Greetings fellow would-be travelers,
When I began research for my upcoming 6 month road trip through north america, I was surprised and disappointed by the lack of good online resources available. Following is a brief summary of my strategy and the resources I did find. I hope it cuts down your research time and helps convince you to hit the road...
WHY GO?
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness - Mark Twain.
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves - Henry David Thoreau.
Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled - Mohamed.
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes - Marcel Proust
Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen - Benjamin Disraeli.
A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving - Lao Tzu.
Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going - Paul Theroux.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in you sail. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain.
Not all those who wander are lost - J.R.R. Tolkein.
WHERE TO GO?
Having said all this, it is usually beneficial to pick a region or some major destinations, and then fill in the gaps as you go.
Where do you want to go?! When you think about a place, where makes you feel most excited? For me it was National Parks and natural beauty. I am a nature junkie.
If you are going for for the whole country, then consider this optimized route:
http://www.randalolson.com/2016/07/30/the-optimal-u-s-national-parks-centennial-road-trip/
But I highly discourage this approach. Less is more. Pick a region and do it justice. For a shorter trip, I recommend Utah (Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce and ZION), Arizona (Grand Canyon) and/or Colorado (San Juans, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon and Rocky Mountains NP). If you have more time, continue following the Rocky Mountains North into Wyoming (Grand Tetons and Yellowstone), Montana (Glacier) and even into Canada (Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper). And/or come back down the West Coast through Washington (Northern Cascades, Olympic and Mt Rainier), Oregon (Crater Lake) and California (Yosemite). The West is the Best.
And this is coming from a well traveled Australian, not a native American west coaster.
Less is more. It's supposed to be a holiday...
I also recommend a hard copy map for quick reference and in case your phone dies. I used a National Geographic road atlas (national park adventure edition) purchased on Amazon. Then you can highlight scenic byways and anything else you like.
https://scenicbyways.info/
A few further tools that you might like to play with for inspiration on where to go include:
- https://roadtrippers.com/
- https://trips.furkot.com/
- https://www.triposo.com/
WHEN TO GO?
Weather is an important factor to the enjoyment of your trip. Period. Packing up a tent in the rain is amongst the worst parts of camping for me. Mosquitoes and insects are also a huge gumption drain. Look at the average weather for some of your potential destinations during the months that you will be travelling.
In general, the weather is colder further north and at higher elevations. So start south in spring and head north as summer warms up. Some places with miserable weather (Yellowstone) only have good conditions for a couple of months a year. Some places further south are too hot in summer.
Elevation makes a big difference, so try to camp down in the valley when the weather is cold. The Grand Canyon was AC weather, then days later we were being snowed on in southern Colorado Mountains.
HOW TO GET THERE?
Unless you are thru-hiking (which I highly recommend) or riding a bike, then you will be needing a vehicle.
Which vehicle to choose will depend on the number of travelers, your style of camping, the type of roads you will be traveling on, the season and your budget, amongst other factors.
I ended up choosing a Dodge Grand Caravan. The cheapest yet most spacious mini-van, this so called 'Caravan' is big enough to sleep 2 snugly inside, or room for 4 with all your camping gear, yet is small enough to drive and park easily. It also has decent mileage. The stow n go seating gets the unused seats right out of the way.
A 4WD (or even a car with more clearance) or a larger Van (Sprinter or Ford Transit) would definitely have been nice on a number of occasions. But due to higher purchase price and lower gas mileage, I am happy with my decision overall.
Whatever you chose, https://www.cargurus.com/ was a great website to start your search.
HOW TO SLEEP?
Sleep in car, on car or in tent?
Since I was traveling with my father - and not a lover or best best friend - we opted to not be squished together in the back of the car. Instead, we each have our own tent, a 4 inch twin size memory foam mattress and comfortable bedding (Zinus 4 Inch Green Tea Memory Foam Mattress purchased on Amazon). This took up most of the space in the car, but narrow air mattresses are my second least favorite part of camping. We roll them up with the bedding inside (or even inside the tent, if it is dry), then buckle the roll closed with straps. I actually slept better and more comfortably in my luxury tent bed than in the occasional hotel room.
