2013 Camping Thread

[Diemenz]

^
They opened the gates to blue rock Wednesday, drove out there to check it out.

We counted 4 available spots in loop B & C combined after dinner Tuesday, if it was half full I must have missed a few loops .

[old-fart]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

^
They opened the gates to blue rock Wednesday, drove out there to check it out.

We counted 4 available spots in loop B & C combined after dinner Tuesday, if it was half full I must have missed a few loops .

Odd... we are in C loop I think and had no trouble getting 2 spots side by side on Tuesday evening, about 7:00 or so. We definitely saw more people driving around looking for spots, and passed a few more rigs headed out while we were on our way back to Okotoks so I'm not surprised it was mostly full at some point. We had originally planned to take it out Wednesday night, but I had a meeting get pushed to crazy late, so opted for Tuesday - I'm glad we did.

Now if the rain would just hold off, it will make it more pleasant...

[Diemenz]

^
Crossing my fingers for ya! Will be a great weekend if the rain holds off!

[pylon]

So what happens when I show up at Boulton creek, and someone is in my reserved spot?

[Diemenz]

Tell them to move if they don't get the attendant.

That happened to me twice in the last 5 years, once they were decent and moved the other time (20yr olds) they wanted to solve it by fighting and calling names. Just hope you can find the campground attendant.

[ken0042]

We showed up at Boulton Creek last Friday at about 9:15pm, and the store was still open and they checked us in. I doubt there will be an issue.

I will add though that they didn't have their water on last weekend. There is a dump/fill station about 4 or 5 km before you get to Boutlon Creek that was open. I think it was called Canyon or something.

[Ace]

Hey Guys,

I've been eyeing this bike rack for a year:

http://www.arvika.ca/index.php/us/images-gallery



Finally bit the bullet this week, you can only get these at Lifestyles RV. The reason It took me so long is they were selling the "three" bike rack for $700 and that's a big chunk of change. We'll i finally went in to bite the bullet as it's the perfect solution for me, and what do you know they dropped the price to $515. The real reason i'm posting this is because when I took it home to install, I couldn't believe how well built the rack is. Honestly the first quality built piece of equipment I have ever owned. I really recommend it.

If anybody buys this, some advice to save you hours of time...assemble the rack first, then mount it to your trailer. The instructions point you to assemble it on the trailer. Just leave a few screws loose so you can line everything up. Also use a drill for the "self installing screws", and when you think they don't fit, Yes that's where they go. They're designed to "drill" a perfect hole for the mounting screw. An excellent design but not quite clear on my first go at it.

[puckluck2]

Heading out to Sundre in a few hours, hope it doesn't rain on us!

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

Just got back from sandy mcnabb, the place was completely full Tuesday afternoon with everyone holding spots for the weekend. When we were packing up I flagged down a poor soul who would have been SOL for the weekend and told him he could take our spot.

So I had a look on Alberta Wow (great camping info resource btw) to check out Sandy McNabb; and there were a LOT of reviews from people complaining about how they let people hold their spots for several days in advance.

How do you guys feel about this? I do understand the frustration in not being able to go out on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend and pick a spot; however I can see why the campgrounds allow it as it's extra money for them. I've also never attempted to go out without a reservation the Friday before a long weekend. In fact last May Long I took my boys out on the Thursday afternoon and told them there was a good chance we wouldn't find a spot and would be going home. (As luck would have it I got the 2nd last spot at Gooseberry.)

[old-fart]

We went out last night, after taking the trailer out on Tuesday night and basically "setting up camp". There were many sites yesterday and still this morning that had nothing more than a tent set up on them, or a trailer that had obviously just been dropped off with no one actaully staying at it.

But... so what? Would you feel any better if there were people staying there and you couldn't get a site? People went out, set up a camp (put up a tent or dropped off a trailer) and paid for the site. Maybe they were out for a walk, maybe they didn't really stay overnight. So what? They paid for the site and have setup camp. I paid an extra $29 bucks a night for each night I didn't stay there, just like the $29 bucks a night I'll pay for actually staying.

[pylon]

The Pylon Adventurtron 3000.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by pylon

The Pylon Adventurtron 3000.

That is just so... cute!

[Hockeyguy15]

First time out in the new trailer and pretty much everything went great. Took the trailer back to the storage place and emptied the grey water (take that line up at the camp ground), backed it into the stall, unhooked and left in about 5 mins. It was way to easy and I feel like I must have done something wrong, haha.

Only hiccup was that the power awning doesn't seem to line up perfectly, I have to push it a little bit to the left for it to close all the way. Guess I will have to take it in sometime this summer and have them fix that, I imagine that would be under warranty.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

First time out in the new trailer and pretty much everything went great. Took the trailer back to the storage place and emptied the grey water (take that line up at the camp ground), backed it into the stall, unhooked and left in about 5 mins. It was way to easy and I feel like I must have done something wrong, haha.

Only hiccup was that the power awning doesn't seem to line up perfectly, I have to push it a little bit to the left for it to close all the way. Guess I will have to take it in sometime this summer and have them fix that, I imagine that would be under warranty.

You mean emptied the black water and then the grey water right? If not you are in for a stinky surprise next time you go out.

[Hockeyguy15]

Nope I didn't empy the black at all, it still is 'empty' on the control panel and the grey was at 2/3 full.

[Titan]

So a friend on my street had his batteries stolen off his trailer. They were in the driveway in the alley and they snipped his cables and away they went.

Any thoughts on how to secure batteries? If they have a bolt cutter for the cables then a bike lock would not be very effective. Ideas, short of taking them off and putting them in the garage?

[Titan]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Nope I didn't empy the black at all, it still is 'empty' on the control panel and the grey was at 2/3 full.

Did you use it?

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Titan

Did you use it?

Once or twice, there was an outhouse in the group loop we were staying in so I used that and trees. The wife was the only one using the bathroom really.

[ken0042]

My trailer won't read 1/3 full until I put in about 8 gallons. (Yes, I measured my capacities once.) So you could have 7 gallons of **stuff** in there and have it still read empty.

Unless you are going camping later that week; I wouldn't ever let that brew. I always put at least 10 gallons of water into my black tank and then dump it.

[Hockeyguy15]

We are going out again this weekend, then not again until June 22nd. There won't be a close outhouse this weekend so it will get more use. If it isn't full enough to dump I will just fill it with fresh water since I will have to empty my tanks anyway.