I am new to PUP's and in reading many of the posts it seems that a good deal of you go to more remote campsites such as state parks with no hookups. I know that peoples tastes vary and they look for different experiences when camping. I would like to hear what peoples preferences are and why.
My first trip, which was meant to get the PUP out and test it out was to a KOA. The kids had a blast in the pool as it was over 100 that day. We all love hiking, wildlife and just being out in the beauty of nature so we are looking forward to going to some remote spots.
I imagine that we will be doing 50/50 when it comes to CG and dry camping. I just want to get the most out of our camping experience and hearing other peoples experiences will sure help.
We tend to go to at least partial hook up places (water/elect) or full hook up places if we are camping more than 3 days somewhere. We only would consider boondocking type camping if the trip is just a weekender, however we haven't been on very many "weekenders" so far. (too much preparation for such a short stay).
We're wimps (mostly) and usually want full hookups. Once in a while, we'll go for a dry site (often in a campground that has hookups that are all taken) for a weekend, but we've spoiled ourselves and don't do that very often.
Austin
We will do either. Drycamping more in the winter time than summer. It's alot like Az here in the summer so it's a little hot dry camp.
Dry camp only for us. It's too much fun to enjoy the PUP and what it can do on it's own.
Our first trip was to LoLo Mai Springs outside of Cottonwood. Had to have full hooks to play with all the new toys.
All of our other trips this summer have been to local campgrounds with in about a 20 mile radius of our home, and there are a lot.
If it has a picknick table and a fire ring I'm happy, Don't really need AC
in this area and our little group 24 and 27 will get us quite a few nights of electricity if we watch it. Depends alot on the heater.
I have yet to do the Boon Dockin thing, PUPs still to new to be draggin around on old forest roads, bangin the heck out of it, although I have been down some crummy dirt roads to get to my CG of choice.
Whew, it's late gotta go.
I'm still re-building my photo albumn on P-Star, but there are some pics of LoLo Mai Springs and Lynx Lake. No captions yet, been to busy. I try to add a few pics every day or so.
Camp On
BB
:p
The vast majority of the national forest C/G's, state forest C/G's and even many North Carolina state parks have no electrical hook-ups. Some do, but the vast majority do not. But take the national forest C/G's in the mountains of western N.C. for example, the rivers or streams we want to fish flow right through, or right next to, the C/G. So getting by without electrical hook-ups for the trade off is well worth it, for what I do. And the site rent reflects it ... plus, for the federal government facilities at least, I have the old cronies discount card and I get the site for half price. Take my favorite place for example, a single site rent is $14.00 and I get that for half. Now compare that to some private C/G's (with smaller wide open sites) in the area that rent for $40.00 a night. Take a 5 night stay for the NFS C/G = $35.00, compared to the private for $200.00 - a real no brainer for me, even if I had to pay full price for the NFS C/G.
Have to agree with Fly, National and State facilities are our preference, low price is one factor. The "get away from it all" is another. We're generally not happy with the "full service" campground. We do have Passport America that helps some on the cost, but would still rather be in the more rustic areas.
We usually do National and State park campgrounds. I do want electric in the HHH summer days and in the winter to run electric heat. We have dry camped up to two weeks at a time. Some of the dry camping sites are nicer than the sites with hookups. We also camp at the eastern pu rally usually with full hookups each July.:)
We have camped in all sorts of campgrounds. Our favorites are National Parks, National Forest, State Forest and State Parks. I have considered but never camped in Army Corp. sites as well as BLM (Bureau of Land Management) sites. In the summer heat we prefer water and electic hooks, fall winter and spring we tend to dry camp.
Camped at Jellystone once when my son requested it for his 12th birthday, never been back. Slept overnight once in a KOA, we arrived after sundown and left before sunrise can't tell you much about it.
We typically go camping for the natural attractions of an area, you know, mountains, lakes, beaches, etc. We love to fish, kayak, hike, swim, and relax. We are not anti-social but we enjoy a little distance between campers.
