victoria Mine Trail is an easy desert trail with some ups and downs, crossing several arroyos (washes).  There is a historic old mining structure (mines are closed for safety) at the end of the trail. And, the Desert View Trail is another one not to miss and best hiked around sunset.  It’s an easy 1.2 mile loop (about an hour hike) with spectacular vistas of the Senita Basin and the La Abra Plain to the southwest and the Sonoyta Valley to the southeast.  There are good plant markings and benches along the trail.  There’s also a great view looking down over the Twin Peaks Campground from the top of the trail.  There are a variety of other trails to hike as well if time permits.  Always make sure to sign your names in the trail book when starting hikes so your whereabouts are known in case of emergency and carry plenty of water.  Avoid hiking when it is hot or in the middle of the day.  Biking is allowed along the roads, but be careful of loose slippery sand as well as traffic (and don’t go too fast).  The closest hospital from the campground is about 2 hours away (although there is a small community clinic, Desert Senita Community Health Center, about 30 minutes away in the town of Ajo which can handle minor injuries such as stitches).

Our next stop was Gilbert Ray Campground on the outskirts of Tucson (a 2 ½ hour drive from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument) and next to the Saguaro National Park.  Our campsite was #C16 ($20/night), which has a water spigot very close to it.  These campsites do have electric hookups, but no other hookups.  There is a free central dump station.  We were surprised by very fast Verizon internet at this campground – we clocked over 100Mbps download and over 20Mbps upload at our campsite!  The HD TV reception, being close to Tucson, was also excellent and we watched the Olympics at night in our Scamp 13’.  The campsites at Gilbert Ray feel closer together and not as private (or as remote) as the ones at Twin Peaks Campground.  However, the proximity to Tucson allowed us to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum!  We spent a fantastic day touring the museum which is filled with airplanes and helicopters (both indoors and out).  We had a nice lunch too at the museum’s “Flight Grill”.  This museum is right next to the largest airplane bone yard in the world, home to almost 4,000 mostly retired aircraft laid out over 2,600 acres.  The dry heat and low humidity in Tucson is ideal for airplane storage because aircraft take longer to rust and degrade.  Additionally, desert land is plentiful and cheap and the earth is hard enough to prevent aircraft from sinking into the ground.

After a few nights at Gilbert Ray Campground, we headed an hour east to the Kartchner Caverns Campground.  The main attraction here are the caves, and reservations are recommended for tours.  We had campsite KTC-49 ($30/night + $5 reservation fee) with electric and water hookups (there is a free central dump station).  There is plenty of space between campsites and trees filling the campground space.  We had very limited Verizon internet, although the campground provides free WiFi (which worked sparingly when sitting outside).  We enjoyed the Visitor’s Center and a cave tour (no photos allowed on most tours) which lasted over an hour and featured some amazing large rooms with stalactites, stalagmites, and columns.  There is even a music / light show during the $23 per person tour.  We spent one night here, which seemed to be enough time to take a cave tour.  The next morning, we had to try an early lunch at Mi Casa (a highly recommended Mexican restaurant close by in Benson, Arizona) before heading back to Yuma.  We arrived right at 11 a.m. for lunch because we read the place fills up fast with long waits!  Fortunately, we found parking in front of the restaurant for our tow vehicle and Scamp 13’ and we just got a table before the place filled up within minutes of opening!  We were not disappointed with the food – some of the best Mexican food we have ever had (and we’ve travelled throughout Mexico!).  The homemade chips and salsa, enchiladas, carrot cake, and flan were beyond exceptional!   It’s too bad this restaurant is in such a remote area or we would be coming back!  We spent the last night of our trip back at the same Boondocker’s Welcome home in Yuma after a 4 ½ hour drive from Kartchner Caverns.

If you are looking for some warmth in winter, give southern Arizona a try.  The campsites are great and the people are very friendly.  Arizona has numerous public campgrounds throughout the state and many campers choose to spend the entire winter here.  It’s easy to see why; the weather and nature are breathtaking!

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. 

Reflections on Owning a 2020 Scamp 13’ Trailer for Two Years

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Reflections on Owning a 2020 Scamp 13’ Trailer for Two Years

It’s already been two years since our Scamp 13’ arrived from the Scamp factory at the end of 2019!  So much has happened since, it now seems a good time to reflect on the decision to buy the trailer and what followed over the past couple of years.

We spent a long time deciding if buying, maintaining, and travelling with a travel trailer was a good idea.  Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that a travel trailer provides an excellent way to travel the U.S. and Canada since it allows for stays in national and state parks where no other comfortable and affordable accommodation may be available.  Additionally, we liked the idea of being able to provision the trailer with our own items including food and very comfortable and bedding (and not slept on by anyone else like in a hotel/motel).  Once we made our decision on getting a travel trailer, we spent at least a year comparing different models before finally deciding on the Scamp.  For the full story on our thought processes and final decision on purchasing a Scamp, click here.  The Scamp was an easy choice because we wanted something light and easy to tow yet very durable and not likely to get leaks.  Additionally, being able to store the trailer in our garage was a real deal maker.

It was relatively easy for us to decide on a Scamp model and configuration (there are 3 sizes and multiple configurations).  Since we definitely wanted the larger 54” bed, the choice was between the Standard 13’ and the Deluxe 16’ models (the only models offered with a 54” bed option in 2020).  We also absolutely had to have a bathroom.  The Deluxe models are very nice, but much heavier because the interior cabinetry is made with wood instead of fiberglass.  Since we wanted as light a trailer as possible, didn’t need the side dinette offered with the 16’, and liked the sleek look of the white high gloss fiberglass interior of the Standard model, we went the Scamp 13’ Standard with bathroom.  As for the rest of the options, we pretty much got it with everything (with the exception of the AC because it wouldn’t clear the height of our garage).  For the full story on this decision making process, click here.

Since Scamp trailers are very desirable and hold their value really well, there is usually a long wait from the time one is ordered until it is delivered.  In our case, the nine month wait time allowed us to go through the process of modifying the height of our garage entrance from seven to eight feet before our Scamp was delivered.  Having the Scamp stored in our garage is a big advantage as it allows us to provision the trailer before each trip without having to drive to a storage lot, saves on monthly storage fees, and also lets us dump our tanks in the garage using our sewer clean out (saving time and money after each trip by eliminating the need to drive to the nearest Dump station and paying to dump).  Another benefit is that the Scamp is stored out of the elements (keeps the trailer in great condition).  For the garage project, we needed to first get HOA approval from our neighborhood association, have an engineer draw plans for submission to the city, and then, after the permit was obtained, have a contractor do the work.  The entire garage project took a few months and cost about six thousand dollars, but was well worth it.  For a full story on this project, click here.

We started exploring with our Scamp 13’ in early 2020 and learned a lot about travelling with a travel trailer on each trip.  This is the first travel trailer we have ever owned and we had never camped before in our lives.  We received our Scamp with little introduction or explanations and figured out the operation of the trailer and how to tow mostly on our own (although there is an owner’s manual and the Scamp company is ready at the phones to courteously answer any questions).  Fortunately, we didn’t learn any really hard lessons in the process and we became more and more proficient after each trip.  For a look at the trips we’ve taken over the past two years, click here.

The most important thing we became proficient at early on is towing.  Although towing the small and light Scamp is pretty easy, it’s critical that the trailer is attached to the tow vehicle properly so that it stays safely attached while driving.  Additionally, learning how to back up the Scamp so positioning the trailer on the campsite pad becomes stress-free is important for enjoyable trips.  For complete details on how to tow with the Scamp, please see these articles:  How Easy is Towing, Secure Your Power Cords, How to Easily Hookup Up Your Hitch Ball, and Safely Positioning Your Trailer into Tight Spaces.