If I was travelling with a girlfriend, I would probably have opted for one of the options below.
If you choose to sleep in the car, you cut down set up time, stay warmer and dryer, but loose space.
There are a few youtube videos to give you ideas about how to make a cheep bed frame in the back of a mini-van and maintain some storage space below. Also check out https://www.jucyusa.com/ for ideas about car layout and accessories (or even buy one of these used mini-vans fulled kitted out for a long road trip).
If you want more space and don't mind spending a bit more, then you can also sleep on the roof.
Pop Tops are your best bet, with easier set up, but more expensive. Check out https://roofnest.com/store/ amongst others.
Alternatively, there are roof top tents, which take longer to set up, but are more affordable. Check out
https://tepui.com/collections/tents amongst others.
WHERE TO CAMP?
This is probably the single most helpful tip I can give you: get an offline map listing all the campsites in the country. This allows you to be spontaneous and still have many options at your fingertips.
We were able to stay in free campsites over 90% of the time, even near big name national parks. Often, the national park campsites are booked out far in advance.
I used the free MAPS.ME mobile app (available on Android or iPhone) and imported a GPS list of all campsites purchased from:
http://www.ultimatecampgrounds.com/index.php/products/poi-list/purchase-poi-list
A how-to page for converting and importing the list is available here: http://www.ultimatecampgrounds.com/index.php/products/poi-list/import-into-maps-me-app
I also had to download the maps for the regions I was visiting.
The Google maps app is my preferred mobile map interface. It also contains more details, such as many trail heads and hiking trails, and you can search for supermarkets, gas stations and many other services. You can also download the map of a region for offline use, although you need to update it every month. Unfortunately, you cannot import the campsite POI list and use it offline (at least at the time of writing). If this feature is added, I would suggest using Google Maps.
Until then, I would suggest having both apps and the downloaded offline maps with you.
Online, there are better interfaces to search for campsites. But you will not always be online when you are on the road.
Websites:
- https://www.campendium.com/
- https://freecampsites.net/
- http://www.ultimatecampgrounds.com/index.php/products/full-map
Apps:
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/camp-rv-tents-to-rv-parks/id370820516?mt=8 (iPhone)
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ultimatecampgrounds.ultimatecampgrounds (Android)
A more complete summary of how to find free campsites in the USA is avaialble here: https://bearfoottheory.com/ultimate-guide-finding-free-campsites/
WHERE TO HIKE?
The REI National Parks Guide & Maps app was our most used source for trail information. It is offline, includes the description, ranking, difficulty and trail statistics for all major hikes in the national parks. Its only limitation was that it did not include trails out of the National Park system.
https://www.rei.com/mobile
The Outbound Collective is a great resource for finding ideas of what to do in an area, and provides more of a narrative.
https://www.theoutbound.com/
All Trails provides succinct statistics and navigation for most popular trails around the country.
https://www.alltrails.com/
WHAT TO BRING?
This is a very personal question, and will vary with your storage capacity.
In general, I recommend bringing a table and chairs and a good enough kitchen set up to make you actually want to cook. This will save you money in the long run.
For the Kitchen:
- Folding table
- Folding Chairs (Director style usually more space efficient)
- Good knife (trust me, it's worth it!)
- Chopping board
- Food storage Cooler
- Food storage draws (eg from Walmart)
- Good fry pan
- Pot
- Kettle
- Propane cylinder (we got an 11 lb more portable size from Amazon)
- Single hob gas burner (we got the best Gas One brand burner on Amazon, which unlike many competitors can simmer on low)
- Water container (Reliance Products 7 Gallon Jerry Can on Amazon)
- Collapsible water container(s) for when extra capacity is required
- Campsuds All Purpose Cleaner or other biodegradable soap
Perhaps also buy a sim card with a cheep plan for occasional internet use or calls while in town.
Well that's all from me for now. I hope this was helpful.
Cheers,
Zack
