How long of a trailer is too long?

4x4crazy wrote:
We are located in northern California and most of our camping will be in California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona areas.

It's really not necessary to worry about fitting in campgrounds. No, you won't fit in every one but neither will a 20'. There are plenty of options within the same vicinity.

We stayed in all the above states you mentioned with a 40' motorhome towing the Jeep. Absolutely no problems. Do your research first. We've stayed in mostly public parks or boondocked on national forest or BLM lands and also includes national parks, national forest campgrounds, city and county parks. Believe me, you won't have a problem. Get the one that you'd be most comfortable in.

Our biggest issue since "moving up" last year has actually been our height vs our length. Our TH is 38', plus the long truck. Height is just over 13'. Toyhaulers in general are taller, our last one was a bumper pull that was almost 12. Length is usually pretty easy to work around.... you can check out stuff like satellite view on Google Maps to look for obstacles like ill placed boulders, tight turns etc, or just see what the campground limits are for lengths. But what you generally don't know until you get there is if there's low hanging branches that you can't avoid, stuff like that. We got some good scratches on our first trip in the 5er because the campground we were doing our shake down trip at had some larger rocks (not quite boulders) strategically placed right where we needed to drive to swing out to avoid the tree next to our campsite when we were leaving.

In the end, we eventually want to get something smaller as a second camper to use for quick weekend trips, as it is difficult to find somewhere last minute that can accommodate our size here in CO. Probably just like a 20' travel trailer or truck camper or something. If we plan ahead we don't have any issues finding spots.

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
I have seen pro drivers easily fit long trailers into sites claimed for shorter, seen untrained, inexperienced, drivers struggle with short trailers into easy long sites.

As longer trailers are easier to maneuver, that's a bit deceptive.

And often it's not the length of the site and trailer that makes it difficult, it is the angle of access and/or obstacles.

My first time out with my 20ft trailer, I backed into a campsite in one shot. When I got out, the camphost, who had been watching me, said he was impressed because he had had pros who couldn't get into that site. Fast forward with my 12ft trailer and I had a much more difficult time. With the first combo, the lengths of the trailer and tow vehicle were at the perfect ratio for the site so I simply slid in. This time, the ratio was different and I had to do more maneuvering to keep them both in line with the site and away from the obstacles. The lenght of the actual site wouldn't have made a difference - it was how access to the site was set up that made it difficult.

Heck, the truck I tow with is 20 feet long :-)

All depends on where you are going. some places, and 30' trailer is too long, some places a 24' trailer is too long. So it is hard to say

Anyone new to towing of any weight and length should first get some training. I have seen pro drivers easily fit long trailers into sites claimed for shorter, seen untrained, inexperienced, drivers struggle with short trailers into easy long sites.
Most- quality- camps underestimate site length to accommodate less skilled drivers.
Length is not as much an issue as skill, except when off roading where land may be a problem where you may bottom out or have no room to turn around to get out.
An hour - a day, with a pro driver will bolster you, turn you from one to be watched and laughed at from Joe and cronies in lawn chairs with a beer, into them cheerleeding for you.
Most importantly, is the safety of your family and mine. The more you are experienced with your equipment, the safer we all are.
1- learn your limits and skills
2- Buy the length you can handle

Well, living and doing most of our camping on the East side, we've not had any difficulties getting in anywhere. We just make sure we have reservations and when making those reservations, we've always searched for sites that would accommodate the size of our trailers. And the trailers just keep getting longer these days it seems.

We went form a 10 foot box pop-up that opened up to 21 feet. Then a few travel trailers with true bumper to bumper lengths of 21, 31, and 35.5 feet. With tow vehicle, my longest length was 58 feet.

Now we have a 41.5 foot 5er. ... yea, really! Been out 3 times with it, all were previous reservations we made for the 35.5 TT several months ago. And, we had no problems getting the 41.5 footer in any of those spots. One was in Kentucky, the other was a private campground, and the last was an Indiana State Park.

We've not had any problems with length, but we do have to choose a little more careful. If a campground loop is not recommended for anything over a certain size, it's advisable to take heed. The actual campsite might accommodate even a larger trailer, but using the road to get there may be impossible with trees and obsticles that would hit the side of longer trailer on the side when making turns and such. But, you make those decisions when you book a reservation.

We don't boondock. Never have. We enjoy burning fossil fuel to support our wasteful life style ;)

I had a 25 ft and almost didn't make it into an Oregon state park spot one year. they have hedges along the road and I took one hedge out with my truck, but I also lost a bug shield doing it. the ranger told me that was OK since they have been thinking of taking them out anyway. now he tells me. I now have a 35 ft and park in the new section of the park, no hedges

We pull a 44.5 foot 5er toy hauler and there are definitely limitations. We're even limited where we can boondock. There are spots up in the canyons where we used to camp with our 30 footer that we just can't get to anymore. We love our luxury trailer (The Taj Mahauler), but there are definitely limitations.

The main thing is that we just can't be as spontaneous as we used to. If we're traveling in the off season, then we can usually just call the same day or the day before to get a spot in an RV park, but during busier seasons we have to make reservations months in advance to make sure the larger spaces haven't filled up. Luckily the majority of our time on the road is boondocking in the desert where we're flexible.

I think between a 27ft and a 31ft full length you won't see much difference in accessibilty. Most of the NFS campgrounds that limit size do so at a shorter level (20ft or 26ft are the ones I see).

With those campgrounds, there is usually another campground in the area where you will fit. How many actual spots will vary.

It really comes down to if the specific campground and/or campsite is as important as the general area. For me, I am picky about the actual campground and campsite, so the smaller rig the better.