Go South to Avoid the Snow and Cold!

[Perryb67]

Been at Chiricahua National Monument in southern Arizona since Sunday. Currently 14F with lots of snow. We left Minnesota to avoid snow and cold. :banghead:

For the past couple of days there were six occupied campsites. One Escape 19, One big Ollie, and our Bigfoot. Last night a little Ollie pullled in. Most of the sites are empty because of the snow and cold weather. Fiberglass rules.

With the snow we've yet to hike, and forget biking. We have four bundles of wood in the camper and doubt we'll even use one in our weeks stay. I did get a chance to move our new SOKs from the camper tongue to underneath the PS dinette seat and install the Victron 712. Terry's done a lot of knitting while I move the batteries.

Off to Bisbee today to meet with friends!

Enjoy,

Perry

[Jon MB]

I can't be convinced this is not unusual. Mid Feb in central MA, mid 50's, no snow. Canada geese, swimming and feeding on the ice-free pond, Robins, formerly a sign of spring, never left and have been here since last autumn. There were still dragon flies flitting around in November (prior November too).

[upfisk]

Perry, we have hiked the Chiricahuas in July, they are kinda high in elevation. Much further south, near Puerto Vallerta, things are much warmer. Cold today with the overnight low in the low 50s, daytime highs mid 70s. Has not been hotter than mid 80s since we arrived in Nov. We'll be back in Arizona in late March when temps will finally get warm.

[Jon in AZ]

It dropped into single digits at our home in snowy, mid-elevation eastern Arizona, and my friend said it hit 32 degrees in Phoenix. We’ve had storm after storm this year, in spite of La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean. The meteorologists have been working overtime trying to explain that away!

On the plus side, skiing has been awesome, and we’re gearing up for one of the best river rafting seasons in a long time on the Salt River. In a few weeks the desert bloom revs up.

In the end you just never know. Arizona, Southern California, Florida, Gulf coast, south Texas- they’re usually pretty nice, but every so often nature throws a curve. At least there was a nice break in the weather for the Quartzsite gathering. Who was there?

[chrisblessing]

I'm seeing this a bit late. I'm in Bisbee, and had I known I would have cautioned you about the weather. As you've discovered this corner of Arizona can get chilly. It's why we usually head to Bahia de Kino/San Carlos for December through February.

[David Tilston]

Not south, but...

Calgary:
-23°C, (-9.4°F) with 40cm, (15.7") of recent snow.

Waiting for a chinook.

[dfandrews]

This particular set of storm systems, is in the NOAA words, an "unusual storm system", and further mentions sets of conditions not seen for decades. (resulting in cold + high winds + very low snow levels) So, any comparison is anecdotal at best. We're on the west coast at 150 ft. MSL, and will be able to see snow nearby by morning. We're driving only 120 mi. on Friday to visit friends, and the chains and other tools are already packed.

[Bob & Jackie C]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

It dropped into single digits at our home in snowy, mid-elevation eastern Arizona, and my friend said it hit 32 degrees in Phoenix. We’ve had storm after storm this year, in spite of La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean. The meteorologists have been working overtime trying to explain that away!

On the plus side, skiing has been awesome, and we’re gearing up for one of the best river rafting seasons in a long time on the Salt River. In a few weeks the desert bloom revs up.

In the end you just never know. Arizona, Southern California, Florida, Gulf coast, south Texas- they’re usually pretty nice, but every so often nature throws a curve. At least there was a nice break in the weather for the Quartzsite gathering. Who was there?

Hi Jon,
We were in Quartsite with other fiberglass trailers for about a week with our dogs as we do each year. Aussies enjoy the hiking then resting. Weather was great with beautiful sunsets. Back in Glendale, AZ now getting our fruit trees ready for spring before we go camping again.
Take care,
Bob & Jackie C

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Bob & Jackie C

Hi Jon,
We were in Quartsite with other fiberglass trailers for about a week with our dogs as we do each year. Aussies enjoy the hiking then resting. Weather was great with beautiful sunsets. Back in Glendale, AZ now getting our fruit trees ready for spring before we go camping again.
Take care,
Bob & Jackie C

Nice! This was our view yesterday…

[oldwave]

Meanwhile here in Northern Ohio it will be 64 today

[Donny T]

Originally Posted by David Tilston

Not south, but...

Calgary:
-23°C, (-9.4°F) with 40cm, (15.7") of recent snow.

Waiting for a chinook.

My daughter lives in Calgary and when I was speaking to her last night, she told me ( and tried to imitate ) the noise her car made while trying to start. LOL !!
A balmy -8C, no snow at all here in Debert, NS.
No mosquitoes!!
Stay safe

[Stephen_Albers]

RVers almost universally suffer from being ill-equipped for real-world weather. A champion runner pen pal of mine opined in one of her books, "There is no such thing as inappropriate running weather; only inappropriate clothes." Real-world RVing mandates protracted comfortable accommodation over (-20F to +130 F). The weather statistics will verify this as a MINIMUM requirement to avoid suffering. A months provision to thrive during a storm dig out is another comfort mandate. Otherwise you are taking a chance.

[AlanKilian]

I guess I'm in the 99% unprepared since I've never in my life packed for -20F through 130F for a single trip.

I've also never packed a month of food and water for a trip.

