CAMPGROUND RATINGS

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Re: Cathedral Gorge NV, Red Cliffs Utah, Toroweep Grand Cany

Postby Wolffarmer » Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:30 am

nevadatear wrote:State park in southeastern Nevada. Almost to the Utah state line. Camped there on our way to Zion and Bryce in April of 2010.
PROS: Well kept, new sites. Unique "lantern hook" at each campsite by the table. Ramadas over the table for shade. Free showers! Warm heated bathrooms with electric inside bathrooms. Beautiful scenery, like a small Bryce and Zion. $17. Free wood when available. BBQ and fire pit both.
CON: Really windy when we were there, so didn't enjoy it as we could. Open campground with little wind break, or trees. (Nevada desert) Small campground, only 20 sites, but is off the beaten path and only two other campers where there when we were. A little more expensive than some state campgrounds, but hot free showers!

I will second Cathedral Gorge NV. I was there last weekend. $17 shower included. I checked out Echo Canyon State park that is near by and it looked pretty good also though I did not stay there. Might be a bit full when fishing is in full swing. It doesn't have showers but it does have reading materials. A bunch of books and magazines on shelves at the toilet. Not meant to replace TP.

I also highly recommend the BLM Red Cliffs just north of Saint George Utah. Exits 21 and 23 on I 15. 11 or 12 sites, paved road and pads, vault toilets, looks like it would be nice and shady in the summer. Has a creek running through it, Sits in a canyon between sand stone cliffs. Hiking trials. There are some Anasazi sites up the cliffs on some trails. $8 a night.

I also recommend Toroweep campground in Grand Canyon. BUT you will need 4 wheel drive and a trailer that can take a licking and keep on ticking. from the pavement it is 55 or so miles of gravel. It was smooth this last week. But it can be very washboarded. Then the fun really begins with a few miles of real 4X4 over rocks and I do mean 4x4. Campground is free ( any other free camps inside a National Park?) Composting toilets. No water. No garbage cans, pack it in, pack it out. Some of the greatest view of the canyon. Only about 8000 people a year make it. And I would say at least 1/2 are repeats, I was/am. Also if you have trouble with vertigo do not go to the rim. There are trails. Lots and lots of rocks. And I am not kidding about the 4x4. I was last there 10 years ago and the road has gotten much worse. That was also the opinion of another repeater I met there but it is doable. I did it in my 2000 Suzuki Vitara, Tires did not have aggressive tread. Only had to back up and hit one rock ledge a few times to get over. I never did touch the metal bits to the rock bits. Wet weather could be a different story.

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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby Hndbskt » Sat May 12, 2012 10:39 pm

A great guide to America's National Forest campgrounds: http://www.forestcamping.com
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby furiousking111 » Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:44 am

Mammoth Lake camping is the ideal place for camping in California. Its a place where you can do multiple activities for entertainment rather this place is in itself is an entertainment. I personally found only pros no cons.
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby hoytedow » Thu May 30, 2013 6:29 am

I like the Texas State Parks, notably South Llano River State Park. KOA in Holbrook, Arizona has good facilities and a nice bunch of people running it.
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby Oldragbaggers » Thu May 30, 2013 7:51 am

I love the idea of this thread but the way it is set up, especially when it gets longer, may make it hard to find useful information. Maybe we could have an actual section in the index called Campground Ratings, and when someone wants to rate a campground they could just make the name and location of the campground the subject of the thread. All one would have to do then is go to that section and scour the subject lines to see if there is a campground listed they are interested in. It would be easy also for additional people who visit that particular campground to add their experiences there to an existing thread about that location. Sometimes conditions change, there's construction going on, or management changes.....

Whaddaya think??
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby CAJUN LADY » Thu May 30, 2013 11:31 am

I agree Becky and think it's a good suggestion.
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby stonykill » Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:18 am

we just got back from Gilbert Lake State park in Lauren NY. I think we had the biggest site in the entire park.

Image

Overall a very nice park. Very clean. Nice lake.

Thankfully the park was nowhere near full capacity. The sites are far too close together for our liking. We like a little privacy. There weren't many border tree's or bushes to give a little privacy. There are over 200 sites. Many right on top of one another. This we were not too fond of but were lucky the park was maybe at 1/2 capacity.

The staff was not only very nice but very helpful.

My main complaint has more to do with society than this park I would say. On Friday night a group of at least 10 children ranging from 7 to 11 were given free reign to raise havoc on the park. Yelling, SCREAMING, running through other campsites etc. This went on for 5 hours. The staff at the park never patrolled during this time. After several campers nicely asked the kids to please have respect for other campers I finally reported the situation. And I have to say the park staff took care of it. Things got quiet after I reported it. Kids were still playing . Just showing respect. Until the next morning. 7:10 am the same group of kids decides a loud game of tag including throwing rocks is in order. I walk right over and ask them to please show respect and if they can't be quieter to please go back to their sites until their parents can join them. I sit back down and one kid say's to the other ( 10 year olds) "He has no right to tell us what to do". So I jump up and say to the kids "come on boys, lets meet your parents". This took care of this group. Then the park Ranger talked with me and assured me the situation would not happen again. And it did not. There was always at least 1 parent with the kids in the playground area after that.
But my point is this problem has more to do with the lack of respect for others in today's day and age than it does the park. The Ranger took care of the issue and the rest of our stay was very pleasant. My wife and I would return to this park.
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby hoytedow » Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:57 am

We spent the 2nd week of June at Jenny Wiley State Park in Kentucky. The facility was very good and staff went above and beyond to make our stay a good one.

