getting trapped inside a park

[strikeu]

I've searched the different forums and haven't found any stories about this, but this question doesn't just apply to fifth wheels, it could apply to any rig :

has anyone pulled into an unfamiliar park, only to find out their rig is too large to maneuver through and get out? if so how did you do it?

we recently visited a state park, and I just moved from Washington where there are several state parks near where we lived. we drove in without our rig, which was a GOOD thing because if I had been pulling my fiver there was NO way we would have gotten out. switchback roads, trees lining the very narrow drive. deception pass state park comes to mind, on the island side. I think there is a sign or some literature that limits trailers to 20 ft, but if you didn't know that and pulled in...you're screwed, you're not getting out.

[laknox]

Dtank wrote:

laknox wrote:

Hammerboy wrote:

Allworth wrote:
I have never found that driving over the grass hurt either the truck or the trailer.

Until you get stuck. Ask me how I know.

Dan

That's why I have 4x4...

Lyle

False security times four...:S

Had a place in the San Berdo Mtns for several years. Exiting the street at the stop sign before the main highway, was a shaded low spot in the road. In winter, snow would melt in daytime, freeze at night to black ice - last for several hours of "shaded" sun in the AM.

"Unfortunate", but regular entertainment:
Watching the "can go anywhere", "can handle anything with my 4 x 4" flat-landers come up to the stop sign at normal speed, hit the brakes and slide out into traffic on Hwy 18! Lots of near misses - luckily the main road had good traction for "avoidance" by the cross traffic.

Whenever I saw a "suspected" 4 x 4 coming up behind me at speed to that stop sign, I would pull over well in advance, let that driver go first, then watch the show - while I crept up to the stop with my lowly 4 x 2.

The "pull-over procedure" also saved many "savvy" drivers from being rear-ended by the sliding 4 x 4's. A few weren't so lucky..:(

~

And how many of those people were locals, like you, who knew of the problem there and how many were visitors, completely unfamiliar with the area? As I said, I've been towed exactly once, and that was after parking on dry ground, then getting over 2" of rain in 48 hours on heavy clay soil. I =do= avoid places I'm not comfortable going into, period. I was towed any number of times while farming, but there were a lot that I never would have needed towing had I had 4x4. I have had to use 4x4 to back into an improved campsite that I wouldn't have made it into otherwise. Uphill on dirt with a sandy surface. Even with the weight of the FW on the back, I was spinning. Dropped it into 4hi and backed right in, no problem. When we go into our boondocking site, we travel about 6 miles down a dirt road that's only graded about 1 or 2x a year, and has a fair amount of local traffic, so corners get washboards. I've found that it's a much more comfortable ride towing in 4hi up that road as the back end, even with the FW on it, will want to step out when you hit the washboards. When not towing, using 4x4 on a dirt road makes the ride much more enjoyable for the same reasons above. Personally, I'll never have a truck that doesn't have 4wd.

Lyle

[colliehauler]

The company I worked for had a remote station we would check every day. It was on a dirt road but the first quarter mile the company hauled in gravel so we could get to the station when it rained. Countless times people in there four wheel drive trucks would go down that rode and get stuck. The neighboring farmer put up a sign for towing people out for $40. If they ignored the sign and went down the road.

[Pipeman]

Towed my son`s TT to his storage spot. Had to cross an open field that looked pretty good....until......about 50 feet short of the road I would drive out on after dropping his trailer. I have a dually with 4x4. The truck and trailer bogged down in the muddy grass. Put the beast into 4 wheel drive and tried to back out of the bog....no go. Tried to go forward, no go. So we decided to drop the trailer where it was and then with much backward and forward motion I was able to free the truck from the deep ruts. Just as I turned onto the road, the owner came with his tractor. He hooked up to the trailer and moved it ahead to the storage position. The field did look good until near the storage spot. Not doing that again. My son`s truck was in the shop and that`s why I did the towing for him.

[Dtank]

laknox wrote:

Hammerboy wrote:

Allworth wrote:
I have never found that driving over the grass hurt either the truck or the trailer.

