State Park campground space sizes

I'm a newbie to the forum and to RVing.  Having just bought my first 5th wheel my wife and I went on our maiden voyage to a private park and all went well.  Now I'm looking at going to state parks here in Oregon and see that each space is listed as B9(53) for example meaning space B9 is 53 feet.  I also see that they often say that the number of vehicles allowed is 2.  So here is my question:

If the space is 53 feet does this mean that I must be able to park both my tow vehicle and my 5th wheel/trailer within that given 53 feet or is there also an area separate from the RV pad for parking the tow vehicle?

I've seen some campgrounds where you could pull your tow vehicle to the side where a picnic table might be located.  I've scanned the state park literature but to no avail have I been able to find the answer.  Also the Woodalls book does not explain this little bit of detail either.

Thanks for you help and responses.......Tumbleweed

Call the park folks and ask?

You'll find both.  It just depends on the park.  They often say not to park on the grass.  Usually you try to angle your car in such a way that you're either across one end of the site or you can park straight on at either the front or back.  The only way to find out for sure is to ask.  Some of the newer parks (Sparks Marina RV Park in Reno comes to mind) actually have a paved space for the RV and another for the car.  It's really nice when they do that.  Others are more cramped and sometimes it takes some maneuvering.

ArdraF

We stayed at Sparks Marina RV Park just a month ago.  It was really a nice place.  I think because it was new, it was only 1/2 full.

We have stayed at a number of OR state parks and some have extra parking but only a few.  One should try to park the unit and the tow in the space your pay for.  Alot of 5th wheel folks angle the truck so it is out of the drive.  Most of the parks we have been in the park system in OR are nice size lots, not stacked in.
Cheryl

Thanks for the replies.  As I suspected "it depends".  It would be nice if the Woodalls directory included this bit of information.  And yes, I should call but I did not want spend the time calling 50+ parks to find out each ones peculiarities.  I bought a 30 foot 5th wheel just so I could fit into most state parks and national parks, especially out east.  And I agree on using the space provided for both the trailer and tow vehicle as by doing that you just go by the parks space footage on whether they have one your size and available.

David

tumbleweed97 said:

Thanks for the replies.  As I suspected "it depends".  It would be nice if the Woodalls directory included this bit of information.  And yes, I should call but I did not want spend the time calling 50+ parks to find out each ones peculiarities.  I bought a 30 foot 5th wheel just so I could fit into most state parks and national parks, especially out east.  And I agree on using the space provided for both the trailer and tow vehicle as by doing that you just go by the parks space footage on whether they have one your size and available.

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Have you checked a Trailer Life Campground Directory?  Mine gives a pretty detailed rundown on public as well as private parks, including facility ratings, site sizes, pullthrus and backins, etc..  Checking against parks I know, it seems pretty accurate.

I second Carl's suggestion.  We prefer the Trailer Life Campground Directory to Woodall's.  They strive to make it as useful as possible and do pretty well.

ArdraF

ArdraF said:

We prefer the Trailer Life Campground Directory to Woodall's.

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I'm confused by that comment Ardra. We have and carry both, although I first consult Woodalls. They each have info/listings the other doesn't. We also carry other directories such as Big Rigs Best Bets. Different tools for different situations.

We have serious misgivings about the ratings we see in some CG directories.

We use Trailer Life.  Tried Woodalls once and ended up getting TL again anyway so never tried Woodalls again.  Does this mean Woodalls is no good or is inferior.  NO, it means we didn't like it but there are many that do.  Like Tom mentioned the ratings have a lot to be desired.  We never even look at the ratings anymore.  We stop, we like we stay.  We stop we don't like we leave.  Simple as that.  When traveling and it get close to time to quit for the day !5)) or so, I look at the Passport America directory first.  If nothing is available in the area we expect to be then I look at Trailer Life.

Mine gives a pretty detailed rundown on public as well as private parks, including facility ratings, site sizes, pullthrus and backins, etc..  Checking against parks I know, it seems pretty accurate.

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I haven't seen anything in either directory that indicates what the length of each site is, or whether the site has separate vehicle parking in addition to the RV itself. Nothing that would address tumbleweed's question, in my opinion.

