Camping Trip

Never been camping? I don't think I've ever heard someone say that before.

You picked a good place, if not the best time, but I think you may have an issue with all the gear. Taking two cars would be much easier. I find the Prius is big enough for four and all their stuff, but five will be...interesting.

We take pillows, a cookstove, a barbecue, and a cooler, so it's not like you have to leave *all* the luxuries at home. I usually leave out the folding chairs, and our 'cots' are thin self-inflating mattresses. Most of my outdoors stuff is small and lightweight for cycling and backpacking - the tents especially - so that makes packing much easier. But with five of you, and 'regular' camping equipment, you're going to spend a long time discussing what to leave out, and may have to carry some of it on your lap.

 

I took my wife and two kids camping at Kings Canyon NP a couple of weeks ago in our 2011 Prius. We were staying in a camp cabin so didn't have to bring tents, but still had camp stove, cooking utensils, cooler, food, sleeping bags, etc. It was a bit of a struggle to get everything in, but we managed.

I would think the big problem would be the tents. Tents get pretty bulky. You may also be approaching the weight limit of the Prius with 5 people and all the gear. You're also going to need bear containers for your food - another bulky item. I'd guess you'd be alot more comfortable using a bigger vehicle.

 

if you can do it, it will be really tight. not how i'd want to spend a 5 hour drive. no coolers of any significant size get to go with you unless you install a receiver hitch and stick one of those stinky fish cooler shelves on the back. my wife and i did a 2 week car camping trip from south florida to vermont this summer. we were able to stow 2 tightly packed sleeping bags in stuff sacks, two camping pads, one 4 person dome tent, one cooking kit with stove, two folding chairs, and some odds and ends in the back compartment and pull the vinyl cover over it all. we stashed charcoal, laundry detergent, a hatchet, and other stuff in the tray below the deck. a cooler, two backpacks with clothes and computers lived in the back seat. you could squeeze a little more space out of the back by leaving the vinyl cover bar at home.

try a packing dry run to see how it's going to work out for you.

 

I think you will run out of space. Maybe a soft pack for the roof to hold all your gear might help. Good luck. Hal

 

I have little doubt that it could all fit. However, depending on the size of the back seat passengers, they may be uncomfortable during the ride, especially if they need to hold some of their gear on their laps or something.

Personally, I've taken 4 people with hiking backpacks - as in we carried everything we were brought with us, so we were fairly limited in what we could bring. It was fine (for a longer drive than yours), and there was more room if we needed it - and if we really crammed things in. Hiking backpacks pretty easily fit 3-wide in one layer in the hatch, and you could fit other stuff on top of them as well.

I'd say it first depends on whether your passengers want to be crammed in the back seat for 4 hours. Second, it depends on how efficiently they will be packing, and how many luxury items are coming along too - if you're not going with just the basics, you'll almost certainly want more space. So I'd say it's possible, but definitely not advisable, unless you have no other options.

 

The Prius fits a lot of stuff when you can fold the seats down (I fit an entire twin mattress in mine -- see album for pics). But I don't think it'll be that great with tents, packs, gear and food for 5 people.

Too bad you didn't post this a few days sooner. I would have recommended you do what I did:

1) Install hitch on Prius (or roof rack)
2) Rent small trailer for all the gear (or buy roof box)
3) Put people in car, put everything else outside car

Alternatively, just take two cars. You'll pay a little more for gas, but be way more comfortable. And if you haven't bought them yet, buy snow cables (not snow chains) for Prius. You never know when it will start to snow in Yosemite and you don't want to get stuck.

Enjoy!

 

quite a few years ago, I had the experience of driving a Civic wagon with 4 people and our backpacks after 5 days in the Yellowstone backcountry.

As driver i was comfortable. But everyone else was holding something in their lap.

if you had more time, a solution we used flying into Big Bend was to ship our camping gear via UPS and pick it up there.

Oh, and i used to carry around a can of tuna with bear teeth marks as a souvenir of my Yosemite back country trip.

Enjoy!

 

if it is your first camping trip, then you won't fit 5. Not that it cannot be done, but it takes experience and alot of discipline to pick right gear, n00bs tend to bring too much unneeded stuff.

4 is doable; perhaps 5 if you limit amount of stuff to minimum and don't expect to cook good luck

 

Agreed. We did a 5 week cross-country camping trip with four persons, but used backpacking-type gear and still needed to have some things on the roof.

PA P

 

You could easily do it with a hitch and a hitch haul.

I use a hitch haul regularly and they are great. You can put an amazing amount of stuff on it all bunjied down. I got my hitch on amazon for $87 shipped and put it on in about 15 minutes. Best addition to the Prius yet.

Flat Carrier Hitch Cargo Carrier | etrailer.com

REV

 

Weight capacity of 825 lb. may be an issue, depending on the weight of the five persons and and especially if you are hanging some of this weight off the back on a hitch.

PA P

 

we did 2UP m/c X-country last year, with whooping 115l/4cu.ft cargo capacity. All the gear to cover +32F/snow in mountains, rains in NW and heat in SW desert, cooking twice a day. It took some creative gear selection..

Our standard car-camping set up consists of several plastic container boxes, picked to maximize space usage. You'd be surprised how much more you can get in w/o putting anything on roof good luck

The Container Store - The Original Storage and Organization Store®

my favorite parts were that you can find what you need just by looking through container, and you wouldn't have different stuff mix up.

 

Yosemite has very strict "bear" rules. Every campsite has a bear-safe box/safe and you are expected to put ALL food items inside, including scented items such as toothpaste and tissue. Yosemite bears have destroyed cars just for a box of scented Kleenex left inside!

The concessions at Yosemite are 100% ripoff. Bring your own food, even if it means renting a trailer or two cars. Of course you can get ice or a bag of marshmallows at the store, but don't expect to go grocery shopping there unless you want to feel very cheated.

Yosemite is incredibly beautiful and you should absolutely go if you've never been.

 

To the originator: How did the camping go? Inquiring minds want to know.

To revhigh: Have you ever heard of anyone damaging their car Prius by using one of those hitch-haul baskets/platforms while going over a pothole or similar obstacle? I heard that people should only use those platforms with SUVs.

Cheers!

 

I have camped in 48 states since June 19, 2020, curious how did the trip go?

 

There was a obituary for a 94 year old local resident the other day, it made quite interesting reading as he lived a very full life. Towards the end (literally) it mentioned that in 2018, he decided to step foot in every of lower 48 states, WITHOUT using any interstates, and...wait for it..... HOW MUCH HE LOVED HIS PRIUS!