Until you get stuck. Ask me how I know.

Dan

That's why I have 4x4...

Lyle

False security times four...:S

Had a place in the San Berdo Mtns for several years. Exiting the street at the stop sign before the main highway, was a shaded low spot in the road. In winter, snow would melt in daytime, freeze at night to black ice - last for several hours of "shaded" sun in the AM.

"Unfortunate", but regular entertainment:
Watching the "can go anywhere", "can handle anything with my 4 x 4" flat-landers come up to the stop sign at normal speed, hit the brakes and slide out into traffic on Hwy 18! Lots of near misses - luckily the main road had good traction for "avoidance" by the cross traffic.

Whenever I saw a "suspected" 4 x 4 coming up behind me at speed to that stop sign, I would pull over well in advance, let that driver go first, then watch the show - while I crept up to the stop with my lowly 4 x 2.

The "pull-over procedure" also saved many "savvy" drivers from being rear-ended by the sliding 4 x 4's. A few weren't so lucky..:(

~

[PA12DRVR]

After towing a 39' 5th wheel for a year or so I learned:

1) If I couldn't see an easy way out from the gate; I'm not pulling in unless
2) I can find a spot to park outside the park and walk in to scope out the site or sites;

If I couldn't see a big wide access and/or couldn't find a spot to stop while I took an investigative stroll through...on to the next CG.

Found quite a few CG's where the access road meant that I had to have one specific, possibly two, sites or I couldn't get in and out with my combo.

State Parks were the usual suspects for places I wanted to go that had smaller sites and access roads, but there was more than one or two "modern" CG's that tended to do the sardine thing that had the same problem.

[laknox]

That was the worst year we camped up there, after getting rained out the year before (annual family 'docker) and we'd never missed 2 years in a row. Shoulda skipped that year, too...

Lyle

[cummins2014]

Lucky guy :B

[laknox]

I've only been towed one time, and just about anything, short of a 6x6 UNIMog, likely would have gotten stuck. Rut was only about 4-5" deep, but it was volcanic clay mud, so zero traction due to tire tread full of mud; like trying to drive on ice, it was so slick. Took 2 other 4x4s to get me out and tow straps long enough for them to get out onto a gravel road where they had traction. I likely could have gotten out by myself and left my trailer there for several days, but also likely, I'd've come back to find my trailer stripped. One of the downsides to boondocking in the AZ forest in the summer.

Lyle

[one_strange_tex]

This quote has probably been cited here before:

"Having a 4x4 allows you to get in trouble a lot further away from home than you ever could before.

Having a 4x4 along with a winch allows you to get in trouble in places where perhaps no one will ever find you."

[Hammerboy]

laknox wrote:

Hammerboy wrote:

Allworth wrote:
I have never found that driving over the grass hurt either the truck or the trailer.

Until you get stuck. Ask me how I know.

Dan

That's why I have 4x4...

Lyle

So did I

Dan

[JRscooby]

Allworth wrote:
I have never found that driving over the grass hurt either the truck or the trailer.

Me! Me! Me! It is all about me!
"It doesn't hurt truck or trailer" attitude can cost the CG owner a lot of money. That attitude means it is okay to let the inside tire off the pavement on the curve. "It doesn't hurt truck or trailer" but it does compact the ground, kill the grass. And it makes a low spot to funnel water under the road surface.

[cummins2014]

laknox wrote:

Hammerboy wrote:

Allworth wrote:
I have never found that driving over the grass hurt either the truck or the trailer.

Until you get stuck. Ask me how I know.

Dan

That's why I have 4x4...

Lyle

I’ve heard that remark before , when pulling a stuck 4x4 out .

[laknox]

Hammerboy wrote:

Allworth wrote:
I have never found that driving over the grass hurt either the truck or the trailer.

Until you get stuck. Ask me how I know.

Dan

That's why I have 4x4...

Lyle

[smarty]

no but my truck has reverse...