Devils Tower / Black Hills KOA Journey

We stayed at Devils Tower / Black Hills KOA Journey in Devils Tower, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A partial view of Devils Tower, from just outside the monument.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-08-16
Check out: 2023-08-19
3 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps ranging between 87-95°F, lows around 56-73°F
Wind gusts up to 33 MPH gusts

Noise:

Negligible road noise
No train noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#38, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Level front-to-back, a little unlevel side-to-side
Gravel driveway about 75 feet long by about 10 feet wide
Grass between sites about 20 feet wide
No tree on this site, big trees elsewhere
Picnic table on grass
Next to the group fire pit
Partial front view of Devils Tower

Utilities:

50 amp power, very conveniently located
80 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 16 Mbps down,16 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
Verizon: 13-25 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
AT&T: 82 Mbps down, 2-6 Mbps up, 120 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Starlink: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Closed swimming pool
Mini-golf (free due to closed pool)
Package delivery to office
Onsite cafe
Right outside Devils Tower entrance

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Not all “premium” sites have a good view

The only way to get closer to Devils Tower National Monument would be to stay inside the monument at the rustic first-come-first-serve campground. We booked a premium site online, assuming it would have a view of the tower from our site. Not so much. There were big trees in the way, so we only got a slight peep of the lower edge of the tower. For $100/night (with our KOA discount), I was expecting a front-row seat. From our scouting, the best sites for a good view are 100, 86-89. We were in site 38. Site 37 probably had a better view. The other downside of site 38 was that so many people walked through our site, thinking it was the pathway to the bathhouse. Hint: It’s not. The picnic table and the lack of a pathway are clues, people. The onsite diner was a nice perk, but I’m wary of any place with that many flies in the eating area. We camped at Devils Tower / Black Hills KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: You could get up early to get to the tower to beat the crowds, but going in the late afternoon/evening is just as good. Definitely go up the dirt road to Joiner Ridge trailhead and get a fantastic view of the tower at sunset lit up with alpenglow.

The campground map:

Map

Interactive map:

Our site, with a partial view of the tower:

Our site

A group fire pit was next to our site, which they lit each night, though nobody used it:

Group fire pit next to our site

Sun setting behind Devils Tower:

Sun setting behind Devils Tower

Gift store:

Gift store

Onsite cafe, always a nice option, though it was rather inundated with flies:

Cafe

They offered “hayrides”, hay not included:

Hayride

Across the road is the Devils Tower Trading Post:

Trading Post

We went there for dinner another night, and grabbed some questionable hot dogs (that we think gave us some mild food poisoning):

Trading Post

Post office:

Post office

Mini golf:

Mini golf

The mini golf was free, as the boot-shaped swimming pool was unavailable:

Swimming pool

Carts:

Carts

Other sites:

Other sites

Site 100 would be an excellent choice for a side view of the tower:

Other sites

Sites 86-89 would have a decent front view, too:

Other sites

Dog park:

Other sites

Playground:

Playground

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Cabins:

Cabins

Lots of tent sites:

Lots of tent sites

Teepees:

Teepees

A badly angled peek inside a teepee:

Teepee

Interesting rocks and stream:

Interesting rocks and stream

Meadow and tower:

Meadow and tower

Replacing wiper blades

An easy and necessary maintenance item for our coach is to replace the windshield wiper blades on occasion.

Our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome takes a pair of 40-inch frame- or saddle-style blades. I previously ordered some from etrailer.com, but most recently got some from Amazon.

New and old blades:

New and old blades

They are each attached to their arm via a bolt; I have the bolt inserted from the top, so even if the nut comes off, the bolt won’t fall out:

Mounting bolt

Mounting nut:

Mounting nut

The new blades installed (with one obscured by a Magne-Shade cover):

Installed

Easy!

