Waiting for the camping crash

Camping have gotten really expensive the last few years. There are a lot of factors, everything from high fuel costs to increased demand. Another factor is the number of mom and pop campgrounds that have been bought out by big corporations. There are even fewer free overnight spots in places like Walmart and Cracker Barrel. RV camping in particular has gotten super expensive.

The last time I was camping we used our economy car and a tent. I’ve a 105 watt solar panel mounted to the roof racks to power our small fridge and other electrical needs. That reduces our costs quite a bit. Tent sites tend to be cheaper as are sites without electricity. 

Right now camping sites are still in high demand. Even places that get snow are packed solid. However, more and more people are giving up. I can’t say I blame them. The cost, the lack of open camping sites, and inflation are taking their toll. Eventually reduced demand will put a little downward pressure on camping costs.

I’ve in the process of planning a long scooter trip. My route will take advantage of a lot of cheap camping tricks. Friends and family let me stay overnight and that’s handy. There’s some dispersed camping on my route. However, some stealth camping will be involved. 

So how does one stealth camp with a bright red scooter full of reflectors? That’s why I have a large black cover and a dark green tent. I don’t have to be very far off the road to be difficult to see. The trick is to set up just before dark and to get out early. Practice good light discipline and don’t have a fire. It brings me back to the days when I was a kid and stealth camped while on a bicycle. 

Outside of stealth and dispersed camping, Federal campgrounds are probably the best deal out there. They are even better deals if you have one of their many discount cards. 

I must admit, I miss the days when you could pull into almost any campground at the end of the day and find a place.

-Sixbears

Are Nomad Days Over?

RV sales took a huge jump during the pandemic. Prices of RVs went through the roof. Not only was demand going up, supply chain issues and lock downs made it tough to build them. A lot of RVs were built with unskilled labor using substandard materials. One would be wise to check when a RV was built when shopping for a used one.

Prices are coming down. It will take a while for the real market values to stabilize. Most new RVs are financed and banks are in no hurry to lose money on them. However, eventually they’ll have no choice. Banks can only hold onto repossessed property for so long. The used market has had some serious drops as people get hard up for funds. Prices will drop more. 

Even if the price is right, should people buy into the lifestyle? While the RVs might be a better deal, the cost of camping in general has gone up. Mom and pop campgrounds have been bought out by large corporations. Even though there are fewer campers, profits for those companies have gone up. That’s mostly due the price of camping sites going up. 

There was a nice little campground in the Keys we really liked. They were bought out. Campsite sizes were cut in half to add more sites and the price of a site tripled. The new owners also added a lot of new restrictive rules and were no longer dog friendly. Let’s just say we’ll never stay there again.

There are also fewer places to camp for free. Fewer Walmarts allow overnight parking. Free Federal dispersed camping has been banned in a number of places. Sadly, that’s the fault of campers who had no respect for the land. Vegetation was destroyed. Trash and even human waste was left behind. Nasty. 

Fuel prices have taken their toll. While gas is a bit more expensive, diesel prices are outrageous. Motor homes and tow vehicles get poor fuel mileage. People are traveling less and staying in one place longer to save fuel. 

Now security is a growing problem. People are more worried about personal safety. As times get tough people are more likely to get violent. Theft, always an issue, is getting worse. 

There are ways to keep costs under control. Instead of big RVs or giant 5th wheels with big tow vehicles people have downsized. Smaller towed trailers and vans are more popular. That last time I went camping we used a tent and an economy car. There are good state and Federal campgrounds that are still reasonably priced. 

If my lovely wife and I hit the road we’ll use the tent and car again. Right now we are thinking of maybe traveling late winter or early spring. By then we should have a better idea of conditions on the ground. With the current conditions we are happy that we never became full time nomads. It’s nice to have a home base. 

-Sixbears

Camping on the coast

It looks like, in spite of high gas prices, campgrounds are still booking up quickly. My lovely wife and I  just booked a week on the coast of Maine in July. We’ve been going to this campground since the kids were little. Now they bring their kids. 