Learning how to operate each of the Scamp’s systems takes only a short period of time to understand, but it’s important to figure them out early in order to use the trailer without issues.  The main systems are the holding tanks (Fresh/Grey/Black), hot water tank, electrical system (click here for more information), furnace (heating), stove, and refrigerator.  The biggest challenge is being able to tell when systems are depleted (e.g. Fresh Water tank, Propane tank, battery) or full (in the case of the Grey and Black tanks).  Additionally, some of the systems run on more than one power source and it’s important to know when to switch them on or off.  For example, when dry camping, we run our Scamp refrigerator on propane (instead of electricity, which is used when hooked up to electric shore power).  To make things a little more confusing, these systems and their operation methods sometimes change by model year and/or model number.  None of these challenges should deter anyone from getting a travel trailer however, since everyone learns how their trailer operates within a few trips.

After two years (15 trips, 60 locations spanning 4 states, and 99 nights sleeping in the Scamp) and all the experiences we’ve had with our Scamp 13’, looking back, we can now easily say buying our Scamp 13’ was definitely worth it.  Having a travel trailer has allowed us to travel on a moment’s notice and explore locations where we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to stay (such as within national parks).  Additionally, the cost to travel has been significantly lower with a trailer compared to staying in hotels.  We’ve even had a number of free stay overs using Harvest Hosts!  Click here to learn more about Harvest Hosts and to see where we stayed.  For an economic analysis, click here.   And, perhaps best of all, we’ve made some great friends along the way and have visited family in distant cities more often than we would have without the trailer.  Perhaps the biggest stand out benefit in getting our Scamp 13’ (which arrived a few months before the Pandemic started in early 2020), has been having the ability to travel at a time when it would have been extremely difficult and risky to do it any other way.

The Scamp 13’ has proven to be a reliable and great travel trailer.  We haven’t had any major issues with the Scamp and it has been easy to maintain.  We have had to learn some simple maintenance procedures to keep everything in good order, but these have been easy to understand and implement.  We’ve also had fun upgrading and modifying the Scamp.  Click here for more information on everything we’ve learned and implemented.  We are really glad we chose a travel trailer instead of a van or motorhome because the trailer is relatively inexpensive in comparison to own, operate, and insure.  Additionally, it’s great to be able to unhitch the Scamp and use our tow vehicle once we are at the campground to easily explore the area.  The biggest issue someone might have with the Scamp 13’ might be its small size and many might be happier with a larger trailer.  But, remember, the larger the trailer the more limited the choice of campsites.  The Scamp 13’ can pretty much fit into every available size RV campsite at a campground!

Consider the costs (including insurance and storage) and how much time you intend to travel when making a decision to get a trailer.  From a purely economic standpoint, owning a travel trailer is most advantageous if one doesn’t pay too much for the trailer and uses it regularly.  It’s also important to know if a travel trailer will be comfortable for you (and your family) before you make the investment.  We took the risk and purchased our Scamp without ever trying one out.  But, another option is to rent a travel trailer before buying (and perhaps test other options as well, like a van or motorhome for comparison) to see if this mode of travel is good for you.  Once you’ve conducted your own thoughtful analysis, you will be in a great position to make a decision on whether owning and travelling with a travel trailer is a good fit for you and your family.  As we start 2022, we are very enthusiastic in beginning another year travelling with our Scamp 13’ and are already looking forward to a number of future trips!   Happy & healthy New Year!

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. 

Calico Ghost Town – Zion – Valley of Fire – Death Valley

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Calico Ghost Town – Zion – Valley of Fire – Death Valley
November 27th – December 6th, 2021 (9 nights)

Living in California not only offers access to world class campgrounds in the state, but also proximity to outstanding parks in adjacent states.  On this trip, we thought it would be epic fun to string together campgrounds in California, Utah, and Nevada, while at the same time keeping driving times reasonable.  It turns out that world-renown Zion National Park (UT), Valley of Fire State Park (NV), and Death Valley National Park (CA) are all less than three hour’s drive from another!  And, we discovered, this trifecta of park greatness is a must itinerary!  The key caveat here is to make reservations well in advance for both Watchman (Zion) and Furnace Creek (Death Valley) campgrounds since these national parks are very popular.  Additionally, plan on visiting Valley of Fire State Park (one of our top favorite campgrounds thus far) during the week and arrive in the morning before 10 a.m. because it’s first come first serve (no reservations).  Lastly, don’t go to these places in the summer due to extremely hot temperatures.

Calico Ghost Town
In order to a avoid a long drive directly from our home in Carlsbad, California to Zion National Park, UT (about 8 hours), we decided to stay overnight at a San Bernardino County Regional Park called Calico Ghost Town.  It was a silver mining town in the 1880s and was abandoned in the mid 1890s when silver lost its value.  It’s now a campground and old west tourist attraction.  The buildings on main street have been restored to look as they did in the 1800s and are now operated as gift stores and restaurants.   The campground offers full hookup sites and many of the campsites are on dirt pads.  We had site AC3, which is a good full hookup site that is on the trail leading directly up to the town (about a 5 minute walk).  This park caters to families with young children (and people who like driving ATVs, dirt bikes, buggies and other vehicles, as there are off-roading trails here) and has a Knotts Berry Farm feel (and for good reason – Walter Knott purchased the town in 1951).  We walked the main street in the afternoon, browsed a few of the candy and gift stores, and listened to some live music in the early evening.  We enjoyed a movie in our Scamp before bed and left early the next morning.

Zion National Park, Utah
The trip from Calico Ghost Town to Zion National Park (Watchman Campground) passes through Las Vegas, NV and St. George Utah, and takes about 5 hours without stops.  Although we try to limit our drives to four hours or under, we find that if we do have to drive a bit longer, stopping for lunch to break up the ride into a couple of segments makes the trip easier.  On this segment, we stopped for lunch in our Scamp in Las Vegas and arrived at Watchman Campground in the afternoon.  Our campsite, B46 (electric only), is adjacent to the Virgin River with towering colorful mountains surrounding the entire campground.  There are water spigots in the campground and a free central dump station.  The water spigot near our campsite was very high pressure and our Water Bandit and Water Tank Filler Hose combination made it possible to easily fill our water jug without water spraying everywhere (see “How our Water Bandit Saved our Trip”).

Watchman Campground is within walking distance of the Visitor Center, some nice stores and restaurants, and trails (including one designated biking trail – Pa’rus Trail).  There are shuttle stops by the Visitor Center with two free shuttle routes:  (1) the Zion Canyon Line (park shuttle) which runs from the Visitor Center up the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive to destinations like the Zion Lodge and trailheads, including Emerald Pools, West Rim Trail, and Temple of Sinawava where hikers depart for Zion Narrows (about a 40 minute shuttle ride from the Visitors Center to this last stop), and (2) the Springdale Shuttle (town shuttle) that stops at nine locations in town and picks up and drops off visitors at the park’s pedestrian/bike entrance.  The shuttles were implemented by the park in 2000 as a response to extreme traffic congestion on Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.  The park service temporarily shut down all shuttles the day after we arrived (Nov. 29th – Dec. 22nd).  As a result, the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive became open to traffic and we were able to drive our car to hiking spots along the route (although some parking lots were full).

