Trailer Camping in Colorado

Throwing this out to the GRM community since there's expertise here on damned near everything.

We have money down on a small camping trailer (R-Pod) and we're trying to plan a trip around Colorado for two weeks in mid Sept.  It's been an exercise in frustration to find camping spots at the national parks with hookups.  The websites are awful and we're just not finding stuff in the parks with hookups that we can reserve.  I have no idea how to find good places to camp - it's not like looking at travelocity or similar to find a hotel near our destination.  Suggestions on navigating campgrounds would be really appreciated.

I need to hit the library and pickup a travel book, but ideas on what to see in CO would also be be a huge help.  We're planning on starting in Cortez/Mesa Verde Nat Park (maybe at the KOA, lacking info on better options), three nights in Estes Park/Rocky Mtn Nat Park (Mary Lake seems like the best nearby camping option), probably the Gunnison Black Canyon and I'm not sure yet what else. 

First off- forget the hookups- you don't need them. That opens up a lot of spaces. If you aren't hooked on tv and ac, you will be just fine for at least a few days.  I restored an airstream and focused on setting it up to not need hookups- we've camped 7 days without dumping or charging artificially. All I've got is a 150 AH AGM battery, 16 gallon black, 40 gallon grey and 40 gallon fresh. No problems. We haven't had to use AC though too- but I'd imagine not a problem this time of year in CO also. 

That's all I've got for your challenge- I do agree that finding sites you have to plan a lot more in advance than you did a couple years ago- but getting away from hookups opens up thousands more options.

Oh, and the wife likes campendium for site recommendations.

Also, not sure how Colorado State Parks are, but many states have them with some hook ups.

hipcamp is an app that has some cool campsites.  It's like AirBnB for camping.

Good Sam website (goodsam.com) lists most campgrounds.  Just checked, they list 385 RV parks in CO.

You could also hit up a AAA and get a campbook for colorado.  Free for members, but I think it's like $5 for non members.

Boondockers Welcome - People who have a space somewhere on their property to stay for a predetermined amount of time, free unless they offer hookups for a nominal $

Harvest Hosts- Businesses(wineries, farms, etc) that allow boondocking if you spend some money there.

Joining both is not expensive, 2-3 nights will comp the cost.

Agreed on not needing hookups.  A couple good USB-recharged flashlights and a lot of bases are covered.  

More for the crowd than the OP, I haven't seen a good app that finds a lot of camping sights and options all in one app, which would be nice when out wandering and looking for the next overnight spot.  Maybe folks here have some recommendations beyond what's already been mentioned?

There is a lot of primitive camping in CO. Cut the cord :)

I can't give suggestions for the specific areas although there certainly are a lot of RV parks near Montrose. I do know the national parks are completely booked out for the rest of the year due to decreased availability and increased demand.

I'm a little odd.  Sometimes I camp in the van or a tent and go totally primitive, but when I have an actual hard-side RV, I like the luxuries.  I think OP should be able to find plenty of spots with hookups.  I never had any trouble when I was out there.

There is certainly a time and place for the luxuries, but seriously, the only lux I've ever used was the A/C. Which is like 3 times in 4 years of trailer camping (probably 30 camping trips). Everything else is propane powered, or the battery powers the USB ports, water pump etc.

If you're out to explore the beauty nature has to offer, spending your days out and about and moving camp every few days, there is no real benefit to hookups. That's for if you're sitting on your duff binge watching TV in air conditioned comfort for most of those 2 weeks. Then again... I'm a little odd. On the rare occasion we've had partial (electric and fresh) hookups, I have yet to bother using them. I'd also just as soon replace the air conditioner on our Pod with a skylight or another fan and save the unused weight... And yes, one of our non-hookup trips this year was during the record heat waves. No sweat... Well, at least not enough sweat to spoil the adventure. I guess it depends on whether you think of it more as a tenement on wheels, or a (hard sided) tent on wheels.

