Big Rig Guide: Where a 40 ft RV Actually Fits at Shasta Lake

The short answer

A 40-foot RV fits at Shasta Lake if you book the right site, not just the right campground. On the Forest Service side that means a handful of specific sites at Antlers, Hirz Bay and Lakeshore East. For 50 feet and up, or if you want hookups, the private parks are the easier answer: Antlers RV Park lists rigs to 75 feet and Mountain Gate RV Park to about 70.

How to read a rig limit

Recreation.gov often shows a headline like "average maximum trailer size is 30 feet." That's an average across the whole campground, not a limit. The number that matters is on each site's own record, where one site might take 22 feet and the next one 55.

Then check the road in. At several Shasta campgrounds the pad would hold your rig fine and the entrance turn or access road would not.

Rule of thumb: match your rig to a site number, not a campground name, and call ahead when sources disagree.

Forest Service campgrounds that take 40 feet

All are reservable on Recreation.gov, and none has hookups or a dump station.

Antlers

Fifty-nine sites on a bluff above the Sacramento Arm, about a mile off I-5 at Lakehead. The long sites are in Loops 2 and 3, which only open May 10 to September 12. Loop 1 is the only loop open in March, April and October, and it's the one closest to the freeway, so expect road noise.

Plan on backing in. One full-timer with a 40-foot rig said the tight, tree-lined turn at the entrance, more than any pad, is the practical limit. The whole campground closes after October 31.

Hirz Bay

Forty-six sites on a hilltop over the McCloud Arm, 11 miles up Gilman Road from I-5. Site 9 is the pick for anything long: 50 feet, paved, and one of only two pull-throughs in the campground (site 10 is the other). The rest are back-ins, and not every pad is level, so bring blocks. From mid-September to mid-May it's first come, first served.

Lakeshore East

Twenty-five sites near Lakehead, open all year. Site 013 is rated 45 feet and site 017, a double, 40 feet. Sites 020 and 022 also carry long ratings, but those are the two yurts, so the number is for parking, not for an RV.

Bailey Cove

Seven back-in sites: 1 and 7 take 45 feet, and 2 through 6 take 35. The access road is the tighter limit. Bailey Cove Road and the campground road are closed by Forest Order 14-25-11 from Sept 4 through Dec 31, 2026.

Ellery Creek

Only 010, 012 and 019 are rated 40 feet, and 011 takes 35. Everything else is 30 feet or less. The season ended September 12 and the campground reopens in spring.

Private parks with full hookups

Limits here come from the operators or their listings, so confirm your site when you book.

Skip these with a big rig

• Group campgrounds (Gregory Creek, Nelson Point, Moore Creek and Dekkas Rock): the conservative published limit is 16 feet, on back-in spurs. One source gives Gregory Creek 20.
• Pine Point: 24 feet.
• [McCloud Bridge](/campground/mccloud-bridge): sources conflict between 35 and 16 feet. Call 530-275-1587 before you tow.
• [Lower Jones Valley](/campground/lower-jones-valley): all back-ins averaging about 30 feet.
• Shoreline areas such as Gregory Beach: the road in narrows to about one lane with a drop-off.
• Madrone and Upper Jones Valley: closed, and small even when open.

Before you tow

Bringing a boat? Check the lake level and which ramps are open on our conditions page. To compare every campground's limit side by side, use the campground directory.

Sources: Recreation.gov per-site records, Shasta-Trinity National Forest pages and orders, operator listings for the private parks, and published camper reports, checked October 3, 2026.