We spent three fabulous days enjoying the Watchman Campground and the nearby local Visitor Center and shops, hiking trails and bike path (as well as watching the stars at night).  Despite being relatively full, Watchman Campground was quiet and our site next to the river was very peaceful.  We saw deer everyday walking around the campground and they appeared accustomed to people.  We sometimes would walk right by one only noticing when just a few feet away.  There are signs warning of deer attacks posted within the campground, but we did not witness any such hostility.  The signs state that last year multiple visitors were injured by mothers protecting their young.  However, during our stay, the deer seemed content on grazing surrounding foliage and resting by the river.  As with all wild animals though, it’s always best to keep some distance and avoid approaching young ones because the parents are usually not too far away.

We drove up Zion Canyon Scenic Drive on our own since the shuttle service was not running.  On our second day, we hiked Emerald Pools and Grotto Trails (about 6 miles / 2 hours combined).  The Emerald Pools hike leads to three tiers of natural ponds (we combined the lower, middle, and upper pools in one hike). Scenery includes stunning mountains, red rocks, waterfalls over sheer rock faces, and emerald colored pools.  In the afternoon, we rode our bikes from the campground to Pa’rus trail which runs along the Virgin River (easy paved 3.5 mile round trip ).  The trail’s name is derived from Paiute (indigenous people language) and means “bubbling tumbling water”.  It’s a beautiful ride along the river and up the canyon and can be done within a half hour on bike (or much longer time if walking).  We enjoyed watching stars in the evening as Zion National Park is very dark and starry (it was officially named an International Dark Sky Park this year).

We were pleasantly surprised to find fast internet at Watchman Campground!  We made our mobile phone a hotspot and used our laptop.  An internet speed test showed quick speeds (40Mbps download / 7 Mbps upload)!  We were able to stream some news video (off our Sling TV), take care of email, catch up on Instagram, and do some internet browsing!  It turns out that the park allowed installation of a Verizon cellphone tower in a stealth building near the Visitor’s Center!  Having internet made it also possible for us to research future planned stops and check traffic heading to our next destination.

On our third day in Zion, we drove up to the last Shuttle stop (#9, Temple of Sinawava) and took the park’s most popular hike, Riverside Walk, which is an easy stroll.  The paved Riverside Walk, which follows the Virgin River upstream one mile through narrowing sandstone canyons ends at the Zion Narrows.  If you want to continue hiking up the Zion Narrows, it requires walking on the wet rocky riverbed.  Many people try to walk to Orderville Canyon, a two hour hike upstream, where the canyon is at its narrowest.  In order to make the riverbed hike more comfortable, it is recommended to rent neoprene insulated socks and hiking shoes which many of the area retail outlets offer.  Since we were there in December and the river water temperature was 47 degrees, shops were also recommending water proof dry pants.  A local shop gave us a quote of $50 per person per day to rent insulated socks, hiking shoes, and dry pants.  Because we wanted to explore other trails and also heard people say their feet were freezing despite the insulated apparel, we decided not to get wet.  Also, some people report foot/ankle swelling and pain after hiking for hours on the uneven river stones.

Our last hike before leaving Zion National Park was on the Watchman Trail.  This trail is an easy walk from the Watchman Campground and a fantastic way to see the entire Springdale Valley.  The trail itself climbs from the valley high above the park.  The trail climbs about 400 feet (but not to the height of the Watchman Spire itself) and is moderately easy and took us about two hours to complete round trip.  There are great views of the surrounding peaks and park below at the top of the trail!  After three days of exploring, we felt content that we had experienced some of the best of Zion National Park.  However, we could have easily spent a couple of more days which would have allowed a hike up to the top of the popular Angels Landing as well as potentially making a day of the Zion Narrows.  We met one camper who comes back every year and stays for ten to fourteen days and never leaves the campground (he’s happy to sit outside and read books and just absorb the views)!  Note – just recently, Zion National Park announced it will require a permit to hike Angels Landing starting next April (April 1, 2022).

We left Zion early in the morning so we could arrive at Valley of Fire State Park early as it is first come first serve (no reservations).  Because we didn’t know what to expect at our next destination, we filled up our Fresh water tank at our Watchman campsite (from our water jug / filled from a spigot) before leaving.  We also dumped our Black and Grey tanks on the way out of Zion at the free central dump.

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
We arrived at Valley of Fire State Park, the oldest and largest state park in Nevada, at around 9:15 a.m. after a 2 ½ hour drive from Zion.  Our goal was to arrive before 9:30 a.m. as the campground does not accept reservations and we wanted to stay inside this popular park.  There are two campgrounds within Valley of Fire State Park:  (1) Atlatl Rock Campground (has water and electric hookups) and (2) Arch Rock Campground (water spigots only).  Both campgrounds are a short distance from each other and there is a shared free central Dump Station right outside the campgrounds.  We targeted Arch Rock Campground because the campsites are a bit more private and scenically placed within the rocks compared to Atlatl Rock Campground.  We found water spigots at each campsite at Arch Rock Campground (and some have threads which may allow the connection of a fresh water hose).  We didn’t have any cell phone coverage (Verizon) at the campsite but found good coverage at the top of the stairs at Atlatl Rock as well as several parking lots on White Domes Road above the Visitors Center.

We drove into Valley of Fire State Park on a Wednesday morning in December and headed past the Visitor Center straight toward the campgrounds.  The first thing we noticed was the out of this world landscape of crazy, huge, bright red Aztec sandstone rocks.  It certainly made sense why scenes from Star Trek Generations were filmed within Valley of Fire State Park!  We passed Atlatl Rock Campground and turned into the entrance of Arch Rock Campground.  Upon entry, we immediately noticed many open campsites in the lower, more open, part of the campground.  Since there was no one behind us on the road, we decided to drive around the entire campground loop to see if we could get a really cherry spot.  As it turned out, we found a beautiful campsite in site #29, the last site on the loop and surrounded by towering red rocks!  The site has its own picnic area as well as a dedicated threaded water spigot and plenty of sunshine for solar panels.  We set up our Scamp 13’ at the campsite and then drove back down to the entrance of Arch Rock Campground to pay the “Iron Ranger” (metal fee collection box).  This involved placing our campsite fees of $25 per night cash (non-Nevada vehicle fee) into the metal lock box and taking the receipt back to our campsite and displaying it on the post (note: hookup sites are $10 more per night).  It appeared that the “Iron Ranger” here only takes cash or check.  We only brought $50 cash with us on our trip and no checks, so we just covered our campsite fees for two nights!  (Note to self – bring more cash on future trips).

There’s plenty to explore at Valley of Fire State Park, so a minimum of two nights at the campground will allow a good visit.  This is one park where it really pays to have a trailer or motor home because there aren’t really many places to stay nearby.  Many people visit for the day, driving in from Las Vegas (about an hour away), but miss much of the park’s greatness (e.g. starry nights, big horn sheep walking through the campground in the early morning, fantastic sunrises and sunsets ….).  Stop by the Visitor’s Center to get a park map (and see the park film and exhibit).  Then, drive White Domes Road above the Visitor Center to take a number of scenic hikes.  We chose White Domes for our first hike – the highlight is a really spectacular slot canyon.  Closer to the campgrounds, make sure to see Arch Rock and climb the stairs of Atlatl Rock (seen in Star Trek Generations) to view the petroglyphs dating back more than 2,000 years at the top of the platform (and grab some internet while on the top of the platform!).