Unlike a lot of campgrounds, this one is still owned by the same people. A lot of mom and pop campgrounds have sold out to big corporations. The new owners hike the rates, often doubling them or more. One campground we used to love in Florida doubled the rates, halved the size of the sites, and put in a bunch of restrictions. Unfortunately that’s a trend. 

For campers on a budget that’s a problem. A lot more people are now trying to camp free on Federal land. That’s great, but the more popular camping spots are overwhelmed. It doesn’t help that so many campers are destructive and leave a mess in their wake. Because of that there are places that have been closed. 

At least I didn’t buy into the RV market. Last year the average price of an RV was over $73,000. That’s just crazy. Heck, I’ve seen little teardrop campers going for over $60,000. That’s a lot of money for something that’s essentially a rolling bed. People are taking on $1,000/month payments and that’s before they even leave the driveway. Full hookup RV sites can be stupid expensive -if you can afford the fuel to even go anywhere. 

Then there’s the issue of tow vehicles. People are paying $100,000 for a truck capable of hauling a 5th wheel or a tow behind. That’s if they can even find a vehicle to buy.

This will be our first camping trip since early 2020. We’ve missed it. Hopefully we’ll figure out camping for next winter too. That’s totally up in the air as conditions are unsettled. However, when we do decide we can load up and be out the door quickly. Our record for packing up and leaving to go camping is 20 minutes. Good bug out practice too.

-Sixbears

Like mushrooms after a rain

The primitive camping side of Salt Springs has sprouted tents like mushrooms after a rain. I’ve never seen this section so packed. The RV section, with site power and water, is always full. Here on the non-electric side it’s often fairly empty. I’ve seen as little as four sites occupied.

There are a couple of factors contributing to the popularity. The big one is the fact that it’s a long holiday weekend. Most of the people are fairly local Florida folks. Another factor is the fact that there’s a Bluegrass festival just up the road.

We will be here until Monday. The key to booking campsites is to make sure you have a place for the weekend. Many Federal campsites have a lot of first come, first serve sites. You stand a much better chance of getting those in the middle of the week. Just make sure you book through the weekend. We hope to get a site not too far down the road.

In past years we changed campsites often. Three nights at the same place seemed like a long time. That was a good way to see a lot of country in a short period of time. This time we’ve been trying to stay in one place longer. Most sites we stay at have a two week limit and we’ve maxed that out a couple places. That cuts down on the setting up, tearing down, and saves us travel expenses.

We currently still plan on being down south for a couple months yet. When it’s -26 at home we feel little desire to go back. There are things that may cause us to cut our travel short, but so far it looks good for going the distance.

-Sixbears

Campground Rules

Camping rules vary by campground. Even here in the Ocala National Forest, the campgrounds are not run all the same. They aren't even run by the same private vendor. Personally, I think they should all be run by rangers instead of contractors, but I'm not in charge.

A lot of the “rules” are the same, on paper anyway. In reality, there's a huge difference on how they are enforced. For example, no campground in the Ocala allows dogs in the swimming areas. One campground we stayed at never enforced that rule, so there were always dogs at the beach. That's just one example.

Another good one is the rules concerning how long you can stay at a particular campground. The official rules may differ between campgrounds, but the unwritten rules differ even more. Some places will basically let you camp for as long as you want -unless someone complains. These rules and the enforcement of them are always in flux.

There are people who basically live in campgrounds. Campground rules and their enforcement are major issues in their lives. It's not like they can just pack up and go home. Home is where they park it. The vast majority of these people are on limited income. They also belong to one of the programs where they can camp in Federal campgrounds for half price.

In past years we barely noticed the long term campers. Sure, we knew they were there, but we usually spent only a few days a campground before moving on. This year we've been staying at campgrounds longer. That cuts down on a lot of travel time and burned fuel. We are also watching the budget more this year. With that in mind we are taking advantage of my lovely wife's Access Pass that gives us Federal camping discounts. Because of that, we've had more opportunity to get to know the long term campers.

