Do You Head North When the Temperature Rises

[scottyb]

Every body knows what a Smowbird is, but what do you call the folks that live in the south and head north or for high country when it starts heating up? At this time, I don't forsee ever selling the S&B home. I feel the the Texas Hill Country is about as good a place to winter as anywhere in the country. However, we will be looking for places to get away from the 6 months of summer heat that we have to endure. What are your favorite destinations, campgrounds, and activities to get you away from the heat? Do you own property or do you stay in campgrounds? Do you ever dry camp for longer periods at NF or BLM campgrounds? I think most are limited to a couple weeks at a time but you could move around.

 

[jayc]

We leave Texas in late March or early April before it gets too hot. Colorado and Wyoming are our favorite summer spots, but the last couple of years, we have been going to the midwest and have found plenty to do in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. It is warmer there than the mountains, but it is bearable.

 

[MTPockets]

Colorado & Wyoming for us as it is comfortable in summer. We've camp hosted for two months each summer in Colorado last year, and Cody, WY this year. Two months is our limit, tried three one time and two for us is perfect. The other three or four months are spent traveling around then back South by November for the winter. This year in AZ. We're full time and lovin' it.
P.S. I guess we're still snowbirds as we don't want to spend time in the snow.

 

[pegmikef]

We try to take two or three trips each year and go to cooler places like Flagstaff, AZ; Ruidoso, NM and several places in Colorado (e.g., the Pagosa Springs and Woodland Park areas). We stay in an RV park in Ruidoso, a Military Family Camp in Flagstaff, boondock in National Forests near Pagosa Springs and a couple we sometimes camp with inherited a Cabin near Woodland Park where there is also National Forest camping available. We plan on spending more time up north next year.

 

[Grey Ghost]

You asked what those people are called that leave the heat of the summer in areas where Snowbirds flock in the winter months. Well, I call them "Very Smart People". We love Colorado, Montana and Wyoming around areas like Jackson Hole, WY, Billings, MT and Telluride, Co. Love Priest Gulch Campground in Deloris, CO, very nice area!

 

[jayc]

Here's a picture of our campsite at Priest Gulch Campground from 2009.

 

[scottyb]

Here's a picture of our campsite at Priest Gulch Campground from 2009.

WOW! I could certainly spend some time at that place. I just checked it out. Looks like they give a 5% discount for weekly rates. Does it get pretty crowded or it it usually like your photo? I am book marking this one for sure.

Do you reserve and stay at places like this for longer periods, week to week, or do you check it out 1st and then decide if you want to stay a full week?

 

[pegmikef]

Here's a picture of our campsite at Priest Gulch Campground from 2009.View attachment 31342

Jay, that doesn't look a whole lot different from where we camped near Pagosa Springs, CO. (Westfork Campground, San Juan National Forest)

 

[jayc]

Scotty, we were referred by friends. We lucked out and got the best site in the park and stayed there for a couple of weeks. As Mike said, south west Colorado has lots of parks with views like this one. PM me for some others.

 

[chiefneon]

Howdy!

We're fulltimers from Texas and have a homebase in Livingston (Escapees). We refer to ourselfves as "Sunbirds" when we run from the Texas heat. We had good luck finding cooler temp's on the Oregon and Washington coast, Alaska, even up in Michigan UP. Last year we spent our summer in Newfoundland. When it starts to heat up in Texas the folks around the Escapees park will tell you the closest place for cooler temp's is Clouldcroft, NM. We tried that this year and it worked. Started there and headed north in to Colorado and we are in Wyoming. We'll be in South Dakota next month and thats as for north as we'll go. When we left Texas for cooler temp's everyone want to know where we were going this year. My answer was some place above 6,000 feet and its worked out perty much.

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

 

[TravelTiger]

Due to the fact we're both still working and DH is a Texas high school band director, we always try to escape the heat somewhere in the summer. Unfortunately, he has to be back by the end of July for marching band camp.

We love Colorado, and Durango is one of our favorite places. We like Durango Riverside Resort, which backs onto the Animas river.

We also like Ruidoso, NM, and we have stayed at Circle B RV park which is technically in Ruidoso Downs. Not as scenic as other parks, but good sized sites and amenities.

This summer we went to Tiger Run Resort, in Breckenridge for 9 nights, in July. Temps ranged from 50s to 70s. It was wonderful! But pricing there is high and availability is scarce. Danemayer owns a site and they might spend 3 months or more during the summer there. I'm sure he'll chime in.


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[danemayer]

Tiger Run in Breckenridge, CO is a great place to spend the summer. A "hot" day means a high of 76. The scenery is beautiful. Breckenridge and nearby Frisco are both resort towns with lots of things to do. There's at least one special event every week and often two or three. The resort also has a busy social calendar with a couple of large get-togethers each week. Every night is cool enough for a campfire. If you ski, Breckenridge Skiing is 3 miles away and season passes cost about $50 more than a 5-day lift ticket.

