ss1642

The route that I will be taking in OR and NoCal this summer will pass a lot of RV parks. I will be touring fully loaded, do they tend to be friendly to tent totting bike tourists?

staehpj1

A few are okay. Most are not. I have stayed at a few that were nice and made an effort to cater to cyclists. They were very much in the minority though. They tended to be on very popular cycling routes. The ones I recall were on the Trans America, PCH, and Southern Tier and even on those routes they were the exception. Many won't even let you stay at any price.

drewtk

You should call ahead, but I don’t think most RV parks will allow you to tent camp. I used to RV quite a bit a never seen a tent camper before, ever. But maybe because no one tried. Some RV parks I’ve stayed had restrictions on the age of the RVs because they didn’t want junky stuff at their park.

I’d check out state and national parks instead. More scenic and less expensive.

Tourist in MSN

Before I did the Pacific Coast, I got the list of all the State Parks with campsites on the coast in Northern California and Oregon that had hiker biker sites. We almost exclusively stayed at those parks and used the hiker biker sites.

The sign below was the price sign at a State Park in Northern California where we stayed at the hiker biker site, the hiker biker sites charge per person.




I have generally avoided RV parks if I had a choice because their tent sites are small, might consist of gravel instead of grass, and cost a lot for what you get.

But, I have always felt that the RV owners that were in the park were quite welcoming. The park owners often did not appear to be as friendly when you did not want to buy an electric site, etc., but if they had a tent site they would be happy to get the revenue for it for the night.

My tour this past summer, five weeks in the Canadian Maritimes, when i was not at a national or provincial park, I was at an RV park. That was the only choice and all of them had separate tent sites. Some were quite expensive, but that was the only choice.

But, I also recall paying $100 for one night where there was enough room for our two small tents and the dumpster that we shared the site with in Key West in Feb 2017. They charged us for an RV site even though you could not fit more than a conversion van in that so called RV site.

***

The site I had in Key West for $100. (Camera lens was a bit dirty, sorry about bad photo.)



The one below in Florida Keys was a tent site, less than $50, we were pretty happy with it.



I was really happy at the site with this price sign, they had over 100 RV sites, only five tent sites, but I was the only tenter there and almost every RV site was taken. Prices were CAD, when I was there $1 USD converted to $1.33 CAD.



My tent was in the site next to the conversion van on the far left in the site below, but the tenters on the far right were a bigger problem with late night noise than the RVers.



The site below was in a KOA and was the most expensive site I had during my whole trip. It is not obvious from the photo, but it had been raining for a couple of days and the ground under my tent was mostly firm mud mixed with pea gravel.

stardognine

I've "accidentally" stayed at a couple RV parks before, lol, but generally, they don't much care for us cyclers. Those accidental stays were state parks, actually, which is a whole nother topic. They either don't care if you pitch your tent, or they're ready to run you in, if you use any water, during a daytime visit. 🙄

But I recently stopped at a commercial RV park, out in the middle of nowhere, and asked if I could buy a cup of coffee. The lady pointed towards the kitchen, and said I could leave some change in the coffee fund jar, if I had it. 👍 That was pretty cool, so I threw a dollar in, and enjoyed that coffee. 😎

jamawani 

There are plenty of nice people who run and who stay at RV parks - - -
But they usually are not that pleasant for tent camping and can be expensive.
For me they are the choice of last resort - when there ain't nothing else.

Usually the amount of space is minimal - little more than a parking lot.
With picnic tables between giant RVs.
The "tenting" area often doubles as the doggie walk.
Showers are usually pretty nice, though.

Doug64

My wife and I have stayed at a couple of RV parks along the Pacific Coast Route in California. Public capmpgroungs are plentiful so there is not much need to use an RV park. The RV parks employees are used to seeing cyclist, and we were treated very well. We were invited to share ice cream and cake that the the RV park provided to eveyone which included good company around a rip roaring campfire in the evening. Both times the tent sites were in nice grassy spots. i aree that calling the RV park to find out if they have tent spaces is a good idea.

This KOA campground was nice. We shared a large grassy area with several other cyclists. It was far away from the RVs.



This is another one. It is not as fancy as the one above, but it was clean and more that adequate.

staehpj1

On the other hand... after thinking about this some more. It seems that I have had more positive experiences with RV parks than I initially recalled.
A few of the times where I stayed in Rv type parks on a bike tour:

1. An RV park in Rawlins WY in 2007, super nice, I forget the price, nice people
2. Cañon City, CO, Super nice, $5 per person, and sadly long gone
3. A KOA in Northern California in 2011, it was $9 and super nice. Not sure if it is exactly an RV park or not.
4. Aztec RV park in Wickenburg AZ, $10 just a patch of grass by the office, but nice and the guy was helpful and friendly
5. RV park Van Horn TX not much, lights on all night, all bikers in a little yard
6. I am pretty sure there were at least a few nice ones on the Sierra Cascades that I am too lazy to look up I have a vague recollection of at least two.

