The recreational vehicle is a great way to see America without leaving your entire life behind – or forgoing luxury accommodations, even. Some of these rigs get so ridiculous that they make a hotel seem too plebeian and may even make your own apartment seem as dumpy as a broom closet. The 2025 Forest River Wildwood Grand Lodge 42 Veranda is one of those trailers. This beast has two decks, residential appliances, and a rear patio so huge it houses its own kitchen, a slide system, and a water mister. Why even go home at this point?
We were tipped off to the existence of this trailer by our old friends at Jalopnik. Forest River, one of the largest RV conglomerates in America, is currently showing off this trailer to RV influencers, which apparently doesn’t include me. The RV Hunter was the first to get a video on this trailer but the most entertaining tour comes from RV influencer SavvyAboutCampers. The host of this social media account is known for her sassy and unhinged camper reviews. I’ve been finding myself sucked in, watching reviews for campers I would normally find boring.
Normally, I don’t cover destination trailers like these, but the 2025 Forest River Wildwood Grand Lodge 42 Veranda is almost shocking how silly it is in the context of camping. For once, its $108,497 price doesn’t seem as bad as it could be.
@savvyaboutcampers Replying to @user4154257660654 2025 Wildwood // Salem 42VERANDA Destination Trailer ????????✨ #SavvyAboutCampers #RVTiktok #RVing #RVLife #TravelTiktok #Travel #RV #GoRVing #TravelTrailer #FifthWheel #RVForSale #TruckCamper #ToyHauler #DestinationTrailer #RVTour #CamperTour #FullTimeRV #RVLiving #Camper #Motorhome #Nature #FYP #Trending #VanLife #Skoolie #BodyPositivity #PlusSize #FatFriendly #OOTD #ForestRiver #WildwoodRVs #VerandaDestinationTrailer #SalemRVs #WildwoodVeranda #SalemVeranda #TinyHome #TinyHouse #HouseonWheels
A What?
Right, so this is a destination trailer. It’s still an RV, but it’s built to fulfill a specific role.
For decades camper trailers were largely split into two main categories. You had your travel trailers, and this encompasses everything from baby teardrops to hefty fifth-wheels. For the past 70 or so years, most of these have been self-contained, meaning they have equipment onboard like batteries or holding tanks so that they do not need to be lashed up to an improved campsite.
On the other end of the spectrum is the park model above. Park trailers do not exceed 400 square feet and are generally designed to be towed to one place and left there. Park models are not built to RV code because they aren’t expected to be used as campers or go down the road for very long. When you find a place to set your park model down, you’re expected to remove its tongue, remove its wheels, and install skirts for a permanent setup. A park model is more or less a mobile home, not an RV.
So, these units will have residential appliances, carports, permanent patios, and they’re sometimes over eight and a half feet wide. They also won’t have holding tanks or other RV equipment. Some park models are so wide that you’ll need special permits just to haul them down the road, not unlike a mobile home. Likewise, you can move a park model again after it’s been set down, but it’s a convoluted process since it technically wasn’t built for that.
Lots of vintage RVs could be considered park models today because a lot of them – like the trailers built by Spartan Aircraft – were mobile, but were actually meant to stay in one place for a long time.
That brings us to the destination trailer. This is an invention that has officially been around for well over a decade. The destination trailer is meant to be the best of both worlds. These trailers are self-contained and built to RV code like travel trailers, yet they’re seriously large and feature home appliances and equipment like a park model.
While you can take your destination trailer around as a mega-travel trailer, you really aren’t supposed to. Instead, a destination trailer is meant to sit in one place for several months or a whole season before you haul it off somewhere else. The destination trailer is for the kind of person who would otherwise buy a park model, but doesn’t like the idea of having their RV stuck wherever the park model is set up.
The result is what you see here. Destination trailers are oversized and have wild features, but they’re still bumper-pull units like most typical travel trailers.