Image This park sits on a nice lake with plenty of boating and fishing.
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby pchast » Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:13 pm

Becky has a good idea. :thinking:

I think it needs topics by state or region.
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby stonykill » Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:02 pm

I don't know. If say you are from NY and see my rating a simple 2 second google search for Gilbert Lake State Campground will get you the website, directions etc. I added one as I thought it was a fantastic idea yet no one reviewed anything from NYS.
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby Travels with Yoly » Mon Dec 23, 2013 6:38 pm

Hello, I'm a newbie at this point ... less than a week. I've posted info in the Introduction Section but find that I may have something to add to this thread. One of my hobbies is videography and I've always said that if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures 8) We've been making videos of our travels for years but only recently (last July) we acquired a nice T@B camper and have been making videos of our camping spots as well. Granted, there aren't many at this point but we will be adding them every time we travel and we have plans to do that. There are about 130 videos on the channel, mostly of places to go but you might find some helpful campground info there as well (especially in the coming year). Hope you enjoy them (link below). :pictures:
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby hoytedow » Mon Dec 23, 2013 8:21 pm

Welcome, Travels with Yoly, and Merry Christmas to everyone. We love camping in Georgia. Lake Allatoona has fine facilities at the Corps of Engineers sites. So does Georgia Veterans State Park.
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Re: CAMPGROUND RATINGS

Postby Travels with Yoly » Mon Dec 23, 2013 11:44 pm

There are some nice Corps of Engineers Campgrounds on Lake Lanier also where we live. We've never camped at them but we go by them all the time in our boat and they look nice :)
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Dingmans Ferry Campground, Dingmans Ferry, PA

Postby rowerwet » Tue Dec 24, 2013 9:00 am

We camped there two years ago, this was the year after the hurricane that flooded the area as well as Eastern NY and most of Vermont. The roads around there were still recovering with many closed areas, including rt 209 the main road through that area. The Deleware river was mostly rocks thanks to the flooding, I'm sure by now it has gone back to normal.

Likes: the sites were level with new electric and water systems. The campground has its own boat ramp (free for campers), many of the ramps on the river charge a fee to park or even to drop a boat off or retreive one. There is a shuttle throughout the park to allow easy car retrival for one way trips. A gravel bike path follows the river through most of the park, it crosses the campground driveway, and makes for great bike riding. We used the bike path to prestage our car and then ride back to the boats at the campground. the next boat access downstream is free.
The bathrooms were clean but not always easy to get too from certian sites. If you get a tent site it will have electric but no water and it is a hike to the bathroom. there is a faucet (0NE) for the tent campers and a portapotty near the tent sites to cut the walk in half.
Sites with water and electric are a short walk from the river, the few sites along the river have only electric and most are tent only with no way to get a vehicle or teardrop onto the site.

Unlikes: sites were close together, the ones we were in seemed to be long and skinny with only bare trees in between. we had an empty site between us and the next couple, there would have been no privacy to one side if there had been campers there. The sites seem to be in groups so one side would be sheilded but not the other. Many sites were gouped around the bathrooms, not where I would want to camp, and if they had been occupied the trip to the bathrooms would have been much longer and out of the way to avoid walking across someones site.

the area: I belive this is the only campground in the area, it is in the middle of the park and convienent for running the river. the bike trail is great for seeing the park, most of it is out of site of the road running through fields and woods, mountian bikes are better as the gravel isn't well packed in some areas. the road is narrow and riding on the shoulder is dicey at times.
The Delaware water gap park has many great hiking trails and plenty of great waterfalls to check out, some are an easy walk and others are a real hike to get to. The Pocono mountains drop away to a deep valley that the river runs in here and the sceenery is beautifull.
If you don't have a boat there are plenty of rental companies, most located to the south near the rt 80 bridge in the water gap. Take a canoe, rafting this river is kind of a waste IMO.
The river is a series of class 1 rapids with plenty of peacefull flat areas inbetween from what I hear the snorkeling is great in the flat sections.
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Sweetwater Forrest campground, Brewster, Cape Cod MA

Postby rowerwet » Tue Dec 24, 2013 10:24 am

Brewster, MA is just short of the "elbow" of the cape, in the area called the mid cape. Camping here put us in the middle of the cape with both ends not far away.

