The intro is a bit long but there are pictures of the general area around Moab below:-)
My Camp Hosting started early this year with a last minute
offer to host a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) Campground in Moab Utah. Arriving in the high desert in February was somewhat
of gamble on the weather. One of the biggest
challenges was getting over the mountain passes that surround it from the south
and east. The computer model had me
travelling across Kansas and Colorado this route looked interesting but it was
mostly US Highways good routes but not interstate quality considering the
possibility of winter weather. I opted
for I-40 to Gallup NM then north on US-491 to US-191 into Moab UT. This route had the potential for some bad
weather with snow and rain mix in the forecast.
I was able to adjust my time and I got into Moab without any winter
weather road conditions.
Arriving in Moab on the 13th of February I may
have beat the weather here but it was right behind me. The first two weeks had an average low around
15-20 and highs 40ish with lots of clouds, wind, rain and a dusting of snow one
day.
The BLM campgrounds in the Moab area have no electrical or
water connections for the host. With my
solar package I felt comfortable volunteering through the end of April. With my prior commitment to return to North
Idaho early May this worked out good for me.
I was assigned
Williams Bottom Campground starting March 1st and
was asked to work the Goose Island Campground until the first of March. The position of camp site and sun this time
of the year was not ideal and there was a large cottonwood tree impacting
morning sun, there were no leaves but enough limbs to effect the solar panels.
There were several campers in the campground that had solar
packages some portable and some mounted on the camper. It was educational comparing information with the
other campers using solar panels. What I
saw was most of the campers were using a portable 200 watt package with two 12
volt batteries. The 200 watt system when
properly positioned and limited battery draw to minimum needs and keeping the furnace
set to 55ish the batteries would recharge during the day. My 600 watt system would not always
completely recharge my four 6 volt batteries but the batteries never went below
75% during the cold overcast days. On
the cloudy days the 200 watt system needed assistance to recharge the batteries
to the level needed for another cold night.
The few campers I have had in Williams Bottom campground to date are a
younger group mostly climbers. Williams
Bottom may have a different group of campers but they pretty much have the same
appreciation for getting out and enjoying this great country we live in as the
older group of campers I see in other campgrounds.
I relocated to Williams Bottom 26 February. When at Goose Island I had spotty phone
reception not a problem at Williams Bottom there is NO reception…problem of
dropped called solved. Williams Bottom
from a solar system aspect goes is the optimal location. The camper is parallel to the Colorado River
on the east with cliffs on the west with a north south placement of the camper
giving me best possible alignment with no trees to affect the panels. I start receiving a charge at 8:00 AM and
continue until the cliffs block full sun around 3:00PM. I am fully charged on sunny days before noon.
Williams Bottom is setup for campers under 24
foot long. The host site will accommodate
up to about a 38 foot camper and has a vault for dumping black and grey tanks. The BLM office has loaned me a 50 gallon
portable potable water tank that I can replenish at the BLM office in
Moab. With the portable water tank, on
site dump and plenty of sunshine this time of the year being off grid is not so
bad.
Goose Island
Williams Bottom
