Yosemite for a Newbe

I have never been in nor driven an RV before.  I am married with 2 young girls (5 and 2) and I am planning on a short 2/3 night trip to Yosemite (I live near San Francisco).  I have searched this excellent site but the depth of information has gotten me even more confused. 

I have a looked on the net and found the CruiseAmerica Large RV to be suitable for us  http://www.cruiseamerica.com/rent/our_vehicles/large_rv.aspx. 

Any info on these guys?

Hopefully someone here can give me a simple tried and tested itinerary for such a trip (must include the Giant Sequoias). 

I am assuming that this particular RV is not to large for us to drive through all the scenic routes in Yosemite.  As you can tell, I am already getting confused even before I start.  Well how about a few questions:

1)Will I have issues on parking the RV when we visit scenic spots.  In my last trip there in a car, we would drive to a particular scenic spot and park and go walk around and then get back to the car and go on to the next.  Can I do this in an RV?  Special larger parking space for RVs?  Should I rent a smaller RV?

2) What is a good place to park the RV overnight with hookups etc. (please include the book 1 year in advance dream sites to the commercials sites outside the park)

3)Cruise American had mentioned that the water tanks will be winterised and as such we cannot use the water tanks to bath in or we could pay them $40 for them to flush the antifreeze out of the tanks!).  If we connect to water hookup does it mean that we will have unlimted hot water (you see the whole thrill for the kids is to be self-sufficent and eat and shower in the RV itself) - my wife takes somewhat longer showers.

4)  When we sleep at night where does the heat come from?  Do I have to leave the engine running or turn on generator and assuming we have hookups - AC power


In short, I am planning to bring my wife and 2 girls on a 2 night trip to Yosemite and I am the only guy/husband/Dad and I hope to keep intact my superhero image that my daughters have of me when it comes to fixing things, trips, and dealing with yucky things!

If we were going to rent an RV Cruise America would be one company we would consider.  Would never rent from a little known company.

Just when are you planning to do this trip?  It sounds like in the middle of winter, in which case you might have snow in Yosemite.  Tell us a little more so we can advise you better.

I will answer one question.  No, you do not leave your engine running.  You will have a furnace that has a thermostat much like you have at home.  The furnace generally runs on propane, as will the refrigerator which also runs on electric if you're plugged into an electric source.  Winter camping in national parks can be a challenge which is why I asked about when you plan to make the trip.

ArdraF

Yes, I am planning to go there sometime over the next 4 months which would put us right in winter and early spring.

No, you really won't have unlimited hot water. And maybe not unlimited cold water. I'll explain.

RVs carry some fresh water in a tank and can continuously get more through the "city water" hook-up when available. But they also have to dispose of the waste water, which goes into one of a pair of waste tanks, called "black" (for the toilet waste) and "gray) for sink and shower waste. Those are limited in size, sometimes only 30-40 gallons each. "Hook-ups" in a park may or may not include a sewer to empty the waste water tanks. If your site does not have a sewer (common in National Park campgrounds), you have to drive the coach to a "dump station" (usually elsewhere in the park) to empty the waste tanks. That's a nuisance if it happens every day, like in the middle of your wife's shower.  You are most likely going to have to learn fairly extreme water conservation procedures, something the wife and girls will likely find very difficult if they are city bred.

Last, many parks shut off their water supplies during the winter & early spring - they have to winterize too. Call ahead to see what services are available in the cold season. "Limited Off Season Facilities" (LOSF) is the keyword for campgrounds that do this.

As for hot water, the standard RV water heater is only 6 gallons. The typical home sower consumes much more than that. RV showers have water restriction valves to reduce consumption, but that may well inspire your girls to spend even more time under the water, trying to get the shower they are accustomed to at home.

Last, make sure you can use the RV's water system if it has been winterized. Winterizing is more than antifreeze in the fresh tank and you may not be able to use the onboard water system at all without paying the $40 fee. Frankly, it is probably worth it for $40 anyway.

The RV furnace burns propane, which you have in a tank onboard and should be plenty for a 3 night trip. It also requires 12v power which comes from a battery (if no hook-ups) or is converted from shore power when you have hook-ups. If you do not have hook-ups, odds are the battery will go dead before morning during the winter in Yosemite - it is COLD there at night. I suggest carrying a small electric heater too - it helps with the heating and is a lot quieter than the RV furnace.

Your girls are also going to have to learn to conserve electricity a bit - this size RV usually is limited to 30 amps from shore power. That's 3600 watts, of which a hair dryer will consume around 1200 all by itself. Then there's the toaster (1000W), microwave (1000-1400 W), tv (150-200W), refrigerator (400-600w), water heater (1000-1400 W), etc. You can easily reach the 3600 watt limit, especially in the morning.

Go to www.woodalls.com and/or http://www.tldirectory.com/ to search for campgrounds in the Yosemite area.

