Which camping directory is the best?

[Barn Owl]

I am thinking about picking up some sort of camping directory and want some feedback on them. Are they worth having? I am not a big fan of commercial RV parks, and prefer state or national park camping if possible. Do they cover those also? The main ones seem to be Trailer Life Directory, Woodall's, and Frommer's. Are there others? What about books like The Next Exit?

Thanks

[jjrbus]

 I can relate, I am not a fan of commercial parks either!! Every year my friend gives me his last years trailer life directory, if I had to buy it I would not spend the money.

I do belong to Passport AMerica  http://www.passportamerica.com/  Look at thier campgrounds if you can use the membership for 4 nights it pays for itself.

The next best resource is posting your destination to this board, My extended, dysfunctional busnut family is great when it comes to telling me where to go   
                                                                                  Jim

[johns4104s]

jj,

What type of camp grounds are offerd?Say on average between 1 thu 19?

John

[bubbaqgal]

Some campgrounds that are listed in one book may not be listed in any other books.  We go online, check google maps and see what towns are in our route.  Then we check out the area for campgrounds and have found many decent campsites that choose not to sign up with any book.  As Jim said, (yes we love telling him where to go. LOL)  if you know you are headed towards an area just ask here and you will most likely get many different places recommended that you might have missed.

[TomC]

Personally like the Trailer Life-although they don't list all campgrounds (like some smaller out of the way and state run).  Good Luck, TomC

[bobofthenorth]

We've always used Woodalls but more from habit than any scientific comparison.  We don't buy them regularly - maybe every 3 or 4 years.  Last summer my BIL somehow ended up with two current copies of Trailer Life's directory and gave us one of them.  We were surprised at how much difference there was between the two books - CGs in one were not necessarily in the other one.  We don't use the directories very often but they are handy when you do need one.  The internet is a good resource but when you are going down the road, getting tired, traffic is bad and you just need a destination where you know you can pull in for the night with no hassle it is hard to beat a paper directory.  That's how we most often use ours.

[WEC4104]

We use a conglomeration.  I buy a Woodalls about every 4 years, and a Trailer Life every 4 years. I alternate so that every two years I'm buying one or the other.

We also use our AAA membership to get their free campground guides for the states we are planning to visit.

A friend gave us the "Next Exit" book as a gift. That comes in handy for finding Walmarts.  On trips that begin on Friday nights, we hit the road at 5-6 pm and I drive until I get tired (usually 11pm or later).   At that point it is too late to rumble into a commercial campground, so Walmarts are ideal.

I also pre-search on the internet, and use KOA's own guide.

[Hi yo silver]

Speaking of Wallyworld, if you pick up their road atlas, all their stores and their phone #s are listed in the back. 
Dennis

[jjrbus]

jj,

What type of camp grounds are offerd?Say on average between 1 thu 19?

John

ON a scale of 1 to 19 well from 1 to 19!! I have never found what I would consider a bad park. Last year I stayed in a decent park fro 3 months in Punta Gorda Florida right on the river and they gave me 50% off the monthly rate!! You wont get that during season, so dont ask.   Jim

[gus]

I also use Trailer Life but discovered that a bunch of RV parks are listed on my GPS.

Look in  RV and Park categories separately. State parks are usually under Parks and/or Recreation, it all depends on the brand of GPS.

I also discovered that I could type in WalMart and find the nearest stores.

None of this is perfect so it requires a bit of experimenting.