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State Parks vs private

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bpaikman

RVF Supporter
Joined
Jun 25, 2020
Messages
914
Location
Lake Jackson, Texas
RV Year
2014
RV Make
Newmar
RV Model
Ventana LE 3436
RV Length
35 feet
Chassis
Freightliner
Engine
Cummins 340 hp
TOW/TOAD
2013 Subaru Crosstrek - manual, flat tow
Fulltimer
No
We bought a Texas state parks pass last year, and we got our moneys worth out of it. but I'm going to be very careful of state parks in the future, due to unlevel sites.
A damaged jack csn cost of several hundred dollars - canceling all the savings we might ever have by staying in a state park.
Yes, state parks give you more space between campers and more scenic accommodations. I guess my take on state parks versus private is it depends what we're going to be doing when we get there.
(we avoid the restrooms and showers at state parks, although a few can be decent)
The biggest problem we have is leveling in state parks. The office staff and rangers don't know which sites are level, and there's no way you can tell from Google earth. So you try to pick a site, and bring plenty of leveling supplies.
We had considersble difficulty leveling in Bastrop State Park, Huntsville State Park (zero level sites) and even Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado (avoid Raptor Glen Site #1). We're only 35 feet, so we qualify for some parks that barely accommodate that length. just because we qualify does not mean we should stay there.
basically, if we were going to camp at a state park in a hilly area, I would be very careful. Getting an extra long site would be the best.
 
I completely agree with "it depends". We also had a TX State Park Pass but did not renew several years ago. Two things kept us from renewing, 50amp service and full hookups. Almost all of the 50amp sites are reserved for hosts and unavailable and we probably use more water than we should and need to dump every 3-4 days.

Almost all of our travels are for a purpose so we use the MH like a traveling apartment and almost always want it to be convenient. We seldom use it for "camping" so having full hook ups and easy access to 50 amp is for now more important.
 
Stare parks can be a challenge at 35’. I like them and its one of the reasons I stayed under 35’ (barely) but I often pass on them because of small spaces, low tree branches etc.

As for leveling, when I encounter one of these parks with no near-level sites available, I just live with being unlevel front to back. Ive never had a site that was so far off side-to-side that I couldn’t level, and being off a bit front-to-back doesn't seem to be an issue. When I do have to set up on an incline, I set up with the front of the coach facing down hill so that as I unload the suspension with the jacks, the rears are still firmly on the ground.

For whatever reason, municipal parks don’t seem to have this issue. I like county and city parks and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered on with sites very far off level.
 
We've stayed at a few COE, State, and local parks, but never had the issues mentioned here. Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas parks have never been a problem with levelling or power. We did park in one 30 Amp site for a week, but our A/C had no problem keeping everything cooled off.
At 34 ft, our GT5 has been level everysingle time that I set up...
 
Stare parks can be a challenge at 35’. I like them and its one of the reasons I stayed under 35’ (barely) but I often pass on them because of small spaces, low tree branches etc.

As for leveling, when I encounter one of these parks with no near-level sites available, I just live with being unlevel front to back. Ive never had a site that was so far off side-to-side that I couldn’t level, and being off a bit front-to-back doesn't seem to be an issue. When I do have to set up on an incline, I set up with the front of the coach facing down hill so that as I unload the suspension with the jacks, the rears are still firmly on the ground.

For whatever reason, municipal parks don’t seem to have this issue. I like county and city parks and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered on with sites very far off level.
Yes, our own experience was the jack damage - very expensive, and the thing is, we don't know how it happened. We know when and where, but not how...just that we had trouble leveling. Huntsville is probably the worst park for leveling that we'd visited (Bastrop is a close second). But all it takes is one incident to cost a LOT of money. We just plan to be extra careful at all parks if we have leveling issues.
We've always manage to level, even if once we had to go out and buy some lumber to help. we did consider just giving up at Bastrop and Huntsville, and we won't stay in either of those parks again. We've wondered if they would refund us if the sites were not usable.
 
Yes, our own experience was the jack damage - very expensive, and the thing is, we don't know how it happened. We know when and where, but not how...just that we had trouble leveling. Huntsville is probably the worst park for leveling that we'd visited (Bastrop is a close second). But all it takes is one incident to cost a LOT of money. We just plan to be extra careful at all parks if we have leveling issues.
We've always manage to level, even if once we had to go out and buy some lumber to help. we did consider just giving up at Bastrop and Huntsville, and we won't stay in either of those parks again. We've wondered if they would refund us if the sites were not usable.
Definitely something to think about. I might have just been lucky so far. I haven’t liked being outside the system parameters (Active Air gives a error message if it can’t make the coach level) but I’ve done it. Maybe not anymore…

This was at the Franklin Mountain SP, Tom Mays CG, north of El Paso. Guess I won’t be doing this again.
AE0E4910-8A9C-43B0-8E7F-6DB6F4FC1D94.jpeg
 
Instead of writing the parks off completely, why don't you do what my husband and I used to do?

We tended to stay fairly close to home when camping. But we also lived in tourist destinations. We would load the kids and dog up and go daytripping. Both from home and from a campground that was a bit at the edge of our typical daytrip zone. I kept picnic kit, a 100ft tape measure and a notebook in the car.

The picnic kit consisted of a soft sided cooler, a cheap DollarTree thermal bag and a bag containing eating/serving utensils, paper plates, cups, trash bags, food storage bags (for leftovers), shelf stable condiments and salt & pepper. The food part of the picnic kit was bought at restaurants or grocery stores. This allowed us to simply lift the bag out of the soft sided cooler, put cold food and drinks into the cooler along with a bag of ice. The hot food went into the thermal bag.

We often picnicked in campgrounds during the off season. We always asked permission. If it wasn't allowed, the park rangers could usually tell us a good place to picnic at as well as give us permission to drive thru the campground checking it out. I kept notes on which sites would work best for us. We not only used a popup camper that I towed with my car but often we had to accommodate my husband's work truck if it was someplace that he would be working near (made a shorter drive "home" at the end of a long day).

I also added campgrounds when we stayed at campgrounds so we had alternative places to stay if a particular campground was filled when we wanted to go. Basically I built my own personal campground directory. I did the little notebook thing from 1979 thru 2000 when I switched everything over to a computer (less paper to keep track of). My current directory is a mix of Google Maps (to keep track of where campground/rvparks are located along with other info so I can build trip maps) and a digital campground log that I made in OpenOffice. The log is where the bulk of the information is found.

Then again, it's probably too much work.
 
That is a lot of work and time. I bet you could sell that info......
 
That is a lot of work and time. I bet you could sell that info......
It's not reallly much work when you are only checking out one or two campgrounds at a time. What was a lot of work was when I put it all on the computer.

Why would I sell it? My criteria for a campground is apparently different than what most folks want in a campground.
 
Definitely something to think about. I might have just been lucky so far. I haven’t liked being outside the system parameters (Active Air gives a error message if it can’t make the coach level) but I’ve done it. Maybe not anymore…

This was at the Franklin Mountain SP, Tom Mays CG, north of El Paso. Guess I won’t be doing this again.
View attachment 15733
that's why we carry chunks of 2x12 . Huntsville had paved but narrow pull-through sites with steep dropoff from the asphalt - difficult to use our leveling aids. But in a site like yours, we'd use blocks in front.
Supposedly, the front wheels can safely be off the ground...but all that weight, and the distribution, stress on the slides, frame, roof...we feel better with a bit of support under the wheels. 😆
 

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