RV Roamer said:

No, you really won't have unlimited hot water. And maybe not unlimited cold water. I'll explain.
....
As for hot water, the standard RV water heater is only 6 gallons. The typical home sower consumes much more than that. RV showers have water restriction valves to reduce consumption, but that may well inspire your girls to spend even more time under the water, trying to get the shower they are accustomed to at home.

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It should be added that to compensate for the small hot water tanks (ours is 10 gallons) the water can be very, very hot. The idea is that the really hot water, mixed with cold water at the shower or sink, give more regular hot water than if the hot water was used straight from the heater at a lower temperature. (I hope that makes sense. I know what I mean but can't seem to put into simple words!)

Anyway, the point is make sure everyone is aware that the hot water can be very, very hot if turned on by itself.

Dexter

Much as a hate to be a spoil sport ....

Since you will be traveling with a 5 and 2 year old and are a new RVer, you might want to consider making the Yosemite trip in the spring, say just before school is out for the year.  The Sierra Nevadas can teach brutal lessons during the winter.  In the spring, the waterfalls are spectacular as the winter snow melts and the weather is much milder.  (And the Hero Dad reputation  much more sustainable.) 

Margi

yumling said:

I have never been in nor driven an RV before.  I am married with 2 young girls (5 and 2) and I am planning on a short 2/3 night trip to Yosemite (I live near San Francisco).  I have searched this excellent site but the depth of information has gotten me even more confused. 

I have a looked on the net and found the CruiseAmerica Large RV to be suitable for us  http://www.cruiseamerica.com/rent/our_vehicles/large_rv.aspx. 

Any info on these guys?

Hopefully someone here can give me a simple tried and tested itinerary for such a trip (must include the Giant Sequoias). 

Click to expand...

Gary has pretty well covered most of your questions. 

Cruise America is one of the big boys in the RV rental biz and I have seen a lot of their satisfied customers.   El Monte Rents and Moturis are also in the biz and deliver good satisfaction to my observation.

May I agree with Margi -- you really do not want to do the Yosemite or the Sierra Nevada in the winter as your first RV adventure.  Do you want to put chains on one of those rascals?   If you want redwoods go south to Felton and the country just north of Santa Cruz.  It will be cold and maybe rainy but probably not freezing.   There are a number of fun trips in the area including a steam RR tour of redwoods.    I remember the Smith Woods RV Park as being in a nice grove of sequoia.  Another possibility is north to the redwood parks along US 101.

Actually, winter is the desert season in RVing -- places like Quartzite AZ, Organ Pipe NP, Death Valley NP, and Anza Borrego Desert State Park in back of San Diego.  In fact, San Diego is a kind of nice destination too.  However, I would give that at least a full week,

And, now, may I agree with Carl.    (What's the world coming to?  )

I immediately thought of the Felton area in the redwoods near Santa Cruz.  I was thinking, in particular, how much our kids enjoyed Santa's Village and the Felton train ride.  However, I hesitated to mention those places because our kids are now in their 40's and I don't know if those two attractions still exist. 

Margi

Well -- Here's the thing about winter in Yosemite...

It is spectacularly beautiful and you practically have the whole Yosemite Valley to yourself compared to the tourist traffic through there in Spring, Summer and Fall. It does get cold at night but generally speaking you will not suffer snow storms, or any snow at all for that matter, if you stay on the Valley floor (only 4,000 foot elevation) which is perfectly adequate for a three or four night stay and you'll get plenty of great pictures. The lodges are warm and comfy for hanging around during the day. There are gift shops and nice restaurants and they even had an ice arena and cheap skate rentals the last time I was there in winter. In short, I wouldn't be afraid of venturing up there in the winter but... (you knew that was coming, right?)... I don't think I'd make it my first RV venture. You have too many rented rig considerations to worry about hitting a streak of bad weather on top of them. Think about Yosemite Lodge or an RV trip down the coast a bit to Big Sur or Pismo Beach.

Just my two cents worth. If your family is adventurous, go for it. It's not like you're driving to Antarctica. 

Dave

Let me expand on Yosemite in the winter.   On December 18th, 2006, we attended a Bracebridge Dinner in Yosemite at the Ahwanee Hotel.   Since the deal included lodging at the hotel, we went using the 4wd Ford Bronco -- no trailer.   

We overnighted at Oakhurst for a couple of days before heading in.  In the winter there are three ways into the Valley:  on CA-41 thru the Wawona Entrance, CA-120 thru the Big Oak Flat Entrance  or on CA-140 thru the El Portal Entrance.   Highways 41 and 120 go high and usually have chain controls on them.   On our occasion they required snow tires and 4WD or chains on 2WD vehicles.   My Bronco has a set of BFG ATs which are M+S rated and so we could have done Wawona without chains (tho I carry them).  However, CA-140 was, and usually is, without any chain control.

