Frustrated Central California Newbie

[Kvw613]

Originally Posted by kitehillmark

The RV Community Rocks!!

Thanks to all for your comments and advise!! I really appreciate all of your feedback, I guess I'm just a little gun shy as I had out on our adventures. I was looking for the type of boondocking where we would drive and just see a nice place off the roadway and pullover and camp for the night, but I have a feeling those days are gone.

I realize with a class A 35 footer I am limited where I can stay and perhaps I will have to explore the private RV parking spots, although I am really wanting to do the more of the "away from everyone" parking.

I think I am going to just have to see what it's like out there and get the old calendar out and do some long range planning.

Again, thanks so much everyone!!

Mark

Take the 395 north of where the 14 intersects. Tuttle Creek in Lone Pine. Alabama Hills. Several more north all the way to Sonora Pass. $8 per nite. Or free.

[BobC]

There's a lot of good info here, especially Episode 10:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFb...oWMGkGe7gUw27w

Also, try Googling "blm RV camping california":

https://www.google.com/search?safe=o...30.JtkHrVkQPps

[GreatWhite]

A word of caution. Most state campgrounds were built about 60 years ago +/-. There weren't rv's as large as we have today.. like yours. These campgrounds really haven't been upgraded. Many have narrow roads and sharp turns.. not to mention short sites.. I've witnessed a few serious oopsies in the campgrounds in the redwoods of N.Cal where the trees are close to the road and the trees had huge scrapes on them. I hesitate to picture what happened to these RV's. Entire sides torn out or worse. So be careful when looking. If you have a toad.. use that to drive thru the place.. or you may find yourself in a situation where there is no way out.. ie can't turn around.

[Katie]

It is very frustrating. Seems like every year more people are RVing so you have to plan your trip far in advance especially if you are going to National Parks. We have been lucky and can usually find something. Traveling with friends is really difficult.
Good luck to you!

[1953m38a1]

Made a jaunt from Victoria B.C to Charlotte N.C. in 2017. Did not book parks or rv sites, when it got near to happy hour plus 2, started to look for road signage advertising of same. We always got in , some were good, some were great and some.......Its part of the adventure, Happy trails

2008 Itasca 38T and 2004 Tracker Toad

[Radioflyer]

While we were out there last year we found
more vacancies over in Palm Springs area and down to the very salty lake/ forgo name... Sultan Sea? Anyway very nice RV Parks, National Parks, plenty of things to see/ do over there. We use Allstays app to find RV Parks/ services, fuel, propane- all things RV. They have many pics of the Parks, max length, how many full hooks-up, pull through, 30/50a, reviews... and phone number that you just touch and it dials reservation #. Couldn’t be easier/ more informative. Things also tight here in NE. You really need to plan out 6 mo in advance for long daisy-chain trips. Better luck getting spur of moment reservations mid-week. If you things getting RV Park reservations is hard... wait until you need maintenance!

[workhorsed]

Originally Posted by Lakejumper

Are you just looking at State and National parks? Private RV parks typically have openings, even in popular areas, due to cancellations. If you get in a pinch, check out Casinocamper.com. We found several casinos on our trip to and from California to Arizona. We stayed in one in Tucson originally for one night while waiting to get into a first-come-first-serve site in a local county park. We ended up dry camping for 3 nights at the casino. There are reviews so you can see what they're like. We also camped on BLM land. Once you arrive at your destination, you can stay at a free overnight spot and explore the area in your toad to find another park if your flexible.

Hey, lots of great suggestions here. I'd like to add one, if you are a veteran many posts, bases stations etc have excellent camping ranging from the most basic to WOW!! and mostly very inexpensive. Also it's nice to have the PX just down the road. Google it, I believe irv2 has has this covered in a forum.

[jrpend]

Greetings!!


California - particularly SF bay area is not all that RV friendly. Part of it is due to all of the "urban campers" that have flooded the area due to the housing crisis.


That being said, there are places to go if you know where to look.


1. Indian Casinos - Some(like Black Oak) are quite posh and hard to get into - midweek is your best chance. Others not so posh and easier to get into. Rolling Hills in Corning is usually available - perfectly fine place to park. A lot of the Indian Casinos will allow you to overnight in their lot. A very notable exception - and place to avoid is Graton.


2. State/County fairgrounds. I particularly like Calistoga. Napa is nice and is scheduled for a visit. The State fairgrounds in Sac is quite large. Pleasanton is pricey but as they say in Real Estate - location, location, location.


Truck stops are hard. Truckers don't really have a place to park in the bay area. Sacramento is about as close as they can get for overnight space. They also tend to fill the road side rests on I-5 for the same reason. Walmart has had to clamp down due to the urban campers. (Local story - idiot dumped his black into a Walmart storm drain and Walmart had to deal with it)

[BobC]

Originally Posted by jrpend

Truck stops are hard. Truckers don't really have a place to park in the bay area.

For the most part, from what I've read on this and IRV2, truckers don't appreciate RV'rs staying at truck stops, which is understandable since it's their job and they need a place to sleep.

Additionally, they can be noisy with the refers running and trucks pulling in and out all night.

IMHO, don't even try staying at a truck stop.

[SKIPPERFRANK]

Kern River?? We are heading their in a couple weeks. Fairview has openings

[BobC]

If you want to head up to OR, I highly recommend the Valley of the Rogue state park. It's right on I-5, north of Medford. It's a convenient stopover and a great destination in itself, right on the Rogue River and close to many southern OR attractions. As with most of the OR state parks we've stayed at, it's well-maintained and put's most CA state parks to shame. We haven't been there for a couple of years but, in the past they've had significant overflow space.

[Full Dose]

We done the Cal coast 8 weeks ago. end of March no reservations. Always found places to stay, private and some state parks. State parks had very limited facilities and were pricey compared to other states. A lot of RV parks most around the bigger cities were pricey but were very accommodating.
and available.