SnapPads

When we park our coach on an unlevel site, typically high in the back, our front hydraulic jacks sometimes can’t cope, so we need to add extra blocks between the jacks and jack pad:

Jacks, blocks, jack pad

To help with that, I purchased a couple of SnapPads, just for the front jacks. We can’t get them for the back jacks, as the jacks are too close to the rear wheels. SnapPads are permanently-attached pads that expand the footprint of the jack a little, and add an extra inch of height, so I hoped that’d help with unlevel sites.

(If you’re in the market for them, you can save 10% off SnapPads with the discount code: DAVID08638.)

Here’s a SnapPad before installation:

SnapPad

It’s simple to install a SnapPad; just squirt a little dish soap around the inner rim, to make it easier to get it on, then line it up below the jack, and lower the jack into place (it helps to have two people, one to control the jack, one to tweak the alignment. Here’s a SnapPad after attaching and lifting up a bit:

SnapPad

Two SnapPads:

SnapPads

Retracted jacks (fun fact: that big box between the jacks is our 150 gallon fuel tank):

SnapPads

The jacks on top of my usual jack pads, which I use on all surfaces other than concrete:

Jack with jack pad

A nice addition.

Yellowstone Canyon area

The Canyon area of Yellowstone National Park includes a village of shops and lodges, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and Hayden Valley:

Canyon Visitor Education Center:

Canyon Visitor Education Center

We saw these stickers, and (later) bought the Grand Teton and Yellowstone ones for the back of our truck canopy:

Stickers

Canyon store

Otter Creek picnic area:

Otter Creek picnic area

We found our initials carved on the table — no, we didn’t do that:

Otter Creek picnic area

Reversing GIF of a bison having a dust bath:

Reversing GIF of a bison having a dust bath

Chittenden Bridge view of Yellowstone River:

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Bison in Hayden Valley:

Binson in Hayden Valley

Hayden Valley

Binson in Hayden Valley

Bison on the road:

Bison on the road

Mud Volcano area:

Mud Volcano area

Bison on the road:

Bison on the road

Check out the video from this area, including some cute otters.

Replacing bathroom faucets and soap dispensers

Jenn didn’t like the bathroom faucets and soap dispensers that came with our coach, as the faucets were rather splashy, and the dispensers let water into them, diluting the soap.

So we bought replacements from Home Depot, and I installed them.

Here’s the old faucet in the rear bathroom:

Old faucet

The new faucet:

New faucet

Looking under the sink, one can see manifolds of hoses to various parts of the bathroom (sink, toilet, shower, and washing machine); the sink hot and cold connectors are on the top:

Hoses

This being an RV, of course the hose for the faucet was non-standard, so I needed to get a “hex nipple” to adapt the 1/2 inch MIP hose connectors:

Hex nipple

Disconnected:

Disconnected

The old and new faucets:

Old and new faucets

A new hose, with the hex nipple adapter on the left, and the adapter that came with the faucet on the right:

Hose and adapters

Holes in the counter for the faucet and dispenser:

Holes

New hoses connected:

New hoses connected

New soap dispenser:

New soap dispenser

The soap dispenser bottle installed:

With soap dispenser

The new faucet and soap dispenser installed:

New faucet and soap dispenser

Similarly, the old soap dispenser and faucet in the half bath:

Old faucet in half bath

Hoses under the half bath sink, nicely labeled:

Hoses under half bath sink

Disconnected hoses:

Disconnected hoses under half bath sink

The new faucet mounted:

New faucet mounted

Connected hoses under the half bath sink:

Hoses under half bath sink

The installed new soap dispenser and faucet in the half bath:

New soap dispenser and faucet in half bath

Finally, I also replaced the soap dispenser in the kitchen. That was the most difficult to get to. I accessed it by removing the drawers:

Behind kitchen drawers

A peek of the old soap bottle:

Soap bottle

To install the new one, I reached back through the drawers space and poked the assembled soap bottle and tube up through the hole, before screwing the top on:

Soap bottle and tube

The new soap dispenser in the kitchen:

