I've seen the various discussions about the RV length and getting into federal/state parks, etc. I understand that if you have a bigger rig you can typically find something nearby if the specific park or area your interested in cannot accommodate you.I know that I can pick areas of interest and then look up length restrictions one at a time.I'm wondering if there is a comprehensive list out there somewhere. Ideally a list of some state and federal parks and the max RV length for each.

This "MYTH" comes up every now and again...that's exactly what it is..a myth. Our rig is 45' which is pretty much the longest coach out there. That said, we've been all over this beautiful country and have not found that to be true. We stay in State Parks, Federal Lands, Corps of Engineers Parks, (our favorite BTW), Elks Lodges and small county parks. As I type this, we are in a COE park in Washington. From here we are headed to a 35 space county park in Oregon. Sure there are a limited number of spaces we can fit in but we've not found a park that did not have a space for our rig. We do make reservations ahead of time and often will call the park to make sure they have a site large enough, but we've never had someone say nope, you're too big. There are some private cgs that indicate on their web page they are not big rig friendly but we simply ignore those.Now here's the deal. To answer your question, many, if not most parks are constantly changing and improving their cgs. Much of the improvements are adding 50amp service and enlarging their sites. Many sites were designed for smaller coaches with zero slides. This made the sites short and narrow. To accommodate the influx of coaches that have slides, the spaces needed to be enlarged. It costs very little to make them longer if you're already making them wider. Does that make sense>? So, if someone were to make a list, and you can buy the "Big Rig" book but that list, like the book is out of date before it goes to press. Sure many of the sites in the book and/or list would be valid but there are many other sites out there that you'd be missing.I hope this answered your question....Dennis

X2 on what Dennis said although we are only half timers... he is FT. We are only 42' and usually stay in USFS CGs that do not take reservations. My favorite USFS CG in the Tetons says 28' max and that is probably true of all but two of the sites. One of those anyone could get into, but the other takes some skill. By arriving late Sunday or early Monday most of the . weekenders have gone home vastly increasing your chances of finding a site big enough. I cannot remember in the last 5-6 years not getting into my first choice CG. Granted with google maps/earth you can take a pretty good look before you get there.13 years ago because of post on here on this subject I bought a used 36' DP. Did not take long to realize 36' MAX was BS so traded for a 40' single slide. Once we became half timers bought current rig with four slides. I always post about this subject: Buy more RV than you think you need... ONE TIME and not like me.OP, are you thinking of coming over to the dark side from the trailer side? I do not know of any accurate resources other than google maps. That said, I usually use www.UScampgrounds.info to find sites as it gives you elevation and lets you zoom in to see. PS: I've owned this rig 11 years so three RVs in less than three years is expensive. I also built my MH bay large enough to hold a 45' although I plan on keeping this rig another 11+ years.

Two times I wished We had a shorter coach. once at Old Faithful parking lot, we got boxed in by cars in the parking lot, and could not turn short enough to get out. we waited 30 minutes for a couple cars to move. The second was at Mt Rushmore, I was required to parallel park the coach. I find parking lots are the worst place to have any big rig, never a problem in getting a camp space.

California has such a list. Speaking from experience, it is typically the roads, not the individual sites, that will limit the size of the rig. Having watched an RV too big for the roads do quite a bit of damage trying to navigate them, I would defer to California's knowledge. Always check with a towed if you are unsure.

