Confidence in the camper

We wanted a 4-Season camper—one where we wouldn’t be afraid of very low temperatures.  The fresh water wouldn’t freeze, the gray water wouldn’t freeze, and, most importantly, we wouldn’t freeze.

The past few days have been a very good test.  At night the temperatures got down to the low 20s.  The furnace ran a lot, but as far as I can estimate, propane to run the furnace, the refrigerator, and do our cooking worked out to be about $2 per day. 

And running the furnace A LOT goes through a 5 gallon propane tank in about 6 days.  We have two tanks, and a valve that automatically switches from an empty one to a full one when needed.  Since we always start off on legs of our journey with two full tanks, we would be able to withstand just about anything.

The days “warmed” up to about 40, by late afternoon.  By that time, though, we were already done with the day’s hike.  And while the temperatures are awfully cold at night, especially when one needs to go outside to commune with nature for a few minutes, hiking in 30-45 degree weather isn’t too bad.  Just layer up.  Much better than extreme heat. 

The hikes in the area are awfully nice.  None are of the back country type, but that is to be expected given the area.  A couple are very strenuous and long, too long for us (our limit is about 8 miles per day, and 6-7 miles is most comfortable given we hike about every day).  But if a person wanted a really hard hike it is here. 

And there are a large number of good, moderate hikes and some easy ones.  We did several, totaling about 26 miles, over the four days. 

The trails are well marked.  And there are signs telling hikers when a trail is not on the map—very useful.  

On our last day here we found a trail heading into the mountains with no signs, so we took it.  It is a NEW TRAIL that is being constructed.  We talked to a fellow who said a crew was out over the weekend--volunteers.  We took it about two miles before we ran into the spot where the trail became more difficult to follow.  What a treat.   

 

Catalina State Park is, overall, a very nice campground, one we would return to.  Good rules, good monitoring, very friendly staff, clean.  The “snowbird” section (hookups) is far too crowded for our liking, and the tent/non-hookup section we are in does not have enough bathrooms (although there are a lot of them in the campground in picnic areas and at trailheads).  Also, one of the showers doesn’t work in both the men’s and women’s bathrooms, so there aren’t enough showers for a campground this large.  Luckily the area we are in doesn’t have many people, probably because of the cold, so it hasn’t been too bad (the snowbird area has been full). 

And there is recycling!  Good for you, Catalina State Park.