Advise re Solo Camping

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by covey

Just a little 2 cents ... disconnect your tow vehicle power so after two or three days you don’t drain the veh battery and be unable to start when you want to leave.

A good thing to do if your tow vehicle is not properly wired to disconnect the trailer when the engine is not running.

[Fox hunt]

i often travel alone too. i enjoy it i keep it simple usually head to the beach. i eat out more when I'm solo camping. i like to go to state parks that are close to little towns and wander around so i usually unhitch.

[kstock11]

Traveling solo may not be as good as traveling with a partner, but sure beats staying home alone! There are many tricks to setting up alone. Use the GOAL method of backing in, use a large leveler in the front of the trailer and Anderson leveler, whatever works, but keep traveling. I prefer unhitching, but to each his own.

[Moaboy]

Good for u for getting out despite going solo. I’ve done a number of long trips solo and the key is to do what u r comfortable with. Maybe step out a bit when consequences r manageable when u do so. And don’t be in a hurry.
I usually unplug 7 pin if longer than a couple hours.
I rarely put down stabilizers.
I level only when my sleeping position is such that my head is lower than my feet-assuming of course I’m within the lines of my level bubbles. There is an old RV saying, if u r uncomfortable with how level u feel, ur refrigerator level may be a question as well.
On occasion I unhitch, but sometimes I’ve been connected for a week, although I do take some weight off my hitch if I can wo raising the front end too much.
Those yellow alignment balls are helpful, but u need to know where to put them when u r hitched up, so they line up properly, but u can hitch up wo them, ;it just may take a bit longer.
U will find the more u go solo, the more comfortable and confident u will become.
Good luck and enjoy!

[War Eagle]

Funny that my computer's protection software warns me it might be risky to view this thread. Go figure....

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

Funny that my computer's protection software warns me it might be risky to view this thread. Go figure....

Not surprised, since Advice is spelled incorrectly.

[padlin]

You sure you didn't used to be an editor?

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by padlin

You sure you didn't used to be an editor?

I was. Spent this afternoon at a pub drinking good ale and listening to retired deskers bemoan the state of the newspaper we used to work for.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I was. Spent this afternoon at a pub drinking good ale and listening to retired deskers bemoan the state of the newspaper we used to work for.

indeed, its sad how far downhill the whole news business has gone.... tv news just chases the 24/7 ratings cycle, nothing in depth.... a mile wide and an inch deep.

[War Eagle]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Not surprised, since Advice is spelled incorrectly.

Advise = verb
Advice = noun
I took it as the OP was asking for someone to advise the them with their advice. I didn't consider it misspelled the way it was used in the title, but it is in the text, for what that's worth. I misspell things, too, but I always blame it on my computer's auto-complete software.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I was. Spent this afternoon at a pub drinking good ale and listening to retired deskers bemoan the state of the newspaper we used to work for.

Every time I go to lunch with the folks I used to work with they catch me up on the latest layoffs. Janitorial service folks will be running the presses pretty soon. They're already using them to clean the presses the next morning.

[MyronL]

I just returned from a solo trip to Yellowstone National Park. There was no vacancy at any of the first come first served campgrounds so my advice is to make sure you have pan B. My plan B was go to the west entrance and Bakers Hole government campground in the Custer Gallatin National Forest (no hookups, $7.50/night).

Oh, and watch out for buffaloes. It wasn't until I was ready to leave I realized had never deployed my corner stabilizers. Advantage, solo. Also had to use my little air compressor for one curb side trailer tire. More advice: don't leave home without it.

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by MyronL

I just returned from a solo trip to Yellowstone National Park. There was no vacancy at any of the first come first served campgrounds so my advice is to make sure you have pan B. My plan B was go to the west entrance and Bakers Hole government campground in the Custer Gallatin National Forest (no hookups, $7.50/night).

Oh, and watch out for buffaloes. It wasn't until I was ready to leave I realized had never deployed my corner stabilizers. Advantage, solo. Also had to use my little air compressor for one curb side trailer tire. More advice: don't leave home without it.

