Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks
    Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks
    Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks
    Ebook135 pages1 hour

    Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks

    By Donald Bates-Brands

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    My wife and I have always enjoyed travel. Who doesn’t? Any trip we have taken has ended too soon and there was always more that we would have liked to have done. I have always wanted to see the National Parks of the Southwest, especially the Grand Canyon. I guess you could say this trip was on my bucket list. Now I have retired and time is not so much the problem, but there is still that money thing and it is even tighter now than ever. Much of what I have to say in this book will also be of interest to those who have not yet retired.
    As I was sitting at my desk paying bills and staring out the window at our camp trailer; it hit me. Being over 62 and retired might just solve the problem of time and money. There are now many new discounts available to us. Other discounts are open to everyone. Could it be that a long camping trip could cost little more than staying home? Let’s take all of that extra time and simply drive out west, see the sights and only come home when we felt like it. I decided to take the idea and run with it.
    The biggest advantage we had was our Golden Passport for those over 62. Still available for $80 and it is good for life. This gave us free admittance to all federal parks and half off for camping. There are also other free camping opportunities available to everyone.
    To take advantage of campground prices like these you will need to be dry camping in many cases. Dry camping means no water or electricity provided. In return, not only are these sites very inexpensive, but they are usually in the more natural, outdoors setting that we prefer. This is back to nature camping with an RV.
    I decided to work the whole thing out on a spreadsheet and discovered that a month long trip of this nature would run a little over $2000. The biggest expense was gas. I’m happy to say that we took the trip and had one of the most unforgettable experiences of our lives. The expenditure of time and money worked out much as I had calculated.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDonald Bates-Brands
    Release dateJan 17, 2018
    ISBN9781370128921
    Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks
    Author

    Donald Bates-Brands

    Boats and the sea have been my life. I think I was about eight years old when I got my first boat, a dilapidated canoe. A few years later I graduated to a healthier canoe with a lateen sailing rig. This was my first sailboat. I capsized it a lot, but had thoroughly caught the boating bug. I started racing sailboats by the age of 12. In 1968 I joined the Coast Guard at the age of 17 and was discharged in 1975 with the grade of First Class Quartermaster. My first tour in the Coast Guard was an oceanographic trip to Africa on the CGC Rockaway. It was a three month tour with most of the time at sea, but it was my first adventure out of the country and I loved it. My second oceanographic tour on this ship took me to the Barbados, Trinidad, the Bahamas, and Puerto Rico. Later in this hitch I was transferred to the CGC Lilac, a triple expansion steam buoy tender, a fugitive from museums built in the early Thirty’s. I believe it is now being refurbished in NY City for display in the near future. I returned to the CGC Rockaway to finish my first hitch and made a Cadet cruise to England. Discharged from the Coast Guard on Oct 22, 1971, I returned to England for a 3 month tour by bicycle. In January of 1972 I rejoined the CG and reported aboard the buoy tender CGC Firebush at Governors Island NY. In the summer of 1972, I took leave from the CGC Firebush and enjoyed a two week cruise along the south coast of England with a British friend on his 27’ Trident class sloop. This was a bilge keel rig that proved to be fairly important in an area with 30 foot tides. Many times at low tide we were aground, but vertical resting on the two keels. After returning stateside to the CGC Firebush, the wanderlust hit me again and I requested and received a transfer to the CGC Gallatin which was making a cadet cruise through Europe. On this trip I got to Gibraltar, Portugal, Germany, Denmark and England. In 1974 I bought the Chesapeake Skipjack "Pale Moon" and sailed it from Maryland's Eastern Shore to NY for Opsail '76. Throughout this period I was involved in one design racing. Since my discharge from the Coast Guard in January of 1975, I have been working on large seagoing tugboats and currently hold a 1600 ton Ocean Master's License as well as Unlimited Third Mate and an Unlimited Radar Observer endorsement. I have written extensively on marine safety for Offshore Magazine and other publications. I have now retired from going to see and am pursuing my writing full time. On my free time, I enjoy cruising with my wife on our Catalina 22 on Long Island NY's Great South Bay.

