Ok, I won’t lie – setting up a campsite is more than 3 steps but, hey let’s look at the major steps. First, you have to 1) get backed in (or pulled through the spot), 2) unhitched and leveled, 3) utilities hooked up and slides out, and then enjoy!

Getting settled into a campsite really isn’t terrible and is as much work as you want to make it . Sometimes we throw out the welcome mat at the bottom of the steps and call it done but other times, we go all out: grill, propane fire pit, screen porch, move the table, put up lights, the whole 9 yards.

The very first step after you make it to your magical campground destination is getting settled into your spot. This can be a spot that you have to back into or maybe you decided to take it easy on yourself and got a pull-thru spot.

Unfortunately for pictures, I skipped ahead to where we were already parked. Bad for this article, but I was kind of focused on getting safely parked! You can learn more about backing in and parking in this blog.

Getting parked isn’t really that difficult , but there are a couple of things that you should do at each campsite. The first thing that we do is walk the campsite. Here we’re visualizing where we’ll park the camper so that electric, water, and sewer all reach. Scope out where your slides will go, where the power pedestal is and all that jazz.

Next, the perfect parking job starts with the proper approach . I have been noticing recently that I don’t quite pull forward far enough and my wife reminds me to pull a bit further ahead. Pulling far enough forward gives me a nice clean line to get back into the site. As I’m about far enough ahead, I’ll do what’s called “ the scoop“ where you pull out from the site a bit and then back slightly toward the site to get the tail of the camper lined up to the site’s entrance.

Let’s start with us back in our spot:

If you don’t have the sweet nectar of the gods that is an automatic leveling system, now’s the time that you’ll get the camper leveled . Use a level to determine how far off level the site is from side to side and put blocks under the wheels ( preferably LynxLevelers! ) to raise the low side.

I consider chocking the wheels as part of the parking process. It’s just that important. DO IT FIRST. DO IT ALWAYS!

Next up, we unhitch. First things first, disconnect the break away cable and the trailer’s umbilical cord .

When connecting electric, make sure the breaker is off before plugging in . The outlet can arc and weaken both the receptacle and char your cord, shortening both of their lives.

Water is next.  I connect a bit of hose to the spigot and then my 4-way manifold (which I’ve actually recently switched to a 2-way wye splitter). I have the bit of hose because I’ve come across campsites with the spigot incredibly low to the ground (or even below it, I’m looking at you Ramblin’ Pines) where the manifold wouldn’t fit.

So there you go… setting up camp in 3 easy steps . Well, “three.”

Of course, it’s now up to you with  how much personalizing the site you want to do. Maybe you put out lights, or a sign (we do! my wife makes some awesome Traveling Creations), or grill(s), or hammock, you name it. It’s your space for a spell, might as well enjoy it!

—

Last note, the photos from this post were our setup at Williamsburg Thousand Trails . Spoiler alert: it’s a nice park with super friendly staff.