Some of these campers are super invested in the places they are staying. They get involved with the campground management. They suck up every bit of news and rumors. Close attention is paid to management and rule changes. It causes a fair amount of stress in their lives. Sometimes there are serious personal conflicts. Campers have gotten campground managers fired. Campers have also been thrown out of campgrounds. Such drama!

Personally, I know I'm going to be moving on. While camping, I'm enjoying the natural wonders the different places have to offer. If a campground starts to have a weird vibe, we fire up the van and move on down the road. There is also some comfort in having an actual home to go back to. We don't even know for sure what we'll be doing next winter. Maybe we'll be living on a boat and won't even spend a single night at any of these campgrounds.

-Sixbears

Hot Showers

One of the best things about camping in an actual campground is hot showers. The Federal campgrounds we've been staying in the Ocala don't have a lot of things, but they have decent bath houses. For me, that makes it worth the price of admission.

Sure, the picnic tables and fire rings are nice too. The lantern hooks are handy. Having water within easy waking distance is nice. If, however, I had none of things and hot showers, I'd be pretty content. In fact, one campground we stayed at had noting at all in the primitive sites, but did have hot showers.

It's not that hard to hook up solar hot showers if camping way in the back country. More water has to be packed and it's one more thing to deal with. I haven't bothered with it this trip.

Getting by without grid power hasn't been too hard. The new refrigerator/cooler makes it even easier. It's nice to have cold stuff without hunting for ice all the time. We've stayed places without picnic tables but we've good folding chairs. I've even used to tailgate of the van as a seat while cooking on top of a wooden storage box. No problem.

There are times we've had to make do without showers or much water. Unscented baby wipes are a pretty good stop gap measure. At least I'm not afraid to be in public after a good wipe down. Still, a good hot shower is hard to beat.

-Sixbears

Shutdowns and Water Filters

I didn't think the government shutdown would affect me, but it did. Suddenly there are fewer Federal Camping places I can stay at. I've family and friends that are now out of work and some have not been paid.

Let me get this straight. The Republicans are in charge of all three branches of government and can't keep it running? Must be the Democrats fault. Yeah, sure, there's this super majority thing in the Senate, but that's hardly an excuse. If you hold almost all the cards you can't blame it on the one card you don't hold. They certainly aren't helping themselves prepare for the midterm elections.

Okay, enough of that. This will get sorted out eventually. The stupid thing is that the whole shutdown fiasco is a made up artificial problem.

On to other things. Water filters. Before I hit the road this year I picked up a Camco RV water filter. Mine was picked up at Walmart. Just about every RV uses one. It's a high flow filter. That makes it suitable for providing water for all of an RV's need. I put it on the water spigots before filling my water jug. While it must do something, the drinking water still tastes pretty bad.

During a run into town I picked up a Sawyer water filter. At about $20 they are a bargain. These filters are popular with backpackers. They aren't high volume, but are fine for filling drinking water bottles. They made the water in the campground taste a whole lot better. So far I'm glad to have picked it up.

There is one big drawback to these filters. They fail if frozen. With the cold snap we had all the way down to Florida this year, it's not small consideration. My water jug was full of ice in the morning, so leaving the filter outside would have ruined it. Since we'll soon be heading down to Key Largo, I thing we'll be safe from that problem for a bit.

-Sixbears

Camping differences

The type of neighbors one gets while camping definitely varies by campground. In a campground with cement parking pads, electric, water and pump out facilities, there's the RV crowd. They all look pretty much alike -nice newer trailers and motor homes. Our painted up ambulance/RV conversion pulling a homebuilt boat sticks out.

In more primitive places we have a different crowd. That's where we meet people with converted short buses, off-road teardrop trailers, and raggity old tents. We stick out there too, but that's because we stick out pretty much anywhere. (maybe we could blend in at Burning Man) We are noticeable, but we fit in better.

The folks vary too. The RV crowd are mostly older, retired couples. The more primitive campgrounds have more younger people, lot's of single guys. On the weekends there there are families with young kids.

One good thing is that we've met nice folks in both sorts of places.

There are places that flat out will not allow our old van. It's too old and too non conventional. Fortunately, they are not the sort of places we'd want to stay anyway.

-Sixbears