Need Opinions--best length of RV for State/Federal Park camping? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Linda3612 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Need Opinions--best length of RV for State/Federal Park camping?

jlb27537 · RV-Dreams Family Member

In 2000 we had a 36' 5th, was tight in some spots, next we decided on a 35' actual length pusher. Used it for 7 years. I could get it into everywhere. This 5th is 35' 11" and with a 4 door 8' box truck is a bit long for some NFS campgrounds. But it will work.

If you are considering NFS, State Parks and Federal Parks, I would strongly recommend the trailer not be over 35/36'

Now if you are using commercial parks, length is not a issue.

Some State Parks and COE Parks in our part of the country, Arkansas and Missouri have Parks that will fit long rigs. One of our Favorite is COE, Mill Creek on Table Rock Lake. The Pines Campground on Beaver lake is another favorite. But, once you go past 35' you start limiting your self.

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have a 38 foot 5th wheel and feel we need that to have enough room for both of to work and live, maybe if we were retired, we could try a smaller space.

We've managed to stay in 3 COE campgrounds, 2 National Forests, 8 State Parks and 4 county parks in the last year. We do NOT fit everywhere, but do a lot of research in advance. We've also found that if we want to be somewhere at a certain time there might be limited number of sites that we fit into, we make reservations in advance. I realize a lot of people don't want to make reservations, if we know for sure work is taking us to a specific area, we don't mind reserving to get the site we want that we will fit into.

DebbieM · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are 39 ft and have been full time for 8 months now. We stay in state/fed/COE type parks too. We have had almost no problems. I always check and then look at google satellite view also to see about width of spaces, roads and to see if there are lots of trees near the spot. It does limit us on some but there is usually several that are over 35' We don't usually make reservations, but if there are just a few spots and the campground is fairly full, we'll go ahead and make a reservation. I'm glad we have the trailer we have and would buy it again. There are so many state campgrounds out there, you'll find something. And in the case that there isn't, there is boondocking or private campgrounds.

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

More and more public parks are upgrading to accommodate larger rigs. But there's still quite a few out there with length restrictions, or limited options. 35' for our motorhome was our absolute largest we would go and still feel like we had more options. There are places we can't go, and places where if we were larger we wouldn't be able to go either. Basically, with every foot... you lose a bit of options. But not all. We've been able to get into lots of places without problem with our 35' narrow body motorhome. But our friends in larger setups do as well.

It's always a balance between livable space and the places you can go. For us, 35' has been a sweet spot.

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome to the forum!!!

It seems to me that the public parks out East tend to be smaller than the ones out West, so it will also depend on where you'll be traveling the most. Like others have said, the bigger RV you have the more restrictions there'll be when finding a park.

Jim

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

While it seems that some of the public parks out West tend to have larger spots, but careful in the areas with lots of trees. Western WA has been especially problematic on that aspect, we had a "pull thru" site that was 60+ feet, had to back into it from the exit side because there was no way we could make the curve around the tree. Research, research, research!!

Linda3612 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks everyone for all of the information. It's so nice to be able to get answers from people who have actually done this. We are both looking forward to traveling and seeing our beautiful country.

Linda and John

Cliffs Edge · RV-Dreams Community Member

We just returned to Mpls after an 11 month journey. The majority of our camping was in the lands you are interested in. Some tight spots but we made it unscathed. We have a 32ft fifth wheel.

Barbaraok · RV-Dreams Family Member

Don't buy your rig because you "intend to do something" because often that just won't be the case. We settled for 37' because we thought we would use a lot of state parks. Turns out, state parks are as expensive, if not more expensive, than a lot of private parks and a lot of states charge extra ($5/day or more) for a toad unless you buy one of their 'annual' passes. Plus most states have gone to online reservations, which means that by the 2nd or 3rd of January the Friday-Sunday sites from Memorial Day to Labor Day are already booked, and people don't cancel their reservations because to them a one-night's fee isn't that much if it starts to rain.

We do use a lot of COE parks if in an area where they are and they always seem to have sights that can handle any size RV. Plus we get the ½ discount because we have the Senior Pass.

Barb

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

Listen carefully to Barb.

While you may be one that ONLY likes State parks and will use them regularly, I can't tell you the last time I was in one - or wanted to be. We do use COE parks, though. State parks are typically more than we want to pay when we can find an equivalent COE or private park. I certainly would not "greatly" modify my 24/7/365 HOME for the occasional use of a facility. But that is just us....for others that may be incredibly important.

I will point out that Howard and LInda DO use state parks a fair amount....and they have a 40' unit. And for those times that I "want to" I have gotten my 45' unit into equivalent parks...you just have to check them out first.

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

If we have an idea where we're going, I use Google Earth to look at the campgrounds and roads we'll be using. If I see a 5th wheel, longer motorcoach, or a dually truck in the pics, then we're generally good. There have been a few sites that we reserved that we couldn't get into, but there were other sites available that we could. Never an issue of not finding somewhere to stay. We are 63' overall, 38' of RV, the rest is converted semi truck, 13'4" tall.