State parks - water

[Marianne]

Most likely this is a very stupid question. A lot of state parks do not have electric and water hookup at the sites. I’m not worried about the electric. Between the battery and propane, we’re still way above a tent now that we have a trailer.

my question: Do you normally drive in with water in your fresh water tank or can/do you hook up at the ‘local spigot’ in the loop at the park and fill your tank when you get there? I don’t know what is allowed and what may be considered very wrong. Water adds a lot of weight when traveling, particularly in the mountains.

Thanks for your help.

[rebeltown]

I fill up at the park. Just ask the ranger where the best place is to top off your tank. Bring an extra length of hose with you as the spigot may be a ways from the road.

[HangDiver]

Some state parks allow you to pull up to the faucet and hook up your hose and water up. Others want you to fill a container and fill your fresh water tank from that. Or water up somewhere nearby before you enter the campground.

[youroo]

Depends what State,what Park,call ahead "IF" you can find a Phone#,with this Crappy System for Reserve America, Youroo!!

[polishdon]

We stayed at Watkins Glen State Park in NY this past weekend. I didn't want to travel with water either. When I checked in I asked the ranger where I could fill up, he pointed me to the various water fills around the campground. One was on the way to my site, pulled over, hooked up my hose, filled up the tank and then parked it for the weekend, worked out great.

[jeff64]

It depends on how far the drive is. 20 minute drive, I'll fill at home. Beyond that at the CG but always using my whole house filter system. Nothing goes into my potable supply without going through taste, odor sediment filter first

[CAMPINGADDICT]

If the park offers a water source, I always fill up at the park or as close as possible. I don't like traveling with full tanks.

[llr]

I always travel with a full tank. Like my home water better so at least start with that.

[Kaadk]

A lot of the ones I've seen will have some kind of 'potable water' filling station, usually near, but separate from, the dump station. While they have spigots throughout the campground, you're generally discouraged from filling your tanks from them. Some of them aren't even threaded just to prevent this. Last park I was in the nearby spigot was spring loaded, so you had to hold it open in order for the water to keep flowing.

Originally Posted by youroo

Depends what State,what Park,call ahead "IF" you can find a Phone#,with this Crappy System for Reserve America, Youroo!!

But, I agree with Youroo. Not all parks are created equal so your best bet is to just call them.

[timfromma]

Fresh water tanks are made for carrying water. I almost always travel with a full water tank. I'm not worried about the weight. My truck is sized to handle the the full GVWR of my trailer as I hope yours is too.

[ependydad]

It really depends on the park... I just stayed at Four Mile Creek State Park in New York. The sites that are adjacent to the water hookup allow you to put a "Y" on and stay hooked up so long as there is a free hose connection for someone to walk up to.

[bikendan]

We lived and camped in California for 30 years. Less than 1% of California's state park campsites have hookups of any kind.
We ALWAYS traveled with a full tank of home water. And we traveled through real mountains, not like those in the East.
Unless you have a marginal tow vehicle, water weight makes very little impact on fuel mileage.

So we're very experienced dry campers. We have a 6 gallon water jug to shuttle fresh water, a blue tote tank for gray water, two batteries, an inverter for tv and charging devices and a Honda 2000i inverter generator.

[EDABEUT]

Every campground has a dump station with potable water available. It is where you should always fill your water tank. Plan B is to use a blue water jug and fill that at the water supplies provided around the park and fill your tank that way. I have used 3-4 hoses hooked together to fill my tank and all the neighbors also from the park water supply but only when no one else is using it. Anyone with a water container to fill takes priority.

[Marianne]

Wow. Thank you all for your suggestions. A lot of our camping experience is on the skyline drive. Some in the Adirondacks. I will certainly do some checking before heading out. You have all given a lot of good suggestions/ thoughts.

We did a lot of checking/figuring before deciding on our toy hauler. We do not anticipate any hauling issues but also want to be smart. I hear a lot about how all that you throw on your RV adds up to more weight than you might realize.

This is our first RV and I really don’t want to end up on the ‘things you see in a Campground’ page as someone’s funny story. . I would rather be contributing something funny.

Thanks again.

[Kevin & Judy]

A lot of the spigots in state parks, state forests and national forests do not have a provision to screw a hose to it. This prevents people from connecting a hose to it. I carry and old short piece of water hose that I can slip over the spigot and clamp it on to fill with.

[TitanMike]

Just got home from a 4 day Boondocking trip. In a Forest Service campground with NO water except that you can draw from a clean mountain stream (Fresh from a glacier a few miles upstream).

Don't know why everyone has gotten the "I don't want to carry water" bug. The weight of the trailer was spec'd with a full tank of fresh and no holding tank water. If you're afraid to carry a full tank of water then you bought the wrong truck.

A good number of our State Parks here have no water HOOKUPS, just faucets spaced around the facility with no threads and spring loaded handles.

There are a good number of our State Parks that do have hookups for water but all that information is on Reserve America (which IMHO sucks) but don't count on their information being accurate.

Fill the tank and have water when you get there. You won't even know it's there while traveling but will be super happy if you end up in a site that has no water, or even worse, bad water.

Those who don't have a gravity fill port for their tank are the ones who will suffer the worst.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

....
But, I agree with Youroo. Not all parks are created equal so your best bet is to just call them.

Several have said this. We use some of the state parks in southern Oklahoma and our sites always have full hook-ups.

[dbledan]

Originally Posted by Kevin & Judy

A lot of the spigots in state parks, state forests and national forests do not have a provision to screw a hose to it. This prevents people from connecting a hose to it. I carry and old short piece of water hose that I can slip over the spigot and clamp it on to fill with.

Good solution.

I use a water bandit for those that don't want to buy a hose just to do the same but your solution is perfect if on the road or you have a spare one laying around. They work great for gravity fill but not for screw on connections without a hose clamp.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Marianne

I hear a lot about how all that you throw on your RV adds up to more weight than you might realize.

This. Weigh your setup so you know and aren't guessing.

How to Weigh a Travel Trailer | Learn To RV

[IsleDog]

Originally Posted by ependydad

This. Weigh your setup so you know and aren't guessing.

How to Weigh a Travel Trailer | Learn To RV

This should be done with and without water in your tank. Also, know WHERE your freshwater tank is. On our 17RP it is behind the rear axle. 32 gallons equals 266lbs behind that axle. It removes about 80lbs from the tongue of the trailer and causes us some pretty bad sway. So much so we have been pulled over for it. So we fill up when we arrive at the state parks or as close to our destination as possible.