Booking sites

[fritz_monroe]

Hello folks, I've been lurking mostly, but within the next month or so we will be buying our first PUP.  Not sure exactly which one yet, but getting there.

I've seen multiple mentions of booking the camping trips already.  Is this common practice?  Should I be looking at where I want to camp this summer and make my reservations now?  Do the campsites get booked solid during the summer?

I know I will want to camp in several of Maryland's state parks, but not sure which.  Would I be out of luck deciding which weekends I want to camp a month ahead and trying to get a site?  I've only done tent camping and have never had a problem getting a site for that.  Of course, a tent site doesn't always need a road right to it.

TIA

[n2camping]

Yes, it would be good to book now. Most of the Parks and Campgrounds do fill up in the spring and summer. Also now you have your choice as to which site you would like to have. We have had luck though with booking as went.

[Shelbs]

Hello folks, I've been lurking mostly, but within the next month or so we will be buying our first PUP.  Not sure exactly which one yet, but getting there.

I've seen multiple mentions of booking the camping trips already.  Is this common practice?  Should I be looking at where I want to camp this summer and make my reservations now?  Do the campsites get booked solid during the summer?

I know I will want to camp in several of Maryland's state parks, but not sure which.  Would I be out of luck deciding which weekends I want to camp a month ahead and trying to get a site?  I've only done tent camping and have never had a problem getting a site for that.  Of course, a tent site doesn't always need a road right to it.

TIA

Fritz,

I think the short answer is "it depends". We just recently booked our 3 sites for our 9 day trip that begins Memorial Day weekend. Since we're spending Memorial Day at Lake George, we figured it made sense to book early. But last year, we were able to book weekend trips (including Labor day and Columbus day) a couple weeks in advance. So I think it depends both on where ya go and when you want to camp.

BTW, good luck on your search for the perfect PUP! Enjoy!

[fritz_monroe]

I'm hoping some MD campers will chime in.  We haven't done that much camping in the parks, so don't know what fills up.  I would think that if I'm trying to go to the beach in the summer to camp, they would fill up fast.

Typically, do you pay at the time of booking the site?  Or is it a deposit?  

I can see us doing more weekend camping than anything, so would like to be able to book the week before when we know it's probably going to be nice.  One thing that concerns us is rain.  I know the show must go on, but everyone knows that camping in the rain is not that much fun no matter what you are sleeping in.  This is the reason that we are looking for as much floor space as possible.  Want to make sure the kids have space to play in case of rain.

[tlhdoc]

Typically, do you pay at the time of booking the site? Or is it a deposit?
 

In all of the state and national parks I have camped in you pay when you make your reservation.
 

I can see us doing more weekend camping than anything, so would like to be able to book the week before when we know it's probably going to be nice. One thing that concerns us is rain. I know the show must go on, but everyone knows that camping in the rain is not that much fun no matter what you are sleeping in. This is the reason that we are looking for as much floor space as possible. Want to make sure the kids have space to play in case of rain.

It all depends on the park and the weekend.  Holiday weekends often book far in advance and the "good" sites often book in advance.  Some campgrounds need to be booked shortly after they open for reservations and other campgrounds you can go without having reservations.  Check online to see who many sites are still available and just keep watching to see if the park tends to book solid for the weekends.

[PLJ]

I wouldn't worry about the rain too much. Kids in rain coats will still have fun. As well as floor space in the PUP, get yourself a screen room to give yourself extra space in inclement weather.

[fritz_monroe]

You know, it's amazing how much your views change.  When we first started to seriously look at floor plans, we looked at nothing that didn't have a shower.  Now, we are seeing that an outdoor shower would work fine with a teepee.  That also means that a toilet is not essential when a porta potti can be used.  We still want the extra space that a slide out allows, but it's mainly for the seating capacity it gives and less for the floor space.  We will look at some of the U-dinette models as well.

We will be getting a screen room or an add-a-room to extend the trailer.