Regarding your Pod, I'd recommend saving the money on hookup sites and using it for upgrades that extend your dry camping and boondocking capabilities. Initially not wanting to throw away a 'perfectly good' battery, the first thing I did for our Pod was pick up a HQST 100W solar suitcase, 20' extension cord, and 'adapter' (SAE with reversed polarity) to plug it into the factory Zamp port. While we sometimes had to be conscientious about our electrical usage when overcast and/or in the woods, we never actually ran out. This past year I upgraded the Group 27 12v battery it came with to a dual GC2 6v true deep cycle batteries, which also better balances the trailer when traveling with good water in the rear mounted fresh tank. Now between the solar and battery capacity, we have yet to even be mildly concerned about electricity.  On top of that, with the triple 30 gallon tanks our family of 4 still had capacity to spare on all fronts after 5 days. Which makes hookups the least of my concerns when booking campsites. 

Called the Nat Park Svc at Gunnison Canyon to see whether we could make a reservation and to get an idea of our chances of getting a site and .  Apparently the reservation system at this park works through mid Sept and hasn't been needed after that. Usually.  After that it goes to first come/first serve.  Currently demand is high so we might be able to get a site if we just show up, but not likely a site with hookups.  This seems to be the case in most of the national parks we've looked at.

At this point we're starting in Mesa Verde, then east to Gunnison Black Canyon, east to the Pikes Peak area (haven't figured out where we're staying yet) and up to Rocky Mountain Nat Park.  Looking forward to this, haven't been camping in a long time, and never in anything as fancy as a trailer.  I'm not going to miss waking up in a river running through my tent.

The campendium site is really useful.  I'm thinking that we'll need a solar panel setup to make staying in places without electricity for multiple days possible.  I'll look into that after we actually have the camper.  We're still waiting for the title to get cleared so we can pick it up.  One other thing that seems pretty cool is a screen tent that attaches to the front of the trailer, but again, I'll wait until we actually have the camper before trying to hunt one down.

I don't know about CO, but anything with hookups around here is booked 6+ months in advance. The reservation systems open in January and if you aren't sitting at the computer with your finger on the button, you missed it. I gave up on campground camping in 2020 and 2021. So many people have bought RVs to get away from people that the campgrounds are crowded. 

You might look at Ridgway State Park - well located for day trips, a very modern park (opened around 1990) and I think nearly all sites have hookups.  Nice lake (that is being drawn down somewhat right now due to downvalley irrigation), close to Black Canyon and the many great areas in the San Juan Mountains (Ouray, Telluride, Silverton, etc.),  Two hours from Flyin' Miata!  Great drives to the West around route 141 and the Gateway Auto Museum.  The park will still be very full due to leaf peepers (we peak around October 1st) but there may be some vacancies.  Ouray also has a KOA and another at Timber Ridge that is an RV park (gravel, closely packed).

Also- I've heard of a great campground in Lyons, CO- I think it's Laverne Johnson park- cool place for kids apparently because the park is in the oxbow of a river- you can put a tube in on one end, ride for a quarter mile, then walk 100yds to the origin spot.  I thought that was neat when I read about it. Also a short walk to "town" if you want to start somewhere easy. 

https://www.townoflyons.com/351/Camping-at-LaVern-M-Johnson-Park

Lots of sites available

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm thinking that we'll need a solar panel setup to make staying in places without electricity for multiple days possible.

More than 1 day is technically already doable without solar on the stock battery. Solar gives you extra days when you can find sun. Battery capacity gives you extra days all of the time. Your tow vehicle will recharge during longer transits and, while less than ideal, can be used in a pinch with jumper cables at the camp site as well.

If I had to do it over again, I would probably do the dual 6v first. It provides more peace of mind more of the time.