Two large bighorn sheep walked right past our Scamp 13’ on our first morning!  We watched one of them ram one of the water spigots to get it to turn on.  Then, the other came down off a large steep rock and both drank fresh water at the spigot!  They also put on a show by ramming their horns together, making a tremendous crashing noise.  We saw this pair at other times during our stay as well as many other bighorn sheep families on our hikes.  It was an amazing experience being so close to these beautiful magnificent animals.

The Fire Wave hike (Parking Lot #3) is one of the park’s most popular.  The rainbow colored rock formations are incredible and the hike takes about an hour.  After hiking Fire Wave, make sure to hike Rainbow Vista Canyon which ends in an otherworldly view of a landscape that looks to be from another planet.  We saw 9 bighorn sheep during this colorful easy canyon hike.  We followed these two hikes up by walking Mouse’s Tank where petroglyphs are on display.  If you have more time, there are some other interesting sites to see like Elephant Rock, Petrified Logs, and Beehives Rock Formations.

We could have stayed a couple of more days at Valley of Fire State Park as we enjoyed it so much, but we had reservations made six months in advance for Furnace Creek (Death Valley National Park).  So, the next morning, after sharing the free Central Dump station at Valley of Fire State Park with a mob of bighorn sheep (enjoying fresh water from the spigot), we retraced our ride back through Las Vegas and then onto Death Valley.

Death Valley National Park, California

We passed Creech Air Force Base on the way to Furnace Creek Campground and watched Predator / Reaper drones taking off and landing.  We also stopped at the Area 51 Alien Travel Center, close by Area 51, refueled our tow vehicle and purchased an alien t-shirt.  We arrived at Furnace Creek Campground in the afternoon with almost a full tank of fuel and found our site #55 (no hookups).  Furnace Creek Campground is a paved parking lot on flat ground in the desert with mountains in the distance.  When we arrived, we were told the central Dump Station was closed in the campground (although we could use another one down the road toward the Visitor Center).  After walking around the entire campground, I didn’t see any water spigots to fill our 6 gallon water jug (just metal sinks for washing dishes).  I’m glad we filled our Fresh tank and dumped our Black and Grey tanks before leaving Valley of Fire State Park!  We ended up filling our water jug at an empty neighboring campsite’s spigot.

Furnace Creek Campground offers an incredible location for exploring Death Valley.  There are a couple of luxury resort hotels close by (Oasis Hotels:  The Inn at Death Valley and The Ranch at Death Valley).  Be forewarned however, prices in the area are very high.  During our visit at The Inn at Death Valley we browsed the menu and found Caesar salad priced at $19 and chicken breast at $43.  We stopped by The Ranch at Death Valley, just down the road from Furnace Creek Campground, to purchase some supplies to make s’mores with our new camping friends, Holly and Bill, at their evening campfire.  They have been staying at Furnace Creek Campground for the past forty years!  At checkout, without any prompting, the sales person at the register unexpectedly apologized for the store’s high prices when the bag of marshmallows, box of graham crackers, and four small Hershey’s bars rang up to $24!  Winter rates at the Inn at Death Valley aren’t cheap either, ranging between $500 to $600 per night for a single room.  We found the only gas station in town selling Regular gas for $6.70 / gallon.  Given that our campsite fee was only $22/night (non-hookup site), we felt like we could splurge on making s’mores!  We were also happy we had all our food and drinks with us and were able to cook all our meals in our Scamp!

The first thing to do after setting up at Furnace Creek Campground in Death Valley is to go to the Visitors Center next door (within walking distance of the campground).  The Visitor Center has a nice amphitheater which shows movies about Death Valley and informative displays (and a great gift shop in front).  There are also an information desk and a board listing the times and locations of various free Ranger programs offered.  We attended an interesting evening star program at the Harmony Borax Works (just down the street from Furnace Creek Campground), where the Ranger spoke about the Cosmos in near darkness under thousands of stars.  Death Valley is a certified International Dark Sky Park.

There is one main bike path in Furance Creek which starts at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center and ends a mile down the road at the Harmony Borax Works.  It’s a quick easy ride on mostly flat terrain on a paved path separate from the main road (people also walk on this path).  Borax (a white mineral) was found in the Furnace Creek area in 1881 and the Harmony plant began processing the mineral in 1883.    The ore’s best known use is as a cleaner for laundry.  Twenty mule team wagons transported borax 165 miles from Death Valley to Mojave.  The Harmony plant shut down after only five years in operation due to the financial collapse of its owner.  Now, visitors can walk a loop and see examples of a 20 mule wagon and homes the Chinese laborers used while mining for borax.  Another short bike ride from Furnace Creek Campground is down Airport Road (behind the Visitors Center) to the Furnace Creek Airport.  The airport is usually very quiet with occasional private airplane traffic.

Many of the main sites in Death Valley are located down Badwater Road.  It’s a 16 mile drive from Furnace Creek Campground to the farthest popular stop, Badwater Basin.  Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America (282 ft. below sea level).  During the cooler months it’s possible to walk out onto the large salt flat.  Large salt formations (salt polygons) seem to span the basin for miles.  The first quarter mile has been flattened like hard packed sand, so it’s easy to walk on.  On the way back to the campground, we also drove Artists Drive (the most popular scenic drive in Death Valley), a 9 mile windy road through colorful rainbow hills formed by volcanic deposits (most vibrant in the afternoon).  If you are feeling energetic and it’s not hot, try the colorful Golden Canyon to Red Cathedral hike (3 miles) through multihued hills.  We added the Gower Gulch loop (additional 1 mile) which climbs up a dramatic mountain with steep drop offs on one side (we saw an older couple turning around, saying it was too scary).  The combined hike took us about two hours to complete.  These hikes are moderate / strenuous and should only be done in cool weather (preferably morning) with a partner and carrying plenty of water.

We didn’t have time for a halfway overnight stop to break up our drive on our way home to San Diego, so we left Furnace Creek early the next morning for the 6 hour drive.  We left the campground at about 5:30 a.m. and stopped at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes on the way out of the valley to witness the dunes at sunrise.  The dunes have a nice golden hue at first light and it’s special walking out on them (and climbing up and running down the hills of sand).  We ate breakfast in the Scamp before leaving Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and then fueled up our tow vehicle in Stovepipe Wells (gas was about $2/gallon cheaper than at the Furnace Creek gas station) before crossing the vast expanse of the Panamint Valley to connect to the 395 highway.

Some of the strategies we normally follow helped us tremendously for this trip.  The first thing we always do in trip planning is to schedule trips for the appropriate time of year (e.g. mountains in summer and deserts in spring, fall, and winter).  For this trip, we chose December as our travel month, which usually is perfect weather for these desert climates which tend to be deadly hot (130 degrees) during summer months.  We also normally pack enough food and water for the entire trip, which for this trip provided some safety in case we had a break down in a remote area in the desert (as well as saving on the expense of buying food in pricey tourist areas).  We always make sure to fill up our gas tank before crossing large remote areas, which on this trip there are many stretches of remote desert without any service stations.  Lastly, we always make sure to carry water (or cans of sparkling flavored water) when hiking.  So, when planning your next trip, keep these strategies in mind and also see if you can link several regal national and state parks on your itinerary for a perfect royal flush!

Note:  The “America the Beautiful National Park Pass” is currently $80 and provides for unlimited visits for one year for all national parks for everyone in the car (up to 4 adults)!  Considering many national parks charge $35 per car, it’s a great value if visiting three or more national parks per year.

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. 

