National parks for long 5ers?

Depending where you are going, if you are reserving a site online, you may need to put in a smaller site size than the total length of your rv. For instance if you have a 35' long rv and the largest site is 30', then you will probably fit as long as there is no rear obstruction. You will probably have about 10' of overhang behind your back wheels. Thus keeping you on the pavement (if there is any). You can always back up to the edge if possible and have enough room.

But as others mentioned, they do sometimes post limits on size. Bt I don't think they are gonna get a ruler out.

Veebyes wrote:

skipnchar wrote:
Not sure where you're getting your information but my 34 footer has only ONCE found a national park campground that would not let us in due to length. That one place was Mt Rainier national park which limits length to 28 feet (for some reason) but not knowing this I took a tour of the entire campground, selected a site that left about 20 feet extra length and backed in. when I'd finished setting up and went to pay, I was told my trailer was too long and I'd have to leave. When I asked why they said it was not possible to get a trailer that long into the campground :H It wasn't hard getting in and it wasn't hard getting out so SOMEONE is nuts. Other than that one instance we've never had an issue camping at National Parks all over the nation. Where it's worked for us
Yellowstone - Glacier - Grand Tetons - Olympic - Rockey Mountain - Grand Canyon - Smokey Mountain - Shenandoah - Acadia - Sand Dunes (Colorado) - Messa Verde - Zion - Flaming Gorge - a lot of others.

Looks like you tried to stay in the same CG we stayed in about a month ago. Sign at the entrance says "over 32' Don't drive down". We chose to not see it & went down, drove around the first loop, saw maybe 6 sites which would have worked for us, a couple occupied by TC & small Cs but a nice one next to the river empty. It took some vehicular gymnastics which entertained a neighbouring camper to get in but once in there was plenty of room.

This was early season & the office was not open. Ranger came by & congratulated us on getting in. Our LOA pin to bumper is just under 36'. There are those who will argue that size does not matter, blah, blah, blah. Oh yes it does. A good driver & especially a good director matters too. The larger you are spaces available in NPs & SPs rapidly decrease especially in parks where there is no policy of RV size to site size enforcement.

I guess we do things a little different, I find a spot I know I'll fit in and then when walking the pooch, we look at other sites and make notes about which ones we like and can fit in.

Just like if I see a sign that says 10' clearance I don't keep driving to see if my 12' high RV will fit through. :B

rr2254545 wrote:

RVcrazy wrote:
Where do you fit? In looking at various camping guides, it looks like we won't fit anywhere if we buy a 35' fiver... We would like to take advantage of the reduced rates, but it looks like options are limited. Any place you found that works for you?

Some saleperson must be feeding you bunk. With a 35 and a 36 ft RV we have fit into lots of places

I would think a salesperson would tell them they could fit a 45' DP in them and not make them think there are any limits.

RVcrazy wrote:
Where do you fit? In looking at various camping guides, it looks like we won't fit anywhere if we buy a 35' fiver... We would like to take advantage of the reduced rates, but it looks like options are limited. Any place you found that works for you?

Some saleperson must be feeding you bunk. With a 35 and a 36 ft RV we have fit into lots of places

pinesman wrote:
I can only speak for the right side of the country, primarily the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway You will not be able to get into every site but there will be sites in the park that you can get into.

I will agree to this. We drove through several on the BRP in NC and while ther might of been a few sites that our TT would fit in, the options were not great. We might be able to get the TT in, but trying to park the truck here was out of the question as most of them say you can't park on the grass. One reason, we chose the class c instead. About 3' shorter that the TT in total length but only about a foot shorter in living space. But the living space is better suited for us.

Our 35'fifth wheel fits into most State & National Parks. We've stayed several times at st. Andrews SP and I always book a 30' site and we fit in it just fine.

I agree with skipnchar. There are some campgrounds in the national parks that limit the length, but most don't. The longer you are the fewer sites that will work so arrive early in the day if you are not going to a reservation park. The number of slides you have need to be considered as well. We have found sites that allowed us to stay hooked up. The truck and trailer measure 50 feet. Check on the actual measurement of the fifth wheel. If you measure at more than 50 and do not unhook you will have problems finding sites.

check out Rv Dreams

They have a wonderful website with lots of info. They travel in a large 5th wheel and have visited many national parks. Check out their campground reviews for detailed info.

skipnchar wrote:
Not sure where you're getting your information but my 34 footer has only ONCE found a national park campground that would not let us in due to length. That one place was Mt Rainier national park which limits length to 28 feet (for some reason) but not knowing this I took a tour of the entire campground, selected a site that left about 20 feet extra length and backed in. when I'd finished setting up and went to pay, I was told my trailer was too long and I'd have to leave. When I asked why they said it was not possible to get a trailer that long into the campground :H It wasn't hard getting in and it wasn't hard getting out so SOMEONE is nuts. Other than that one instance we've never had an issue camping at National Parks all over the nation. Where it's worked for us
Yellowstone - Glacier - Grand Tetons - Olympic - Rockey Mountain - Grand Canyon - Smokey Mountain - Shenandoah - Acadia - Sand Dunes (Colorado) - Messa Verde - Zion - Flaming Gorge - a lot of others.

Looks like you tried to stay in the same CG we stayed in about a month ago. Sign at the entrance says "over 32' Don't drive down". We chose to not see it & went down, drove around the first loop, saw maybe 6 sites which would have worked for us, a couple occupied by TC & small Cs but a nice one next to the river empty. It took some vehicular gymnastics which entertained a neighbouring camper to get in but once in there was plenty of room.

This was early season & the office was not open. Ranger came by & congratulated us on getting in. Our LOA pin to bumper is just under 36'. There are those who will argue that size does not matter, blah, blah, blah. Oh yes it does. A good driver & especially a good director matters too. The larger you are spaces available in NPs & SPs rapidly decrease especially in parks where there is no policy of RV size to site size enforcement.

I can only speak for the right side of the country, primarily the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway You will not be able to get into every site but there will be sites in the park that you can get into.