Ten days base camping in our T@B in the Canadian Rockies

jimdermodycdn

Cheers all. Our first extended trip is done. Ten nights base camping and hiking in Jasper, Banff and Robson parks with a side trip into David Thompson country to avoid the weekend crowds. First night in an overflow campground in Jasper at Snaring River. Had to run the car as a generator as the fridge had drained the battery on the drive up. Lucked into a powered site the next night (cancellation) at Whistler campground in Jasper. Moved to an unpowered site for night 3. Moved to David Thompson country to a rustic campground for 4 nights (3 klicks. from the Banff eastern boundary).

Very comfy trip although the T@B systems did not perform flawlessly. Minor stuff, likely inexperience as much as system failure. Noisy water pump, sounds like air in the system but having trouble solving this one. Not much hot water from the Aldi although the heat works (3 degrees c one night). Aforementioned fridge draining the camper battery and fridge not staying lit while travelling on propane (altitude maybe?).  Battery lasted for 4 days at Thompson creek, although we were very parsimonious with electrical use. Even used the AC during our stay just outside Robson park at the Yellowhead campground in Valemount BC (33 degrees c). First campground with power and water. Leaving the AC fan on over night drowned out the hwy. noise, bonus.

I've included some pictures of where our T@B took us. Great setting up a base camp and using our car to get around to our hikes and side trips. Aggregate mileage for the trip was 11 litres per 100 klm. 


Over flow campground, Snaring River, Jasper National park


Pup Tent


Pooped pup


Nice rustic campground at Thompson creek. Yay no fire ban!


The places we get to see before going back to our great base camp.


Getting high on life in the Canadian Rockies!


Sunday brunch in the Rockies. Egg scramble with fresh veggies and spicy Tofurky sausage, with home made bread for toast.

 Kinney lake and Whitehorn mountain. Robson provincial park BC.


Getting a bit smoky so we are heading home early.


Stopped for lunch on the road home.

Cheers, hope you enjoyed the pictures. We are hoping to get out a few more times this fall. All depends on the weather. Freezing night time temperatures can happen any time now and while it is not likely to snow here for a bit the mountains are another story.

Happy camping!

Sharon_is_SAM

Very nice!  Looks like you made good use out of the little black tarp.  How long were you driving and what is your TV?  Curious what it takes to drain the battery with the frig on 12 V.  Regarding the air in the plumbing, try eliminating it while connected to city water and raise and lower your tongue to help move it along.  I am not sure how long your hot water lasted, but was it hot enough or not?  Sounds like a great trip.  Love the mountains.

ericnliz

Thanks for sharing the awesome photos!! Still chuckling about the "pup tent"!

Ratkity

Depending on your T@B year, there's a hot water mixing valve (for your safety) and it might be set too cold. It's under the seat near the Alde. I found my pump noisy no matter what I did. Oh well. Others have found solutions. 

The car may not be able to keep you frig cold on 12V while driving. It may even drain your car battery. Altitude could be an issue with the frig, but if your Alde was working well on propane, I doubt it. Sometimes, you have to light the stove for a little while and then try to light the frig. Your thermocouple may need a little adjustment so it's in the flame. See your literature.

Your trip sounds WONDERFUL! Sounds like some great places and hiking. I love your furkid companion. Love the pictures too! I agree, I like the white noise of the fan and A/C fan to drown out campground noises.

db_cooper

Did that trip last year, and had a blast.  Just got back from a week of boondocking in Glacier NP, and found the T@B to be great for it. 

As for your problems,  we've had similar.  Our water pump makes a lot of noise too, but does have good pressure.  We don't have the mixing valve on our model, so our water is too hot so you have to use sparingly when showering.  Our Xterra has a fairly large alternator, but I've found our battery drained when running the fridge, so we now keep it on propane, never had it go out while driving, and I run up to 70 mph.  We were camped at 5200 ft. and had a little Alde noise while making hot water to shower.

Our dual golf carts never got below 12.5v this week, and we only used an 80 watt solar panel for about 6 hours total.  Highly recommend this mod, if you're going to be boondocking.  We were still miserly using electric, just a couple lights for a bit each night, and the water pump. 

Our only issue was running low on propane, fridge was working hard as the temps were high 80's low 90's.  Going to get a small propane tank to carry, so we can refill the large one easier.  We were in a remote primitive campsite, so it was a long drive to refill.

jimdermodycdn

 TV is a 2015 Volvo XC 70. Car is setup for towing with the Volvo harness. The computer was likely unwilling to give the T@B enough juice to keep the battery charged (5 hour drive on a very hot day). The manual for the fridge warns of this as the draw is very high. Thinking of solar for next summer. Heat worked fine on the Aldi, I'll fiddle a bit this weekend with the water and Aldi but will likely be winterizing soon as fall can see freezing temps pretty early this far north. We will be dry camping from now on unless we have a warm fall.

Estancio

Great photos. I'll be passing thru Mt. Robson area in a couple of weeks. Did you need reservations to get a site at Mt. Robson Prov. Park?

jimdermodycdn

Stayed at Yellowhead RV park in Valemount just west of Mount Robson Park. Nice place, clean, with showers and power and water hookup. Didn't even try the provincial park as we needed power to recharge after 4 days of camping with no services.


Yellowhead RV park in Valemount about a half hour west of Robson Park. Power, water and nice clean wash house with showers and laundry.

jimdermodycdn

PS: Call ahead and check facilities. The Sept. long weekend is end of season for a lot of campgrounds and attractions in Canada. You may find reduced service and or closures after this weekend. 
Cheers and have a great trip. 

rkj__

Thanks for sharing your adventure!

4ncar

I have the mixing valve.  I am familiar with this device as I have one in my house for the domestic water jacket in my home furnace. There is a lock screw in the center of the knob(Phillips); losses, do not remove, and you can then turn the knob it's self. Do so in small increments; in other words, turn it up, try it for a day or so and re adjust if necessary. Turning it a great deal could get u scalded.

Sharon_is_SAM

@jimdermodycdn I am not sure if you can alter this or not and the 12 volt frig draw is so high it may not matter, but we had 10 gauge wire run for our 7 pin charge line.  Can't compare keeping an ARB cold, but I think lowering the resistance can't hurt to help get volts back to the Tab.  Wonder what gauge charge line you have?

jimdermodycdn

it's a Volvo wiring harness, installed when we bought the car so it's still under warranty. Going to check with our Volvo dealer.
Thanks.  

BandBofMV

It may be as simple as turning on your headlights. Seems to be a common remedy for many cars where the battery is not receiving enough of a charge through the harness.

TerryV6

jimdermodycdn,  Thanks for sharing your trip pictures..  Looks great and loved the pup tent....  Haven't been able to camp for a while, so it was nice to travel with you...