Thanks for posting this Myron - great to know that Bakers Hole government campground in the Custer Gallatin National Forest exists. Awesome.

If it is easy - can you list where the first come first served campgrounds are, on the west side of Yellowstone area?

I'd be in a class b self contained van, FWIIW. Checking it out. A rental.

thanks.

[MyronL]

Currently there are only 4 campgrounds open in Yellowstone. Site construction, and, winter is coming. Best move is to check the park website to learn which ones are available because each day they also tell at what hour the first come first served ones filled up on the previous day. You can forget about Madison. That one fills up really fast. I also found out you cannot count on any of their predictions of which vacancies actually exist. Probably the Lewis Lake campground is the best bet but you best get there before 8 am.

The good news is at the entrance they hand out an excellent flyer listing all the campgrounds outside of the park. That's how I found Bakers Hole and it is a mere 3 miles from the west entrance. The bad news is Bakers Hole closes for the season Oct 1st.

Never been there? It's a really big park and the roads are 45 mph and less, unless some old buffalo is walking on it, which case means you wait. I often camp at the Gros Ventre Campground --just a few miles north of Jackson Hole, seems to always have vacancies, but that's a 50 mile drive to the park.

[Loren & Cathy]

Coming home in 2014 from Escape after ordering the trailer, we stopped at an undeveloped campground not to far from the East entrance just to check it out. What really caught our attention was the big sign warning of the Grizzly bears in the area. Loren

[Mucram]

Like Myron I returned 2 wks ago from ynp. Goal was to camp @ pebble creek before it closed. Drove from boise to riverside cg in island park. Lovely campsite on Henry’s fork. Next drove to canyon cg found perfect site but hopes were dashed as it is Rez only. They made a Rez for me @ bridge bay for 2 nites. Some sites ok but mine was not. Then to pebble which was of course full. Next to soda butte cg outside Cooke city. Lovely & last days before it closed. Drove to pebble by 6:30am & secured a site for 4 nites. The positive about this 1st come 1sr serve cg is it is in heart of Lamar so if an animal watcher can be up early and go out late to view wildlife. Plus can drive beartooth for a day of adventure. Left pebble & boondocked several days off big springs road. What a great fall trip!

[LarryandLiz]

Since I benefited so much from all the helpful advice on this thread I thought I’d report back about my 4 day solo trip. It was weird backing up without my very helpful wife’s assistance but I managed.

I forgot about unplugging the electric brakes until day three but noticed that all the Nissan’s lights worked. I started the truck as a test without any issues so decided not to unplug the brake. Firing it up to drive home was just like usual so I guess the Nissan wiring is good.

The best part was lots of alone time for reading and hiking. I posted some pics. I was at Skihist Prov Park near Lytton.

Larry

[LarryandLiz]

Here is a selfie I managed to get my fancy camera to take of me

[LarryandLiz]

So I used the stabilizer bars, lifted the tongue just a bit, backed up onto the Anderson leveler to make the level bubble indicator happy.

[stratos175]

Hello All,
Brings back memories all this talk about Yellowstone, surprised no one mentions Grand Tetons just next door. For about 10 years in a row myself and few friends would take 2 week backpacking trips to many of the great parks out west, the memories I have of the beauty I saw will be entrenched in my mind forever. We would leave the Sunday of Labor day, very few people still there at least the years we went, I saw Old Faithful go off with about 50 other people and would say my two favorite parks were Yosemite and Grand Tetons.
I work for myself so have more 'off days' then my better 1/2 and lucky for me she is ok that we do things together and apart. I will be going to the Wild Frontier rally in a couple of weeks without her, we just bought our Escape so first chance to see others and learn from them. This will also be my 5th year in a row of going to Edisto Beach between Christmas and New Year on my own, she has used up her vacation days by then.
Yes everything is maybe a little more difficult on your own and no one to share the chores with but can tell you I look just as forward to any trip going as couple or solo.

Safe travels to all,

Steve