Community Forums

dpeterso · 04-05-2010, 11:01 AM

There are various National Park campgrounds such as Lower Pines and North Pines in Yosemite that allow motorhomes up to 40 feet long. My question is regarding the strictness of that length limit. Has anyone camped in one of these 40 foot limit National Park campgrounds with a '40' foot motorhome that actually measured slightly over 40 feet; for instance, 40 feet 9 inches? My wife and I are in the early stages of picking our RV. Although we find a wider selection of floorplans in the '40' footers and, therefore, find that length desireable, we are more concerned about being able to camp in some of our favorite National Parks such as Yosemite. If the 40 foot rule is strict we will limit our search to lengths under 40 feet. Any firsthand feedback on successful camping visits to Yosemite or other National Park campgrounds with published 40 foot length limits would be appreciated.

Have a Great RVing Day,
Dale & Lisa

Rich and Cork · 04-05-2010, 04:41 PM

A lot of the sites will take your 40 OK. Some will take great care to get parked due to trees. The spaces on the outsides of the loops are usually the largest and easiet to manuever. Read the site descriptions carefully.

RVThere · 04-05-2010, 09:15 PM

Dale,

I will be there from April 18-22 with my 40 footer so I will let you know first hand. The biggest issue is not fitting in Yosemite, it is getting a site before they sell out. We have to move sites during our April trip and lucked out to get a site for a July visit. All the 40 foot sites were gone in about 15 minutes. See the list of sites in the links below by length:

Yosemite National Park - North Pines Campground Sites by Type (U.S. National Park Service)
Yosemite National Park - Lower Pines Campground Sites by Type (U.S. National Park Service)

Jim Stewart · 04-05-2010, 09:41 PM

From their website

"RV length and trailer length are not the same! Please note that many campsites have different maximum lengths for RVs and trailers. This is because many of the campsites are back-in sites with limited turning radius. We do not enforce the length limits as long as the RV or trailer can fit on the parking pad in the site. However, if you reserve a site for equipment other than what you bring, and the site can't accommodate your RV or trailer, we will not be able to find a different campsite for you".

Diesel Guy · 04-05-2010, 11:26 PM

Hello they have a 35 ft Limit in Yellowstone National Park

R&J · 04-06-2010, 12:11 AM

Two years ago we stay in Yellowstone at the RV park, are coach is 34+ feet, add the toad with bar 18-19ft long, ruffly 50 ft total. When i call in Jan for a space they said not a problem. While out walking around the RV Park notice a few 40-42 footer in the park plus there toad park beside them. Maybe out in the camp grounds it may have a limit.

H. Miller · 04-06-2010, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diesel Guy

Hello they have a 35 ft Limit in Yellowstone National Park

We were in YS this time last year with a 40' Beaver with reservations for a 40' pad. The "check in manager" advised they had a few 40' spots which only meant that they had chainsawed the upright railroad ties at the rear of some pads.

Bill Adams · 04-06-2010, 07:46 AM

We stayed in Yellowstone at Fishing Bridge as well as one of the dry camp areas in a 40' bus and a toad. No one said a word or even blinked when we said 40'.

dpeterso · 04-06-2010, 07:21 PM

A big thank you to everyone who responded. This was my first question on iRV2 and the quick feedback including firsthand experience is great. It appears we will be able to keep motorhomes that are actually slightly longer than 40 feet on our shopping list.

Tom & Katharine, Your April experience in Yosemite will nearly duplicate the situation I was asking about, since your motorhome is slightly over 40 feet. I look forward to hearing how it works out for you. By the way, I saw your other thread commenting on the difficulty and stress related to getting camping sites in Yosemite. It brought back memories. My wife and I did the same two phone constant redial thing at 7AM sharp for our trips to Yosemite back in 1999 and 2003. And back then we only needed a site big enough to accommodate a 32 foot Itasca Sunrise.

Jim, Thank you for the quote from the Yosemite website. It pretty clearly states that there is some grace extended for over 40 feet as long as one is good enough to get the rig on the site.