The Grand Lodge 42 Veranda
People are going nuts about Forest River’s latest destination trailer offerings. This latest trailer falls under Forest River’s Wildwood brand and its Salem brand. The Wildwood brand was founded in 1997 and it’s supposed to be an upscale brand giving you more bang for your buck. Salem is another Forest River brand that was founded in 1997 and it’s supposed to be budget-oriented.
Some advertisement pages say this trailer is a “Wildwood & Salem 42Veranda” but that is unnecessarily confusing. This trailer is sold as the Salem Grand Villa 42 Veranda and as the Wildwood Grand Lodge 42 Veranda. Both trailers are actually the same despite being under different brand lines, but they have slightly different motifs. The Salem goes for brightness while the Wildwood seems to try to replicate the feel of a high-end cabin in the woods. Think of these trailers as the difference between a Pontiac G3 and a Chevrolet Aveo. It’s all superficial. Even the pricing is the same between the two.
Forest River has been giving influencers access to the Wildwood version of the trailer, so that’s the one we’re looking at, too. Again, they’re the same aside from color palettes, so we’re not missing anything.
Let’s start with the stats because they will point out why this is unlike a normal travel trailer. The living space of the trailer is 42 feet long. Yep, that’s where the “42” comes from and yes, the RV manufacturers aren’t super creative with naming. Forest River has not published full specs, but says the total trailer length (that’s tongue to rear bumper) is 45 feet. The trailer sits 13 feet, 3 inches tall, and you get all three holding tanks, each with a capacity of 40 gallons.
I really want to tell you about the weight, but Forest River hasn’t published that yet. A similar trailer without the rear deck, the Wildwood Grand Lodge 42 View, weighs 13,749 pounds unloaded and its hitch weighs 1,745 pounds when the trailer is empty. That trailer is otherwise similar, down to the holding tanks. Basically, Forest River chopped the rear bathroom off of the normal 42-foot Grand Lodge and Salem Villa and just put a deck in its place. So, I’d expect the final trailer to also have a cargo-carrying capacity of just under 2,000 pounds.
In other words, this thing should be closer in specifications to that crazy Living Vehicle trailer, but costs a fraction of the price. Obviously, you’re going to want something more beefy than your pedestrian Ram 1500 to tow this.
Forest River’s bad photography doesn’t make this obvious, but these guys are sitting on the floor of the upper deck, not in chairs:
Like many destination trailers, some of that height is going into giving the trailer a second deck, sort of. You get a main floor with 8 feet, 6 inches of headroom, or 7 feet of headroom in the slide. Then, you can climb a staircase to access the trailer’s second bedroom, which features a queen bed, lots of cabinet storage, a large television, and even a table for card games, meals, or work. It’s a bit silly to think you’ll spend nearly $110k on a trailer, but someone in your party is going to have a bedroom they have to crawl around. Second decks are actually pretty common in destination trailers, but they’re usually afterthoughts reserved for tiny kids, not adults.
Most of the rest of the trailer isn’t too amazing, just comically large. There’s a bathroom under the second deck and it features a step-in shower that’s large enough for plus-size people to get comfortably clean in. I like that. The primary bedroom up front also has enough space for a king bed plus a cool panoramic window setup. Also cool!
Then you move back into the kitchen and living room area, which features an open concept plus residential appliances. It really looks like an apartment down there. Again, this is pretty common in destination trailers, but still cool to look at.
Things get weird again when you open the door to the patio. The patio is so large that it has its own hibachi-style grille and sink. It’s so large it has a second that extends out using motors. But then it goes even further. This is not a trailer for camping, as evidenced by the fact that this patio has both a large ceiling fan and a misting system to keep you damp.
All of this adds together with JBL speakers inside and outside, all kinds of LED lighting effects, a 26-foot awning, an on-demand water heater, and more. The options list is short, but does come with cool stuff like an all-weather package, additional jacks, gel coat on the trailer’s exterior fiberglass skin, washer and dryer prep, and countertops of a solid surface. Forest River also has the park model people covered, too. You can option your Wildwood or Salem to have a removable tongue and no tanks.
