Camper in AT Parking Lots ?

[Delawaredave]

Have a small camper trailer. In general, is it OK to park (with car attached) in the various parking lots and curbside trail head parallel parking for AT ?

Ok to sleep overnight in the camper ?

I know a lot of the parking areas are different domains (state parks, national, conservancy, etc). Also understand safety and vandalism.

Old retired guy - I want to do a mix of day hikes and overnights in shelters in area from Roanoke VA south and trying to figure if having this camper with me is worth taking / permissible.

Thanks for any input.

[Gambit McCrae]

After a bit you will get the gist of where you can and cant sleep overnight. I personally will never sleep in a trailhead parking lot again after some bad experiences several years ago. I would say you would be better off in a local/ nearby campground and commute to the trailheads of your choice. I bet there is a campground within 20 miles of every AT trailhead from GA to ME

[peakbagger]

If in doubt there is always Walmart which is usually down at the foot of the ridge. I second Gambit's recommendation parking lots can get lot of late night visitors and not all have good intent. That said with Covid I see a lot of commercial vehicle based campers parking in parking lots in NH with the shades down since Covid restrictions kicked in. Lots of shiny 50 to 100K Mercedes camper popping up.

[BobTheBuilder]

I've parked in a lot of trailhead areas and space is frequently tight, and the parking areas somewhat small. There may not be space for a vehicle with a trailer behind it, so I agree that it makes more sense to park your camper at a nearby campground and then use your vehicle to get to the trailheads. Good luck!

[Slo-go'en]

Bob beat me to it. Trailhead parking lots tend to be on the small side and with the explosion of new day hikers, these lots are often overflowing to begin with. A lot of them are on narrow roads with no shoulder. Others are on highways where you can't park along the road. So while you may find an occasional lot big enough, it's not something you can randomly show up at and be sure of finding space.

I've parked in a lot of trailhead areas and space is frequently tight, and the parking areas somewhat small. There may not be space for a vehicle with a trailer behind it, so I agree that it makes more sense to park your camper at a nearby campground and then use your vehicle to get to the trailheads. Good luck!

[gpburdelljr]

I’ve often seen some of the smaller parking areas completely full, so if you park there with a vehicle and trailer you are taking up an extra space that another hiker could have used.