So given that there were definitely some that I missed there were probably at least 8-10 times where I had a nice stay at an RV type park on tour. I would have said maybe two if asked without having time to think about it first. It must just be that the bad ones were bad enough to poison my mind. The nice ones were actually very nice.

There were tons of times when I got a hard no even on these routes and that was pretty universal on other routes. Tent camping by car I have stayed in an RV park a few times and it was generally pretty bad. High prices and lousy sites were the rule. On the plus side there were good amenities like nice showers, laundry, and maybe a pool or hot tub.

Bottom line, don't count on RV parks too much but don't completely rule them out, especially on popular touring routes. Word of mouth, talking to cyclists going the other direction is a great tool on popular routes like the TA. We found some nice places we wouldn't have otherwise that way.

andrewclaus

I really try to avoid RV parks, but I've never gotten a definite "no" the few times I've stayed at them. The RV sites themselves always suck, almost by definition. And they're way too expensive. But, in addition to the amenities already noted, in my experience the people have always been very friendly. In many there's an established community of returning RVers, and some long-term residents, so it's almost like visiting a small town. RVers are travelers, too, and enjoy the company of others who travel.

indyfabz

I've stayed in countless places with "RV Park" in the name. If campground is in the name (E.g., "Joe Smith's RV Park and Campground", they allow tent camping. But there are true RV parks that only allow RVs. I have even seen a couple of websites that expressly state that no tent camping is allowed. As noted above, you really should check.

As for pleasantness of experience, it varies widely. I have stayed at places with RV sites that also had secluded tent sites well away from motorized camping vehicles. And proximity to motorized camping vehicles is not just a private campground issue. I have stayed at plenty of federal and state government facilities where I have ended up next to trailers/RVs. I have also stayed at some with sites that don't allow such vehicles, rather only single cars.

Timing is another factor. I have stayed mid-week and facilities with lots of seasonal RVs and trailers, but the places were nearly devoid of people because it was post-Labor day. People are back to work and kids are back in school. I am sure things would have been much different on the weekends at that time of year. An attentive owner will try to put you somewhere away from the crowds if possible.

Tourist in MSN

Thanks for the warning, I have only seen ones that also allowed tenting, so I was unaware that there were ones that prohibit tents. I will be more careful in the future.

indyfabz

Here is an example:

https://bluemountainsrvpark.com/

The place is on ACA's Great Parks North route near Eureka, MT. Though you cannot tell from the, it no longer allows tent camping. Their was an update to the ACA map pointing this out. Stayed there back in '09 before the change was implemented. Judging from the photos, it looks like someone might have bought the place and snazzed it up as I don't remember it looking that nice.

Edit: A part of a 2016 review on a campground rating site:

We stayed here a couple of nights before heading into Canada. The host said he was the new owner's brother and they had been managing the park for about a year.

PreacherG

I come from the RV side of this. We got back into camping a couple years ago, and looking into a e bike for travel around the campground.

There are two basic classes of camps.
Public land, such as state parks, county parks, national parks and monuments, Corp of Engineers (COE) and BLM areas. These are less expensive and have fewer amenities, but are almost always tent friendly. I have seen none which exclude tent campers.

Private campgrounds / RV parks will generally be more expensive, have more amenities and much smaller camp sites. Some have designated grassy area for tents. Most, BUT NOT ALL allow tents. If you must camp on an RV site, you may not be happy. As an RV camper, I want a level gravel or paved area for my RV. The site may or may not have much grass or a level area for a tent.

I can not speak for all RV campers, but I tent camped for several years. Any courteous tent camper is welcome to camp near me. I don't care how they got there.

DropBarFan

RV parks can sometimes offer the closest camping spots to big cities. Liberty Harbor RV park in New Jersey is all asphalt & not fancy but quite amazing to be able to camp a stone's throw away from NYC.

indyfabz

Yeah. I stayed at a Forest Service place outside of Telluride, CO. The one remaining space available was designed for RVs. I camped on a gravel pad with no tree cover. Not fun, but it was cold and wet and it was the only developed place around as the one I intended to stay at was closed for renovations.

Some town parks can be fun. This place is in Noxon, MT. It rained, but there is a covered picnic shelter. I would have set up my tent under it but it's only partially free standing and it was windy. I didn't want to risk my tent blowing into the nearby river while my back was turned. The park also has spaces for small RVs, complete with picnic tables and electricity. $10/night. Town folk were all friendly, and the place was eerily quiet at night. A deer even came through along with a friendly neighborhood dog.

indyfabz

Wooded tent area at a private campground in Bangor, PA, that is mostly inhabited by seasonal trailers/RVs. Couldn't even see the closest vehicle, and you had to walk or ride to the sites. $12/night.

staehpj1

I never really thought of it that way. Typically I mostly try to stay away from big cities most of the time, but when I am in/near them tend to just get a room. On the other hand they have often been places where I knew someone to stay with or got an invite from someone I hadn't previously known.

cyccommute 

There seems to be some confusion about what I would call an “RV park” and a “campground”. At most every campground...private, state, federal or local...I’ve ever stayed at is technically an “RV park” since they are set up for RVs and tents. There are a few RV parks out there that don’t allow bikes but they seem to be relatively rare.

