fla-gypsy wrote: Every indiviidual campground has it's own set of limitations based on it's unique characteristics. There is no "one size fits all" limitation for all campgrounds in a geographic region.
x2. There are campgrounds in Oregon that anything over about 20' would be a problem, and others that have 70' pads and wide enough for two trailers with slides. Our trailer is 35'. What I've found is that if the CG has full hookup sites, it's never been a problem for me. If it has water/elec, might be a problem and I call and ask. If it has no hookups, I always call and ask. If it is an RV Park, it's never been a problem. But 35' does limit my choice of site in many camgrounds.
FS campgrounds w/o any hookups are often off limits to us, many were built with tents in mind and nothing else. FS campgrounds with water/electric hookups or newer upgraded sites and are on a reservation list we can often get into but not always. Again, I call in advance and talk to a ranger, they will usually be able to give you an idea if you will fit.
At 35' you are limiting your choice of CG and GC sites. even at 25' you will be limiting yourself somewhat. We knew that going in and decided we would live with loosing some of our nice CG places. If your goal is camping in remote secluded sites, you'll be limiting yourself more than if your goal is finding a nice CG in the area you want to camp.
2011 Keystone Outback 295RE
2004 14' bikehauler with full living quarters
2004.5 Silverado 4x4 CC/SB Duramax/Allison
At Carpinteria State Beach each row has a differnt length 21,24, and 30. You might beable to get a 24 footer in a 21 foot spot because you might beable to back up far enough to put the tires next to the curb. I said might because it all depends on the trees. One this is for sure at that camp ground is you better not be over the line next to the road or you will be told to move and if there is no spot avialble that you can fit in ol well on down the road you go.
2000 Ford F-350 SRW 4X4 PSD Jayco Super Lite 29.5RKS (31') 5th wheel 50 gal X-ferflow in the bed tank. Banks big exhaust and Stinger kit.
There is always a size limit that keeps something larger from using a campground, portion of a campground, or a specific site. I've been in campgrounds with some sites limited to 18 feet or less, and others with 100 foot long pullthru sites.
The smaller your rig, the more places you will fit. In campground settings, more so than RV parks, height also becomes an issue.
With a rear-loading toy-hauler, you have another issue. You need room to get the ramp down, and drive the toys out. You might fit OK in a 35-foot back-in pad, except you might be backing up to a tree, the parking site behind you, or a steep drop-off. When making reservations, make your requirements clear.
An example, a 60-site CG I went into at a western NP, about half of the sites were suitable for nothing larger than a pop-up trailer or a van conversion. About one-third could fit a 24 to 30 foot motorhome or travel trailer; I backed into one of those, steep drop-off behind me. There were six "pull off alongside the road" sites that would handle a combination 60 to 80 feet long, i.e. a big fiver and tow vehicle, or a long motorhome and towed vehicle. So at your size, you'd have a 10% chance that an empty site might fit. Someone with an 18-foot camper van or a VW camper, that chance is 100%.
* This post was
edited 04/14/12 11:50am by tatest *
There’s so much variation it’s hard to answer. But speaking in generalities, AZ state parks have a 35’ limit and many in CA are 30’. No problem with commercial parks, but for the most part you can forget national forests. I spend most of my time in them and my perception is that 25’ is about maxed out and even they have a lot of restrictions. That wouldn’t stop you from boondocking close to the road on the periphery of an area though as long as you could maneuver the road.
This is a question that needed to be asked before you bought. We are mostly campers and we could get our 25 into just about every fed and state campground. Now that we have a 30 we are much more limited and have to do a lot more research on sites. But now we stay as much in RV parks longer so it is a tradeoff. Public campgrounds are getting much better about posting size limits on the web all the time.
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Rick n Andi
That would really depend on the campground you'll be staying at. There are some campgrounds in those states where they pretty much have a limit on the size of the RVs that they will allow inside because the bigger ones won't fit. Best to check with the campground before making a reservation or heading over there if they haven't specified it in their website.
The published size limits I've seen in Tn were 30 ft in State Parks and the Smokies.
In Canada it seems to be much the same. One particular park in the Boundary Area Canoe Waters was really dissapointing for us. They saidd we could get our 32 Fifth wheel in but we like to never even manuvered around the trees, on the road to just get out. One little mark on the left side near the rear from the experience. All the RVs there were less than 30 ft, several years ago.
down home wrote: The published size limits I've seen in Tn were 30 ft in State Parks and the Smokies.
In Canada it seems to be much the same. One particular park in the Boundary Area Canoe Waters was really dissapointing for us. They saidd we could get our 32 Fifth wheel in but we like to never even manuvered around the trees, on the road to just get out. One little mark on the left side near the rear from the experience. All the RVs there were less than 30 ft, several years ago.
Been in three state parks in Tn this year with a 37 ft motorhome, never had an issue or even close. Davey Crockett, Davey Birthplace and Cumberland.
Good idea to buy the 2012 Woodall's campground directory as a starting point. In California the Tom Stienstra book is excellent and of the sites I was reviewing this week about 75% had a maximum RV length of 22 feet. For the most part only the private campgrounds had unlimited length spaces available. Too few to mention had pull through sites to make it easy for people with trailers.
If you think about it a 25' long truck with a 5th wheel is going to take as much space as two 22' RV sites so with a limited amount of space the people that lay out the campsites are going to go with the smaller sites so they can fit in more RV's and accommodate more campers. No one likes to cut down the trees in an area to make it easier for Class A motorhomes or 5th wheelers to fit into the sites. But if the trees were never there or have already been bulldozed into oblivion then there is no problem.
Obviously the longer the RV the fewer spaces are likely to be a fit at a given campground and the greater the odds of those few spaces already having been taken by the time you arrive or try to make a reservation.
At least in California most of the campgrounds are segregated with RV, tent, and walk-in areas. I remember arriving at a state beach campground at Pismo Beach with a friend. We had our bicycles and sleeping bags and camping gear and had traveled 130 miles that day on our way down the coast but we were turned away by the park rangers who told us that the campground was full. This campground is popular with dune buggy enthusiasts so the average camp space had a large RV with a trailer with a dune buggy or two, and we definitely did not fit the Pismo Beach camper profile.
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