    Read more from Donald Bates Brands

    Related to Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks

    Related ebooks

    Travel For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      RV Upgrade

      Feb 25, 2022

      RV Upgrade
      4 min read

    • Article

      Viewpoint Jon Bentley

      Aug 16, 2022

      Photographing the banal is nothing new. It was arguably luminaries like William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, back in the 1970s, who pioneered the genre. Through laser-like powers of selection, combined with vividly saturated colour, they found photog

      2 min read

    • Article

      Sharp Shooting

      Apr 10, 2021

      In wildlife photography, our subjects can be erratic, fast movers and often only active in low light. It’s of great benefit for a genre with many unpredictable variables to have various strategies in mind for ensuring sharp photos. The quality of you

      4 min read

    • Article

      Kurt Russell

      Apr 19, 2022

      Kurt Russell
      9 min read

    • Article

      Bears of Katmai National Park

      May 8, 2021

      Bears of Katmai National Park
      10 min read

    • Article

      Moondance

      Nov 13, 2021

      Moondance
      7 min read

    • Article

      Safe-d-wins

      Sep 11, 2021

      Safe-d-wins
      5 min read

    • Article

      What If?

      Feb 8, 2022

      What If?
      18 min read

    • Article

      TitanStraps

      Nov 16, 2021

      With the idea of big adventure often comes big decisions on how to pack, best practices and gear to use to keep you and your belongings safe while on a trip. I recently started using TitanStraps for various packing purposes on my trips, and found exc

      2 min read

    • Article

      All At Sea

      Sep 22, 2022

      All At Sea
      8 min read

    • Article

      Canyon Of Mystery

      Dec 4, 2021

      Black shiny ravens patrol the cliffs, swoop down and scold the approaching intruder—“Caw, caw, caw!” I try to communicate in ravenspeak that I’m here to visit, not to harm, as I descend into the ancient structure. The thick sandstone walls dampen all

      3 min read

    • Article

      RV Storage

      May 6, 2020

      RV Storage
      5 min read

    • Article

      Grand & Intimate Landscapes

      Jul 10, 2021

      When I start thinking of ideas to write about for this column, I often look to my latest favorite images to see what it is about those images that generate excitement for me and might offer a lesson for others. Usually, a themed title for an essay wi

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Buckhorn Starts Here

      Jun 7, 2022

      The Buckhorn Starts Here
      9 min read

    • Article

      Blackwater Hacks

      Apr 5, 2022

      Blackwater Hacks
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Choice Of Two .270s

      Feb 15, 2023

      A Choice Of Two .270s
      9 min read

    • Article

      Camping On The Cheap

      Nov 18, 2020

      Camping On The Cheap
      7 min read

    • Article

      Postbag

      Jun 6, 2019

      Postbag
      5 min read

    • Article

      12 Outback Faqs

      Jun 22, 2022

      12 Outback Faqs
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks - Donald Bates-Brands

      Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks

      (One Couple’s Great Adventure)

      Published by Donald Bates-Brands at Smashwords

      Copyright 2017 Donald Bates-Brands

      Photography by Donna Rae Brands except as noted.

      Copyright 2017 Donna Rae Brands

      ***~~~***

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ***~~~***

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Prologue

      The Journey West

      Stopping to Visit the Colorado Relatives

      Continuing West

      Bryce Canyon National Park

      Zion National Park

      Escalante National Monument

      North Rim of the Grand Canyon

      Bound for Moab

      Arches National Park

      Canyonlands National Park & Dead Horse Point State Park

      Capital Reef National Park

      The Ride Home

      Summation

      About Donald Bates-Brands

      About Donna Rae Brands

      Other Ebooks by Donald Bates-Brands

      Prologue

      Myself & Wife Resting at End of Capital Gorge Road in Capital Reef NP

      Recently retired; I was sitting at my desk and staring out the window at our camp trailer when it hit me. Let’s use some of this newly found free time that I now have and simply drive out west, see the sights and only come home when we felt like it. How many times have you felt like just taking off? Simple idea. I think we have all had that fantasy, but we all had to come back to reality and very quickly. It was never realistic, but now that I am retired and over 62, (I won’t say how much over), the rules have completely changed. Some for the better and some not so much. There are many new discounts available to us. I decided to take the idea and run with it.

      My wife and I have always enjoyed travel. Who doesn’t? Any trip we have taken has ended too soon and there was always more that we would have liked to have done, but then there was always a boss who would really like to see me back at work. Now I have retired and time is not so much the problem, but there is still that money thing and it is even tighter now having left the work force. I have always wanted to see the Southwest, especially the Grand Canyon. There are also many other national and state parks in the area and I wanted to do it all. They call this area The Grand Circle of National Parks. I guess you could say that this trip was on my bucket list.

      The biggest advantage we had was our Golden Passport. This gave us free admittance to all national parks, monuments etc. for life. We got ours for $10 a few years ago, but it is still available for $80 and it is good for life or until you lose the card, whichever comes first. This same card gives you camping privileges for half off at all Federal Facilities. These include: National Forest Service, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, etc.

