The Official Prius Camping and Road tripping Thread

One day is ok but it wears you off when you do it 3-4weeks in a row.

 

Also also fond memories of Palo Duro Canyon. But we were there during a flash flood period and the fords were running high water. So I kept speed up to skid across before we were swept downstream, but did not consider the possible damage to the engine slash shield under the front. I may have lost o piece of mine at that time, not sure. But very scenic!

 

I was there in 2010 and 2014, and the shocking part was how much it changed in just 4 years. This is where you see clearly the erosion forces in work.

I it not a good idea to cross running water, esp if you suspect it is higher than bottom of the car. I was told that in case if you feel water lifting car the right course is to open doors. It will ruin insides but at least it will not float down the river.

 

Dirt-roading far from civilization (and the nearest road is commonly-known as the Loneliest Road in America). Sway bars on both ends + irregular terrain = 3-wheelin'.


Yee-haw.

Best social-media commentary: "three wheels is less rolling resistance, better mpg."

 

For some reason I missed this when it was first posted. I'm surprised there's no easy way to get a map of a given US highway on any of the map sites I tried. I can find a bunch of images of given highways, but they are usually just lines on the map without cities, etc.

I've driven US-90 through LA and I thought it was a nice drive, especially near Morgan City. We also drove it through TX to San Antonio where it was quite interesting driving so close to the border. To be sure, it was pretty desolate countryside and there aren't a lot of cities, but the speed limit was 75, so one still makes pretty good time. Our goal was the Judge Roy Bean Courthouse.

I've also driven much of US-191, both north of Dinosaur UT and south of Alpine AZ (The Coronado Trail). The highlight of the AZ section was coming out of the hills to see the Morenci Mine, what an operation and worth the trip IMHO. It's a very curvy mountain road covered by trees with not as many overlooks as one would hope for. Before we did the drive, we spent a night in Springerville and were able to watch a large (125+) herd of elk bed down for the night and then watch them rise and shine the next morning before they disappeared into the hills. It was an awesome experience that we haven't had again.

We've also been on US-666, now US-491 AFAIK, but only from Shiprock down to Gallup. We went to Monument Valley and just decided to head over to Shiprock too while we were close.

 

My Wife and I spent our honeymoon sleeping in the back of a Prius Hertz green traveler rental car we rented in Denver camping out in Rocky Mountains, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone during October last year. We used our luggage behind passenger seat and coleman Ice cooler behind drivers seat so when we laid the back seat down there was a 7 foot platform we laid Exped UL9 backpacking air mattresses wrapped in full sheets with down comforter for our Bed. We'd put the car in park setting emergency brake leaving car running to use heat and air conditioning which would run the motor for 3 or 4 minutes every 40 minutes to charge battery. Most every thing is closed for Winter at that time of year so many more animals viewings then, with no tourist people you can camp any where in pull off areas. We camped in freezing rain and snow at times which showed the Prius was the Greatest traveling RV keeping Us extremely comfortable sleeping inside out in the middle of No where. Getting over 65 miles to a gallon in National Parks we never shut the power off on the Prius for a few days living out of the car the way we were camping. My Wife Loved how comfortable it was car camping like this in the wilderness where the only place you could sleep was in the car with NO motels for hundreds of miles. We are not small people by any means so most of her facebook friends could not believe we were sleeping in the back of a Prius car during a snow storm off Roosevelt parkway at the head waters of snake river Yellowstone entrance. She cried at how Beautiful the 6" of snow looked on the trees shining in the Morning Sun her perfect moment of our travels. I have traveled and camped many times in Hertz rental Prius cars flying into airports, loving how you can sleep overnight in total comfort traveling in a Prius.

I have been bitten by the Prius RV camping bug to finally buy myself a used Prius v(lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) moonroof model five to set up as my traveling Grand Touring hybrid recreational vehicle sleeping camper.(GTHRV) The added space and room of the Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) will only make it more comfortable with a slight loss of MPG. I am planning on reworking the suspension Koni / eilbach with cusco frame braces to improve handling. I will be installing a torklift 2" hitch (350# tw) with firestone spring airbags to allow installing my Mototote Sport motorcycle carrier to carry my Husqvarna enduro motorcycle ( 290 # total weight) behind the wagon. Removing the back seats completely for weight savings to make it more of a sporty sedan delivery wagon. Have to sell my Airstream class B and enclosed Motorcycle trailer which gets 8 MPG and 40 foot long. I know Its got my interest to see if I can work it out in the future down sizing to a Prius RV.

 

If you planning to do springs and shocks, look into coilovers. TEIN street basis can be had for <$700, and unlike Koni they actually last.

I do not have v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) but on regular Gen3 there were 2 things which improved handling greatly. They also worked on C, so it is likely to do the trick on v(lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) . 1st was to install TRD rear sway bar, and 2nd put -1.75deg camber kit on front. STB and front brace helps too but this is not as critical; v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) has stiffer body. With these add-ons on OEM springs understeer is minimal, and I can induce slight oversteer 3-wheel slide if I need to. As is tires are the weakest link any work on suspension would not change that.

Thanks for sharing your Prius winter camping experience. We never done this but now I am tempted. I have a set of chains somewhere, and hey Nokian WRG3 come in our size They work almost as good as dedicated winter tires.

