Do most state parks have a 30-foot length limit?

[susanka]

Hi, everyone. We're looking at a 31'11" class A and have been told that most state parks have a 30-foot limit. I can call all the states to ask, of course, but am hoping some of you with lots of RVing experience can tell me if that is true, or to what extent it is. Thanks very much!

[toedtoes]

The best advice I was given was to find a bunch of campgrounds at which I would be interested in staying, and then call and ask about size limitations at those campgrounds.

If the campgrounds where I know I'll want to stay can handle my preferred RV size in at least 40 percent of the sites, then I'm good. I'll find others where I can fit also.

If the campgrounds where I know I'll want to stay can't handle my preferred RV size or only have 1 or 2 sites that will, then I need to consider downsizing. Otherwise I'll likely find other desirable campgrounds where I can't fit.

Buy according to YOUR specific needs not everyone else's.

If I had bought a 27ft rig (which is a popular recommendation on this site), I would be very limited in staying at my favorite campground. They have 5 sites that would fit that length rig. With my smaller rig, I can fit in 41 of the 47 sites (the other 6 are tent only sites). That gives me a nice choice of sites - including my favorite which gives me a morning view of the fish jumping (no other site has that view).

So while someone else would have been perfectly fine with a 27ft rig and would say "I can camp there", for me, I want a choice of campsites not the "only one where I can fit".

[Allworth]

No.

[MrWizard]

I think there are sites in every cg that are too small for a large rig
And other sites where it will fit
I think 30 ft is most likely the optimized size, smaller will fit any where
Larger will have to look for the right site
Very few places actually have an enforced size limit

[SBradley]

PegLW wrote:
Our rig is 37 feet plus our truck is 22 feet and we've been able to find plenty of sites in state parks, national rec areas and COEs that are long enough for us BUT we can't always access those sites because the roads are too narrow with no room to negotiate those sites! It's not always the length of the site that's an issue but getting into it!

I agree some park road are narrow and twisty hard to get the larger rigs around.
Most state parks that we have visited have very few longer sites, national parks are similar they limit the #. In Alaska, Yukon, BC, provincial parks are nice with tight twisty roads small sites are the norm.

Most commercial camp grounds can accommodate larger rigs.

[Veebyes]

There are so many variables no matter the class of park. Pad length may be 30' but there is another 10' of space to the first obstacle behind the pad.

There might be a drop off preventing use of rear stabilizers. No big deal with a 5er or class A if you can tolerate a bit of jiggle & shake without stabilizer use. How flexible/tolerant are you of a less than perfect site? What are your driving skills at backing into awkward sites? How good is your spotter & how good are you at paying attention?

Size does matter but after literally hundreds of CG we have never not been able to get our <36' selves into a site somewhere in a CG that has had a 30' max posted limit.

Let me see what you have available. I'll tell you if we can make it work or not.

[2gypsies1]

We volunteered in a national park once and one of our duties was to assign the incoming reservations with a campsite that their RV would fit. We found there were very few on our chart we used that would be suitable for a big rig - big meaning 35+.

So we personally asked if we could create a new chart. We walked the campground with a tape measure and measured each site and then made a chart with what sites would accommodate what size rig plus a vehicle.

The rangers were amazed at how many of the sites could accommodate a 35-40' RV. I will say that any size RV could drive the road in the campground - no obstacles.

Bottom line.... not many campgrounds really do measure their sites. It's all an estimated guess.

[big_jim_2]

When we first took our 38 ft. motorhome into a national park (
smokey mountains) I filled out the registration and put down 38 ft. the clerk changed my 38 to 32 and said with a smile 32 is our limit and said my site was plenty big and this week I was 32ft. Had no problems and was impressed with a federal employee doing that.

[RPreeb]

I find Google Maps Earth view to be very useful in making such determinations. You can measure site lengths, and check out access roads for tight turns and dead ends. I am sometimes surprised at how small an area some rigs can turn around in. I watched one of the longest trailers I've ever seen make a u-turn in a Nebraska state park CG last June. I saw him come in and knew that there were no spaces open. He made it around the turn around circle and back out without a hitch, but it was a tight fit.

[Stormy_Eyes]

As a newbie I remember reading a post of these forums. The poster said for state parks he would could comfortably subtract a few feet off his rig size and still fit in just fine, as he found state parks to be very conservative on their posted max size. OTOH, for private parks he added a few feet, opining that some private parks might try to cram a 32 footer into a 30 foot space.

I have not had a problem with private parks putting me in a space too small for my rig, but as I walk around FL state park campgrounds have seen many sites rated at 30 feet that would very easy work for a 34 foot motorhome (even considering access roads, turning radius, etc).

[Gjac]

A 32ft MH is a good size for most places. My experience says NP CG's tend to be smaller than NFS CG's. SP's very by state. I live in the east and they are smaller than the ones I visited out west. It is not so much the length restrictions that are the problem but rather getting into some of these smaller sites. I have backed into tree limbs and damaged my ladder and AC covers trying to get into some of these small forested sites. I have a 33 ft MH and traveled to Alaska with a full timer with a 38 ft DP, we camped at a lot of remote places along the way I would go into the GC first with my MH and then radio him if it was large enough for him to negotiate the roads and sites. Most of the time we found sites that would accommodate us but there were a few CGs where we moved on. Arriving early increases your chances of finding larger sites.

[ktmrfs]

PegLW wrote:
Our rig is 37 feet plus our truck is 22 feet and we've been able to find plenty of sites in state parks, national rec areas and COEs that are long enough for us BUT we can't always access those sites because the roads are too narrow with no room to negotiate those sites! It's not always the length of the site that's an issue but getting into it!

my experience as well. I've been places with a 60 or 80 ft pad but a single lane road with small trees on the edge and a near 90 degree angle to the pad. Ug.

When I can I look at the site picture AND the roadway online, or call.

[PegLW]

Our rig is 37 feet plus our truck is 22 feet and we've been able to find plenty of sites in state parks, national rec areas and COEs that are long enough for us BUT we can't always access those sites because the roads are too narrow with no room to negotiate those sites! It's not always the length of the site that's an issue but getting into it!

[F1bNorm]

California St Parks have max lengths listed. Other states may have the same?
See: https://www.parks.ca.gov/RVlength

Norm

[tatest]

My state park experience is Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan. In no place have I encountered an overall rig length limit for the park. Campsite sizes, however, vary a lot, and not all state park campsites are for RVs.

Some of the older state parks in Michigan might have RVs in sites originally developed for tent camping, and large RVs get crowded quite close together, but most have specific campgrounds for modern RVs. Some Oklahoma parks built by the CCC present a similar situation, and the roads into the small-site campgrounds might be difficult for longer RVs to traverse.

In both Texas and Oklahoma, older campgrounds with mostly small back-in sites will often have a few "big rig" RV sites in pullouts parallel to the road through the campground, which tend to be less private.