Travel Trailers. How to Set up in The Campground



Posted: Wednesday, September 29, 2010

by Joe Mac Millan

You finally arrive at the campground with your brand new bunk trailer hooked behind the truck. If you are in luck if the park is set up with pull through sites. All you need to do is go to the office, sign in and pay up. The rest is a piece of cake. Drive ahead until you get to your site and drive straight ahead until you are lined up straight. Hook up to your services and you are all set.

Now let us take a look at hitting a beautiful, heavily treed park with angle parking, that is you are going to be backing in to your site on a ninety degree angle to the road. To top it off there are big trees to contend with.

In this instance I want to see where I need to get to. I park somewhere and walk in and eyeball the site. I want to see where the problems lie. Are there any trees. How much room do I have under the branches. What about a tree on the other side of the road. Can I get past it. Where is the picnic table. Where is the service post. I generally find a rock or an object and place it where the driver side back corner of the trailer will stop.

By the way. Do you know the easy way to back up a trailer? Do not hold the wheel on the top. Put your hand on the bottom of the wheel. Now the trailer will turn in the direction you move your hand.

What I am looking for are all of the problem items that may give me problems. Easier now than trying to understand strange waving signs from my wife as she is trying to alert me about a fire ring in the way or a branch about to rip off the awning casing. Remember, you as the driver will only have a view of your side of the trailer. You must teach your wife or spotter why it is important for you to be able to see her or them in the right mirror. That is the trouble side. Your blind side. The best place for her to stand is near the roadway looking into the right side mirror. She cannot help you if she can not see your face in the mirror. Save your marriage and practice at home or in the Walmart parking lot before you leave.

Now that you have checked the site out, bring the trailer over and park it where you want it.
Joe and Irma MacMillan have spent many years backpacking, skiing, and simply enjoying life in the mountains of British Columbia. Their website Whistler Outdoors is full of tips on snowboarding, camping, kayaking, rafting, camp cooking and fishing. They met on a blind date in 1957 and are still married. Take a look at their story here About us

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