Forum Discussion

ehlenrg's avatar
ehlenrg
Explorer
Feb 19, 2016

What is a big rig?

We have a Grey Wolf 28DBH which is about 31.5 feet hitch to bumper. Our tow vehicle is a F150. I generally pick campgrounds that are coded for big rigs. While researching campgrounds for a trip to the Black Hills, Yellowstone and Glacier parks this June I've noticed that by limiting myself to "big rig" campgrounds I'm also limiting my choices of campgrounds especially around Glacier. So my bottom line question is: Are 32' travel trailers considered big rigs?
  • Doubt you will ever have to answer that question. Every RV park I have been to just wants to know my length to see if I will fit in an available space. Of course my DW breaks it down for them. Length of RV and length of toad i.e. or for example length of TT and length of PU. Although there may be room for the RV there may or may not be room for a toad or PU. If asking for an overnight pull through site DW includes total length connected.
  • Not really. RV parks advertise as 'big rig friendly' to say they have sites that will accommodate RVs in the 40-45 foot range that are towing, for a 55-65 foot overall length, and they have a way for you to get through the campground to one of those sites. A 32 foot TT does not put you in that 'big rig' range, that's a fairly small towable RV by today's standards.

    Be aware, however, that you will still come across public campgrounds that have sites to accommodate 30-35 foot, others 25-30 foot, yet others 20 foot and under. There may be some campgrounds that do not have sites over the 25-30 foot range, but for RV parks, that is unlikely.
  • When in doubt, find the campground in GoogleEarth, and use the Measure tool. Depending on tree cover, most of the time you can find some of the parking spots, so you can measure them. I never rely solely on campground descriptions, as terms vary in meaning.

    Glacier NP has the length restriction from Rising Sun campground up to Logan Pass. This is on the east side. There likely is the same restriction from some point on the west side, but there is more road from the west entrance to where the restriction would likely begin. We camped at Rising Sun campground, and there is room for some longer trailers in various sites, but not all sites. One loop has larger sites than the other. No reservations at Rising Sun, so you must be there before 10 a.m., normally, to get a site.

    The St. Mary campground is just inside the east entrance, and has more long sites. They do take reservations, I believe, but we chose to stay at Rising Sun. Drove through St. Mary campground, and it was okay, but Rising Sun fit our tastes better.

    Enjoy your trip!
  • Most likely referring to HDT setups amd the larger custom 40+ ft 5ers they are pulling. Check out rvhaulers.ca and you will see you have nothing to concern yourself with in being considered a big rig as a 1/2 ton p/u and a travel trailer. It's all good! Enjoy the road and he safe!!
  • I have never seen campgrounds classify campsites as "big rig"

    THere's only two places I'd stay in at Yellowstone with a trailer as big as yours... Fishing Bridge RV Park and the campground at Mammoth Hotsprings. Though Mammoth wouldn't be my first choice

    The other campgrounds are kind of smallish.
  • I would hazard a guess that anything over 25 to 28 ft would be difficult in some of the older parks out west. Our 25 ft TT had no problems.

    At Glacier National Park even the road use was limited to a total TT and TV length of about 25ft.
  • I don't know the term big rig unless they mean actual over the road trucks and trailers like Mack,or Freightliner.

    Personally I wouldn't worry about it. My trailer is only a few feet shorter than yours and I have never even thought about it being too big for a campground. I just search for campgrounds and they almost all have the length of the sites listed. If the site lists 31' then I consider it good enough for my unit.
  • Don't know there is any definition for it. But I would consider 40' and up big rig.