WA, OR, CA trip

[jacwjames]

I'm in the preliminary stages of planning a trip, probably starting in Oct and expect ~2 months or longer depending on how it goes.

My goal is to see the National Parks along the west coast.   I'll start in OR with the North Cascades National Park first then work my way south zig zagging as needed hitting the NP's along the way.  I'm pretty flexible and don't envision problems finding places to stay overnight and short stints in campgrounds. 

But one area I need advice is places to stay while I take a trip to the Channel Islands National Park  Hope to avoid driving into LA.   Is there a smaller community with either public or private campgrounds convenient to ferry locations to the Island.  

Any other advise or recommendations.  Not really into "touristy" things but would be interested in historical sites. 

Thanks.

 

Working my way down the list of NP's, got 35 down and working on the rest.

 

[DennisZ]

There are several nice RV parks in the Oxnard area for channel Islands

[jacwjames]

1 hour ago, DennisZ said:

There are several nice RV parks in the Oxnard area for channel Islands

Thanks, I'll add that to my search list

When I was in Utah last year I stayed at a couple campgrounds for a week and used them as a home base as I visited NP's close by, that worked pretty good so I'll looking at doing that in CA.  King Canyon, Sequoia, and Death Valley are fairly close together so I'm looking for camping near Loan Pine area.  Anyone have any recommendations.  Found state operated campground but no hookups.  Not sure what the weather will be in Oct/Nov, assume I could boon dock but just have to watch battery levels, which I am use to doing. 

[DennisZ]

Some of those roads can become impassable in late October, I’ve seen those passes closed early in the season, best plan for alternate activities.

Edited July 31 by DennisZ

[jacwjames]

Yup, my plan is to watch the weather and make changes as needed.   As long as I can get fairly close in my coach and find a spot to camp I'll use my toad to visit the sites.  That worked pretty well last year as I traveled through UT, AZ, CO, NM. 

I am completely flexible and have time so No Worries.   I can adjust my departure date from TN also but when I was looking at historical weather it looks like in Wa the temps are still in the 60/70's during the day, colder at night. 

Also grew up in N Wisconsin so am capable of driving in snow/ice conditions.  

[georgecederholm]

23 hours ago, jacwjames said:

Thanks, I'll add that to my search list

When I was in Utah last year I stayed at a couple campgrounds for a week and used them as a home base as I visited NP's close by, that worked pretty good so I'll looking at doing that in CA.  King Canyon, Sequoia, and Death Valley are fairly close together so I'm looking for camping near Loan Pine area.  Anyone have any recommendations.  Found state operated campground but no hookups.  Not sure what the weather will be in Oct/Nov, assume I could boon dock but just have to watch battery levels, which I am use to doing. 

When we visited Kings Canyon and Sequoia a couple of years ago, I found that access from the west was easiest. We stayed in Three Rivers, I think at a park called “Three Rivers Hideaway”. From there it was pretty easy to use CA-41/46 over to the coast in Paso Robles/Atascadero, then down US-101 toward Oxnard.

[jacwjames]

Any recommendations on camping near Yosemite?? 

[Robert92867]

Grizzly RV park, West Yellowstone.

[Dwight Lindsey]

For Yosemite, we used Lupine Campground on Bass Lake:

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232802

Dry camping.  Bass Lake is beautiful and a short drive to the Yosemite entrance.

For Moab, consider Horse Thief Campground, which is a BLM campground on the way to Dead Horse Point State Park.  I strongly recommend Dead Horse State park, the views are amazing.  The campground at the state park is cute, but I didn't see many sites that could take a large motorhome.

Horse Thief has lots of first come first served sites.  We've been there twice and had no trouble finding a spot.  Half price with a senior national parks card.

Dwight

[jacwjames]

Bass Lakes looks promising but when I put in 40' length only 1 site came up large enough.   Must not be a popular place in the winter, I looked and only 1 day was reserved in NOV😅

I know these aren't always correct though.  When I went to Devil's Tower website said no RV's over 35' but the campground hosts weren't even aware of the restriction and said as long as the RV fit I was good.

[96 EVO]

Yeah, my coach is often different lengths depending what / where I'm booking!

[Bob Blackmon]

Island Packers has the only concession to get to and tour the park. Trips run out of Oxnard and Ventura. Unless you have your sea legs I would suggest the Cats out of Ventura vs the cattle boats out of Oxnard. The only RV park in Oxnard is Evergreen and be sure to wear your boots so you don't step on a needle. Ventura Beach RV resort is nice. I would make my reservations now. Those are the only 2 in the area. There is a park on the south end of Santa Barbara and the Earl Warren Showgrounds is safe. You might enjoy a night or 2 in Santa Barbara. There is a KOA in Santa Paula. Ventura County has a great group of county parks but other than Rincon I'm not sure I would leave for a day. If you exclude the desert there are only 5 RV parks in LA County.  https://islandpackers.com/

Edited August 2 by Bob Blackmon

[Dwight Lindsey]

In Ventura, the county beach parks can be reserved 6 months in advance.  You need to be online 6 months before to get one of the big sites at the Faria Beach, park,  which we prefer to RINCON.  RINCOM is OK, just parking with the beach on curbside and coast road on roadside of the coach.  The road is not heavily traveled at night, so sleeping is fine.   There's also Hobsen county park on the beach, which has a few sites big enough for our coaches.   FARIA, RINCON and HOBSEN are right on the beach.  We've stayed at all of them and like them all.  We do prefer Faria.

