That sure clashes with my impression of very friendly folks in Colorado in general.

California State Parks are great. Consequently the nicer ones fill up very quickly on the "on-sale" date 7 months prior to the date of camping.

Bruce:
We are at Cherry Creek State Park for a 10-day stay. Prior to making my reservation I knew I would have to pay an extra $8.00 per day for our toad and I feared that I would also pay an extra $8.00 per day on our motorhome. When we arrived at the front gate what I thought about the toad and my fear about the motorhome was realized. However, the kind young lady informed me that for $89.00 I could purchase a annual pass for both vehicles, which we did. So 9-nights times $22(and $8 on line fee)=$206 plus $89.00 = $295/9= $32.77 per night. I think $32.77 per night is a little rich for a State Park, but this is a great location for us and it is a very nice park and we have the next year covered with the annual pass.

In Michigan, a non-resident annual state park vehicle permit is $29. this saves the daily $8 fee.
Other than that MI is like the rest.
We like TX state parks tho.
Vern

Nebraska pulls the same thing.

We stopped at the gate, asked how much a site was. The Gate Agent pointed to a sign saying camping was $15.00. I said fine. He suggested we pull on thru, unhook the toad and drive thru the campground, find a site, and then come back to pay.

When I got back to the gate the $15.00 was now $23.00. $15 for a site, and $4 for each the toad and M/H.

You can rest assured that I will NOT use Nebraska State Parks again, and it appears we will have to add Colorado to our list also.

We were at a NFS campground just outside of Laramie, WY. Almost every site had vehicles with Colorado plates. They would have 3-5 cars per site and 2-6 tents per site. The charge, $10 per site. No wonder so many Colorado people come to Wy.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by HB Phil:
California State Parks are great. Consequently the nicer ones fill up very quickly on the "on-sale" date 7 months prior to the date of camping.

And the ones that aren't so nice too, if they are at the beach. We host all summer at San Onofre State Beach where $25 per night gets you a chunk of asphalt with white lines painted around it. Your neighbor is on the other side of the white line. If you are lucky you might have a view of the ocean, but to get to the beach will require a hike of about 1/4 mile down a steep cliff.

The $25 covers the first vehicle in the site, or a truck/trailer or motorhome/toad combo. We allow up to 3 vehicles per site, but the second and third are each an additional $10. Many people come down with tents only so for their tent site with three vehicles it costs $45 per night. We have no hookups of any kind except for the host site, but do have a dump station. There are RV style toilets in the restrooms, and cold outdoor showers. Except for the host site, there is no electricity anywhere in the park. The train tracks run immediately next to the park and 8 lanes of I-5 are on the other side of the track.

And yet.... all 175 camp sites are completely booked every weekend and most weekdays during the summer. Go figure.

The Southern CA State Beaches are all about the same, mainly parking lots. Some have hook-ups and have been recently rennovated like Bolsa Chica State Beach, but it's still parking lot camping.

We've stayed at San Onofre and at S Carlsbad SB but prefer San Clemente SB over all of the S California State Beaches. But it still doesn't hold a candle to the Central Coast and Northern CA SB's.

Capenteria State Beach is another S CA parking lot with a train blasting through literally 10 yards away from the sites.

We do our CA State Beach camping at these State Beaches in Central and Northern California: El Capitan State Beach, New Brighton SB (electric hook-ups), Half Moon Bay SB, Patricks Point SB and Wrights Beach in the Sonoma State Beaches outside of Bodega Bay.

Other prime CA State Parks, not beaches, are Sugarpine Point, Lake Tahoe, Pfeiffer Big Sur and Big Basin Redwoods.

But there are no hook-ups and there are size restrictions at some of these.

It used to be around $14-$16 per night, but considering the beautiful locations you get to stay at, $25 per night for vacation rv'ing is still a good value.

We go for 2-3 weeks, usually doing 3-4 nights at each, dump, and move on to the next one. Many are within an easy drive to major tourist areas like Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Monterey Bay - great food/restaurants and world class attractions for the kids like the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I don't have much to say about CA in general but they do have a great State Park system - if yuou can remember to make reservations 7 months in advance.

I have my computer "alert" me a day or two ahead of "on-sale" dates. It's weird making reservations for Christmas Holiday camping on June 1. And visa versus making summer camping reservations around Christmas time - but in consideration of the prime sites you can get, I always felt it well worth the effort.

quote:

Originally posted by Rif:

And the ones that aren't so nice too, if they are at the beach. We host all summer at San Onofre State Beach where $25 per night gets you a chunk of asphalt with white lines painted around it. Your neighbor is on the other side of the white line. If you are lucky you might have a view of the ocean, but to get to the beach will require a hike of about 1/4 mile down a steep cliff.

