National parks vs length of travel trailer

[paul42]

Originally Posted by Reprise

I found this last year, when I was shopping for my first trailer (which was 24' 11" ball to bumper, and it figured into my decision, since Glacier was where I wanted to go).


RVs up to 12′ in length fit in every national park campground in the United States, although there are a few campgrounds that don’t allow RVs at all and are tent only.

RVs up to 19′ in length fit in 98% of all national park service campgrounds.

RVs up to 25′ in length fit in 93% of all national park campgrounds

RVs up to 29′ in length fit in 84% of all national park campgrounds

RVs up to 32′ in length fit in 81% of all national park campgrounds

RVs up to 35′ in length fit in 73% of all national park campgrounds

RVs up to 37′ in length fit in 60% of all national park campgrounds

RVs up to 40′ in length fit in 53% of all national park campgrounds
(but generally, low # of sites available)

RVs up to 41′ in length fit in 7% of all national park campgrounds
(same as the 40' - very few sites per park)


I also exchanged e-mails with the NPS regarding 'fitting' into a spot. If the spot connects directly to the access loop, then no part of your rig can spill over into the road. And they will enforce this, as they don't want other campers or NPS vehicles hitting yours.

But - as long as you can get into the spot, you generally won't be bothered. You may need to unhook your TV, and either place it 'creatively' in the spot, or, if you can't fit, the TV goes to the parking lot, and you hike / back & forth to it.

This is good information. I would caution that there is a vast difference between "campgrounds" and "campsites". We have a 24' trailer, and have done quite a few national parks with the kids. Even with that, we have had to be a little careful to reserve sites that work for us. We used to have a 28' model, and it was a complete hassle. There were many campgrounds where only one or two sites would work for us, and if they were taken, we were out of luck.

I have also noticed at many National Park and Forest Service sites that there is additional available length for the sites, but that they have been artificially restricted by placement of large boulders or logs. A bit frustrating.

[maxxtc]

That held pretty true in the '90s when I was delivering RVs but our 38FB2 is 41' 10"

[ppine]

thanks to Paul42 for the research.
Those numbers are theoretically true, but there are often few sites for longer trailers.
As a practical matter, that means that many campgrounds will have realtively few sites for longer trailers, but they get filled up. The actual numbers for campgrounds you can get into will be much lower.

I think around 24 feet is a good maximum length. If you don't mind commuting from outside the park from a private Rv park, then length is not much of an issue.

[NC Bill]

We camped at Yellowstone last year. Not only is trailer length limited, they limited overall length including the tow vehicle. We pull our 19-6 long trailer end to end with a 19-6 F150. We barely made it within the limit for many sites of 40 foot total length.

Many National Park campgrounds were designed for really small trailers. Growing up we camped (family of five) in a 15 foot long Shasta. Now with the super sized America, people want to camp in those same places with 35 foot long trailers and 20 foot long tow vehicles.

With a senior pass, camping at a National Park is an incredible deal. But long rigs are out of luck. Many/most sites get reserved months in advance.

Yes, everyone is different. While the two of us can camp just fine in our 19-6 trailer (that means the body of the trailer is only 16 feet long), we have friends where their 41 foot motorcoach is just fine, pulling a full size F-150 behind them (so about 67 feet total length). Needless to say, they are aced out on many public campgrounds. Private campgrounds tend to be able to handle almost any length. But they are not as convenient if you are visiting a NP. For example, if you are visiting Zion NP, if you camp in one of their CGs, you can walk to the shuttle bus. Meanwhile, if you are camp outside the park, there often is a mile plus long backup at the entry gate, and I have been there when they closed the park to all additional cars because of lack of parking. Springdale, the town outside the park, now has metered parking in the entire town. So staying outside the NP at a private park can be a major PITA.

I also have a second vintage trailer that is only 13 feet long bumper to hitch ball. I use it on solo trips. Can fit just about anywhere (shorter than most cars).

[Tundra 2014]

It will restrict available sites. EX-Yellowstone only has 1 campground in the park that has sites that will take a total combined length greater than 45'. COMBINED TOTAL length, That is truck and trailer. Fishing Bridge Camp can take bigger-closed for 2019' for renovation.Exception- There are 8 sites in then rest of the park that you can park, Side-by-Side. We were able to reserve 1 site for August, reserved in Feb. Someone had a graph on this site several months ago, detailing availability by size. If I remember correctly, over 30' trailer cuts available spots in National Parks by about 50%. We booked Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier this year for August thru September as early as they would allow us and still could not get sites in 2 of the 3 park w/ power. We are boondocking.
We have a Flagstaff VLS 27.5, total length 30'9". Had to say 30' to get a space, had choice of 6 @ Grand Teton. Much less of a problem if you are willing to stay outside park. Plan as far ahead as possible. As someone else said, the older and more popular parks are the hardest. At Yosemite, we had to stay about 45 minutes out of park. My suggestion would be stay below 30' if wanting to stay in national parks.