Summer Camping 2016 | Small Home - Big Yard

Green River State Park, UT

30 06 2016

Green River State Park, UT site #4

Our 2^nd night enroute to Bryce Canyon is at Green River State Park in Green River Utah. Situated along a gentle bend in the Green River and within the city limits of Green River, UT, this is an oasis in the otherwise brown desert scenery. But, this park need some TLC. Low tree branches threaten A/C units and vent covers on taller rigs.

Irrigation is provided by an antiquated system that over-waters in some areas and leaves brown spots in others. After the park manager turned on the water in our section, we’re left with a muddy puddle under the picnic table and a soaking wet RV pad along with water running down the sides of the trailer. As evening falls, the mosquitoes that the over-watering encourages are evident. There are not many alternatives in this area, but we’d probably try to find something else on a subsequent visit to Green River in July or August. In earlier or later seasons when irrigation isn’t as necessary, this might be an ideal location.

Our group of 3 rigs utilized sites #4, #5 and #23. All provided water and electric along with a picnic table and fire pit. There’s a dual lane dump station available in the park.

Green River State Park, UT site #4

Green River State Park, UT

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Tags: bryce, bryce canyon, green river
Categories : Summer Camping 2016

Rifle Gap State Park

29 06 2016

Rifle Gap State Park

After a camping lull due to a European trip in mid-June, we’re now back on the road, this time headed to Bryce Canyon National Park for the July 4^th weekend. Our first stop is at Rifle Gap State park just north of Rifle, CO. Having never visited this park before, we’re pleasantly surprised to find excellent camping areas, most with a beautiful view over the reservoir and the surrounding mountains. PARK MAP

We’re parked at full hookup site #12 in the Lakeview Campground. This is the upper campground, with some of the best views. There is also Cottonwood, at water’s edge providing electric only sites. Cedar campground is also along the water and provides electric sites. Both Sage and Pinyon campgrounds offer dry camping sites. In Lakeside, sites provide full hookups including water, sewer and electric. They also provide a gravel area for a covered picnic table, fire pit and tent space. Other optimal sites at Lakeview include #28 & #27, on the upper loop with an even better view. For water access, site #6 at Cottonwood would work well, and provides some natural shade. There’s also a nice campers services building at Lakeview providing hot showers and restrooms.

Rifle Gap SP, site #12

Rifle Gap State Par

Rifle Gap SP, site #28

Rifle Gap SP, site #27

Rifle Gap SP, site #6

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Tags: bryce, bryce canyon, rifle, rifle gap state park
Categories : Summer Camping 2016

San Luis Valley Campground

31 05 2016

San Luis Valley Campground

We’ve just departed Taos where we spent a quick overnight at a favorite park, Taos Valley RV. We were parked in site #86, an end site in the western “full hookup” section. These sites are a bit larger and not quite so cramped as the water and electric sites in the center of the park. Most of these still offer the door-to-door configuration, which might be a problem if you didn’t know your neighbors. However, site #85 and #84 were both empty during our visit. Site #80 is a nice end site, one row up and doesn’t offer the door-to-door configuration which might be more private for those traveling alone. These sites do have a bit more noise from nearby Paseo del Pueblo Sur, highway 68, the main route through Taos. There is a large construction project just being started directly on the northwest corner of the park. We’ll stay tuned for the new neighbors… PARK MAP It should be noted that GPS navigation seems to always attempt an eastern approach through a residential area. Ignore this mis-information – the park is just off the intersection of Highway 68 and Estes Es Rd.

With about 275 miles left to home, we opt for one more night in a campground near Villa Grove, CO. The San Luis Campground is a unique oasis in the otherwise flat and fairly barren landscape along highway 285 through the San Luis Valley. Set in a grove of pine and aspen trees, the 15 full-hookup, pull-through sites are long, spacious and very private. Having driven through Villa Grove dozens of times, it was never apparent to us that this quiet oasis, off the highway about 2 miles, even existed. Complete with shower and laundry facilities, for $29/night this is a great find. There is also good WiFi available with a 8MB download speed but, unfortunately, no T-mobile cellular service. We didn’t try the external antenna and booster, but it’s possible that a very weak signal could be amplified enough for phone calls if needed. There’s also no over-the-air TV but even with the tall trees, it was fairly easy to find the southern sky for dish reception. We’ll be back!

San Luis Valley Campground Site #8

San Luis Valley Campground

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Tags: highway 285, san luis valley, taos, taos valley rv park
Categories : Summer Camping 2016

Memorial Day Weekend at Lake Conchas

30 05 2016

Lake Conchas State Park, New Mexico

We’ve just spent 4 nights at Lake Conchas in northern New Mexico. We last visited Conchas on the return from Texas about 4 weeks ago. Once again we’re parked in Bell Point, on the cliff side site #19 with friends in sites #21, #22 and #18.

We departed Danver on Wednesday for a quick overnight at Pueblo Lake SP. We enjoyed electric only back-in sites #46 & #47 with great views over the lake to the south. On Thursday, with miserable winds from the South, we crossed Raton Pass to Las Vegas and then across highway 104 for about 70 miles of rough, windy road. Perhaps a detour down highway 84 between Las Vegas and Santa Rosa would be a bit easier drive.

After a windy evening Thursday, we enjoyed high temperatures in the 80’s and lows in the 50’s each night. On Friday we had a brief thunderstorm that produced a bit of rain and caused cancellation of our evening campfire. It should be noted that only a few sites at Conchas have fire rings. #21 and #29 are probably the best sites with fire pits. The downside to #21 is the proximity of the dumpster. With the campground full nearly all weekend, this dumpster was pretty smelly by half way through the weekend.

We’re currently enroute to Taos, NM where we’ll spend one night at a favorite RV park, Taos Valley. More from Taos…

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Tags: lake conchas, new mexico, pueblo, taos, taos valley rv park
Categories : Summer Camping 2016

Lake Pueblo State Park

17 05 2016

South Marina, Lake Pueblo SP

We’ve just spent 4 nights at Lake Pueblo parked in site #48 of Arkansas Point, the southern side campground. After a mid-80’s day on Friday, the temperatures quickly slipped into the high 60’s for the remainder of the weekend. By Sunday the forecast at home is for freezing temperatures overnight and into Monday. Not wanting to re-winterize, and with an appointment for some warranty work on the RV on Tuesday, we opt to spend Sunday and Monday night in Pueblo. While sites around #48 offer great lake views, they also suffer from some road noise. Next time we’d like to check out sites a bit further up the hill around 57, 59 or 60. There are also some nice sites on the west side, around 11 through 5. PARK MAP