But I've got a 13' Scamp, so it couldn't hold that amount of stuff even if COMPLETELY filled to the brim.

Maybe I camp not in the "Real world."

Oh well, others are almost always smarter than I am. And they often mention that fact.

[chrisblessing]

Originally Posted by AlanKilian

I guess I'm in the 99% unprepared since I've never in my life packed for -20F through 130F for a single trip.

I've also never packed a month of food and water for a trip.

But I've got a 13' Scamp, so it couldn't hold that amount of stuff even if COMPLETELY filled to the brim.

Maybe I camp not in the "Real world."

Oh well, others are almost always smarter than I am. And they often mention that fact.

I agree. I'm always living in hopes there's a store nearby.

[Donna D.]

I have friends that full-timed in a 13' Scamp and a van. You'd be surprised what you can get along without. David's rules were if something came in, something had to leave. Leslie told me to only wear shirts/blouses with lots of color. She said if she dropped mustard on her shirt, no one would notice because of all the color so stains that didn't come out in the wash wasn't a problem! Don't worry about wearing the same clothing this week and next week and the week after because you'll only be seeing most people once and they won't remember what you wore. Leslie said they only packed summer clothes, but had winter clothes packed in suitcases at home. IF they needed them, family would ship the clothing to them and they'd swap seasons and ship the suitcases back. Grayhound shipping was the cheapest for suitcases.


There are stores everywhere and places like Goodwill too. People figure it out

[Prop_Joe]

I picked up my "new to me" 2021 Spirit Deluxe in Reno, last Saturday. I planned to stay here for a week, but then it began snowing on Tuesday. It's supposed to continue snowing for the next 10 days. Life is good.

[Villen]

Originally Posted by oldwave

Meanwhile here in Northern Ohio it will be 64 today

Misread, thought you said Northern Idaho. First thought was "what have they been drinking?" Right now it is a barmy 8 degrees. Our high today was 14 who knows what the windchill is but at 30mph that brass money is screaming!

[Stephen_Albers]

Originally Posted by AlanKilian

I guess I'm in the 99% unprepared since I've never in my life packed for -20F through 130F for a single trip.

I've also never packed a month of food and water for a trip.

But I've got a 13' Scamp, so it couldn't hold that amount of stuff even if COMPLETELY filled to the brim.

Maybe I camp not in the "Real world."

Oh well, others are almost always smarter than I am. And they often mention that fact.

I apologize for not being more clear. My comments were largely intended to address the limitations of RVs, Other equipment needs are minor. My first night in my Casita I could feel the outside cold flowing through the windows and spreading out over my bed. And I said to myself, "There must be a better way."
A hard day of adventuring inspires the desire to get clean, have a good meal and COMFORTABLE sleep. If an RV does not supply these essentials you might as well use a tent. A four season RV is essential for shirt sleeve comfort through routine temperature swings. Since dealers can claim anything, TESTING an RV for habitability by renting is the only standard. Modifying an existing fiberglass RV may be possible. But the changes will likely be extensive. Water leaks through the worst storms short of a tornado will quickly cause rot damage to the interior which must be completely corrected. There are testing services that can verify water leak security which all roadworthy RVs should be subjected to AT LEAST ONCE PER YEAR. Camping out in your driveway for at least a week, living entirely in your RV is a terrific low cost test of habitability and equipage and will identify many problems that are more easily corrected locally instead of a remote campsite. TEST TEST TEST. .

[AlanKilian]

Originally Posted by Stephen_Albers

If an RV does not supply these essentials you might as well use a tent.

We do generally camp in a tent and use the Scamp for morning and evening activities as well as when the outdoor temperature drops below the freezing point. The tent is our preferred sleeping arrangement at any temperature just above freezing and higher.

You certainly do have many "must"s and "essential"s for everyone. I'm sorry I don't do any of your musts myself and I don't have any of your essentials. But I do camp a lot and my family and I enjoy it.

Here are some photos of the very first trip we took in our new-to-us 1977 Scamp 13' This was December 26 2011 in St. Croix State park, MN.

[Perryb67]

We arrived at City Of Rocks yesterday afternoon. It was in the 50’s, and compared to the last 11 days, was downright balmy!

One of the minor reasons we sold our Escape 5.0 and purchased the Bigfoot was we live in Minnesota and want to camp more in November and December. The insulation and conventional double-pane windows showed their merit in the recent cold weather. In our Escape, we’d have foil/bubble wrap covering the windows at below 20F and would probably have drained the fresh/grey tanks, however the Bigfoot tanks and valves are completely insulated and heated. So we just opened the shades in the Bigfoot every cold morning with virtually no cold wash coming from the cold glass and enjoyed the snowy scenery. The Bigfoot was very toasty on those 10-14F mornings.

In those 11 days we only took two hikes. If the trails weren’t covered with too much snow, the wind was blowing at 40-65mph or it was raining/snowing. Today is supposed to be in the 60’ s with little wind. We’ll be out hiking in an hour or so.

Since we’re cold weather campers, we do carry four seasons of clothes. For cold weather I have a heavy winter coat, three pairs of long john’s/tops, and two pair of flannel lined blue jeans. Also have pair of shorts, sandals, and a swim trunks for warm times. My three pair of hiking pants easily work with long johns and all have zip-off legs for hot weather.

Back on topic, is good weather back, or are we just being teased?

Perry