The resort is very pricey and also completely booked all summer. Reservations have to be made way ahead of time - probably close to a year to book a long stay in the Summer. All that is why we bought a site. Our net cost is under $30 per day.

Here's a picture of our site taken a few days ago. The picture in our signature is a winter shot from outside our window a few years ago (different site).

 

[Seren]

Here's a picture of our site taken a few days ago. The picture in our signature is a winter shot from outside our window a few years ago (different site).

View attachment 31350

So you have stayed there in the winter? How was it in your RV with the cold and snow? We have just started fulltiming and made sure we got the "Yeti" package in our Landmark so we could do at least some cold weather camping since we would love to do some skiing during the winter.


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[danemayer]

So you have stayed there in the winter? How was it in your RV with the cold and snow? We have just started fulltiming and made sure we got the "Yeti" package in our Landmark so we could do at least some cold weather camping since we would love to do some skiing during the winter.


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I'll send a PM so we don't hijack the thread.

 

[Grey Ghost]

Hey Jay, our spot was about four spaces to the west of yours. What a great place and free fire wood too. Your closer to the firewood than we were, but still got our share and had some wonderful campfires while there. This is one of our favorite spots to camp and usually try to hit sometime around "color Sunday." Have a wonderful time and enjoy the country. If you have not made it up to Ouray, Silverton or Ridgeway, those places are a MUST see while your there. Telluride is also very pretty, take the tram up to the top, what a breath taking view that is. Used to live in Grand Junction and Durango so we know the area pretty well and have camped most of it. Started out with tent, moved up to a pop-up, then a travel trailer and now the 5ver. Spent lots of time in the back country around that area and took most of the passes. Went over Black Bear once and will never take that ride again, it was beautiful, but I was driving a small Toyota 4x4 at that time and wheel were hanging over the edge a few times. Had to throw my underwear away after that trip, if you know what I mean! Corkscrew pass, engineer, Ima Jean and Opher passes are really nice also and not as bad, but WOW what beautiful places!! I really miss it a bunch, but getting a little long in the tooth to pull the likes of those passes and sleep on the ground in a sleeping bag. Have fun, enjoy and be safe out there.

 

[TXTiger]

I am in Custer State Park for the summer. Great place to visit or spend the summer. I plan on going to Mesa AZ for the winter. Guess I will be a Snow Buffalo, lol lol lol

 

[Lynn1130]

North to the NFs around Flagstaff, The Rim, or The White Mountains.

 

[scottyb]

Tiger Run in Breckenridge, CO is a great place to spend the summer. A "hot" day means a high of 76. The scenery is beautiful. Breckenridge and nearby Frisco are both resort towns with lots of things to do. There's at least one special event every week and often two or three. The resort also has a busy social calendar with a couple of large get-togethers each week. Every night is cool enough for a campfire. If you ski, Breckenridge Skiing is 3 miles away and season passes cost about $50 more than a 5-day lift ticket.

The resort is very pricey and also completely booked all summer. Reservations have to be made way ahead of time - probably close to a year to book a long stay in the Summer. All that is why we bought a site. Our net cost is under $30 per day.

Here's a picture of our site taken a few days ago. The picture in our signature is a winter shot from outside our window a few years ago (different site).

This is part of what I was looking for. How long did it take you to decide where you wanted to purchase a site? Had you stayed there a few times before? When you say $30/day, does that include the cost of the lot and any fees?

 

[danemayer]

This is part of what I was looking for. How long did it take you to decide where you wanted to purchase a site? Had you stayed there a few times before? When you say $30/day, does that include the cost of the lot and any fees?

Scotty,

We had rented a site for 2 extended ski trips in 2010 and 2011, so we knew how the resort is during the winter. After the 2012 Gillette Rally we started a tour around Colorado to find a piece of land where we could install utilities and use the RV, and perhaps in the future do more. Everywhere we went was 103 and there was a wildfire a short distance from us. We called Tiger Run and they squeezed us in for 10 days (on the condition that we would have to change sites a couple of times). That was our first summer visit. It was so obviously the right place for us that we bought our site before leaving.

Btw, although we don't do it, there's quite a bit of jeeping and off-roading around here. There's also a group at Tiger Run that goes out once or twice a week on semi-organized jeep trips. They often have a lot to talk about at our morning coffee group.

I'll send you a PM with some additional info.

 

[scottyb]

Thanks for all the information Dan. My 1st thought was to look for some land and do what you were considering doing. I would GC my own improvements because that's what I do, or at least I would ramrod the deal. The 1st obstacle I encountered was supply and demand. Since most of the desirable places are in areas with high % of public lands, there is not nearly as much available land for sale as what we are used to in Texas. Also, a lot of the land we have looked at has restrictions and HOA's that will not allow RV's. The next thing I am considering is, how do I know I am going to like a specific area until I get out there FT or PT. Do I want to make investments now while still in my earning years, or wait until I have the time to test drive these places?

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