Five trip ideas for highoctane RV-oriented escapes

ROLLING BASE CAMP

Recreational vehicles seem tailor-made for kick-ass pandemic adventures. You can drive a rig to a choice wilderness spot, roll right out the front door to a wild time—then come back and socially distance in style with a cold beer and hot shower. Here are five ideas for high-octane RV-oriented escapes.

Words DAVE HOWARD

MOUNTAIN BIKING HURRICANE, UTAH

Set on the fringes of Zion National Park, just two hours from Vegas, the region that encompasses Hurricane, Virgin and St. George (and is home to Red Bull Rampage) features classic high-desert singletrack. RV options range from the civilized (the Temple View RV Resort in St. George has a pool and Wi-Fi, and Red Rock Canyon State Park serves up hot showers) to the fully self-contained (that is, bring your own water—but it’s free). For the latter, pull your rig into one of the many spots along SR 9 or Sheep Bridge Road on the way to Zion or the BLM’s Hurricane Cliffs Recreation Area, which is a launching point for 36 miles of singletrack. Once set up there, you’ll be in the shadows of a can’t-miss experience: the world-class Gooseberry Mesa Trail, a flowy, up-and-down 13-mile loop with outrageous overlooks. Also nearby: the JEM Trail, an out-and-back that can be combined with

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks have stellar hiking and climbing.

Goulds Rim or the Hurricane Rim Trail to form 20-plus-mile loops. When you set off on a rim above the Virgin River, with Zion looming as an epic backdrop, you’ll have no doubt that you’ve arrived at mountain biking’s promised land. Rent a bike at Over the Edge Sports in Hurricane.

CLIMBING SEQUOIA & KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARK

It’s hard to be here and not want to climb something. Everything is so oversized— the namesake trees, the Tehipite Dome (the largest in the Sierra) and so on—that you feel like you’re in a giant’s playground. And while Yosemite (justifiably) gets all the headlines, in SEKI you’ll find huge granite faces without the masses on the walls. By one count there are 365 established climbs there, touching all skill levels, nearly half of which are trad and slightly more than a quarter of which are bouldering problems. This being national parkland, larger RVs are banned from parts of the sinewy roads, so the best option is to set up base camp at the Dorst or Lodgepole campground and hop on the Sequoia Shuttle, which will deliver you to the walls, or the trailheads that take you to them. Quickest access point: Moro Rock, a granite dome whose west face serves up 1,000 vertical feet of fissures and knobby holds festooned with a variety of routes. Up top, there are vistas of the entire Great Western Divide, the range that forms part of the border between Kings Canyon and Sequoia.

RVs are an ideal way to chill in style and wake up right where the action is.

Yampa River State Park has six access points with spots where you can live out of your rig.

RIVER RUNNING STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO

The Yampa is a choose-yourown-adventure kind of river. It’s the last free-flowing stream left in the Colorado River system, and that damfree status opens up myriad float and paddle options, depending on your timing. When the snow melts in May and June, the Yampa rises into a frothing beast that makes for trips of up to five days covering 71 miles with the likes of Holiday River Expeditions. Traversing Dinosaur National Monument, you’ll have question-your-significance moments peering up at 1,000-foot canyon walls and watching peregrine falcons soar and bighorn sheep skitter along the narrow ledges. If you prefer your RV HQ to launch a mellower experience, wait until summer and cherry-pick your own Huck Finn floats, using any of the 13 access points along the 134-mile-long stretch through Yampa River State Park. Six of those access points feature places where you can live out of your rig— and if you don’t have a second vehicle, companies like Good Vibes River Gear offer shuttles between various points. For a truly chill day, hit up Backdoor Sports in Steamboat Springs, where you can rent a tube and a shuttle ride for $20, float for a lazy couple of miles, then grab some of the Occasional Mustache hefeweizen at the Storm Peak Brewing Company to take back to your mobile castle.

SURFING TOFINO, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Wrap your head around this: In this small, funky, insanely scenic town dangling off the western edge of Vancouver Island, it’s possible to surf some of North America’s best waves and snowboard in one

Frothing in the spring, the Yampa is for floating come summer.

day. Bald eagles and cranes cruise the thermals, while whales and otters ply the Clayoquot Sound during the ferry ride there. To catch the waves on Cox Bay, head to either end of the pancakeflat, expansive stretch of sand, where you’ll find cagey beach-break swells. Novices can head to more-popular nearby Long Beach, a 10-mile-long dune that delivers lower-voltage longboard action. Catch morning waves, then sneak in some end-of-season turns on Mount Washington, which features 1,660 feet of vertical. There are numerous options for parking your rig, but the obvious choice is the newly opened Surf Grove—the only campground actually on Cox Bay, where the 130 fully serviced RV sites are privy to 800 feet of beach access. Pacific Surf Co. has an on-site surf shack with board rentals, lessons and outdoor showers. (RV rentals will also be available there this spring.)

HIKING WHITE MOUNTAINS, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Home to the Presidential Range—Washington, Adams, et al.—the Whites serve up some of the most open, bracingly scenic highelevation ridge hiking in the East. The range also delivers famously fickle weather, which makes the RV extra handy as a base camp. Set up shop at Lafayette Place Campground in Franconia Notch State Park and you’ve got your choice of the area’s burly but astonishingly beautiful day hikes. Take the Old Bridle Path from the campground up the knifeedge Franconia Ridge to the top of Mount Lafayette (5,260 feet), and splash around in the cascades on

Provided you bring the right wetsuit, you won’t want to stop surfing in Tofino.

You can tackle some tough backcountry adventures without really roughing it.

the Falling Waters Trail on the way down. For a shorter trek straight from your doorstep, go to Lonesome Lake, where you can take a plunge, then grab a nap at the Appalachian Mountain Club hut before looping back. For a bigger challenge, relocate your operation about an hour east to the flanks of iconic Mount Washington, at 6,288 feet the highest peak in the Northeast (for more details, see page 43). Reserve a site at Lafayette as far in advance as possible; not for nothing is the place popular.