[Shelbs]

Fritz,
FWIW, we have a shower/ cassette potti, and we wouldn't do without it. True, it's nice to have the extra floor space. But one of the reasons we went from tenting to the PUP was to avoid those 3am trips to the bath house. I see a trip out to the porta-potti in the teepee almost as big a hassle. With the cassette, your two steps away, and within the warm and secure confines. Just my .02 :screwy:

[wavery]

If I were considering a new PU, I would certainly consider the indoor shower strongly.

We have the tepee and have used it as a shower once. Handling the waist water is a big hassle IMO. The tepee has been great as an outhouse for the porta potty (unless the wind is strong) but we live in SoCal and don't have to deal with the cold and rain as much.

The PUs with the shower and cassette potty seem to hold their resale much better also. A factor worth consideration, on it's own.

[garym053]

Hi Fritz,
When we were looking at PU's before buying our Jayco, we thought we'd need a shower and some kind of toilet.
We decided against the shower, as we'd heard stories about all the added moisture and taking a long time to dry it out (especially in Spring & Fall in New England) Can't say we've missed it. We dry camp at state and national parks most of the time and their bathrooms are usually pretty well kept. AND the showers are a lot more spacious! (I'm 6'3")
As for the toilet, we decided against that as well. Before I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, I made several trips to the Bathroom during the night, as frequent B/R calls are an added complication to SA. Anyway, it didn't bother me then and now that the trips are down to none, it's even better. We tried to weigh the benefits of having the toilet as opposed to the hassles of finding the proper place to dump it, cleaning it, etc and decided that we're paying for the parks to provide a clean bathroom so why put the job on us!
All that said- keep in mind our kids are grown, our tune might be different if we were walking kids to the BR all night long!
As far as reservations are concerned- we make the reservations in the Winter for the places we really want to visit, or NEED to visit because they fit into a trip, and wing it on the others! We usually don't have a problem getting into a state park on the spur of the moment, but you'll have to be flexible on sites. We kayakm so sites close to the water fit us the best, but they go the fastest, so we reserve those ahead of time.
Good Luck!

[fritz_monroe]

Good point about the cassette/shower and holding resale.  While we will have this for a couple years, it's probably not going to be our last camper purchase.  I think that we will mostly dry camp, but can't tell.  I don't think we would be camping where there are no facilities, but maybe just pit toilets.  That's the biggest reason we were looking at nothing but shower models.  We have a big RV show coming up in 2 weeks and will be able to get into all the different models.  Lots of these floorplans look good on paper, but maybe not in person.

After digging around on this site and others, I've got a lot of stuff to look at that I didn't have before.  I really appreciate the help everyone has given for us to make an informed decision.  Prior to coming here, I wouldn't have considered being able to pack the fridge with the top down.  It's not a deal breaker for us, but it will weigh into the final decision.  That's where the shower/toilet combo falls into it also, if we found the perfect floor plan and it didn't have a shower, it wouldn't make us pass it over.

[Tim5055]

As a former Maryland resident I think I will chime in here.  Most Maryland parks have sites avaialble up until 7 - 10 days before any weekend, not including holiday weekends.

If you want a holiday weekend, book now.

Depending on your area of Baltimore you may have fewer close park offerings as you will have to go west or south to enjoy them.  We were in Annapolis and were also in this boat as we had to go over the bridge or around DC to go to most parks.

Close by is Patapsco Valley State Park.  We never camped there because it was a little too close in for our tasts.

Our favorite weekend trip was Tuckahoe State Park.  Once on the bridge you are only about 20 minutes from this park.  Electric at most sites and water available around the loop.

Heading north Elk Neck State Park  is a very nice park with great camping.

