how do national parks measure the length of a 5th wheel?

EPenney wrote:

At Grover Hot Springs SP, they have lines painted on the pavement at the entry kiosk that are 24' apart, and if your hitched trailer length measured from rear bumper of TV to rear bumper of trailer does not fit within the lines, you are not allowed entry. Don't believe me? Call the park ranger at (530) 694-2248. About 10 years ago when I had a 26' TT, I was refused entry to the campgrounds there. While there are plenty of sites in the CG that a 28' to 35' trailer will fit in, the CG roads are narrow with sharp turns, and lined with a lot of boulders and trees.

Yikes, I didn't mean to challenge your information. I've just never heard of that system of measurement. I agree many, many National and State Parks have limitations but I've just never heard trailers being measured that way.

Poppy's 5th Wheel wrote:

ed6713 wrote:
A question.
Who here has *personally* , that is no hearsay, not a conversation overheard in the barbershop, but personally had someone from the campground break out a tape measure and measure your rig.

In over 35 years of camping I have never had that happen nor have I ever had someone tell me it really happened to them.

Urban legend me thinks.

It's on my list of stuff to worry about but I'm afraid it's in last place.

I'm right there with ya!

At Grover Hot Springs SP, they have lines painted on the pavement at the entry kiosk that are 24' apart, and if your hitched trailer length measured from rear bumper of TV to rear bumper of trailer does not fit within the lines, you are not allowed entry. Don't believe me? Call the park ranger at (530) 694-2248. About 10 years ago when I had a 26' TT, I was refused entry to the campgrounds there. While there are plenty of sites in the CG that a 28' to 35' trailer will fit in, the CG roads are narrow with sharp turns, and lined with a lot of boulders and trees.

Look up "Titanium RV" to see the problem with truck bumper to trailer bumper as a measurement.

I have five feet of trailer extended FORWARD of the pin, out over the cab of the truck, even with a long bed.

Bumper to bumper is about 24' while the trailer alone is 36'-10" overall.

ed6713 wrote:
A question.
Who here has *personally* , that is no hearsay, not a conversation overheard in the barbershop, but personally had someone from the campground break out a tape measure and measure your rig.

In over 35 years of camping I have never had that happen nor have I ever had someone tell me it really happened to them.

Urban legend me thinks.

It's on my list of stuff to worry about but I'm afraid it's in last place.

I'm right there with ya!

A question.
Who here has *personally* , that is no hearsay, not a conversation overheard in the barbershop, but personally had someone from the campground break out a tape measure and measure your rig.

In over 35 years of camping I have never had that happen nor have I ever had someone tell me it really happened to them.

Urban legend me thinks.

It's on my list of stuff to worry about but I'm afraid it's in last place.

EPenney wrote:
The Calif State Parks have varying max length restrictions for trailers. The length is based on distance from rear bumper of the TV to the rear bumper of the trailer. So a hitched 28' 5ver that measures 23'-11" from rear bumper of TV to rear bumper of the 5ver will be allowed where the park's max trailer length is 24'.

Ya - not their problem if the bedroom of your 5th wheel is sticking out on the road ;)

Colorado rounds to the nearest 5'. You can push it by backing way up on the pad to your axles, but you can't count on it being clear back there. There may be posts or rocks that prevent you from doing that. Bigger problem for us is the trees - I've had to lose many reserved sites that had enough length, but our slides wouldn't open or the trees were too low for the roof height. I've learned to use satellite view on Google Maps to at least get an idea of what is there before I get there.

EPenney wrote:
The Calif State Parks have varying max length restrictions for trailers. The length is based on distance from rear bumper of the TV to the rear bumper of the trailer. So a hitched 28' 5ver that measures 23'-11" from rear bumper of TV to rear bumper of the 5ver will be allowed where the park's max trailer length is 24'.

Well that's interesting. I've never heard that before. Why would they disregard the rest of the length of the trailer? My trailer is 34' but measured this way it would be considered only 30'. Hmm

The Calif State Parks have varying max length restrictions for trailers. The length is based on distance from rear bumper of the TV to the rear bumper of the trailer. So a hitched 28' 5ver that measures 23'-11" from rear bumper of TV to rear bumper of the 5ver will be allowed where the park's max trailer length is 24'.

The good thing about most national and state parks is that a lot of people visit them. We have always been able to locate a private RV Park within an acceptable driving distance from the National or State Park. Private RV Parks tend to have wider access roads and sites to accomodate larger RVs.

We park our 38ft 5th wheel at the private park and drive our truck into the Nat'l/State park to see the sights.

Since I live in Southern California an acceptable driving distance for me is up to an hour away. I drive 6 miles to work every day and it takes 45 minutes in traffic.

Over many years I have seen that many campgrounds, whether National or State, may list a site for 30ft but when you see it it may look much longer.

What I have learned is unit length limitations are often more about being able to get the rig in the site. Earlier someone mentioned Yosemite as an example of a park with stricter, shorter limits and the biggest limitations there is the campground access roads. The older parks have some very narrow roads and the best backing trailer, 5th wheel and even MH drivers just can't squeeze into them without hitting boulders, trees, other camper's vehicles or something. Unless you pull into a National or State Park with a super gigantic rig, the policing of the length will be more about whether you can get in to the site you have reserved without damaging anything and if you remain fully within the site, both trailer and TV.

I think as many of these campgrounds are refurbished, and they do occasionally realigned them, they seem to be accommodating for these longer rigs. I have personally seen this.