The $25 covers the first vehicle in the site, or a truck/trailer or motorhome/toad combo. We allow up to 3 vehicles per site, but the second and third are each an additional $10. Many people come down with tents only so for their tent site with three vehicles it costs $45 per night. We have no hookups of any kind except for the host site, but do have a dump station. There are RV style toilets in the restrooms, and cold outdoor showers. Except for the host site, there is no electricity anywhere in the park. The train tracks run immediately next to the park and 8 lanes of I-5 are on the other side of the track.

And yet.... all 175 camp sites are completely booked every weekend and most weekdays during the summer. Go figure.

quote:

Originally posted by sonomalake:
Avoid Michigan State Parks also. They want $27 camping plus $8 vehicle pass daily and only have electric. RV parks close by are generally much better bargins.

Not quite....

We paid $29 for the annual (non-resident) Park Entrance Pass. That ends the $8/Day fee.

The Camping fee in Michigan State Parks varies a lot. While we did pay $27/Night at Traverse City State Park, we also paid just $19/Night at Seven Lake State Park. A Bargain (see PIC).

Lew

I can't say enough positive things about the State Parks in New Mexico! Nice sites with a covered table and fire pit, a solid surface to park the rig on, electric and water w/ dump station, a few FHU. $10 base fee nightly, $4/nite for E and another $4/nite for S. We have enjoyed some great spots with no hookups, and others with EW. We buy the annual pass, non-resident is $225/yr which eliminates the $10/nite base fee. As long as you stay 23 nites in any of the 30 NM state parks, you're money ahead. We've enjoyed Elephant Butte, Caballo Lake, Percha Dam, Navajo Dam, Bottomless Lakes, Villanueva. The only one we looked at drove away from was Hyde Memorial outside of Santa Fe. The small area for hookups was too parking lot style to suit us. Haven't seen that anywhere else. They are also pretty dog friendly. Also seem to be good to their volunteers.

We have discovered that the Wyoming State Parks are a great place to stay. We purchased non-resident annual passes for a total cost of $100 ($40 for day use and $60 for camping). We spent 2 weeks at Keyhole, near Devil's Tower and are currently staying in Buffalo Bill State Park near Cody.

Buffalo Bill has 2 very big rig friendly campgrounds. The one we are in has 65 large paved pull through sites (ours is 140 feet long), paved roads, picnic tables, fire rings, free firewood, a large grassy area, great views, water / dump station and is absolutely empty. The camp host called it "Wyoming's best kept secret". I guess most people just want full hookup sites and bypass the gems without FHU's.

Safe Travels...

Roger,

You have found a gem. We think BBSP is a great place. We spent a couple of weeks at the campground closest to the dam. What a great place. Are Dave and Lori Peirce still the camphosts? Enjoy the area - the museum is for sure worth several days.....

> A 5th wheel and truck combination is
> also regarded as two vehicles and must
> pay $22.00 + $8.00 + $8.00.

Are you sure about this?

I ran into a situation similar to yours at the Colorado State Park in Fruita, where I had to pay a vehicle fee for the motorhome in which I would be camping plus another one for the car I was towing behind it.

I looked all over the website for information on how the vehicle fee is assessed and could find nothing, so I called the reservations line and the woman told me that "vehicle" actually means "motorized vehicle," so a motorhome pulling a toad has to pay the vehicle fee twice, but a truck pulling a trailer has to pay only one vehicle fee.

Has this policy changed?

I just made a reservation at Cherry Creek today. In spite of the added vehicle pass cost, being very near the Sister-In-Law's house makes it worthwhile.

They said the pass is needed for "motorized vehicles only" so I need a daily pass for the truck and one for the smart, but not the fiver. Even with the car passes and the $8 reservation fee it only comes out to $40 a day.

Our second best choice was 35 miles away from the SIL's house and $35 a day.

When asked by the Ranger to pay for the motorhome and toad she indicated that 5th wheel and truck counted as two vehicles.
I guess the problems is that no one knows the real facts. Between the guy at the gate, the volunteers in the registration and the ranger we got three different stories. The rangers poor attitude certainly was a factor.

We will probably go back to Cherry Creek one day because it's convenient. But at least next time we will be prepared and factor in the confusion.

Bruce

I don't have a real beef with how much they charge--that's their business.

However, I could find nowhere on the website (which is what travelers use these days) that indicated that someone camping in a motorhome with no other vehicle will have to pay a camping fee for the motorhome plus a vehicle fee for the same motorhome.

The Colorado State Park system is the first time I've ever encountered a vehicle fee for the actual camping unit. And in most places, if your toad is hooked to your motorhome when you arrive, you don't have to pay a vehicle fee for that, either.

If they want to charge those fees, then fine. But at least reveal that you're charging those fees.

So, are all Colorado state parks this way? We are going from Woodland Park, CO to Boyd Lake State Park. We are pulling a 5th wheel. If this means we have to pay an additional $16 per day for the truck and 5er, I guarantee you we will be camping elsewhere.

Joezilla