Dahlia47 wrote:I think I have mentioned this before here. I was thinking about opening an RV/Tent Camping Park. I have thought about this for quite a while. Several Years. I am always traveling. I see so many abandoned houses, hotels, motels and even a couple of abandoned Drive-In movie theaters. I would have bought the drive-in, but they were asking waaayyyy too much. Way overpriced. Anyways, my kids are out of the house, I finish school in the spring, and I would like to open one. Sold the idea to hubby. Far west Texas desert. Covered picnic tables with water collection and solar.
I would like to keep it simple. So many people have solar setups on their travel trailers and campers and as part of their camping gear.
I have been planning a trip to Guadalupe Peak and realized...there isn't much available to stay at in the area.
This is my starting point and I am looking for any additional ideas? What am I missing?
Hi Dahlia,
Good luck with this project! Shelly and I wish you well, and hope to stay at your park someday on our way from Central New Mexico down through that region on our way to Big Bend, etc. For us that will likely be a winter trip. Perhaps the best way to answer your post is to tell you what we look for in campsites. Obviously a self centered view, and others will have different ideas!
Normally, we look for state parks, or national park/forest service/BLM campgrounds. They generally have a bit more space between sites and more privacy with the local trees or other plants between sites. Of course, that's a fairly gross generalization, and a private camp that offers those would also be high on our list. (And not all government campgrounds in the region offer that either.)
We also are always looking for the least expensive camps, naturally. Of course, you have to make a profit to stay in business.
Since we have a teardrop, the bathroom facilities are important to us. When they are outhouses, they should be kept clean and relatively odor free (has a lot to do with their construction). If you have flush toilets, some thought should go into the facilities. (Sorry to get so explicit here, but this is important!) The KOA in Gunnison, for example has urinals in the men's room that are too high for young boys. That creates a problem with cleanliness in the other stalls. One of those is also small, for children, so the options can be limited. They pack families into their camp, and the restroom facilities are too limited to be kept clean. Well, enough said on that subject.
Definitely, shade in that country sounds necessary, so the idea of covered picnic tables sounds good. We heat and cool with shore power when available, so that would be nice. Perhaps not essential though. It sounds like you want to create a more rustic campground. I'm not sure what the temperatures are in that area, but it might be fine (for us) for three seasons (excluding high summer), or perhaps even all four.
Warm showers are always nice, but again, not essential. (For us, you are a day away from our home so we wouldn't necessarily need showers for one night on our way through.) We stayed at Organ Pipe Cactus NP which has solar showers, which weren't so comfortable when it was cloudy and the air temp was 65, but solar showers may be an option if you want to minimize infrastructure--I'm not sure whether they really offer an advantage if you have shore power on site.
Small local hikes are always a nice feature of a campground. If you happen to locate it next to some government land, perhaps you can arrange to put in a connector trail to their system, or something.
Most important, of course, is a clean maintained campsite, and facilities, and polite and responsible fellow campers. Unfortunately, for the latter, sometimes some reasonable control by the camp staff may be necessary. But I've never run a camp and don't know much about that side of it.
We always look for a "little library" (book trade) at campsites. Just us, we like to read.
Hope that helps, and we look forward to seeing you someday!
Tom