From Rocky Mountains to the Grand Canyon

[CamperAl]

This will be the first leg of our September-October trip and we would like to do just National Parks, meaning no dump stations for our Roadtrek. After we get to the Rockies and stay a couple of nights, we will head on to Moab (following the CO River and camping in the BLM campgrounds along the way); then on down to Squaw Flat in the Canyonlands; then to Monument Valley and Navajo National Monument campground, followed by 5 days in the Grand Canyon. Has anyone done this and if so, how and where did you get water into the water tanks and where did you dump along the way? Will we have to check into an R.V. park or find a state park to camp in to do that? Or should we take our old Porta-Pottie along? We haven't been in a long trip yet in the RT.

[Mike]

Our first trip was west (starting at the Canadian border in Sarnia, Ont.) on I-69 to I-94 to I-80 to I-76 to I-70. So we passed thru MI, IN, IL, IA, NB, CO, on our way to UT and AZ. The I-70 portion is especially striking through the Glenwood Canyon. There are numerous truck stops (Flying J, T/A, Love's, Pilot, etc.) where there's almost always a dump station for RVs. We don't drink/wash in our on board water, it's just for the potty, so pretty much anywhere to refill our water works for us. I also believe all the NPS camping areas have dump/water stations or potable water available, although later in the year not every amenity is always available, so you might want to check each Nat Park online first just to see when their "seasons" are, and what isn't available during your time frame. We stayed in Moab at a commercial campground right at the CO river bridge (think it was called Riverside Oasis CG, go figure ). The serviced sites were full, so we took a tent site for $20/night. It was fine for us. We did a day at Arches Nat Park, but didn't make it to Canyonlands or the other area places you've mentioned. Bryce Canyon NP is definitely worth a side trip for a day/night, for the scenery. The food at Ruby's is pretty good. Try the pot roast entree if available, it's quite good. Then we went on to the GC NP south rim for a couple of days, as the north rim is closed fairly early in the year due to weather. As I've recommended before, it might be worth your while to get a NPS Annual Pass for $85, early (first week?) in the month you're heading out. It's then good until the end of that month next year, and it gets you into any NPS, BLM, NRA, NSS, etc. - doesn't cover camping, but if you're an American senior, it discounts it I believe. We got one at GCNP last year and it's reduced our entry costs to less than $5 per visit. Some parks charge $20-$25 per day/week, so it can save you money.
We're thinking of heading back out there around the end of September, so we might see you. ynk!

[julievojo]

Here's a good website for finding RV Sanitary dumps: http://www.rvdumps.com/dumpstations/

Many states have dumps at their interstate rest stops, and many small towns have dump stations at their local water recycling plant.

As far as filling up with water you can also do that at most city water plants. We've also asked at gas stations where we've purchased fuel and so far every one of them has been gracious and helpful, allowing us to hook up a hose and add to our water tanks if necessary. Just be sure to run the water for a few minutes before placing the end in your hose, to make sure that any rust or other sediment has cleared.

You're heading into some awesome scenery! We'll be heading in that general direction ourselves at the end of Sept. We don't travel with any reservations or plans (most of the time) and we've never had a problem finding a place to camp, dump tanks or add water.