How Bad Could It Be?
We’ve written about a number of the crazy high-end stuff before, but this unit seems to give you a lot for the $108,497 Forest River wants you to pay. Shoot, this thing makes most apartments in my area seem like broom closets!
Unfortunately, if you want better pictures than the ones shown here you’ll have to watch those influencer videos. RV manufacturers are routinely the worst at taking pictures of their own products.
All of that being said, it should be noted that Forest River, much like Thor Industries, doesn’t have a good reputation for quality or longevity. So, I can’t tell you how long this will last. From my eyes on the ground at this year’s RV shows and my experience with my family’s brand-new trailer, it looks like quality is still a struggle.
That said, I could see a lot of people lining up to buy something like this, even if it’s about as far from camping as you could get without buying something with Prevost on the front. I mean, it gives you a porch, but then loads it up with a ceiling fan and a misting system so you don’t actually have to experience the outdoors. Forget a rolling hotel room, this is like bringing a summer cottage with you somewhere. But I guess that’s the point of a destination trailer. It basically is a summer cottage with wheels.
If you’re interested, Forest River will be shipping the 2025 Wildwood Grand Lodge 42 Veranda and the 2025 Salem Grand Villa 42 Veranda out to dealers soon.
This thing comes with all that AND the patio sink!
This looks nice enough and large enough to be an Accessory Dwelling Unit for rental on a lot big enough to hold it. Might be easier and cheaper than putting in a permanent building, with the benefit of being somewhat mobile.
Probably true except in places that get significant winters.
But at least it’s too heavy for a tornado to fuck with it.
Right? Right?
I’m in Central Texas. We get some cold days and dip below freezing once in a great while, but nothing more than a couple of days at a time. I’d be more worried about keeping things cool inside during our scorching summers.
if its gonna be parked for awhile a solar panel awning would provide power shade and shelter. should be more than enough to keep it cool.
They make other park models that meet HUD code for mobile/manufactured homes in regards to insulation, probably better off with one of those as a guest house/rental unit. The ones resort-type campgrounds buy in bulk and use as guest accommodations
Ummm. The Cougar Unleashed Extreme would like to have some words.
Comments here are hilarious. Yes almost all campers are cheaply made. No, this is not an outrageously “expensive” TT in comparison to what’s on the market. Yes you need a big truck to pull this, that’s what they’re for! LOL
I don’t get things like this. Sure. Its probably nice as a camper. But its also made out of thin plywood, sheets of thin aluminum and other crap that means it starts disintegrating immediately. I guess it is what it is: A rich person’s plaything.
A rich person’s plaything is a Dutch or Italian 30M motoryacht.
This is a poor person’s idea of a rich person’s plaything.
I’m imagining the “RV Code” as specifying the minimum number of leaks within the first year and the maximum amount of duct tape allowed to hold it together.
And like ALL other campers, it’s probably still built like the first little piggy’s house.
This is why I’m shopping for an older fiberglass camper that I can just retrofit with modern bits. I want something that’ll hold up.
The Casita!
Casita, Bigfoot, Scamp, Boler, Trillium, I’m not picky. But my budget has me aiming at very vintage units. So more Bolers and Trilliums in my marketplace searches.
Not for me. Prefer Airbnb, my Accord or a plane and a credit card for all the rest.
Why don’t they lower the first level ceiling a foot or so? That would absolutely be worth it for the extra height on the 2nd level in my opinion. Hell my basement is like 6′-8″ and I have no complaints with it.
When I was designing equipment a previous job we designed for height ranges from 5th percentile female to the 95th percentile male. That meant designing for up to about 6′ 3″ people…a 7 foot ceiling makes adding a ceiling fan unlikely. They could pretty much go on the toes and hit their head on a running fan blade.
Things like this are why I dig the tiny house movement. Build an actual livable space with quality workmanship and components, and it can still cost less and have better longevity than junk like this. I’ve been in a homemade tiny-house for 2 years now, and while there are issues, nothing like a 2-year old travel trailer.