We carry both directories - buy a new one of one or the other every year, so one is new and the other a year old. Look at the Passport America directory first, then TL (often on CD rather than paper) and finally Woodalls.

In case some folks don't know about the State Park reservation system.

Check out the layout, lot sizes, vacancies, maps etc.

Make reservation right on line, works for me.

Click here for the website.

Covers most of the US.

carson FL.

We prefer the Trailer Life Campground Directory to Woodall's.

I'm confused by that comment Ardra. We have and carry both, although I first consult Woodalls. They each have info/listings the other doesn't. We also carry other directories such as Big Rigs Best Bets. Different tools for different situations.

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Tom, many years ago we carried both TL and Woodalls and found we liked the TL better.  It seemed to have more listings for where we wanted to be located.  Yes, they each have alternative listings the other doesn't have.  Based on talking with a few campground owners while traveling last year, they said Woodalls has raised their advertising rates enough that some of them have opted to drop Woodalls and keep TL.  We found this out because they were asking when we checked in how we learned about their campground.  We too have Big Rigs, but I have to admit we don't use it much unless we don't see anything first in TL.  Now if we had a 45-footer we'd probably use Big Rigs more often.  We also use other directories, such as those found for states at their visitor centers and even (horrors!) KOA and Jellystone.  But most of the time TL serves us well.  It just depends on where we are and what we want on a given day.  Also, TL shows the Good Sam campgrounds and we use the GS discount when feasible.  By now it's probably a matter of what each of us is used to using.  By the way, when TL first started providing info about modems we contacted them and told them about what we users needed and what we wanted to know.  Much to our delight, they were very receptive and made changes in the next edition.

ArdraF

Understood Ardra. The Trailer Life CD is a useful tool - it has a mapping capability, albeit a little crude, and shows campgrounds along the way. Roll the cursor over a CG and the listing shows up on the right of the screen. It does, however, require a paid subscription. Haven't seen an equivalent with Woodalls.

Agreed on the Big Rigs and, now that we're members, Passport America. However, I've yet to find a PA park anywhere near where we're going to be, although I've seen PA listings for places we've stayed in the past    Whenever I ask a CG owner/manager if they're affiliated with PA, I get a deer in the headlights look.

Whenever I ask a CG owner/manager if they're affiliated with PA, I get a deer in the headlights look.

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PA pays for referrals, so maybe you should carry some PA info for those campgrounds.

Roll the cursor over a CG and the listing shows up on the right of the screen. It does, however, require a paid subscription.

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What needs a subscription?  I always use the CD and see the exact same information as in the printed directory.  I don't use the routing feature of the TL CD but find it's much easier to use for locating campgrounds.  I also have the PA CD program up at the same time so I can look at both easily without the books.

Ned,

Good idea to carry some PA info. Didn't realize they pay for referrals of parks that will turn into listings. Didn't realize they have a CD either.

I saw the TL CD with someone else and assumed it was a paid subscription. Are you saying it's free?

No, you buy the CD just like you buy the book, but it's not a subscription.  We get both, but either will work as they contain the same information.  The CD does have the maps which, to me, makes it more useful.

TL does have a subscription service but it's strictly an online service.

OK thanks Ned. Now understood.

Another useful reference is the government camping (both federal and state, formerly reserveusa.com) web site.  This web site will locate state and national campgrounds, many will have campground maps, as well as site details such as length, facilities, etc.  We use this site a lot when traveling especially for COE campgrounds.  You can even make reservations for specific sites through this web site.

We rely first on PA and then Woodalls. SWMBO felt that TL was too complicated to read and understand and she could get Woodalls in separate East and West editions so she didn't have such a big book to deal with.  We just checked into our 3rd consecutive PA park, 13 nites at an average of less than $14/nite. The CGs were in Waldport, Lincoln City and Silverton, OR, all tourist areas with competitive rates of about $30 nitely with full H/Us, but we hadn't been in a PA park since May. The parks may not have been our first choice if not for the discount, but Waldport and Lincoln City had nice river views.