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NMDriver's avatar
NMDriver
Explorer
Jan 29, 2015

How rough a road will you drive down for a place to camp

I realize that each persons answer will differ but assuming your rig can make the drive and you are not worried about getting stuck,will you take your rig into the rough?

For me the answer is yes. It is a very rough road I use each summer to get to a site where I stay for 1-5 months depending on the year. The site I use has a full hook-up that is 3 miles off of Interstate. The last two miles are over a very rough road (walking pace in most places). As I am bouncing up the road going in I always think "is this worth it" and when I get there I think "ahhhh yes".

I have been going back to this place for 5 years each summer and so far cannot attribute any mechanical failure to the state of the road, slow and easy does it. However on the first trip in we did have every door in the RV open up and spill stuff onto the floor. The mess included broken jars, spilled food, tools, dog food, etc. PPPP on my part. To be fair we had the same thing happen when driving through LA on I-10 due to potholes. Now we take additional precautions. We use I-210 ;)

47 Replies

  • Sometimes it's more of a question of how far do I have to go down the rough road than if I will go down a rough road.

    Bill
  • I'll drive a few miles over a typical dirt or gravel road. Not a "very rough" road-such as Trabuco Creek road near my house. I'll keep speed down -dust, wear, and rocking and rolling to a minimum. There had better be something special on the dirt road-if the same thing's available on pavement, I'll stick to pavement.
  • My answer is that rough roads, including ones that require four wheel drive are fine. That's one of the reasons we sold our trailer and got a truck camper.
  • Sand - no
    Deep mud - no
    Everything else is dependent upon whether I think I can make it.
  • Gotta be a pretty smooth one for me to pull the 5er down.

    Touring some rock/gravel mountain back roads in Colorado sightseeing, not towing. Took a turn off on what was not much more than a trail, and a rough rutted one at that, and after a mile of so there was two fairly large 5ers and a TT.
  • We also are in the YES category. If it takes a 4X4 then no, but otherwise we go into lots of places that others think we are crazy for subjecting the MH to such rough roads.
  • I will drive down a gravel road to reach a campground. Actually did that several times near Ames, Iowa. I would go cross country across a cut hay field, corn field, bean field, or wheat field to reach a secluded location, provided the field was not muddy (I've done this with the trailer too). But that's the extend I would go. If it takes 4x4 to reach the destination ... the road is really just too rough. The truck may take it, but I don't think the camper would.

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