      Prices at these campgrounds will vary of course. The most expensive that I have found is $30 (before the ½ discount). From there federal campground prices work their way down to zero (yes, zero). Half of zero is still a great deal. Most Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campsites are $10-$20 (before the ½ discount). Most of the free campsites are for tents, but some are also for RV’s and trailers. This doesn’t even include dispersed camping on Federal Land which is always free to anyone within permitted areas. Dispersed camping simply means go into a federal land area on gravel back roads, find a place you like and camp for up to 14 days. Just make sure that there are no signs prohibiting camping in that area. It is as simple as that!

      To take advantage of campground prices like these you will need to be dry camping in most, but not all cases. Dry camping means the campsite will provide no water or electricity. In return, not only are these sites very inexpensive, but they are usually in the more natural, outdoors setting that we prefer. They are usually quite spacious. You will not be packed in as at the typical commercial campground. This is back to nature camping with an RV. You will need to bring in your water and electricity. Carry water jugs to transport water. For electricity have one or two good batteries and figure out how to keep them charged. If you travel a lot between sites; your vehicle will do most of the battery charging for you.

      Our main concern was having sufficient 12 volt electricity. I am still working out the best system for our needs. We’ve done a lot of camping over the years, but never did we go off grid for more than three or four days. For this idea we needed to be able to go off grid for a month or more. This changes things quite a lot.

      At this point I have mostly been charging from the car, but this has proved inefficient. It is also somewhat risky with jumper cables. If you aren’t careful and touch the wrong things with the jumper cables some very un-nice things can happen. I have a primary and secondary battery. If we exhaust the primary; I hook up the secondary. We get from two to five days per battery depending on conditions. On this trip the days were warm, but the nights went down as low as thirty five. Our furnace may burn propane, but it also uses a lot of electricity to spark the propane and run the fan.

      There are basically four ways to charge a battery when camping. They would be using your tow vehicle, using a generator, using solar panels or plugging into campground power. The tow vehicle tends to be a slow charger unless you install an auxiliary battery system. Auxiliary systems consist of an auxiliary battery in your vehicle, dedicated to the RV and a starting battery for the vehicle itself. You need room to install an auxiliary battery and this can involve a lot of idling for your vehicle. A generator is expensive and many places restrict the use of it to certain hours. Then you need a place to store the generator and fuel. With our rig we just didn’t have room. Solar panels have, at least up to now, looked prohibitively expensive and you would need a lot of them to generate enough electricity to do any good; or so we have thought.

      Water was our next problem. Both obtaining it and getting rid of it present their own challenges. We have three tanks; fresh water, black water and grey water. Each tank only holds 30 gallons. Black water is dirty sewage and the grey water tank is where the water from the sinks and shower goes. Fresh water would last from three to four days. The grey and black water tanks would take a bit longer to fill up. Just beware; many RV gauges tend to be notoriously inaccurate. We liked the ambiance of the no-frills campgrounds and the minimal effect on our wallet, but those frills were kinda important.

      Another problem was that the federal campgrounds near popular areas, like the National Parks, can fill up quickly and be hard to get into. To get a nice campsite in the National Parks or other Federal Lands; you needed to get there first thing in the morning when people were pulling out to go to their next stop. Later in the day it would be very difficult to find room.

      We decided to do the first night in each new area at a commercial campground with full services (gas, electric, and sewer). Many times the commercial campground offers more facilities than the federal ones and charges a lot more. I personally don’t care for game rooms, swimming pools, bingo night, shuffle board courts, cable TV and other frills that they commonly provide, but this makes them more expensive. More expensive places fill up slower and you can frequently find an unreserved site later in the afternoon more easily. It is also easier to call at the last minute and get a reservation. Many federal sites not only don’t accept reservations at all, but if they do, they will frequently be booked months in advance.

      Usually after traveling to a new area; it would be later in the day and it would be hard to get into the no frills federal campgrounds that we like. Every time we would relocate to a new adventure in a different area; our batteries and fresh water would be depleted and the dirty water tanks would be fairly full. A first night at a commercial campground would enable us to fill our fresh water tanks, charge our batteries, and thoroughly dump our waste water tanks. We could also use the last hours of daylight to scout out the area to get the lay of the land. Then we could leave early the next morning and try to pick out our preferred site by 10 am (1000) when these sites were more available. That is what we did for the rest of this trip and it worked out pretty well.

      If you stay at one site dry camping for more than three or four days; you will need to be more

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1