Nearby is the cute little town of OJAI and there are three Ventura County parks there:  Foster Residence, Foster Red Mountain and Camp Comfort.

Foster Red Mountain is dry camping.  We've stayed there and it's doable.  The entrance road to the park is very steep and not the right place to unhook the toad.  Unhook at a wide spot in the road before you get to the park.

Foster Residence has electric sites and we prefer it to Foster Red Mountain.  Both Foster Red Mountain and Foster Residence are closer to the beach, farther from Ojai.

Camp Comfort is quite close to Ojai and all sites are full hookup with electric, water and sewer.  We prefer it to the Foster parks and we highly recommend Ojai as a destination for a meal or two and a stroll through town and their park.  It's an easy drive to Ventura and the beach.

More info on Ventura county parks here:
https://www.venturaparks.org/

In Santa Barbara, If you're an Elk, the Santa Barbara Elks is a few miles North of Santa Barbara in Goleta and I highly recommend it.  It's a small gravel parking lot, but quite nice.

Heading North, the Elks lodge in Atascadero is a few miles south of Paso Robles and has RV Parking, again it's a nice gravel parking lot with full hookups.  We like Paso Robles a lot, a great place for a few meals and a stroll through town.  There are a LOT of amazing wineries surrounding the town and a few tasting rooms in town.  The Paso Robles Elks lodge does not have RV Parking (RV Camping), but Atascadero is great, that's where we stay.

Dwight

[jacwjames]

Bob

Oxnard RV park reminds me of one we stayed at in Florida near North Palm Beach.  Unsavory crowd when the sun went down but it was the only place we could close to where my parents were.  As we setting up a guy came up to introduce himself, he was in a small camper that was set up for the duration.   He said that no matter what we did he said we needed to get back before the sun set.  He said if anything happened at night just start honking our horn and he'd come a running, he was dead serious. 

So I'll check into Ventura RV resort and see if I can get a vacancy once I figure out about when I'd be there. 

I usually have sea legs but with age comes wisdom so I may go the CAT transport.   Really just want to spent a day on the islands, don't plan to overnight.   All is dependent on weather of course. 

 

Dwight

Thanks, more options the better.  I am not an Elks member, not even sure I've seen any in E TN  

But it sounds like there are other options but my guess they all get pretty full that time of season. 

Usually I seldom make any reservations but looks like I'm going to have to in this area. 

 

Edited August 2 by jacwjames

[amphi_sc]

Yosemite: We stay at Yosemite Lakes RV "Resort" just outside the NW entrance to the park ... 5-10 minutes ... (and also close to the "forgotten" side Hetch-Hetchy).  The bus route also stops there if you want to be bussed in versus driving and hunting for a valley floor parking space, but we always have driven in.  It's ELS-Encore-1000_Trails but works great for us.  Grandson loves fishing & kyacking in the river right behind the RV.

[jimmcpheters]

There is one nice rv park in Lone Pine and several in Bishop, north of Lone Pine. There is also a fairgrounds in Bishop that has rv parking depending upon any activities taking place. Mammoth has one rv park and one Federal campground that are decent and there's a place at June Lake. Any of those are reasonably close to Yosemite. The community of Lee Vining is just north of an entrance to Yosemite and has a couple of parks. Fires are also a consideration in October although we got an early start this year.

Jim McPheters 08 Dip 

 

[jacwjames]

So, I am getting ready to leave on my trip.  Been monitoring the 10 day weather forecast for MT & WA, trying to make sure I'm through MT before any cold fronts hit.  So far forecast looks good.

Planning to leave on Tuesday AM. 

First question on routing, I've put in a route from E TN to Billings MT on both Mapquest and my Garmin 760.  In both cases it takes me up to Sioux Falls SD to 90 then east.  Seems counter intuitive.  Plus I know that I90 is still a mess west of Sioux Falls. 

I'm thing about going heading west on I80 in Nebraska, then north after Cheyenne. WY.  Anyone have any thoughts on why this isn't a decent route, it is slightly longer. 

[Land Lubber]

On 8/1/2024 at 8:00 AM, jacwjames said:

Any recommendations on camping near Yosemite?? 

There is an Escapee's park, SKP Park Sierra, near Coarsegold, about 29 miles south of Yosemite. An SKP membership (($49/yr) is necessary but the rates for a FHU site I believe is $26/night. I have stayed in the SKP parks in Benson, AZ & in Chimacum, WA....both were nice parks. Another possibility is the Mariposa County Fairgrounds, about 34 miles out of the park. That road will take you alongside the Merced River on your way to the NP.

Edited 3 hours ago by Land Lubber