Safely Positioning Your Trailer into Tight Spaces

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Safely Positioning Your Trailer into Tight Spaces
One undoubtedly will encounter situations on adventures where it may be tricky getting their small travel trailer into its spot.  These types of events often occur when arriving at a destination and either access is difficult (e.g. narrow entrance, steep entrance, tight turn, etc.) or the parking spot itself is challenging (e.g. trees or other potential hazards surround the site).  The key to successfully overcoming these obstacles is to take things slowly, have a helper if possible, and carry along a couple of useful items (e.g. walkie talkies and 2×4 wood parking chocks).

Since backing into a site is a very common approach at many campgrounds, it’s important to have eyes behind the trailer during the backing up process.  A backup camera on the small travel trailer can help, but it’s always best to have a helper outside and behind the trailer who can speak via two way radio with the driver.  We always carry a pair of small walkie talkies with us in the tow vehicle and use them pretty much every time we arrive at the campsite (an inexpensive pair will do since distance between radios is very limited).  Your partner will safely guide you into the spot and give a rough countdown in feet until you should stop backing up.   Before backing up into your spot though, park the tow vehicle if possible and get out and walk behind the trailer to survey the parking site.  This also lets you talk to your partner and arrive at a general understanding on the best area to place and park the trailer.  It’s good to take into consideration which area of the site is most level, shady, allows the trailer door enough room to open, has a level surface for the rear stabilizer pads, and any other desired features.  If you don’t have a helper, getting out of the vehicle is really important as well to help you survey the campsite.

Taking things slowly is the best way to avoid any mishaps.  For small travel trailers, this means always backing up slowly and taking the time to stop backing up and pulling forward to straighten out before backing up again.  Straightening out the trailer whenever the angle between the trailer and the tow vehicle starts to get significant makes backing into the spot much easier.  Ideally, it’s easiest to back into a spot with no or almost no angle between the tow vehicle and the small travel trailer.  This may mean straightening out a few times, but, overall it makes the process much easier (vs. backing in at a radical angle).  It also may make hitching up the trailer again when leaving easier if the hitch is parallel to the entrance to the campsite.  Once you have identified all potential hazards after surveying the trailer’s parking spot, proceed with caution and listen closely to your helper over the radio (or, if working alone, take time to go slowly and park and get out whenever necessary to check on your progress).

The easiest campsites to get into are the ones that are called “pull through” sites.  As the name suggests, these sites just involve driving straight into the campsite tow vehicle first.  We visited such a site at Pismo Beach North Beach Campground.  Pulling into our site here was a breeze (and right next to the beach)!  We simply drove through the campground and then drove right into our site.  We did unhitch and move our tow vehicle a few feet forward so we could easily raise and lower our electric tongue jack for leveling the trailer.  Hitching back up and leaving was also a piece of cake.  We have only stayed at a couple of campsites so far at a pull through site.

Most of the campgrounds we have visited have been campsites which require backing the trailer onto the pad.  For the most part, this is generally pretty straightforward (while following the tips above).  However, occasionally we have had times when the campsite pad was angled such that driving in only one direction would make backing onto the pad possible.  We encountered this at one of the first campgrounds we ever visited, D.L. Bliss State Park in Lake Tahoe.  Our campsite was located near the bottom of a steep narrow road overlooking the lake.  The campsite pad was angled forward toward the lake, making attempts to try to back onto the pad fruitless (greater than a 90 degree angle in the wrong direction between the road and the pad).  And, the road was so narrow that there was no room to use the tow vehicle to angle the trailer in such an extreme way.  Fortunately, a neighboring camper was watching and he informed us that there was a turnaround at the bottom of the road so we could approach the pad from the opposite direction.  Once we turned around, it was very easy to back our Scamp 13’ into its spot since the angle of the road and pad were compatible in this direction.  We’ve also had other experiences where driving a little forward onto the shoulder of the access road was necessary to straighten out the trailer enough to back onto the pad.  This usually occurs when the main road is very narrow.

One of the most difficult approaches to make with your trailer is when there is a steep transition onto a driveway (see video).  This usually happens when staying at someone’s house or other private location.  Backing in slowly and having a helper calling out the progression is of utmost importance in these situations to avoid scraping the rear parts of the trailer’s undercarriage and or damaging the front trailer tongue jack.  If the transition is too great and parts of the trailer will not clear, having a couple of 2 x 4 boards (short wheel chocks may work) might mean the difference between getting into and out of the driveway unscathed or either giving up or suffering trailer damage.  The most important thing is to go very slowly and stop as soon as it looks like something on the trailer may scrape on the driveway.  You will need to assess if the boards you are using to raise the rear of your tow vehicle will be satisfactory enough to provide proper clearance.  It’s important to note that if something looks too dicey it’s always better to forgo the attempt and park somewhere else than risk damaging your trailer (we’ve done this before and elected not to take the risk and parked on the street instead).

We did experience the above type of situation while visiting my sister’s house in Oakland on the 4th of July.  We didn’t want to park and sleep on the street in East Oakland because it gets very rowdy in this area on this holiday.  The transition angle from street to driveway at my sister’s house is severe and although the bottom rear of our Scamp 13’ just cleared, it was evident that our electric tongue jack was going to hit the driveway if we proceeded (see video).  So, we stopped the trailer and took a couple of our 2 x 4 wheel chocks and placed them under each rear wheel of our tow vehicle.  As we drove up on the boards, the tongue jack raised enough to navigate over the steepest part of the transition and avoid hitting the ground.  That wasn’t the only challenge we had on this driveway!  The clearance on each side of the Scamp 13’ was minimal due to a fence on one side and home wall on the other and having a helper watch each side of the trailer as I backed in slowly was essential!  It is important to note, that we also needed to use the 2 x 4s when pulling out of the driveway as well (adding the 2 x 4s in front of the rear wheels at the same spot where the tongue jack initially wasn’t going to clear).  Everything worked out well and we have stayed in my sister’s driveway a couple of times now using this method without incident!

With careful planning, taking things slowly, having some proper tools and preferably a helper, navigating your small travel trailer into tight spaces will become not only entirely possible but very rewarding.  The satisfaction gained is only recognized after having done it!  And, after you do it once, you may want to do it again and again (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. 

San Clemente State Beach Campground

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San Clemente State Beach Campground
September 12th– 14th, 2021 (2 nights)

Just an hour drive north from our home in Carlsbad, San Clemente SB Campground sits high on bluffs above the beach.  San Clemente is a small beach community (southernmost city in Orange County) which is located roughly halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles (just north of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps training base).

San Clemente State Beach Campground is very popular, especially in the summer months, but we found it quite easy to get reservations during the week (spots usually open up last minute).  The campground has full hookup along with dry camping sites.  We chose a dry camping site because these sites are more spaced apart (they are also less expensive and easier sites to reserve).  At the time we were there, the central Dump station was available for free.  However, staying just a couple of nights, we didn’t need it or even need to use our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution!  Our site, #122, had shade but also plenty of sunshine for our solar panels to keep our batteries fully charged each day.  There are spectacular ocean views from the hard to reserve sites closer to the edge of the bluffs, but also some smaller ocean views even from sites farther back (like our site).

When we drove into the campground, we noticed lots of white chalk type circles on the ground at each site (similar to a marked crime scene).  We later found out the purpose of these markings when our Scamp kitchen was invaded by ants the next morning!  The ranger told us that the entire campground is basically sitting atop a giant ant hill and they recommend campers purchase diatomaceous earth from the camp host ($10 a bag).  The white powder is supposed to be sprinkled around each tire and any other trailer part that touches the ground.  They said ants won’t cross the powder lines.  We found out the next morning after applying the powder that it doesn’t really work in the short run (as we had ants on the second morning) and witnessed them walking across the powder!

