The past year shows the capability of small lightly equipped popup truck campers and so the following summary may inspire other retirees to get out. We do not have a refrigerator, water tank, or solar panel. 2015 was the year of the IPA as we sampled medium priced local IPA everywhere. Our favorite is identified here at the bottom.
For the second year, four trips were taken lasting from 28 days to 62 days with a total of 160 travel nights including 152 nights in the camper with the remainder visiting family. Travel started the last week of March and ended on October 31. Our geographic limits were Long Island, NY, in the Northeast, the North Georgia mountains in the Southeast, Whitney Portal in the Southwest, and Revelstoke, British Columbia in the Northwest. A little less than 18,000 miles of driving traversed this region and fuel economy averaged just under 16 mpg for the year with the camper on full time. Travel cost $7,000 for the year down from $9,000 last year for campgrounds and gasoline but no food since we rarely eat at a restaurant (about six pizzas eaten as takeout). The decline in gasoline price saved us a little over $1,000 and the rest of the savings was a large drop in NP/SP camping and a large increase in National Forest camping. All destinations were for day hiking only with over 1,000 hiking miles for the year. Principle destinations included GA/NC mountains, VA mountains, Canadian Rockies, and the Sierra Nevada with many stops along the way. We used around 50 pounds of propane for the year.
Notable events for the year:
- Our first free camping ever. Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP winter rates in late October were $0 and a NF campground near Falls of Dismal in Virginia was free.
- 50 consecutive nights without a shower using only sink baths during the long fall trip.
- Three different 1,000 mile sections achieved over 17 mpg by the tank fills at constant elevation and no tail wind for the first time ever with the camper. All these sections were at higher altitude but did not include extra highway travel. The 5.0 V-8 Ford truck gets the same fuel economy at 35 mph as at 65 mph.
- Over 7,000 pictures taken, my winter project.
Notable surprises for the year:
- Utah in October is overcrowded. Inter-agency visitor center camping advice consisted of finding a dispersed site on a dirt road which would soon be impassable with an incoming large storm. We immediately left the state and the crowds for Colorado. Unsolicited Colorado campground chatter focused on how bad Utah was to visit.
- Holiday weekend campground crowds in Canada are astounding and much worse than the USA but you can traverse Canada mountains easily without reservations at other times. Reservations will generally get a better weekend campsite but plenty of no reservation campsites are available midday Thursday before the weekend crowd arrives.
- The dirt section of White Mountain Road, CA, convinced us we would rather hike 10 miles than drive 10 miles on a bumpy/rocky dirt road (and this road is rated ok for a Prius).
- Tioga Pass Road over Yosemite had the largest number of suicidal drivers for the year and the ranger we talked with held the same opinion.
- Vons has the best bagels west of the Hudson River, NY.
Best trail of the year: Iceline, Yoho CNP
Best hiking region of the year: East side of the Sierra's
Our favorite medium priced IPA for the year was Tumbleweed from Lewis+Clark in Helena Montana which we tasted outbound and stocked up under the couch inbound to take home (love the couch!).
While home between trips, over 10 cords of wood were cut, split, hauled, and stacked to fill the wood shed.
Next year: Smokey Mtns NP + AT, Shenandoah NP + AT, Montana+Idaho, and a return to the Sierra's.
For the second year, four trips were taken lasting from 28 days to 62 days with a total of 160 travel nights including 152 nights in the camper with the remainder visiting family. Travel started the last week of March and ended on October 31. Our geographic limits were Long Island, NY, in the Northeast, the North Georgia mountains in the Southeast, Whitney Portal in the Southwest, and Revelstoke, British Columbia in the Northwest. A little less than 18,000 miles of driving traversed this region and fuel economy averaged just under 16 mpg for the year with the camper on full time. Travel cost $7,000 for the year down from $9,000 last year for campgrounds and gasoline but no food since we rarely eat at a restaurant (about six pizzas eaten as takeout). The decline in gasoline price saved us a little over $1,000 and the rest of the savings was a large drop in NP/SP camping and a large increase in National Forest camping. All destinations were for day hiking only with over 1,000 hiking miles for the year. Principle destinations included GA/NC mountains, VA mountains, Canadian Rockies, and the Sierra Nevada with many stops along the way. We used around 50 pounds of propane for the year.
Notable events for the year:
- Our first free camping ever. Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP winter rates in late October were $0 and a NF campground near Falls of Dismal in Virginia was free.
- 50 consecutive nights without a shower using only sink baths during the long fall trip.
- Three different 1,000 mile sections achieved over 17 mpg by the tank fills at constant elevation and no tail wind for the first time ever with the camper. All these sections were at higher altitude but did not include extra highway travel. The 5.0 V-8 Ford truck gets the same fuel economy at 35 mph as at 65 mph.
- Over 7,000 pictures taken, my winter project.
Notable surprises for the year:
- Utah in October is overcrowded. Inter-agency visitor center camping advice consisted of finding a dispersed site on a dirt road which would soon be impassable with an incoming large storm. We immediately left the state and the crowds for Colorado. Unsolicited Colorado campground chatter focused on how bad Utah was to visit.
- Holiday weekend campground crowds in Canada are astounding and much worse than the USA but you can traverse Canada mountains easily without reservations at other times. Reservations will generally get a better weekend campsite but plenty of no reservation campsites are available midday Thursday before the weekend crowd arrives.
- The dirt section of White Mountain Road, CA, convinced us we would rather hike 10 miles than drive 10 miles on a bumpy/rocky dirt road (and this road is rated ok for a Prius).
- Tioga Pass Road over Yosemite had the largest number of suicidal drivers for the year and the ranger we talked with held the same opinion.
- Vons has the best bagels west of the Hudson River, NY.
Best trail of the year: Iceline, Yoho CNP
Best hiking region of the year: East side of the Sierra's
Our favorite medium priced IPA for the year was Tumbleweed from Lewis+Clark in Helena Montana which we tasted outbound and stocked up under the couch inbound to take home (love the couch!).
While home between trips, over 10 cords of wood were cut, split, hauled, and stacked to fill the wood shed.
Next year: Smokey Mtns NP + AT, Shenandoah NP + AT, Montana+Idaho, and a return to the Sierra's.
new planning you can do for next years adventures!