Executive wrote:This "MYTH" comes up every now and again...that's exactly what it is..a myth. Our rig is 45' which is pretty much the longest coach out there. That said, we've been all over this beautiful country and have not found that to be true.I did a quick check of Yellowstone park. (Yellowstone RV Info)It seems like there's a 40' limit there. I realize you can go outside the park to a private CG. My issue is trying to understand what I'm giving up in flexibility for comfort. Hopefully you're familiar with the area and options for your rig.There's Eagle Creek (BLM?) with what appears to be a 40 foot limit as well. There's a KOA outside the park in Cody. So in that area - with an incomplete look - it seems like 40 feet gets you way more options vs 45 feet. Are you familiar with this area, and can you share some options where 45 feet works?Ivylog wrote:13 years ago because of post on here on this subject I bought a used 36' DP. Did not take long to realize 36' MAX was BS so traded for a 40' single slide. Once we became half timers bought current rig with four slides. I always post about this subject: Buy more RV than you think you need... ONE TIME and not like me.This is exactly the exercise I'm working through now. We have a 35 foot (bumper to bumer) TT, so this help us with getting a feeling for what we want in terms of living space. I've run into some issue with this TT (Limited sites - always booked in advance, can't fit in Acadia - but lots of options outside the park, etc.).I'm using the forums to gather info, but want to make the decision based on actual data. We may go as far as to compile a list of 50-100 places we intend to visit and check them out one at a time.Ivylog wrote:OP, are you thinking of coming over to the dark side from the trailer side?That's the plan. I really like the idea of being able to set up camp at the place of interest without having to drive an hour or more to get to our ultimate destination. This is especially true for a long stay. I don't want to feel like I'm commuting to my destination. We'd like to do some hiking and exploring of the national and state parks while we are still able. Ideally there would be a lot of places where we could set up and hike or bike/hike right from the campsite. Right now we have a 35 foot bumper to bumper trailer. I think that would be about a 33 foot motorhome. We need a larger bath and bedroom vs what we have now. Based on the floorplans and units that we've seen so far we're going to be at a minimum of 34-37 feet. So even if it turns out that 30 feet or less is the "magic number" we won't go below our minimum size.It also seems that there's a good jump in the interior spaciousness when you jump from a 2 axle rig to a 3 axle one ( greater than 37 feet). We are taking that into account too. This is why I'm trying to go through this exercise of the trade off of length vs flexibility.Ivylog wrote: I do not know of any accurate resources other than google maps. That said, I usually use www.UScampgrounds.info to find sites as it gives you elevation and lets you zoom in to see. This is helpful - thanks.

Any Length Restriction Resources? | Good Sam Community

xctraveler
Explorer
Sep 04, 2015
Dockwiler CG in LA on the beach has a 37 foot max and they fine for anything that extends over the painted line that is 37 feet from the stop post. Have seen 40 footers in an end spot sharply angled on their site such that nothing extends over the back line or side lines. Tow'd needs to parked in overflow parking.

Many would say why would yo stay there anyhow, but we enjoy looking out over the beach and being relatively close to our son's place in LA. 30 min if traffic isn't horrendous. There isn't even an Elks lodge closer.
tropical36
Explorer
Sep 04, 2015
2gypsies wrote:
We had a 40' motorhome that we put on 40' advertised sites and also in many sites that weren't stated as for a 40'. Even with the 40' advertised sites, many times we had a lot of excess space for the Jeep and sometimes we had to be creative parking the Jeep - angling it on the parking site. You just never know when a site is advertised as 40' exactily how long they are.

I've seen them measured to a back stop, without any consideration to the hangover, so plenty more room with these, as well. Also hangover over the measured graveled space for the wheels in some cases, works wonders.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Sep 03, 2015
We had a 40' motorhome that we put on 40' advertised sites and also in many sites that weren't stated as for a 40'. Even with the 40' advertised sites, many times we had a lot of excess space for the Jeep and sometimes we had to be creative parking the Jeep - angling it on the parking site. You just never know when a site is advertised as 40' exactily how long they are.
TriumphGuy
Explorer
Sep 03, 2015
mrekim wrote:

Ivylog wrote:

OP, are you thinking of coming over to the dark side from the trailer side?

That's the plan....

Not to get too far off topic but one reason we are planning to go from 5er to MH is that our 35' 5er + truck is over 50ft. I've realized that these "up to 40 feet" sites are sometimes hard to get into (at least for me) because I'm not considering the total length of what I'm trying to move into the site, but only think of my 35' 5er instead.

My thinking is that a 35' MH should be easier just from the standpoint that I'm "only" backing in a total length of 35' vs my trailer + truck.