The beach is a short walk down a steep trail.  There is a small tunnel that leads under the railroad tracks onto the sand.  It’s a nice beach, but when the tide is high there isn’t much sand left between the water and the bluffs.  We saw a wave create a water surge that unexpectedly overran one sunbather and her blanket (forcing her to pick up all her belongings and move farther back to the bluff)!  We were seated much closer to the bluffs while flying our new kite, but took that as a warning as a time to head back to the campground!

There’s a really nice beach trail, the San Clemente Beach Trail, that runs parallel to the railroad tracks and goes about 2.3 miles from the campground all the way to the San Clemente Pier and beyond.  People walk, run, and bicycle on the trail while appreciating gorgeous ocean views along the way.  We did it early in the morning and it was very foggy.  We walked all the way out to the end of the San Clemente Pier and couldn’t even see land when we looked back!  There are a lot of nice restaurants and shops in town.  We ended up walking about 6 miles doing a loop from the campground along the San Clemente Beach Trail and then up Avenida Del Mar (past a lot of downtown stores and restaurants) and back via El Camino Real (which runs close to the 5 Freeway).

Another scenic trail is the Sea Summit Trail.  This trail is not too close to the campground, so it’s better to drive and park (we parked in a neighborhood adjacent to one of the trail openings, but there is also parking at the San Clemente Outlet Center).  The trails here are meticulously maintained and more like groomed walking paths than actual nature trails.  The paths are on top of the bluffs and provide stunning views of the ocean (and sunsets).  There are stairs that lead down to the beach.

Overall, we had a great time at San Clemente State Beach Campground.  The campground itself is very pleasant with the dry camping spots nicely spaced out.  There are fantastic views of the ocean and plenty of walking trails to enjoy.  Also, being so close to the sea, there are nice breezes that blow through the campground and keep things cool.  Be prepared for possible ants and remember that this campground is close to Camp Pendleton so it is common to hear booms from artillery units conducting training (we did hear booms until 10:30 p.m. while at the campground).  Spectacular sunsets can be enjoyed from the campground while looking out over the bluffs and watching the sun dip into the sea.  So, if you are in need of a little rest and relaxation and like the idea of being near the ocean and getting fresh air, reserve a spot at San Clemente State Beach Campground (just don’t forget to bring along your ant repellant!).  Itching to go back!

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

The Scamp “Enema”

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The Scamp “Enema”
Many small travel trailers, the Scamp 13’ included, have toilets that sit atop their Black tanks.  This simple system allows biological waste to be stored directly under the toilet and then eliminated (dumped into the sewer) when the camper’s Black tank valve is opened at the Dump site.  The opening at the base of the toilet bowl is closed by default until the user depresses the toilet lever (usually on the side of the toilet), which opens the toilet bowl hole and allows the waste to drop into the Black tank.  Surprisingly, this toilet mechanism keeps offensive smells mostly contained in the tank so bathroom odors should not get out of hand as long as the Black tank is properly maintained.

During our first year with our 2020 Scamp 13’, we relied exclusively on Happy Campers (see article “Drain and Clean Your Tanks Regularly …“) to sanitize our tanks.  This is a very effective organic holding tank treatment that dissolves solids and eliminates odors.  We have been extremely satisfied with Happy Campers and have continued to use it.  However, even with holding tank treatments, sometimes our Black tank sensor (SeeLevel II) reads a small percentage level in the tank even after dumping and treating.  I called Scamp and they suggested hosing down the inside of the Black tank to get rid of all residue.  To do this, simply attach the Dump hose to the Black valve on camper end and sewer connection on the other end, open the valve to release all material in the Black tank into the sewer, leave the valve open and the Dump hose connected to the camper valve and sewer connection, and take a garden hose into the Scamp bathroom.  Either have the garden hose turned on and the valve on the hose off or have someone turn the garden hose on once you are at the toilet with the toilet lever depressed.  Then with the hose pointed into the Black tank (toilet bowl hole open) spray inside the Blank tank.  It’s a good idea to wear a face mask covering your mouth just in case there is splash back!  Use the high pressure spray to shoot water all the way around inside the Black tank.  You should be able to see any remaining debris flush out and go down into the sewer connection hole at the base of the Black tank.  After completing, close the Blank tank valve and remove the Dump hose.  Once you are done, the tank should be extremely clean with no visible residue.

Now, complete the Happy Campers regimen (e.g. 1 scoop Happy Campers in 1 gallon of water into sink / toilet followed by 2 additional gallons water) and let mixture sit in tanks for at least several days to sanitize.  Then, drain both tanks.  Your tanks should now be very clean and sanitized and ready for your next trip!  Ever since we started giving our Scamp “Enemas” after each trip, our Black tank sensor consistently reads 0 after each cleanse.  Tanks so much!

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. 

Secret Planning Tools & Strategies For Long Distance RV Trips

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yosemite National Park

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Yosemite National Park
May 10th – May 16th, 2021 (6 nights)

Yosemite is a must see National Park mainly because of its abundance of scenic beauty.  Waterfalls, huge granite sheer mountain walls, wildlife, and a beautiful valley with meadows and countless hiking and biking trails add to the immense wonder of the park.  If you can reserve a spot at one of the campgrounds in Yosemite, consider yourself very lucky as these spots are extremely difficult to get.  For tips on getting a spot, see my previous article “Winning Yosemite’s Campground Reservations Online Lottery”.

The drive from Carlsbad, California to Upper Falls Campground in Yosemite takes between 7 and 8 hours.  To make the drive easier, we decided to stop midway both on the drive up and way back home.  We stayed at two Boondockers Welcome locations, so the overnight stays didn’t cost us anything (other than the $50 annual subscription fee).  We stayed in the driveway of a nice home in Visalia going to Yosemite and at a miniature donkey farm in Bakersfield on the way home (this was our 2nd visit!).  Using this subscription is a great way to make trips easier and get some interesting experiences!

Yosemite has several campgrounds and we chose to stay at Upper Pines.  This is a fantastic campground nestled within the pines and having a sheer granite wall towering high overhead.  There are 240 campsites at Upper Pines and each has a picnic table, food locker and fire pit.  Although there are no hookups, there are bathrooms and access to drinking water from central spigots.  There is also a Dump Station at the entrance to Upper Pines campground.  We found the Dump Station to be completely empty throughout the day.  It gets busier around midday when people are checking in.  Although the campground has a lot of shade, there was enough sunlight at our site #126 to keep our solar panels out and charging our Scamp battery.  Site #126 was rated for a travel trailer with maximum length of 12 feet.  It is the responsibility of the camper to ensure that both the travel trailer and tow vehicle fit on the campsite pad and do not stick out onto the roadway.  With our Scamp 13’ and our Volvo XC40 (around 14’) we were still able to just fit by angling our tow vehicle slightly to keep the nose off the road.  A longer tow vehicle or trailer might have a problem in this short campsite.  So, it’s important to read the campsite description before reserving to make sure your setup will fit!

We made sure to use the Dump Station on entry to Upper Pines campground (which also includes a fresh water filling area) so our Scamp 13’ was completely dumped as well as filled with fresh water.  Fortunately, we carried our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution with us so we did not need to move our Scamp 13’ the entire 4 days at the campground!  On the morning of the 3rd day, I filled our 4 five gallon grey water tank jugs and drove them to the Dump Station and poured them out there.  We didn’t have an issue with our Black tank as it can generally go for about 6-7 days with two people.  Our electrical needs were taken care of by using our solar panel briefcase each day.

