Campground recommendations

Chief Greg · May 6, 2022

What are the best stops from the Great Lakes across to the Pacific North West? 30 foot + rig.

2gypsies · May 6, 2022

Wow! That's an extremely difficult question to answer as there are thousands.

First, create your route - interstates or secondary highways.

Secondly, Where do you want to stop along the way? To sitesee? Just driving day after day without siteseeing? How many miles per day do you normally drive?

I think we could help better if you can tell us where you want to stop.

Ray,IN · May 7, 2022

I assume you mean to travel along US 2. 2gypsies is right, depending on what you desire to see and do there are, I'll say hundreds of established CG's and RV parks. Many towns and cities along US 2 have low-cost or free city parks with dry or electric only camping.

IF you do travel US 2, be sure to stop in Havre, MT and tour both towns, the one above ground and the smaller town below the city sidewalks.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Ray,IN

Kirk W · May 7, 2022

By the best stops, do you mean the best RV parks and campgrounds, the best national & state parks, or other types of attractions? Best stops is a very subjective question.

Chief Greg · May 7, 2022

Our plan at this point is to go from Northwest GA to the Puget Sound, by way of Wisconsin. We want to see some sights along the way so we would plan a couple of days here and there, otherwise just passing through. I guess we are most concerned about safety. We're a bit spoiled, being retired military and partially disabled, we stay at a lot of military campgrounds and Corp of Engineers parks---safe, clean, and economical, in our experience.

Not familiar with the roads, but I just looked at 2 on the map. Looks like the way we might want to go. Would like to stay off the interstates, but don't want to drive too many "back roads." How is 2?

Kirk W · May 7, 2022

We have found that most of the US routes are in reasonably good condition and you actually see the places that you pass through, but it does take significantly more time. Thanks to the existing interstate highway system, it is now possible to make a trip like you plan without ever seeing anything along the way! The trip you have in mind will be somewhere between 2500 and 3000 miles. It would be quite possible to spend several months along that route so you need to choose what places you wish to visit and plan a route accordingly. If you travel west on I94/90 you will pass through Bismarck (Abraham Lincoln SP), the Theodore Roosevelt NP, Great Falls MT and the Lewis & Clark Center, just to name a few and ignoring the trip from Georgia to Wisconsin.

2gypsies · May 7, 2022

You could spend a lot of quality time in the Leelanau Peninsula area of Michigan - around Traverse City. It's an absolutely gorgeous area. Definitely tour Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore. If you can get a site, Platte River campground is the place to stay. (We volunteered there 9 fall seasons and gave lighthouse tours on South Manitou Island 3 summers.) Petoskey, MI is another pretty area up to Mackinaw City and the Mackinac Bridge which you would cross. From here you could take the day ferry over to Mackinac Island. (Yes, it's spelled two ways.)

Once you get into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan Whitefish Point at Paradise, MI has an interesting shipwreck museum. Tahquamenon Falls State Park is nice. Stay in Munising and take the boat trip on Lake Superior to see Pictured Rocks Nat'l Lakeshore - late afternoon for best lighting. Houghton/Copper Harbor is another pretty area and stay at Fort Wilkins State Park. Porcupine Mtn. State Park is farther west at the Wisconsin border.

We loved traveling across on Hwy 2. When you get to Montana be sure to plan a stop at Fort Peck, near Glasgow, MT. It's a beautiful Corp of Engr. campground and when you continue heading west you'll know why they call Montana 'Big Sky Country'. Glacier Nat'l Park is a definite stop and there's more things to do in the immediate area if you stay on the west side of the park around Columbia Falls. Signing up in advance for the Red Bus tour of Glacier is a very enjoyable tour.

This couple loved Duluth Minnesota and here's their write-up in a couple posts. Note on the web site the top banner in grey is U.S. travel and the one below is Europe - where they're living now. Try looking at some of their campground recommendations in their top banner. They love exploring and nature.

https://www.wheelingit.us/?s=duluth

Sandpoint/Spokane, ID areas are very nice to tour.

Route yourself on to Hwy 20 in Washington for some very pretty driving.

To avoid the Seattle driving mess you could go to Anacortes, WA and drive down to Coupeville and then take the short ferry to Port Townsend - a very nice small town to stay. From here you could drive up to Olympic Nat'l Park - Hurricane Ridge. When ready to leave continue around the Olympic Peninsula on Hwy 101. Stay around Forks to tour the rain forest side of Olympic Nat'l Park. Continue on 101 all the way down the coast and into Oregon. In Oregon on 101 plan to stay at 3 different spots to explore the whole coast. Stay around Astoria, Florence (Heceta Head Lighthouse.. we gave tours here) and then move down to the Bandon, Port Orford area. Continue on 101 into California.

This is a very ambitious trip!!!

sandsys · May 7, 2022

Driving the Great River Road up the Mississippi River is a great way to travel from one CoE campground to another. Lots to see in towns along the way.

We loved traveling west from Minnesota on US Hwy 2 but we like trains. If you hate trains you might want to pick a different route. Same for US Hwy 30 which we took heading back east. If, like us, you like trains these are great routes to take.

Linda Sand

Ray,IN · May 8, 2022

US 2 is normally lightly traveled during the week, or was several years ago. It's 4-lane divided highway until you get near Glacier NP, then 2-lane. US 2 has more to offer than what I learned about, search the web.

Of course a driver cannot simply drive US 2 through Glacier NP, that is "Going to the Sun highway, restricted to under autos and pickups. Now I understand a driver must obtain a ticket reservation to drive the road.

A traveler may check each states road conditions here: One stop shop for travelers was created by CA, WA, OR, and other Western states, and now contains some information for Eastern states too.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Ray,IN

2gypsies · May 8, 2022

23 hours ago, sandsys said:

We loved traveling west from Minnesota on US Hwy 2 but we like trains. If you hate trains you might want to pick a different route.

We never had to stop for a train to cross in front of us on Hwy 2. Are you talking about them running parallel to the highway?

sandsys · May 8, 2022

3 minutes ago, 2gypsies said:

We never had to stop for a train to cross in front of us on Hwy 2. Are you talking about them running parallel to the highway?

Yes, parallel. All night. Every night. Alongside Hwy 2 is a BNSF mainline. We were doing research on trains for model railroading so we didn't mind too much. Our stop at the then BN headquarters in Havre. MT, was great! As was our stop at Green River, WY, on the UP on the way back. A bored conductor there, waiting for his train to be ready, gave us a ton of great paperwork.

Linda

kb0zke · May 10, 2022

I grew up spending summers on US2 in Bessemer, MI. My grandmother's house was literally between the old US2 roadbed in front of her house and the new, 4-lane US2 behind the house. In those days the mines were will working, so ore trains went past many times each day and night. The tracks were right across the street in front of the house.

Following US2 is on our bucket list. I suspect that it will take several summers, as I don't want to be in Bessemer in the winter (average snowfall: 240 inches per year).