Best state parks?

[hbillsmith]

Ouachita Lake. Crystal Springs on that lake. Beaver Bend at Broken Bow Oklahoma is an easy westward drive after Oachita.

[StevenNSteph]

Oregon is great, probably spent more time in OR than anywhere else but I have run into some Camp Nazi's there that I haven't seen elsewhere.

My second vote would be for Mississippi, very impressed with their SP's, stayed at several spots that were virtually empty with fantastic views, lakes, hiking, wildlife and close the areas we wanted to visit. About half of the parks only offered back in sites but fitting a 40' would be no problem (I'm 39' and towing)

Third would probably Arizona, lot's of parks with pull-throughs although prices have risen over the last couple of years.

NOTE: I have not made it much farther east than the Mississippi so I can't compare east coast parks. Will be there next year.

[jpharley]

Virginia has lots of state parks that will handle big rigs.

[Gadget63]

We just came off the road after spending a month throughout New Mexico and exclusively in their state parks. All I can say is with almost all of them the sites were large, the campgrounds neat and well thought out, and most had spectacular scenery. Many of the sites are pull though! You can't beat the price of 14.00 a night with water and electricity. If you want to rough it, the non water and electric sites were 8.00 a night. Another BIG plus was the ability to make reservations online, and to actually pick the site you want after looking at photographs of the sites online!

[WheelingIt]

Originally Posted by Gadget63

We just came off the road after spending a month throughout New Mexico and exclusively in their state parks. All I can say is with almost all of them the sites were large, the campgrounds neat and well thought out, and most had spectacular scenery. Many of the sites are pull though! You can't beat the price of 14.00 a night with water and electricity. If you want to rough it, the non water and electric sites were 8.00 a night. Another BIG plus was the ability to make reservations online, and to actually pick the site you want after looking at photographs of the sites online!

We too loved NM State Parks. There were only a handful or so that didn't accept our size (40-foot). All the rest fit. Most are near bodies of water too. The yearly camping pass is one of the best deals in the country IMHO.

[WheelingIt]

Adding to my CA info. The link below lists the size limitations for all the CA State Parks. Only 5 or so fit 40-footers. The rest are too small. Lots of older parks in CA. On the coast they are super pricey too costing up to $65/night (!)

http://www.parks.ca.gov/rvlength/

[WheelingIt]

Florida has lovely state parks. They were some that didn't fit us.

I just did a little exercise on the FL State Park reservation system putting in 20-foot and 40-foot RV size. At 20-foot I got 92 park hits, at 40-foot I got 85 park hits. So, a pretty high percentage of parks are showing a fit. The search on reserveamerica includes some forest and other parks so it's likely not entirely accurate, but it gives an idea.

Caveat -> When we were there we did notice a few of the older parks had low-hanging trees and tight roads. Not a huge amount, but a few. So some of the parks may not fit even if the pad size shows it is ok. We sorted through most of our FL reservations with reference to rvparkreviews to see what people wrote there.

[TechWriter]

I looked up stats on all state parks about a year ago.

In general, about 50% of state parks have sites for 40-foot RVs, and about that same percentage have no hookups at all.

According to www.campgroundreviews.com ratings, the states with the best-rated parks were:
- Louisiana
- Arizona
- Nevada
- North Dakota
- Arkansas

[WheelingIt]

Originally Posted by TechWriter

I looked up stats on all state parks about a year ago.

What a fabulous list!! I had not seen that one before.

Kind of interesting that FL only showed 42% for 40-foot and greater whereas I got a much higher % on the search above. I'm thinking that's because you included all campsites (not just whether a particular park offers a 40-foot site), which would certainly reduce the % versus the entire pool. Sometimes only a handful of sites within the park accommodate 40-foot.

[Dog Folks]

Originally Posted by TechWriter

I looked up stats on all state parks about a year ago.

Great info for those with larger coaches. Thanks for posting.

[Raining Star]

Though this isn't the right time of year to visit, Arizona has several State Parks that easily accommodate 40'ers and their toads. My personal favorites are Catalina State Park on the north side of Tucson, and Dead Horse Ranch State Park, outside of Cottonwood near Sedona.

Rates are about $20 for electric and water, with dump stations. I think most have a 14 day limit. They are all excellent winter escape destinations and popular with west coast Snow Birds.

Right now we are doing our Arizona summer heat escape and so we are on the Oregon Coast for four days, headed slowly to Banff National Park in Alberta. But be sure to check out the Az state parks when you've had enough of snow or humidity everywhere else, just be gone by May.

[mo5er]

We haven't been to a lot of different state parks, but 2 that really stick in my mind are in South Dakota. Lewis and Clark State Park near Yankton has a ton of sites 50+ feet, about half with full hook ups. I believe there were 4 campgrounds, we stayed at the Yankton Campground, very well maintained. The other is Custer State Park near Mt. Rushmore. Game Lodge Campground can handle 40+ with no problem. Electric only if I remember right. I could mention a few states that I wouldn't stay in their states parks again, but these 2 we would definitely stay at again.

[reubenray]

Originally Posted by TechWriter

I looked up stats on all state parks about a year ago.

In general, about 50% of state parks have sites for 40-foot RVs, and about that same percentage have no hookups at all.

According to www.campgroundreviews.com ratings, the states with the best-rated parks were:
- Louisiana
- Arizona
- Nevada
- North Dakota
- Arkansas

Wow - Louisiana is #1 at something that is not bad!!!! Especially being I get them all at half price with my old man pass.

[chasmatt]

Oregon State Parks are the finest we've seen.