For just $26 per day, staying in Upper Pines Campground is a fantastic bargain!  It’s an easy walk or bike ride to sites throughout the Yosemite Valley, including Curry Village, the general store, Cook’s Meadow Loop, and Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.  And, a lot of great trails, like the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail, Cook’s Meadow Loop, Mirror Lake Loop, Valley Loop Trail, Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall Trails, Mist Trail, John Muir Trail, and Yosemite Falls Trail are all easily accessible from Upper Pines Campground.  We chose to walk throughout the valley, but bike rentals are also available.  Alternatively, for a nice hotel within the park, plan a stay at The Ahwahnee hotel and expect to pay over $500/night!

The campground was very quiet but populated.  We had the opportunity of meeting a nice retired couple travelling in a van from Maryland (tent campers).  They invited us to dinner at their campsite one night (great salmon and rice dish) and we cooked them pasta on another night.  They are on a four month trip across the country visiting National Parks.   We were fortunate with the weather and crowds.  Every day was clear and sunny and afternoons were warm but not too hot.  We experienced dramatic starry nights and enjoyed watching the climbers’ lights as they scaled the faces of some very high vertical walls in pure darkness.  Our days were filled with long walks throughout Yosemite Valley and early morning hikes.  Our favorite hike was up to Vernal Falls – the most interesting part is a steep stone staircase that goes up to the top of the falls.  A rainbow forms across the stairs due to the heavy mist created by the water fall.  We ventured out to Yosemite Valley almost every night to enjoy the stars and engage in astrophotography.

Our four nights at Upper Pines Campground went by very quickly.  Yosemite is a great place to get outdoors and also relax.  There’s hiking, horseback riding, fishing, biking, boating, climbing, and countless other activities in which to engage.  We did speak to one of the rangers and he advised us that it does get like Disneyland in the summer with serious crowding.  So, if you can arrange it, go in early to mid-May because the weather should be good (although can be unpredictable), the water falls are generally raging, and it’s most likely going to be less crowded than during the summer months.  Yosemite National Park gets 5 stars!

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. 

Outfitting Your Small Travel Trailer for its Maiden Voyage

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Outfitting Your Small Travel Trailer for its Maiden Voyage
One of the great benefits of owning a small travel trailer is that it can be set up with all the basic essentials and, in turn, be ready to go on a moment’s notice.  Since there is minimal storage available in a small travel trailer, it’s very important to carefully select what is really necessary for your travels.  All of these things will need to fit in a small number of drawers and cabinets, like living on a boat or in a tiny home.  It’s likely that you will refine this list after having some experience in the field and learning your needs.  Just like at home, you will need items for each room / function within your small travel trailer.  

The Kitchen
You will want your kitchen to be fully functional and ready to cook meals and wash and dry dishes.  Essential kitchen items include a long stick lighter (and a backup lighter) to be able to light the gas stove.  The kitchen supplies we carry in our Scamp 13’ are:

Kitchen Drawer

  • Rubber Utensil Holder Organizer (washable)
  • Sporks (combo forks / spoons)
  • Tea bags / tea strainer
  • Scissors
  • Can opener
  • Rubber spatula
  • Wooden spoons
  • Metal Citrus Squeezer
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Long stick Lighter
  • Cutting knife with cover
  • Cutting board
  • Metal spatula
  • Coasters (Cork) (x2)

Cabinets Above Kitchen Sink

  • Paper Bowls
  • Paper Plates
  • Measuring Cups
  • Metal canteens (bowls)
  • Plastic cups/Bowls/Plates (reusable)
  • Metal Cups (for hot drinks like tea & cocoa)
  • Small Lightweight Metal Tea Kettle
  • Tupperware (x2) for food storage
  • Extra Microfiber kitchen towels (x2)

On Kitchen Wall

Cabinet Below Kitchen Sink

The Bathroom
It’s best to keep the bathroom as minimalist as possible because it’s small and room is necessary to move around.  In turn, the only items we put in the bathroom are placed in a space saving way.

Cabinets Above Dinette (x2)
The small cabinets above the Scamp 13’ dinette are a great place to store little things.

Main Upper Storage Cabinet

Lower Storage Cabinet

Once you outfit your small travel trailer with all the essentials, you will be ready to go on a moment’s notice.  You will still need to pack all your clothing and food for each trip, but will rest assured knowing you have all your key trailer supplies at hand and will not have to think about packing these items over and over again and you’ll live happily ever after!

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. 

14 Transformations to go from Camping to Glamping!

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14 Transformations to go from Camping to Glamping!
When the Scamp delivery driver pulled down our street with our new 2020 Scamp 13’ we were super excited.  We would soon have the “golden ticket” to stay within campgrounds throughout North America.  And, upon inspection, the Scamp 13’ seemed to have everything we needed for wonderful and comfortable trips.  However, although the Scamp does indeed have everything we need for our journeys, it took about a year’s worth of trips to figure out some critical enhancements needed in order for our Scamp adventures to go from Camping to Glamping.

(1) Cushions & Memory Foam Pad
The most obvious elements within the Scamp 13’ which absolutely needed change were the cushions.  The cushions are fine for sitting, but, for us, are too hard to sleep on.  In fact, on our first trip, I kept waking up because I felt like I was sleeping on a hard board (which brought back memories of a business trip to Shenzhen, but that’s another story!).  We thought an easy solution might be to just add a memory foam mattress cover on top of the cushions.  However, the 2” memory foam failed to keep us from feeling the “board” cushions underneath.  We considered thicker memory foam, but didn’t like the idea of having to roll up and store such a thick cushion each morning.  Ultimately, we decided to replace the cushions with ones which have softer foam inserts.  In addition, we wanted a covering material that was easier to clean (and wouldn’t hold dust) compared to the original cloth.  We found a great local upholstery shop and they crafted wonderful comfortable cushions with softer foam and fantastic “faux leather” covers which are great looking and super easy to clean!  We still use the 2” memory foam pad on top of the new cushions and find the combination provides a heavenly night’s sleep!  Click Here for full details on the cushion transformation.

(2) Double Sleeping Bag & Liner
Once you are out in the elements and have busy days, the last thing you want to do is to spend time and energy making up your bed every day.  And, for small travel trailers, it’s common to have a kitchen dinette table that converts to a bed.  So, making up the entire bed every evening from scratch with sheets is a definite no for us!  Fortunately, we discovered that double sleeping bags are very comfortable bedding and can be made up almost instantly (and store really well in our Scamp’s small cabinet above the larger coat cabinet).  The trick is to select the right size bag to fill the sleeping area.  We ordered the big 54” bed on our Scamp 13’ which is extra wide compared to the regular bed.  We found a really nice and comfortable bag called the Big Agnes Dream Island (rated down to 15 degrees F) that is also super wide and covers the Scamp 13’ 54” bed completely!  To make things extra comfortable and easy to clean, we also use a sleeping bag liner.  Liners come in all types of materials, but we chose one that is a polyester fiber, which is breathable and durable.  When we are done with our trip, we just pull the liner out of the bag and wash it at home.  The use of the liner means the sleeping bag (which may require a commercial washing machine due to its size) may be washed less often.

