Belgians visiting USA: NYC, SF and national parks

BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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This thread is packed with pussies. A mobile home isn't that hard to drive, especially if it isn't a huge one.

That said, the problems you are going to run into with finding a spot to camp are ony if you want to camp *in* the national park. All of the big three parks are surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of national forest and it's not usually too tough to find a campground in the national forest within easy striking distance of the park. You really do need to make reservations *way* in advance to get a camping spot in Yosemite and then when you do you're going to be pitching your tent 5 feet away from someone else. You will have a much better experience camping outside the park and just driving in to hike half dome or whatever you're going to do there.
 
DiddleySquat

DiddleySquat

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Plans changed a bit: we'll be skipping NYC for this trip and just do 3 weeks (May 12th - June 4th) of traveling through the South-West, with an RV (CruiseAmerica Intermediate model E27, since it was cheaper that period than the smaller models). 3 weeks will give us enough time to travel at leisure. I started using Google Maps to plan our itinerary. Since we're traveling in May, I expect the amount of other tourists will still be acceptable. We'll see how we handle Yosemite anyway, it's not like we won't have anything else to see on our trip.
 
Fight

Fight

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Check out Kampgrounds of America.koa.comThey are very friendly to Cruise America users.

They have a large network of campgrounds across the United States and it looks like plenty in the areas you want to visit. You can book your reservations online. They generally have nice facilities, stores, hot showers, etc.
 
Alex

Alex

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May is a good time to go to Yosemite. The waterfalls should be looking good at that time. If we get any precipitation, that is.
 
Dyvim

Dyvim

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Did someone mention waterfalls? Pls post pics of your wet t-shirt gf taking a trip to the waterfalls rerolled style.
cool.png
 
DiddleySquat

DiddleySquat

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Dyvim_sl said:
Did someone mention waterfalls? Pls post pics of your wet t-shirt gf taking a trip to the waterfalls rerolled style.
cool.png
Click to expand...
Sure, there you go, that pink dot at the bottom of Bridalveil in Yosemite.

rrr_img_69000.jpg




Kidding, that was a dude way out there on the rocks. Another dude a bit on the right.

So we're back and the trip went smoothly. Drove exactly 3033 miles in total.

Itinerary in bullet points: SF - Lathrop (middle of nowhere, south of Stockton) - Yosemite - Lake Isabella - Yermo (another middle of nowhere near Barstow) - Las Vegas - Valley of Fire - Lake Mead - Grand Canyon, south rim - Lake Powell - Zion and Bryce - UT 12 - Sevier - UT 21 - Lehman Caves - US 50 - Lake Tahoe - Bodega Bay - CA 1 - Big Basin SP - SF again.

Driving the RV (27ft long) was a lot easier than I feared. The CA 1 between Bodega Bay and SF was the biggest challenge, that road has some nasty curves.
First time I drove an automatic transmission but I loved it from the start. Very convenient for all the uphill driving.

About the campsites, we only made reservations months in advance for Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Bryce campgrounds. All the other campgrounds we just called a few days in advance, always had room to stay.

Hard to pick favorite spots, but the Grand Canyon and driving along the UT12 stood out for me. Amazing views.

Surprisingly cold during the night though. Almost freezing temperatures in Yosemite, Grand Canyon and at Lake Tahoe.

One last thing: the US of A has one thing in excessive amounts and that is space. Square fucktons of emptiness. UT21 was the most extreme: we met 5 cars on a 83 miles stretch.
Plug those plains full with wind turbines andBAMenergy independence achieved! My pleasure, glad to be of service, come again.
No really, we only saw one wind turbine field with 64 units on our whole trip and no solar energy plants to speak of either.
Y U no liek alternative energy, Murica?
 
Cybsled

Cybsled

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Ya, it snows at the Grand Canyon, even in the spring sometimes. Automatic transmission is rather useful in places like San Fran...dem hills.
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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n/m, I see that you're back.

Good choice on Zion though. I wasn't a big fan of Bryce (it's like looking at a fish tank as opposed to being in the fish tank that is Zion). Sounds awesome.
 
DiddleySquat

DiddleySquat

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We were in Zion on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend though. According to one of the shuttle drivers, there were 30000 visitors in the park at that moment. If you've been on Angel's Landing, you know the last part is a steeper rocky part with a chain as handhold. There was a constant flow of people trying to get up and trying to get down on what is normally a single file path. As it was already late in the afternoon and we still had to get to Bryce for our campground, we decided to skip the last part to the top. So that was a bit disappointing.
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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Here's the view from the top. The ground is 1700 feet below me.

EYlAL.jpg


It wasn't nearly as crowded when I went. At the very top, there were maybe 15 people total. It was a really good trip. A few years previously, we walked the narrows (inside of the canyon) for almost the whole day. That was really fun. We went later in the year, so the water was actually warm by then. This past visit, the water was freezing, so we didn't do that section. By freezing, I mean it was around 50-55 degrees. Fucking chilly to walk through.
 
Gravel

Gravel

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DiddleySquat_sl said:
One last thing: the US of A has one thing in excessive amounts and that is space. Square fucktons of emptiness. UT21 was the most extreme: we met 5 cars on a 83 miles stretch.
Plug those plains full with wind turbines andBAMenergy independence achieved! My pleasure, glad to be of service, come again.
No really, we only saw one wind turbine field with 64 units on our whole trip and no solar energy plants to speak of either.
Y U no liek alternative energy, Murica?
Click to expand...
If you would have driven on the 14 south after Lake Isabella you would have run into the Tehachapi wind farm.Alta Wind Energy Center
 
DiddleySquat

DiddleySquat

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Nice, about 500 turbines there. That's exactly what I was thinking the US could do with all that empty land available.
Edit: We just missed that. Drove south on the 14 but exited to see California City which was featured in a Belgian documentary (Desert Haze) we saw shortly before our trip, then continued east on the 58 towards Barstow.
 
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