That being said, we have had some wonderful trips in places such as Fort Wilderness at Disney where the amenities are unlimited. I quess it depends on the main focus of our trip as to what type of campground we choose. Bottom line is, we have had a great time everytime we have popped up regardless of the campground.
Happy Camping
CajunCamper
Well so far it seems that most people prefer the National/State Park kind of camping. We are anxious to try those ourselves. As BuddyBear stated there are numerous parks here in AZ with camping. When the weather cools we are going to camp at Lost Dutchman State Park. It's only about a half hour from the house but we go there a lot on weekends to go hiking. Now with the PUP we can go after I get home from work, have dinner, sit around relax then the next morning get have a little breakfast go for a hike and go home. A nice little get away.
BuddyBear, maybe we can plan on hooking up together one of these weekends. We are open for going anywhere. We fish but wouldn't call ourselves fishermen. For me it's about getting away and being with the kids without all the distractions. After our first trip I have noticed that my twin boy and I have seemed to bonded a little bit more and that right there is worth the cost of the PUP and more!
We dry-camp almost exclusively. Even when there is a rally and all of the campsites have hook-ups, we have little use for them.
Our 2-batteries do fine on a 3-day camp-out even using the microwave oven on the inverter. Our 20-gallon water tank is plenty sufficient for a 3-dayer.
If we were going to do a week in hot weather, we would opt for electric for the AC :p but it hasn't happened yet. Most of our camping is beach camping. :sombraro:
While we will camp in a CG,either dry or hookups,we prefer primitive camping in the most remote places we can find.We especially love the southern part of the San Rafael Swell in southern Utah.The High Uinta Wilderness is pretty sweet too!
Being that DW is not exactly a happy camper, we stay at CGs with at least water/electric hookups.
Quote from: waveryWe dry-camp almost exclusively. Even when there is a rally and all of the campsites have hook-ups, we have little use for them.
Our 2-batteries do fine on a 3-day camp-out even using the microwave oven on the inverter. Our 20-gallon water tank is plenty sufficient for a 3-dayer.
If we were going to do a week in hot weather, we would opt for electric for the AC :p but it hasn't happened yet. Most of our camping is beach camping. :sombraro:
Wayne Im with you on that but what type batteries do you have ?? and size inverter.
I'll miss meeting you at Dogwood.
Mike
I love drycamping. DD is OK with it but doesn't love it
My sig shows why.
Dry camp - I hate crowds( I left to get away, not to make new neighbors) Privacy( they pack in the campers closer than houses where I live), Cost( I see no point to paying the ridiculous cost they want to stay there)
I get out and escape, go where no one else is and enjoy the otdoor a lot more dry campig.... I go to forest campgrounds once or twice a year but no more... and IMO the big KOA's and such are a complete waste of time and money!
We do either it just depends on the campground. That's one of the reasons we love our popup. It has been great to be able to not worry about dry camping or not.
Five years ago my husband son and nephew planned on hiking the grand canyon from the north rim. There are no hookups in the national park at the rim.
The day before my mother in law had a bad fall and needed to go to the ER 1 hr away. My husband's question was "do we hike or not" I reminded him this was the very reason we purchased the popup.
I tucked my then 3yo and 8yo in and left them with my older son and nephew and drove to the ER. Retuened to anice warm trailer my mother in law had a nice twin bed to sleep in.
The next morning the guys went hiking without any worries. When they returned three days later my mother in law was doing great. She was able to relax with her leg raised, take her meds watch movies and play with the grand kids. If we would have been in tents we would have had to cancel the hike and return home.
Happy camping
maggie
The fewer the amenities, the more satisfying the experience. You won't catch me in one of those mobile ghettos.
Quote from: 'tiredTeacherThe fewer the amenities, the more satisfying the experience. You won't catch me in one of those mobile ghettos.
That quote is great!! I am keeping that!