 

CPAP and Camping
I just learned that my neighbor, who is an avid camper / hunter just bought a portable quiet generator so that he can run his CPAP sleeping assist machine while on hunting / camping trips.

What a pain, to listen to a generator run non stop all night long; to help you sleep? My guess is this will disrupt everyone's sleep. Not that I use a CPAP, but we Prius campers know that we can just plug our gear into the car and not worry about it.

Prius Camping reason #1001 - power your CPAP machine in the middle of nowhere!

 

Camping upstate NY. The roads in mid-central PA fingerlake NY are scary good on par with best in CA. UT or CO. If you are on East Coast you've got to to come there at least once!

 

Didn't camp, but have been there and it is a wonderful part of the country. Ate breakfast in some little town up north and then spent the day driving down to Watkins Glen and around. We also stayed in Horseheads, but that was another trip.

 

here are pictures of our car camping trip sleeping in the back of a prius camping in parking lot waking up to heavy snow camping on snake river in pouring rain turning into snow after dark. we stayed warm and dry sleeping all night through the storm Snow lasted until the sun came out Here is our backpacking Exped 52" wide 76" long couples bed with down comforter has 2 - UL9 mattresses joined together as our bed. Total weight without pillows is 8 pounds



Traveling in the back country camping out sleeping in the back of a Prius is a wonderful experience. All the comforts of home with a great bed, having heat and air conditioning for comfort, overhead lights, satellite radio, electric power, rear doors or opening hatch to exit car. Driving down gravel roads or dirt forest roads where no motorhome could ever go getting 60 mpg quietly driving slow on electric power in our home on wheels.

 

Online reviews of the road to Ed's Trail on Silver Star mountain in Washington say that 4x4 and high ground clearance is required to reach the parking lot. You can't tell from the video, but the road is very steep and potholed. When I got to the top, I parked next to the only other vehicle up there, just to jab a little fun at him.

 

No issue with clearance? I've scraped bottom a few times on camping fire roads.

Steep isn't a problem but on steepest grade we've been on (29% posted) in San-Francisco I had to balance accelerator at stop signs. Lack of hand brake is a big minus, and at that grade car would start rolling back until engine kicked in. Not good when you have someone behind.

 

It depends on what your definition of "clearance issues" is. I ran the tires over high points and did a lot of steering to avoid scraping. I might have had 2 very minor scrapes on the undercarriage at low speed on the way up, and perhaps 4 on the way down. Clearance is reduced even further when you're descending and on the brakes.

I've scraped the Prius more severely in urban driving than my off-road adventures. Steep driveways are less forgiving than a dirt road.

I haven't noticed issues with hill starts, but then again I haven't taken the Prius to SF yet. It seems to me the electric motor should provide instant torque to accelerate instead of needing to wait for the engine to start. Perhaps the plug-in Prius has more available electric assist?

There was a section of the dirt road that became very steep while also making a tight left-hand corner. Attempting to creep up this resulted in a tire lifting and loosing traction, so I backed up and came at it again with momentum to get me through. It was fun! Also, I hate to admit it, but I get a kick out of making my wife nervous.[/QUOTE]

 

There were no issues on Russian hill (which is only 17% on the way up btw), but there wasn't enough torque on steeper grade. This is on loaded car with 2 adults/2 kids, with tops 650lbs load total. Can't comment on PiP, perhaps someone in SF will?

Every case is different but would not recommend pushing your luck. Had a crazy woman trying to jump out of the car on mt. Evans climb.

 

Any concerns about carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping in the Prius with it set up so as to allow the ICE to operate as needed for recharging? Sleeping in the car has a lot of appeal but having experienced carbon monoxide attach itself to my red blood cells and reside there for weeks with the resultant excruciating head pain is an adventure to be missed at all costs.

 

Very good question!

I suppose the precious answer is to park at windy spot and thoughtfully inspect exhaust for leaks. We left it on running once in service zone and with A/C running the engine did not come on for 2-3hr. A/C was mostly running to avoid moisture build up.

 

It can never hurt to pick up a CO detector. I have several in my house, most of which just honk, but one of which displays parts-per-million on the front. The one with the ppm display is able to tell me when the neighbors were having their carpets cleaned across the street (Stanley Steemer truck idling in the street for hours). One was also able to detect for a friend of mine that the air shutter needed adjustment on the kitchen gas oven. Both of these are at levels well below what would cause any unpleasant adventures. Some are made for RVs and run on 12 volts. (Otherwise, you can use one for the house that runs on batteries anyway.)

Chances are what your detector in the Prius would tell you is that you had nothing to worry about, and then you would have peace of mind and know. And if in any poorly-ventilated setting there ever turns out to be a problem, you'll know that too.

-Chap

 

A CO2 detector inside your vehicle is the way to go for insurance. I have one and it has never gone off, but I like knowing it is keeping track.

 

No danger of CO poisoning unless there is an exhaust leak under the hood, or you're parked in an enclosed space like a closed garage.

The air intake is located at the base of your windshield, and the exhaust is at the opposite end of the car at the tailpipe.

I've experienced slight CO poisoning when I ran my vehicles in a closed garage for about 15 minutes. The effect feels similar to being at high altitude with dulling mental acuity.