New soap dispenser in kitchen

Alpine Valley RV Resort

We stayed at Alpine Valley RV Resort in Alpine, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A new RV resort at 5,670 feet elevation, where we stayed to visit Grand Teton National Park, an hour north.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-07-13
Check out: 2023-07-22
9 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps ranging between 79-88°F, lows around 50-58°F
Some wind, 26 MPH gusts

Noise:

Some road noise
No train noise
Some neighbor noise (kids)

Site:

#20, pull-through, concrete
Kinda needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Level
Asphalt driveway and concrete pad about 70 feet long by about 10 feet wide (rather narrow)
Grass between sites about 12 feet wide
Young trees
Concrete patio with table and chairs
Fire pit

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
75 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Campground Wi-Fi: 80 Mbps down, 90 Mbps up, 5 ms ping
T-Mobile: 21-40 Mbps down, 7-16 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
Verizon: 3 Mbps down, 1-5 Mbps up, 200-1000 ms ping
AT&T: negligible service (phones work, MiFi didn’t)
Starlink: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Package delivery to site
Coffee shop and grocery store in walking distance

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful new park, beautiful mountain views

This is a very nice, new park that definitely has had a lot of care and attention put into it. Sites were immaculate, with spacious grassy areas and concrete patios. When the trees grow up a bit, they’ll provide nice shade, but for now, you get really nice views of the surrounding mountains. At check-in, we were escorted to our site and guided in, which is always a nice touch. When folks checked out, each site was cleaned and prepped for the next arrival. Not every place does this, but the best ones do. Another small thing that makes a huge difference is the frequent trash pickup from your site. My only regret was not getting a back-in site so we’d have fewer neighbors and better views, but that gives me something to aspire to for next time. We camped at Alpine Valley RV Resort in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Book a whitewater rafting trip with Dave Hansen with pickup from the resort. You basically get concierge service between the resort and the river, which makes for a fantastic experience. Broulim’s is a nice grocery store within walking distance from the resort. Good coffee at Punkins, also within walking distance.

The campground map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Interesting water faucet; looks like they can remove the tap for winterizing:

Interesting water faucet

Adding the Teton sticker to our coach:

Adding Teton sticker

Other sites:

Other sites

A path to a river overlook:

Path

Snake River (no access from the campground; there’s a steep bank):

Snake River

The park is still under construction; they have a temporary building for the office currently:

Office

A white-water rafting water feature also under construction:

Water feature under construction

Playground:

Playground

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Nearby gas station:

Nearby gas station

A nice nearby grocery store; it was very convenient to walk to get groceries:

Nearby grocery store

Nearby Subway etc, also in walking distance:

Nearby Subway etc

Nearby mercantile:

Nearby mercantile

Nearby coffee shop:

Nearby coffee shop

A nice park. We’d stay here again, though would choose a back-in site next time, for an un-obstructed view over the river to the mountains.

Truck canopy, slide tray, lift kit

We had a tonneau cover for our truck:

Truck with tonneau cover

Enabling us to securely store our folding bikes and a bunch of other stuff in our truck bed:

Truck bed

But to be able to store the bikes vertically for easier access, and better access to other stuff, we wanted to get a canopy, aka truck cap. We saved for it, and ordered one several months ahead from a Portland company. When back in Portland, we emptied out the truck bed, took the tonneau cover to our storage unit (we’ll probably sell it eventually), and cleaned out the bed as best we could:

Truck

Then we headed to Northwest Auto & Truck Accessories to get it installed:

Northwest Auto Accessories

They had a decent waiting area, where we spent the day, working on our laptops:

Northwest Auto Accessories

We also got them to install a lift kit to raise up the front by a couple of inches, to make it level with the rear, and give a little more clearance for dirt roads:

Lift kit

Here’s the installed canopy, the ARE MX, paint-matched to our truck:

Canopy

More pics of it at our campsite:

Canopy

We also got a CargoGlide CG1000 slide tray from them, to make it easier to access stuff at the back:

Slide tray

The window at the back of the bed:

Window

It folds down for cleaning:

Window

The canopy is attached via four of these clamps:

Clamp

We also got some 50-gallon totes for our folding bikes:

Totes

The bikes in the totes:

Bikes in totes

Less-frequently accessed stuff in the back of the bed:

Stuff in back of bed

The telescoping ladder is strapped to the side, so it doesn’t interfere with the slide tray:

Ladder

Fully loaded for a travel day; we sometimes remove the mats and folding chairs while at a campsite, or they can be shoved to the sides to provide a rearview mirror visibility tunnel:

Fully loaded

We added Grand Teton and Yellowstone stickers to the back (with our coach’s Magne Shade reflected in the window):

Grand Teton and Yellowstone stickers

Truck with canopy

Some very useful additions.

15 amp to 50 amp power adapter

While staying at our Washington home base, we “moochdocked”, plugging our coach in to the house power.

15 amp power from a house isn’t enough to run air conditioners or multiple heavy-draw gadgets like the microwave, but is enough to keep our fridge going, power computers, and keep the batteries charged for the 12 volt lights and such.

To do this, I previously used a 15-to-30 amp adapter and a 30-to-50 amp adapter (“dogbone”). But this time I bought an adapter that goes straight from the 15 amps to 50 amps plugs, along with a surge protector:

15-to-50 amp adapter

I also bought a heavy-duty 30-foot, 50-amp extension cord to reach from inside the house to our coach (in addition to the cord on the reel built in to the coach):

Extension cord

I plugged the power cord from our coach into my Power Watchdog smart surge protector, as usual, then connected that to the extension cord, which went through a window into the house:

Cable through window

And into the adapter, which was plugged in to an outlet in the house:

Plugged in to house

(We did try plugging in to an outside outlet, but it popped the breaker, as that was on the same circuit as a freezer in the garage.)

We had to be careful not to use too much power at a time. The Power Watchdog was useful in monitoring this, since it has an app that connects via Bluetooth that shows the current power usage. But we managed.

Staying at campgrounds, we won’t need this adapter and extension cable, but useful to have when moochdocking.

Baseball: Ferry to Seattle, Mariners team store

We took the fast ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, Washington, to go to the Mariners team store, and walk a little around the city.

Fast ferry

Lumen Field for feetball:

Lumen Field

T-Mobile Park baseball field:

T-Mobile Park

Mariners Team Store:

Mariners Team Store

Pioneer Square and environs:

Pioneer Square

MOD Pizza for dinner:

MOD Pizza

Seattle

Skylight for underground area:

Skylight for underground

Seattle

Line for ferry:

Line for ferry

Glimpse of stadiums:

Glimpse of stadiums

Tire covers

Back when we purchased the Magne Shades for our windshield and other front windows, we also purchased mirror covers and tire covers.

We used the mirror covers for a while, but don’t bother anymore. And we’d never used the tire covers, since we typically travel every week or so. But while staying at a sunny location for a couple of weeks a while back, we decided to use them, and have been using them regularly since then.

The idea of the tire covers is to protect the tires from harmful UV rays, that can degrade the rubber. We use 303 Protectant on the tires, which also provides UV protection, but more is better.

These EZ Fold Tire Shades are quite nice; they fold up compactly into a handy bag:

Tire covers

And are unobtrusive when in place, only covering the tire itself, not the rims, so you wouldn’t notice them without looking closely:

Tire cover

They are held on by straps that go over the top of the tire, and on either side.

Sinclair Trails

The travels of David and Jennifer Sinclair, full-timing in their Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome.

shopping

Devils Tower / Black Hills KOA Journey

Replacing wiper blades

SnapPads

Yellowstone Canyon area

Replacing bathroom faucets and soap dispensers

Alpine Valley RV Resort

Truck canopy, slide tray, lift kit

15 amp to 50 amp power adapter

Baseball: Ferry to Seattle, Mariners team store

Tire covers