(3) Thermostatic Shower Wall Mount
All travel trailers should have these shower controllers as standard equipment and we would never go without one again.  Just set the desired water temperature on the controller and leave it.  The only thing to do when starting the shower is to turn on the water volume!  The water comes out your perfect temperature every time!  No more wasting water and time trying to adjust the water so it’s not scalding or freezing cold.  With the stock shower head, we usually spent several minutes each shower doing this type of fine tuning and wasting lots of water!  In addition, with the thermostatic valve, it’s easy to completely turn off the water while lathering up and then turn it on and resume without having to reset the temperature.  And, these types of wall mounts are relatively inexpensive and not extremely difficult to install.  Click Here for complete details on how we transformed our Scamp 13’ with a thermostatic shower wall mount.

(4) Powerful Water Efficient Shower Head
Most small travel trailers come with small shower heads that deliver slightly more than a trickle on a good day.  We eventually grew tired of how slow it took to rinse off.  After a bit of research, we found Oxygenics Fury and never looked back.  The Oxygenics Fury puts the shower back into RV showering!  We went from a placid drizzle with our Scamp’s stock handheld shower head to a real blaster with the Fury!  The nice thing is that the Fury actually conserves water and ramps up pressure by mixing air into the shower head.  This results in a really powerful efficient stream.  We’ve found showering takes less time as well since it’s a really fast rinse with better water flow.  It’s also super easy to install – just unscrew the old hose /showerhead  at the shower wall mount and screw on this hose / showerhead.

(5) Soap and Shampoo Dispenser
The floor on most small travel trailers is small enough without having to make room for shampoo bottles (which tend to roll around if you bump into them or leave them on the floor when driving).  Instead, use a wall mounted dispenser and just add your favorite shampoo!  This dispenser sticks to the wall of the shower with two way tape.  Just pop the top and fill with your favorite shampoo / liquid soap and cover and you won’t ever have to deal with rolling bottles on your shower floor again!  The dispenser has a nice pump button that makes it easy to squirt out shampoo into your hand.  We fill with a natural 3-in-1 Soap (Shampoo, Body Wash, Bubble Bath), eliminating the need for more costly and bulkier multi-dispensers.

(6) Paper towel holder (suction cup)
Having paper towels next to the sink is a great idea, but there is limited table space in the Scamp to hold them.  This paper towel holder solves the space problem – it has a strong suction cup and sticks to the wall above the kitchen sink!  We’ve had it in position over a year and it hasn’t come off the wall yet!  We use it extensively on every trip and really like it.  (One thing we did notice though is that it’s a good idea to secure the paper towels in a closet while driving or they tend to unroll by themselves into the sink!)

(7) Toilet Paper Holder (suction cup)
The wet bath in a small travel trailer has generally pretty tight quarters!  There’s usually a shower area and the toilet right behind it.  So, it’s a great idea to partition out the space and keep the toilet area as dry as possible (see article called “How to Turn Your Wet Bath into a Comfy Dry Zone”).  A great addition to the toilet area is a holder for toilet paper.  This will help keep it off the floor, from getting wet, and give easy access.

(8) Teak Shower Floor
To keep your feet elevated off the shower floor (which can be damp or wet), we recommend using a teak “mat”.  It is a really nice way to stay elevated from the floor while also allowing water to fall between the slits into the drain.  Additionally, it may provide some anti-slip properties versus standing directly on potentially slick fiberglass flooring.  We purchased this one (measure your floor area to make sure the mat you purchase fits).

(9) Two Propane Tanks
A single propane tank can last a long time when used occasionally for short trips in good weather.  However, we’ve found having two propane tanks takes the stress off wondering when the gas will run out.  We discovered this while on a trip to Oregon in October.  We were cooking breakfast and all of a sudden, the flame on the stove went out.  I immediately checked the gauge on our propane tank and it still showed Green.  Unfortunately, faulty readings like this are fairly common.  Fortunately, we had a second tank and as soon as I moved the switch over to the 2nd tank we were back in business!  At some of the locations on that recent trip, the temperatures dipped down into the teens at night and we would have been very uncomfortable had our propane powered furnace stopped working.  Now, we usually make sure both of our Viking tanks are filled before leaving on any long trips so we can be confident we will have we will have plenty of gas to power our:  hot water heater for nice hot showers plus hot water at the sink, refrigerator, and furnace.  Click here for more information on our composite Viking propane tanks.

(10) Battery Power Bank
A luxury item that could be essential depending on how you travel is a large external battery power bank.  The independent power bank can power many of your essential items while reserving your travel trailer’s battery power for your super essential items like lights, fan, and pumps.  We purchased the Jackery 500 which has 518Wh of power (which can power a lot of devices for a long time).  It has a 12V cigarette socket, USB ports, and even a 110V outlet.  We use it to charge our phones, drones, cameras, electric toothbrushes and power our 12V television in our Scamp.  It can even be used to run your portable air compressor.  You can charge it in your car while driving between camping locations, with 110V power outlets at campsites, and also with a solar panel.

(11) Solar Panel
A 100W solar panel is a great option to help recharge your small travel trailer batteries daily when camping without hookups.  We’ve found our solar panel can maintain our Scamp’s battery at 12.5V (a good place) for days on end as long as the sun shines. The solar panel may also be used to recharge your independent power bank.   Click Here for more information on our Solar Panel setup.

(12) Volt Television
Sometimes it’s nice to come back to your small travel trailer after a long day of hiking and watch a good movie.  After all, you can probably stay up as late as you want and sleep in the next morning!  Without the usual pressures of the outside world, being in the wilderness affords a nice opportunity to really enjoy some quality entertainment!  The main piece of equipment you will need to enjoy a good movie in your small travel trailer is a television (LCD TV) that is powered by 12 volts.  Being powered by 12 Volts allows you to use the TV off grid (e.g. no hookups).  This type of TV can be plugged directly into a 12V socket and powered by the travel trailer’s 12V battery or an auxiliary battery power bank, which is desirable when you have no hookups in the wild.  We enjoy watching: over-the-air HD TV when digital signals are available, services like Netflix and Amazon Prime when we have access to a WiFi network, and movies we download to our phones from these services and play back via a cable to the TV when we are in remote areas.  Click Here for a full description on how we watch movies in the wild.

(13) Electric Tongue Jack
One of the first few things we replaced on our Scamp travel trailer was our hand crank tongue jack.  The tongue jack sits on the front of the trailer and allows one to raise and lower the ball coupler so the trailer can be attached to the tow vehicle.  It didn’t take too long to understand how much cranking is required when hitching and unhitching the Scamp travel trailer!  Not only can cranking over and over be repetitively hard on your arm, shoulder and joints, but it takes a lot of time and energy.  It’s also the time when you want to be concentrating on other parts of the process and cranking the jack up and down can be distracting.  Fortunately, changing the tongue jack is super simple! We switched to a quality electric tongue jack.  Click Here for more information on how we went from a manual to electric tongue jack.

(14) The Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution
We used to constantly check our Grey water holding tank level and limit our boondocking stays to just a couple of days to make sure our Grey tank didn’t reach its limit.  This also meant being super cautious about our water use even when water spigots were available at the campsite.  However, we discovered a simple and inexpensive solution by bringing along four 5 gallon jugs and some specialized equipment to almost double our Grey water holding capacity which allows us to go around 6 days without dumping our Grey tank!  Click Here for more details on our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution.

Well, sure, it’s entirely possible to enjoy your small travel trailer completely stock.  Similarly, many will say they are perfectly comfortable flying in coach class on 14 hours trips to the other side of the world.  However, having tried it both ways, we can definitely say Glamping is definitely way more fun and comfortable!  Glamp on!

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.