I did a single Lifeline 150 AH AGM (I figure 50% discharge on non-lithiums is about as much as is safely usable). But same theory as the two 6v. Just need big ass batteries- the OEM's skimp on this, obviously, and most people just run their damn generators all day instead of fixing the problem. If you've got the coin, the Lifepo4's are getting cheaper, like 799 for 100ah (folks say at least 80% depth of discharge is just fine, so net 80ah for a lighter and smaller package), and they charge faster, last longer etc. I will do that once my Lifeline E36 M3s the bed.

Common RV batteries, for reference:

Group 24 ~ 80 ah

Group 27 ~ 90 ah

GC2 ~ 210 ah

You could double up the Group 24 or 27 , but if going through the cost/effort, the GC2 are inherently designed to handle 2x-3x more deep (50%) discharge cycles than the typical Group 24 or 27.

I think the right answer for now is a new battery since the one in it is from 2016, and probably as big a 12v lead acid replacement as I can reasonable get, and add a small solar setup - like 150W or better.  They're pretty cheap.  If we camp someplace without an electrical hookup I can just buy ice for the cooler and we don't need A/C.  Coming from tent camping, just having a bed with walls and a roof will be a major upgrade.

Longer term I think this might be a good excuse to learn DIY lithium battery technology.

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

If we camp someplace without an electrical hookup I can just buy ice for the cooler...

The fridge is (quite efficiently) propane powered.

jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:

I think the right answer for now is a new battery since the one in it is from 2016, and probably as big a 12v lead acid replacement as I can reasonable get, and add a small solar setup - like 150W or better.  They're pretty cheap.  If we camp someplace without an electrical hookup I can just buy ice for the cooler and we don't need A/C.  Coming from tent camping, just having a bed with walls and a roof will be a major upgrade.

Longer term I think this might be a good excuse to learn DIY lithium battery technology.

Right, the odds are that you have a 3 way fridge, so propane can run it for an extended amount of time.

Converting a working system from propane to electric would be an expensive proposition.  Building from scratch is a different story, especially when the gas system was a wreck.

For the most part, trailers like the RPod are designed to spend some time totally off grid.  The 12V battery would be used to power the light and fans.  And hopefully, the AC system charges the battery, but adding a solar panel to keep the fans and lights on is pretty easy.  Especially for a new trailer.

I changed out my three-way fridge for a modern electrical compressor. That's because the old propane fridge was efficient but not effective. It could only knock about 50F off the temps, which gets to be a problem when it's 100F outside. Paired it with about 100 ah of battery and 100W of solar and it takes care of itself. The conversion was easy because the electrical load for the new fridge was much less than the old one on 12v. I know that propane fridges are standard on big RVs so there must be some scaling factor going on, or Dometic comically undersized the heat exchanger in my fridge. Still, it's nice to never have to worry about it again.
 

Ridgeway state park is a good suggestion. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Something was wrong with yours. Ours had no trouble keeping the thermometer in the happy range through 105-110 days.

In reply to Driven5 :

Ours was working like every other Dometic in Westfalias. Must have been a fundamental design problem on propane, and it pulled enough amps on 12v to overheat a golf cart relay on a drive from GJ to Zion. VW people do stuff like add extra fans and cycle ice packs around to try to make it tolerable. I didn't know if this was a characteristic of small three-way fridges or just the VW one, which is why I mentioned it.

Here's a pro-Dometic writeup. They give the temperature differential at 40-50 degrees. It's worth noting that there are a very large number of fridge delete or replacement options in the VW world because of the performance of the OE piece.
https://campwestfalia.com/using-vanagon-westfalia-refrigerator/

The new setup is better, though. It's a 12v electric compressor, like a baby version of the one in my house. It just works. Pulls about 1 Ah on average, makes ice cubes and the sun makes it go :) More room inside, too.

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to Driven5 :

The new setup is better, though. It's a 12v electric compressor, like a baby version of the one in my house. It just works. Pulls about 1 Ah on average, makes ice cubes and the sun makes it go :) More room inside, too.

I really love our DC fridge.  So much bigger than an absorption fridge that would fit into the same hole.  And no outside vent.