Likes: the campsites were seperated both by elevation 111516 and brush as well as split rail fences.111520 Each has a stone fire ring 111521 instead of those iron ones many places have. Water and electric were on the site within easy reach. Each site is level packed sand and is well drained.111519 There were plenty of bathrooms each was clean and mostly well kept after. Each bathroom has a playground nearby, and a large set tub type sink outside for dish washing. There is Wifi but it got busy fast, best to use early in the morning. there's a beach for boating and fishing at the campground on a small pond, good for a short paddle. No swimming allowed. (MA requires full time lifeguard on all public pools or beaches)
Just across the road from the campground is the Cape Cod Rail Trail, a paved, many mile, bikeway, there are benches along it and even a "traffic circle" where three main branches come together. The trail cuts along ponds and cranberry bogs, if you didn't bring a bike, many places will rent them, the views are well worth it! (we did find the trail info dated, a dinner ride became much longer than expected as the eating place we were headed to was now a proffesional bldg.)
While the campground is a short drive from the beach, it is too far to walk, and even by bike it would take a bit to get there. Beach parking or any boat ramp in the area is $15/day, the beach is free after 3 pm. parking passes are for sale at the town offices.


Dislikes: other than the distance from the beach, we didn't have a problem. While the camper sites were private enough, the tent sites seemed very much on top of each other, and thanks to the terrain, most tent sites were hard to even get a vehicle up to, trying to park a tear on them would be almost impossible. Most tent sites had water, but not right on the site.

The rec hall was nice, with a "library" of books and movies, a big screen TV. The money wasting electronic games are in the basement and can't be heard upstairs. There is a campstore that says it has everything you could need, and minigolf on site. They sell firewood there, but we found we could get more for less outside the campground. During tourist season (why can't you shoot any if they are in season?) the campground has plenty of activities, canoe racing, bands, pancake breakfasts and tractor pulled wagon rides each saturday night. There is also a farm next door owned by the same family, and horseback riding offered as well.
The cape is really an Island, the cape cod canal cuts it off from the main land.111513 It isa sea level canal with a paved service road along each side, perfect for walking, bike riding, or inline skating, there is one company that gives a boat tour through the canal as well as jazz cruises and diner cruises. (we brought our own lunch for an earlier trip). The Canal is worth the time to see it. There is also an RV park (not really a campground IMO) under the Sagamore (southern) bridge. My family stayed there when I was a young teen, the sites are more like a parking lot with pull through spaces seperated by a row of trees. 111573 The one big attraction to staying there is that the park fronts on the Cape Cod Canal land side service road, almost any time of day you see people fishing or just boat watching in the canal. 111574
If you bring a boat, Buzzards bay at the south end of the canal is a great place to explore or swim, (only motorized boats are allowed in the canal, the tide turns every 6 hours making traffic interesting).
Nantucket sound is on the southern side of the cape, it has shallower beaches and plenty of sea life, the water here is warmed by the gulf stream.
the outer side of the cape (east) is also warm water, facing the on ocean it has the biggest waves, great surfing, and steepest beaches, the beaches here are a known of as the Cape Cod National Seashore, they are much more wild and open, unlike the rest of the cape. Most of the beaches have a huge drop from the level of the Cape dunes to the beach. Parking is not free for most beaches, but you can shuttle or bike in and get in free that way.
Cape cod bay is the part inside the cape, it has cold water from the north pole and very little wave action,111575 at low tide the water goes out nearly a mile in some areas,111576 111577 leaving the best shell collecting I've ever seen, along with plenty of tide pools to explore. 111578
Provincetown is at the very tip of the cape, the Pilgrim monument 111579 is a great way to get the picture of how narrow and long the cape is, on a clear day you can see Boston from it. The town is an interesting place, like most old new england port towns it has narrow sometimes winding streets with plenty of tourist traps, artsy shops, and and any type of food you could want. The former Methodist church, now the town library has a 2/3 scale schooner built right down the middle (worth the visit if you like ships) 111607 there are a series of pictures in one stairwell showing the construction. the whole town faces the harbor, our parking lot had a boat ramp so we went for a paddle and ate our luches afloat. Parking in town would be a challenge with a trailer,(and cost more) find a place outside town and ride in on a bike, most of the locals get around that way.
The town is a LGBT dominated place, most aren't that in your face, but with plenty of guys in drag etc. and crazier stuff the further toward the tip of the cape you go in town. (not a place I would take young children).
There is a long pier in the harbor 111606 with plenty of boats offering rides, fishing, whale watching and charters. (We took a sailing trip on a Schooner) 111605 (bay lady II) You can also catch the ferry to Boston from here. Race point, the very tip, has a few light houses, a visitor center, bike trails, the air port, and camping. With a 4 wheel drive you can go out to the very end on the huge beach.
We were only there 5 days, while we saw some of the cape, there is plenty more to see and much more to do. The lower cape is more of a suburb of Boston and has the traffic and sprawl to match, head to the Mid and upper cape to see the real cape.
there are also plenty of great light houses along the cape, my current picture is of the Chattham light, 111799 (the point of the elbow) where my great aunt served in the coast guard during WWII. This was the only all woman station, anywhere, they maintained the light, trucks, generators, a Shoran station (her job), heated with coal, and practiced boat drills, shooting and running on the beach each day as U boats were seen near there often. There are tours there, but only a few hours one day a week, in season.
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Last edited by rowerwet on Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:25 am, edited 5 times in total.
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