Community Forums

John Stott · 05-13-2012, 09:51 PM

DW and I will soon be heading out for our first accorss Canada tour in the MH and I havent staked out any stops along the way because.. well frankly I dont know where we will be when or for how long (1 day or 2 if we like it) Question: - How do you find where the campsites are? Is there a really good books or online site or What? We like provincial/state campsites but RV campgounds will do also. So what is the best resourse? We wil do a similar trip in the US later.

Please ell me what you do when you tiur.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the dumb question.
John

Stevegd007 · 05-13-2012, 10:00 PM

We have used Trailer Life, a large book listing RV camp grounds. There is also Woodall's books an Smart Phone App. An several other Smart Phone Apps out now to assist. Google RVPark Finder...it's one of the Apps.

RUFINIT · 05-13-2012, 10:34 PM

No more paper for me. Used to use the big Trailer Life Campgrounds book, but just go to campgroundreviews.com Click on Canada and then the province then the city. Gives parks that people who have used them and rated by the users.

Skip426 · 05-13-2012, 10:36 PM

X2 on Trailer Life, If your heading from west to east as the DW and I did 2 years ago, a Passport America membership will pay for it's self in 3 nights with their discounts to members. Lots of parks that offer the discount Ontario to the east Coast, Canada and USA. Directory also available. Watch your travel timing in many eastern states & provinces parks start closing after Labor Day , and by Canadian Thanksgiving very few are open. Safe Travels

sirpurrcival · 05-14-2012, 01:05 AM

In addition to the above, most cities and towns in Canada have some kind of visitors centre. All the provinces have campground guides and such. It is really only a matter of asking for the most part. That and come here and ask when in you know you are a day or two out from an area. Lots of folks on here with all kinds of knowledge.

Vegasdan · 05-14-2012, 07:36 AM

We use a Woodall's when travelling across country. We know approx how many miles we will travel each day (usually 3-400). Early in the morning my DW will get out the book, find a campground near where we will end up for the day, call ahead and make a reservation. That way we know we have a spot when we get there and don't get turned away if the place is full.

RickO · 05-14-2012, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RUFINIT

No more paper for me. Used to use the big Trailer Life Campgrounds book, but just go to campgroundreviews.com Click on Canada and then the province then the city. Gives parks that people who have used them and rated by the users.

X2... we almost never have reservations. In the afternoon we'll decide about where we want to stop and DW checks out RV Park reviews on line... picks a place... goes to Google Earth to check out what the area looks like... and then usually calls ahead to ensure they can handle a rig our size and that they have availability.

Rick

Jim_HiTek · 05-14-2012, 11:38 AM

X3, But in my case, I always check if the park has WiFi. I tag several RV parks (if possible) in MS S&T so I have my route available on the road in the laptop.

I haven't made a reservation in 7 years of full timing and can't recall a time I was turned away from a full park...especially the last year. Most parks these days are at 40% or less.

And Passport America has a nice on-line map setup to find parks in areas you'll be heading that list their services and rates. Even if you don't join, you can still use the map.

docj · 05-14-2012, 12:01 PM

X4; the reviews at campgroundreviews.com are non-commercial and include federal, state and municipal facilities. The reviews in Woodalls and TrailerLife are biased by who they can sell advertising to. Since government CG's don't advertise these directories typically have very limited reviews of such places.

My only issue with RVParkReviews is that some reviewers get incensed over things that may not bother you and may give very low ratings because, for example, the wifi isn't very good. If you read the reviews rather than just looking at the numerical ratings you can discount those sorts of things. The funniest such review I can think of was of a beautiful CG in Grand Teton National Park in which a a reviewer gave the place terrible marks because he couldn't get satellite TV reception because of "all those stupid trees" and couldn't get OTA reception because the park is 50 miles from Jackson. All I could do was wonder why the person was even bothering to go to a national park.

mythplaced · 05-14-2012, 02:01 PM

I just ask my GPS to find the closest WalMart

John Stott · 05-14-2012, 06:03 PM

All good comments and suggestions . Big Thanks !

bgsc · 05-16-2012, 07:36 AM

We have found the "Allstays Camp & RV "program for our I phone worked great in Canada and the USA, we also use the Rand McNally 5510RV GPS that will give us a listing of all the campgrounds in the areas we want to stay over nite in, hope this helps

JMonroe · 05-16-2012, 09:30 AM

I've been using the Trailer Life trip routing software and/or the Microsoft trips and maps software, supplimented by use of the review sites mentioned in earlier posts. I find each will have listings not included on the others.

deandec · 05-17-2012, 10:45 AM

We use the 2008 Trailer life software, instead of the big book, to identify campgrounds along our route. It is contained solely on the computer so does not need an internet connection. It is old, but there are probably few new campgrounds since that date.

It is better than the book, because you do not need to know the city you will be near. It will display the campgrounds adjacent to your route, along with mileage and filtering tools.

I like that software, because they give the approximate width of a campsite. More width is more comfortable to us. I hate campgrounds like the older KOA where two rigs share the utility island (labeled side-by-side campsite) and my bedroom window is next to their salon window.

If I also have an internet connection I check RV Park reviews because it may include rv parks and campgrounds that are not on the Trailer Life Software and the reviews are unbiased from a commercial point of view.

We tend to identify two or three possible landing spots before we leave the current campsite, especially if we have a wifi connection. We have no smart phone.