I’ve stayed at a lot of campgrounds. Some are good, some are bad, some are mediocre. RV people can be nice or obnoxious. Tent people can be nice or obnoxious. It just all depends. I’ve asked an RVer for a ride when my terrible tires blew out 4 times and left me stranded outside of Atlanta, Texas. I had to endure a night of annoyance in Virginia when a tent camper set up near me (in the middle of the night), plugged in a TV and left to blare the whole night. They even went to breakfast and left the damn thing running. I’ve even endured a night of listening to a corn drier going all night at a nonRV campground.

Generally, my stays at campgrounds are rather unremarkable...neither bad nor good. One of my general observations from commercial campgrounds is that they tend to put the RVs right next to the bathrooms and the tents as far away as possible. Which is really weird considering that RVs have onboard bathrooms and, last bike I check, tents don’t.

cyccommute 

Almost every campground I’ve stayed at in the western US has been gravel. That’s in state, local, federal or commercial. The first time I stayed in a campground in the eastern US, I was surprised that I was supposed to pitch my tent on grass.

Again, that is very common here in the western US, especially at Forest Service campgrounds. This is the campground on Dillon Reservior that I stayed at in August. It was a tent site but it was also designed for cars.

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Here’s a commercial site on the same trip

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Cost wise, they were similar. The US Forest service has had a major price hike...it was $22 a night. No water at the site and, because it was after Labor Day, I had to use port-a-potties. The commercial site was $30 per night and they had showers and on site water.

And you might want to consider yourself lucky on a treeless campsite. The trees are where the mosquitoes hang out. On the trip above, I stayed at another USFS campground on Ruedi Reservoir. When I looking at the sites, I was about to pick one in the trees when I was mobbed by the little blood suckers! That’s odd since Colorado mosquitoes tend to be more polite than the ones in the eastern US. I switched to a campsite in the full daylight at the edge of the water with the wind howling across it. I could at least sit out of my tent until the wind died.

mev

I've found some regional differences. I've found more general campgrounds further west. Some are private, many are public - and seems more likely that they have general "sites" that can be occupied by RV, by car campers with tent or by bicyclists with a tent... Developed areas further east (where there is also less public lands) seem to have more privately owned "RV resort" type places.

As an example, I did a google map search near Austin for "RV park" and found the following conglomerate corporation that also has a local site: https://www.sunrvresorts.com/ If I click on their search I come to this screen - https://www.sunrvresorts.com/?s=&post_type=resorts where I can pick "Ways to Stay" (130 total locations). If I click on "Tent Camping Sites", then all the ones on the map in TX disappear (48 locations remain). I haven't tried, but suspect if I went to the local Austin location with my tent, I might not be able to stay there...

ricrunner

ON camping in the US, can you not do more stealth or wild camping on the popular routes, or is that not a thing that you can do at all. My camping here is mostly wild camping, with some stealth camping thrown in if I need to stay near a town. If I have to use a caravan park, unpowered sites are around $30 for a night.

staehpj1

You didn't ask and it wasn't mentioned, but Oregon and California state park hiker biker sites are great and I highly recommend using them whenever available. Along the coast they are spaced in a way that you can stay mostly in hiker biker sites without the need for using many other types of sites. Elsewhere they will be less common. Definitely use the hiker biker sites when/if available. The other options including the occasional RV park can help fill in the gaps, but hopefully you don't need to use then too often.

I will add that the suitability of RV parks is spotty enough that when your route is nailed down a bit you may want to ask for suggestions of specific ones that were nice. That or if on a popular enough route to meet other cyclists going the opposite direction to compare notes with them about what they have seen along their route. Usually there will only be a few nice ones for bikes and they will be in the minority.

DropBarFan

I prefer touring in the countryside too; I tent-camped at that NJ RV park on a car trip to NYC where the hotels are a fortune. That RV park was right next to a thunderously loud Caribbean disco. OTOH NYC would seem to be the last place one would find close-in camping. In DC or Denver, for instance, the nearest camping (RV or tent) spots are 15-20 miles from downtown & in Montreal the nearest campground was about 30 miles away.

indyfabz

Learned this summer that there is a place in Staten Island, right next to the Verrazzano Bridge:

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234715

Guy I know stayed there during a tour. Said it's a nice place. It's a 2 mile walk to the Grasmere station of the SIR, which will take you to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

DropBarFan

Neat! That campground is a reasonable $30 & the Ferry is free!