My $0.02 :)
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Sep 02, 2015
We never went solely on the term "big rig friendly". A big rig means different things to others. To someone with a 27' trailer, big might be a 32' trailer.
mrekim
Explorer
Sep 01, 2015
Ivylog wrote:

We usually Boonedock five days a week and then travel and resupply on the weekends. We will call ahead on Saturday and make a reservation at a private campground so that we can dump and resupply our water and do laundry. With 100 gallons of water we do not cut back on its use and have to run the generator two hours a day to charge the batteries while boondocking. The smaller the unit the smaller the tanks. For FT I'd want at least 5000lbs of CCC.

Thanks for this additional info as well. I've got homework to do on CCC, basement space, Axle ratings, etc.

~100 gallons of water, ~60 gallons grey and ~40 gallons black seems to be pretty standard. Is this close the configuration that's working well for you?

Executive wrote:
To answer your question, many cgs show a 'limit' of 40'. In fact, if you go to RPI's site you'll see most of their CGs limit of 40'. Very few California State Parks offer sites for 45'. However, IF you call and ask you'll find there are spaces available. We've yet to be denied because of length and we've been to about 90% of their SPs.

Thanks for the clarification. This is helpful. I've also seen the opposite. At Acadia in Maine they said they had spots for our 35 foot TT with opposing slides. We didn't stay there, but we walked the campground and there weren't many sites that looked promising. I'm glad we opted for a site outside the park instead in that case.

So far it's looking like 35' isn't really a magic size and most places that you can go with 35 you can go with 40 or even 45 with some good advanced planning (early reservations, etc.).

TechWriter wrote:

A few years ago I compiled data on all the Federal Parks and State Paks.

The results are by state, not park.

This is fantastic! Thanks for sharing. It's a great overview.
tropical36
Explorer
Aug 30, 2015
mrekim wrote:
I've seen the various discussions about the RV length and getting into federal/state parks, etc.

I understand that if you have a bigger rig you can typically find something nearby if the specific park or area your interested in cannot accommodate you.

I know that I can pick areas of interest and then look up length restrictions one at a time.

I'm wondering if there is a comprehensive list out there somewhere. Ideally a list of some state and federal parks and the max RV length for each.

Besides all that's been said, a few white lies will get you even more sites to choose from. For example, it you're 36ft like me and the limit is 34ft, say you're 34ft. In years of travel, I've never had a site that I couldn't fit in. Not saying that I always do this, but when having a 2 ft. hitch haul on the back, I still said I was 36ft and not once did I not fit in an assigned space.
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
Aug 30, 2015
Allstays Camp&RV has a option to select only Big Rig Friendly sites. This doesn't cover many of the points raised here but at least listed sites should be OK.

I use this app on my phone and with it's many filter options it's my first choice for CG lookup. I often look at sites on the map, click on one and if interested just click on the phone number to call them.
TechWriter
Explorer
Aug 30, 2015
mrekim wrote:

I'm wondering if there is a comprehensive list out there somewhere. Ideally a list of some state and federal parks and the max RV length for each.

A few years ago I compiled data on all the Federal Parks and State Paks.

The results are by state, not park.
Kaz
Explorer
Aug 30, 2015
As you might have gathered, the issue is more complicated than you might think. As is clear from the posts above, some locations that announce length limits are actually OK even for the biggest rigs. And some that don't announce limits would be a total bear for anything but the smallest rigs. And length limits for the site may be different than practical realities of negotiating the campground roads.

One would think that our little pipsqueak 31' motorhome would be fine just about everywhere, but we went to Anastasia State Park in Florida earlier this year, and at least for the loop we were in, I wouldn't want to venture in with anything much bigger than that. Same experience a few months ago at Land Between the Lakes. When we pulled in, the campground guy said, "Let me see if I've got something available that'll work better than the one you reserved..." Not a good omen, even though online the indicated length was more than adequate, but he was right: despite my careful research, the site I picked would not have worked very well.

The bottom line is that published references (online and otherwise) are just one piece of evidence, not the final verdict. For me at least, it takes a little more research and then a happy disposition if things don't exactly work out as planned.

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