Can you offer more details about your tiny home? Homemade or purchased? What is the plot that you have it parked? I only see these but have never engaged with somebody actually living the tiny home life…
2nd your motion. Tell us more please.
I replied above, in case you’re still curious!
Sure! My wife and I are both engineers and built it ourselves on a used F-650 moving truck. I wanted an F-series so I could swap the extended cab for a crew cab and be able to accommodate my wife and daughter (we originally planned to travel and live out of the house, but post-covid WFH policy quickly changed). The moving truck base allowed us to easily add a passenger side framed door along with a back wall with window and door. It’s generally considered bad practice to build a box truck into a tiny house given how the box twists. We remedied that by welding reinforcements diagonally across the rear opening before framing. My wife did the interior framing, while I cut, replaced and lengthened the truck to accommodate the longer cab as well as a small back patio. The underbody and roof are spray-foamed, and walls insulated with foam board. My wife built custom cabinets, dining area, couch/futon, and I built a bed platform that raises and lowers to give us maximum space in our living room. A 36″x36″ shower was one of my must-haves, a long with a decent size kitchen, as I love to cook. We’ve been living in it for 2 years now! We’ve had some learning curves, mostly the realization that in winter the inside of the house is like the outside of a cold beer on a hot summer day-condensation everywhere! A dehumidifier is a must have, along with good ventilation. We have it parked on 9 acres that we bought with plans to begin a ‘forever home’ build within the next year.
i do that all the time when camping, no trailer needed. Tent or under the stars
If I had a place to park this, I would go for it. You can move it you sell the plot or if your land is big enough it is a good option for a guest home. Just make sure it had he hookups.
Yeah, I’ve given some thought to finding a bit of property in the mountains somewhere, maybe West Virginia, and just dumping a used park model on it for an instant vacation home. Trick is to find a plot where somebody has already cut in a road and installed electric and septic, but those sorts of opportunities are slightly rare.
You can still pick up brand new Cavcos for under $100k, which seems like a good deal for a plug & play instant house in this day and age. Though, still not as good as when Breckenridge would sell you a fully equipped park model with furniture, appliances, curtains, dishes, silverware, etc for under $40k, but, like most things, inflation has done a number on the MSRPs.
You could look for a spot with a small house you’re not interested in. Have the fire department burn it down for an exercise and then use the home’s existing electric and septic connections.
I never understand the trailers with porches. That’s what the ground outside is for. Either make it interior space or buy a shorter trailer.
Not to judge based on looks, but this seems like more of the same cheap fiberglass-and-cardboard nonsense that your parents are dealing with. Gimmicks aside, it doesn’t seem like that high quality of a contraption. Also haven’t RVs had upper lofts for decades now? I remember visiting an RV dealership as a kid with my parents and touring (I want to say it was a Class A, or maybe a fifth wheel) that had a sleeping loft above a ‘toy hauler’ mini garage for an ATV or dirt bikes. At the time I thought it was so cool to have a ‘two-story’ RV, and based off the social media reactions to this new model it seems like that novelty is still there.
Mercedes, River Forest=Berkshire Hathaway AND Elkhart, ID. This RV stuff is getting as bad as the Chinese EV propaganda.
Elkhart, ID=Garbage.
Looks great…for 6 months. Then falls apart.
Excuse me: Elkhart, IN.
Almost all trailers are from Elkhart, IN.
Thats a bad thing.
I guess if you live in it full time, the cost might be worth it? Looks like a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
I’d guess these appeal to the kind of people who like to show off their “toys”. Finally give them something to haul with their F-350 Powerstroke they usually use to go get groceries.
I guess maybe if I owned some land and got utilities run out there, I could see parking something like this out there while waiting to build a house? Have the septic cleanout guy come out there to pump out your black tank? But like you said, my understanding is they are poorly built. So maybe you’d be better off in a fancy tent.
If you had the land and utilities, you can build something permanent. It would be nicer and possibly cheaper (depending on your finish level).
Overpriced big rolling turd for sure.