What do you look for when choosing a campground?

[DreiHunde]

Originally Posted by 5picker

The sad part is... it's neither the dog's nor the kid's fault.

TRUTH!!!!

We want large lots with trees, dont want to be 2 foot away from the guy next door.. Also hiking trails in the park or nearby. Of course a stream, creek, lake or ocean is always a plus. Never cared for the "Resorts", even growing up. I want to be in the woods....or at least not a parking lot!
Pretty much explains why we stay in state & Federal campgrounds.

[lacamastraveler]

Good comments here. I use campgroundreviews.com and also view the campsite with Google Earth to survey the park and the surrounding area.

I am also interested in placing my RV so the awning side gets the morning sun and shade in the afternoon. Again, Google Earth can help with orientation.

After I select the sites I think will best accommodate me I call rather then reserve online and talk to the office staff. Most are very helpful. We are spending a week at a very popular wine RV park in October. When I told the staffer what sites would work for me she said I might not be happy with the site because of some location problems and worked with me to reserve a site that met my needs.

Of course, my favorite is dry camping at one of the forested high lakes in Central Oregon.

[Papa GLS]

Try campsitephotos.com. Pictures of every camp site in a lot of campgrounds around the country.

[mtnlvr]

Originally Posted by DreiHunde

TRUTH!!!!

We want large lots with trees, dont want to be 2 foot away from the guy next door.. Also hiking trails in the park or nearby. Of course a stream, creek, lake or ocean is always a plus. Never cared for the "Resorts", even growing up. I want to be in the woods....or at least not a parking lot!
Pretty much explains why we stay in state & Federal campgrounds.

X2- Also, if there is a meadow or field close by where my two retreivers can get a run in off leash is a bonus. ( Recent knee surgery & poor mobility walking my dogs is an issue now.)

Also, If there is a good restaurant nearby- I don't like to cook.

[timfromma]

I enjoy sky watching with my telescope so the more open sky, the better.

[Harris85]

We prefer State Parks or Corp of Engineers. We look for water sites surrounded by trees. We look for the more secluded sights as we like privacy and lots of space between sites.

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by timfromma

I enjoy sky watching with my telescope so the more open sky, the better.

Do yourself a favor.

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/statepar...cherrysprings/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher...ngs_State_Park

Look at the desktop version of the DCNR page. If you want dark sky, this is the place. It does however get busy.

[Sierra360PDEK]

We prefer state parks and COE sites. Must have a lake, creek or river for kayaking and swimming, good hiking trails, clean and decent size sites.

[Dave Lyon]

Originally Posted by Mr Havercamp

We only search out State Parks or ACOE facilities and the occasional State Forest dispersed site. We prefer places with undeveloped sites as in grass or gravel as opposed to concrete or asphalt pads, with as much privacy as possible, most preferably wooded. We will look for electric only sites and tend to shy away from full hookups. We have no desire to camp at privates parks nor do we want swimming pools and the other amenities that come with those etc. If I want all those types of amenities we'll search out a condo or hotel. We have a different definition of what camping is, which is a long way away from RVing IMO. To us a KOA or other type place is not a campground.

Same here for all the same reasons. We camp exclusively at Ontario Provincial Parks, they are larger than private parks with hiking trails and better privacy. I have absolutely no interest in private parks.

[seagrace]

My #1 requirement is a lack of people. That pretty much rules out any established campground - but I will stay in one if I have to. If I do, then big, private spaces, a "no-generators" rule and depending on weather, trees. There also needs to be some compelling reason to use a campground, i.e. natural amenities like hiking or scenery. I'm happy to camp the deserts of the southwest at the right time of year.

[larryo]

Privacy via trees and wildlife. Hookups are nice but not required.

[rp53]

trees, a lake, privacy, actually we like older campgrounds won't stay in the new RV resorts most have few if any trees

[TheWolfPaq82]

I'm fairly easy to please. I look for place that doesn't flood when it rains. Wildlife is a nice bonus...if it's around.
Shade is a good thing too !

[Jeff_and_Abby]

We were surrounded by Pheasant calls a week ago, and then Bambi popped up about 75 feet away on our last day.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post1530305

That was our very local (6-mile drive) county park.

Just made reservations yesterday, for Sunday and Monday nights upcoming at a State Park about 75 miles up the Missippippi river from where we are now. When picking the site, noted that this park does NOT offer water hookups at each site.

We sort of chuckled, we regard that as a bonus, and locked the reservation.