Campsite Length Restrictions for MH
DW and I are planning to go full time in 2-4 years when we retire. We've been told to buy our new MH 1-2 years out so we can work out all the bugs before hitting the road. So are trying to do our d...
Forum Discussion
Once again, and I've stated this often, you most definitely can fit into national parks, national forests, state parks, Corp of Engineer, county and city parks. We've done it all during our 16 years of full-timing with our 40' motorhome. I think those that say "no" haven't tried.
Granted, you will not fit in all of them but neither will a 25' RV fit in all. We've seen parks with a 16' limit.
Also, we've found the Midwest and western parks have the most opportunities for big rigs, not the northeast and eastern states. In those states you'll just use alternatives. . . no big deal once in a while.
We've used public parks in Florida, Alabama and up to Michigan and in every state westward. We've also used Canada and the Yukon's Provincial parks and Alaska's public parks. We've gotten our 40' in some gorgeous boondocking spots along a river or lake.
Many national forest campgrounds have been renovated with paved sites and even hookups. Some national parks even have full hookups or at least electric and give a size up to a 40' RV. There is absolutely no difference in fitting into a site between a 38' or 40'. We've even fit in sites stated for 35'.
Don't get hung up on the site size that you may read in a description. We found those to be an average, not a given. We volunteered in Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park and one of our duties was to examine every campsite and make a chart to be used for site assignments of what size RV would fit in what site. The rangers were amazed at how their old chart was so different. We found many more sites that would hold a 40' RV.
You do have to do your research though but we've never found when we got to a campground that we have researched that we couldn't fit. We always did.
What's nice about a motorhome towing a vehicle is if you're not sure if you should drive down that 10-mile gravel road and into that forest service campground, all you do is unhook the vehicle at a store or even on a wide shoulder on the highway, and drive your vehicle to the site to make sure everything checks out.
Without reservations (as we very rarely made them) we have fit into Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Zion, Bryce, Glacier, Big Bend, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon and many public parks too numerous to mention. We've fit in many coastal state parks in Oregon and forest service campgrounds in California. State parks in California? No, and besides there are other nicer public parks in California than the state parks. We've used every single Arizona state park along with awesome county parks. It can be done!
Granted, you will not fit in all of them but neither will a 25' RV fit in all. We've seen parks with a 16' limit.
Also, we've found the Midwest and western parks have the most opportunities for big rigs, not the northeast and eastern states. In those states you'll just use alternatives. . . no big deal once in a while.
We've used public parks in Florida, Alabama and up to Michigan and in every state westward. We've also used Canada and the Yukon's Provincial parks and Alaska's public parks. We've gotten our 40' in some gorgeous boondocking spots along a river or lake.
Many national forest campgrounds have been renovated with paved sites and even hookups. Some national parks even have full hookups or at least electric and give a size up to a 40' RV. There is absolutely no difference in fitting into a site between a 38' or 40'. We've even fit in sites stated for 35'.
Don't get hung up on the site size that you may read in a description. We found those to be an average, not a given. We volunteered in Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park and one of our duties was to examine every campsite and make a chart to be used for site assignments of what size RV would fit in what site. The rangers were amazed at how their old chart was so different. We found many more sites that would hold a 40' RV.
You do have to do your research though but we've never found when we got to a campground that we have researched that we couldn't fit. We always did.
What's nice about a motorhome towing a vehicle is if you're not sure if you should drive down that 10-mile gravel road and into that forest service campground, all you do is unhook the vehicle at a store or even on a wide shoulder on the highway, and drive your vehicle to the site to make sure everything checks out.
Without reservations (as we very rarely made them) we have fit into Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Zion, Bryce, Glacier, Big Bend, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon and many public parks too numerous to mention. We've fit in many coastal state parks in Oregon and forest service campgrounds in California. State parks in California? No, and besides there are other nicer public parks in California than the state parks. We've used every single Arizona state park along with awesome county parks. It can be done!