You can check out the entire state by visiting the Maryland State Park Map

Now to your camper choice.  One of our former members (ChuckS, you still see him on other boards) said it best; "Buy your second camper first".  While we really enjoyed our first pop up (a Coleman Santa Fe) some of the things you are talking about came back to haunt us.  We used the "heck" out of Our Outside Shower, but I can tell you it is nicer to have it inside.  A Porta Potti in a Tent works well, but on a cold night (think early spring/late fall) it's nice to have the cassette toilet inside.  We now have the 2005 Fleetwood Folding Trailer Niagara and it has solved all our problems.   This is the pop up for us.  As far as we can tell we will keep this one until we move up to the Class A preparing for retirement.

[vjm1639]

Fitz...we're just a bit south of you and haven't yet camped at any of the Maryland sites...although, DH is from Baltimore....however, we are famous for last minute trips all over Northern Virginia to the Shenandoah area and we rarely ever make reservatons more than a day ahead if at all! Only once or twice have we ever had a problem with a campground being full. Now...as you say...if it's near the beach...or a holiday weekend it's a different story. Although, several places we camp don't take reservations anyway.
 
As for the shower and built in potty...there are those who wouldnt do without and those who just don't care. I'm one who didn't want the shower in the PU. We fell in love with the set up of our Mesa and I didn't want to give that up for a shower I wasn't going to use often, if at all. We do have a Thetford portable potty (that I won't take anything for! ) and keep it inside the camper for those late night uses...but I'd much rather just go to the campground shower if they have them. That way I have room to move around and don't have to worry about how much water I'm using. On the rare occasions someone else is with us, we use the campground bathrooms and don't even set up the potty. I had a friend try to tell me that I just didn't "think" I wanted an indoor shower because I didn't have one..That's not quite the case either. I use to own a small TT with a full bathroom... Potty, sink ,shower... and in all the years we owned it, we each used the shower exactly ONCE. Just wasn't worth it to me. We do have the outside shower and have used it a couple of times camping where there were no campground showers. So..it's all a matter of what YOU and your family prefer. Play in the different models...spend a lot of time actually sitting in them. Can't tell you how many hours we spent looking at the dealers around here. LOL But finally, one layout was just the one that was comfortable for us.   And as for resale....I wouldn't buy one WITH the shower...so there is a market.  ;>
 
Good luck and enjoy your search and playing in all the campers. That's part of the fun! :>

[fritz_monroe]

Thanks again for the input.  You guys are really giving me a lot of stuff to consider.  I'm in Northern Baltimore, and one of the closest state parks that allows camping is Elk Neck.  I figure that's probably where we will go on the 1st or 2nd trip.  I don't think we will do much camping on holidays, but Assateaque is not far away, so will probably go there.  I've only camped there in April, and the entire park was empty.

As for the trailer.  I really like the idea of the cassette toilet, but I don't want to have to drag the cassette thru the trailer to empty it, so that would leave the shower models.  My wife and I are putting as much thought into this as we can.   I think that we will probably get items that we don't plan on using now, like the shower.  If for no other reason than we are looking at going to Ft. Wilderness next year.  I know the showers are nice, but I shower in the morning, just like 90% of the other people there.

Initially, we liked the 2006 Niagara until we thought about the black water tank.  Just doesn't make much sense in a pop up, to me.  The main thing that changed our minds away from the high side trailers is actually standing by one.  They are huge.  Now we are looking at slightly smaller ones.  But we need the 2 big bed ends.

P.S.  Tim, your site is awesome, I've read just about every word on it.  Great resource.  Thanks for contributing this to the cause.

[tlhdoc]

I will chime in on the side of being very, very happy to have the shower/cassette potty in my PU.  We do camp several time each year in campgrounds without showers or just cold rinse off showers (Assateague Island National Seashore is one).  I don't use the shower often, but when it is used I am so happy we have it.  The cassette potty is always used.  It takes just a minute or two to dump (less time that all of those trips to the cg bathroom) and it is not hard to do.  It can be dumped in a dump station, toilet or pit toilet.  Friends of mine didn't want the cassette potty in their new trailer when the purchased it.  The dealer ended up throwing in the cassette potty in for free (took the price of it off of the price of the trailer).  The first cold rainy night they used it they were very, very happy to have it.