Camp Ground or Dry Camping

[AZsix]

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.

[Gwenzilla]

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).

[AustinBoston]

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

[TheViking]

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.

[austinado16]

Dry camp only for us.  It's too much fun to enjoy the PUP and what it can do on it's own.

[BuddyBear]

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

[flyfisherman]

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.

[dthurk]

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.

[tlhdoc]

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.

[CajunCamper]

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

[AZsix]

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!

[wavery]

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:

[leefamfun]

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!

[Eric Sass]

Being that DW is not exactly a happy camper, we stay at CGs with at least water/electric hookups.

[oreo57]

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:

Wayne Im with you on that but what type batteries do you have ?? and size inverter.

I'll miss meeting you at Dogwood.

Mike