Therefore, being lazy in my old age, we went via C-140.  However, there is one big hitch.  The road's orginal alignment has been closed by a monsterous landslide.  With no hope of repair, CalTrans has rerouted the road.  The detour takes you on a narrow signal controlled one-way  road way with barely enough squeeze by room.  The stretch ends in a no radius 90? turn onto a one lane Bailey bridge.   The route is restricted to vehicles under 28 feet in length.    I would worry about anything 25 feet in length frankly.  If you cannot make that turn onto the bridge, you get to back down about 2 miles of one way road.

Well the Bronco had no trouble but I suspect most any rental motor home will have trouble.   Thus you get to do the high roads with their chain control. 

Yosemite is lovely in the spring.  Go then.

As a first time RVer and in a rented vehicle and with young(?) children, I recommend going to Yosemite at another time of year.  Yes, it would be fun for the kids to play in the snow, but if you end up with frozen water lines and/or other problems like with the furnace or the battery going dead, it will not be fun.  You probably would be restricted to the valley floor because the higher elevations might get closed if we ever get another good storm up there (we're due for one!).  I had forgotten about the landslide which is on the easiest road into the park and I would not care to drive 120 in the winter.  In short, I think you will be both happier and safer doing something for your first RV excursion that is in milder weather.  Those who mentioned the Santa Cruz mountains were right.  We used to go on the train at Felton too - the Roaring (something) and Big Trees RR.  Along the coast you might see the elephant bull seals at Ano Nuevo State Park and the redwoods are awesome at any time of year.  North of San Francisco at Willits is the Skunk Train which also is fun.

ArdraF

Carl's story trumps my generalization. I think we're all agreeing here, it's not going to be the most fun you ever had if the weather gets lousy. It could turn into a nightmare.

ArdraF said:

We used to go on the train at Felton too - the Roaring (something) and Big Trees RR.

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That would be Roaring Camp and we used to take visitors there. Haven't been there for approx 15 years, but it was a fun train ride up the mountain via switchbacks. Used to be able to get off the train, spend some time exploring or having a picnic and get a later train down.

Thanks, Tom, for the memory jog.  Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad.

ArdraF

I have to agree with those who say to visit Yosemite at a different time of year. Rental RVs really aren't designed for cold winter weather and Yosemite gets cold. Right now the highs are in the 50s with lows in the 20s....20 degrees in an RV is cold. And if you're camped somewhere without hookups, the furnace will suck up your batteries trying to keep that motorhome warm. Maybe something easier, closer to home would be better....an RV resort with hot tub, bicycle rentals, miniature golf, etc., so you don't lose your "superhero" status with your ladies. Or something in the desert....Death Valley is beautiful right now and you don't need the furnace....of course, you'd have to get across those pesky Sierra Nevada mountains to get here. Later, if you find you like RVing, try Yosemite in the spring or summer.

Wendy
Death Valley NP
(Did I just agree with Carl?)

wendycoke said:

I have to agree with those who say to visit Yosemite at a different time of year. Rental RVs really aren't designed for cold winter weather and Yosemite gets cold. Right now the highs are in the 50s with lows in the 20s....20 degrees in an RV is cold. And if you're camped somewhere without hookups, the furnace will suck up your batteries trying to keep that motorhome warm. Maybe something easier, closer to home would be better....an RV resort with hot tub, bicycle rentals, miniature golf, etc., so you don't lose your "superhero" status with your ladies. Or something in the desert....Death Valley is beautiful right now and you don't need the furnace....of course, you'd have to get across those pesky Sierra Nevada mountains to get here. Later, if you find you like RVing, try Yosemite in the spring or summer.

Wendy
Death Valley NP
(Did I just agree with Carl?)

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Yes you did.  However, I will beg to differ:  one does not have to cross the Sierra.  Go down to Bakersfield on CA-99, take CA-58 to Victorville and join up with I-15.  Take I-15 to Baker and then CA-127 to Death Valley Junction and then CA-190 into the park at Furnace Crick.  No Sierras.  However, it is a bit of a run from SF, so I will stick with my Felton recommendation.  8)

Carl L said:

Go down to Bakersfield on CA-99, take CA-58 to Victorville and join up with I-15.  Take I-15 to Baker and then CA-127 to Death Valley Junction and then CA-190 into the park at Furnace Crick.   

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True. But that's the loooong way around. Of course, going that way, you could stop at Dumont Dunes instead of going all the way to Death Valley, but it wouldn't be as scenic. And all the Sierra Nevada passes are still open so you could get here over the mountains.

Closer to SF, Point Reyes is very nice and scenic, a bit cold and damp but not nearly as cold as Yosemite in winter (or Dallas where it's snowing on Thanksgiving !!)

Wendy
Death Valley NP