Like most, I also prefer State, National or CORE cgs. We enjoy the nature part. Prefer swimming in a lake than a pool or taking a walk down a wooded path than riding a golf cart.
I do prefer to have elec and water but if I have to dry camp, that is no problem. For the past few years we have done a week at Acadia, dry camping.
If we are on the road travelling, we will use a KOA even though they may be a bit more expensive. Main reason is that you generally know what you will be getting. Jellystone is at the bottom of our list.
We will use private cg's if they are near areas that we want to explore. Much more convenient that way. Example: We stayed at a cg that was right behind Hearbreak Hotel in Memphis. We could walk to Elvis's estate plus it was short drives to other items of interest to us.
Although I do like some peace and quiet, a large part of camping, for dw and I, is meeting other people. We have met some great people and made some new friends over the years while camping.
98% of the people that we have met, we have enjoyed.
When it was just DH and I we went wherever......we have favorites that have full hookups to no hookups at all most of our fav's are state, national or city campgrounds.....now that we have to take Mom with us, we try to at least have electricity....Mom always hated camping but if I can at least promise her she'll be warm and she'll have movies on a tv if she gets too bored, she tolerates it ...... it's taking some getting use to.....................
Quote from: GeneF98% of the people that we have met, we have enjoyed.
Uh oh.
I do only dry/boondock type camping. No campgrounds or hook ups. I try to find a place far off the beaten path...well as far as a PUP can go anyway.
Darrell
Quote from: Darrell TI do only dry/boondock type camping. No campgrounds or hook ups. I try to find a place far off the beaten path...well as far as a PUP can go anyway.
Darrell
Yup that is why I am putting a 7" lift on my PUP on top of the axle flip I already did!
For the most part we prefer to camp with at least electric hook ups for the AC. As long as there is potable water available in the campgrounds somewhere so we can fill our tank, we're good. Also, usually we like the State Parks but here in Ohio those too can vary greatly in amenities. Most OSPs all will have electric available and most will have full hook ups, but we don't care about full. The sites themselves will vary greatly from park to park; for instance, Buck Creek is very near our home but we don't camp there because the sites are just too close to each other for us. They also have very little shade, which we really like. A few weeks ago we camped at Tar Hollow State Park (http://www.arveeclub.com/showthread.php?t=64129) and it was almost like boon docking -but with electric hookups- the sites were so spacious and very few people, totally surrounded by forests and plenty of trees on the sites. We do dry camp a couple of times a year at a privately owned CG about an hour drive from here, but only in the Spring and Fall when the need for AC isn't as great. We love this place because the sites are huge with large mature trees providing shade on each site. Also, the sites are right on the Little Miami River and there is the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail that is accessible from the CG. So, bottom line? We don't care if it's dry camping or hookups as long as we get our (camping) needs met. Drinking water someplace accessible and the temperature not too warm to make sleeping uncomfortable. After those needs have been met, we look for privacy, shade, and nearby activities like rivers, biking and or hiking trails. :) And, although not a prerequisite it would be nice if we could do some nearby Geocaching (http://www.arveeclub.com/showthread.php?t=64515).
Well after reading all the replies I started to do some research and found out that a lot of the state parks here in AZ have full hookups available. Some of them are right next to lakes is nice. My whole way of thinking has changed. I think we will still stay in private cg's once in awhile. It's nice having a pool for the kids especially here in AZ. but I plan on visiting as many of the state parks as I can however.
Thanks to all who shared their opinions. It gave me the answers I was looking for. I'm so glad I stumpled onto this forum. I learn something everytime that I log on. I think my wife is beginning to think I have a girlfriend on here as much as I read it. I had a strong desire to get out and camp before I joined this forum but now I want to go all the time!
I thought that buying a PUP was a much cheaper way to go but you all keep introducing me to new things to spend my money on. Little by little we'll have equipped just the way that we want it. For now I'll get the essentials first and then work on the rest of it.
Thanks again to everyone for sharing their stories, thoughts and knowledge.