Calif State Parks New Reservation System

DAS26miles wrote:
Just took a look at California's new reservation system. Doesn't appear user friendly to me. Maybe I just need to get used to it. Found it very difficult to even get to my frequented campgrounds. Perhaps I will have better luck getting a site with the new rolling 6 month in advance reservations and maybe not. It says online reservations can be made 24/7, but I can't find what time the window opens each day. Is it at 12:01am, 8 am or 10am?

I have found the new site to be very perplexing. It is very much a step down from ReserveAmerica in both functionality and user friendliness.

Let's say you want to make a reservation. If one opens the link provided for CA. State Parks in RV.net, this is where you end up: LINK Once there, if you simply want to make a reservation where do you go? There is nothing intuitive about where to go just to make a reservation.

If you select "Visit a Park" then you can search by name. Once you find the park you are looking for then you select "Reservations" and another page comes up that offers a link that says "Online Reservations".

If you select that it opens a completely different website (LINK) in a new tab. From there you have to re-enter the name of the park you just found on the other site. (So this is the link you want to save for future reference.)

Once you enter the park name you are invited to pick a date. Dates that are 'reservable' are highlighted and bright, and as you scroll into the future the non-reservable dates are 'grayed out'. But if the park is seasonal dates will still be highlighted even if they are not reservable.

Then you have pick the length of your stay (no issues there) and there is also a Choose Activity drop down menu. To make a camping reservation you simply select Camping and Lodging...but if you notice, one of the options is for Hearst Castle Tours. Really? Why would that be there as an option for every campground in California even if Hearst Castle could be 500 miles away (try google maps: Burney Falls to Hearst Castle)

After selecting "GO" the next screen that opens is a general information page about the park, listing options available for reserving (camping vs cabins, etc.). You then select the one you want and another window opens that shows the sites that are available for the dates you want.

But how does the site know if you have a small tent or a large RV? You have to scroll all the way down to the bottom and select FILTERS to input your information. And the info. is generic so it will fit ALL State Parks, so you can ask for a river side boat site with hookups even if your campground has no such features.

Now that you have input your features, let's look at a map to see where the available sites are...we don't want to be by the road or the restrooms, right? But wait, there IS NO MAP.

OK, no map, so you just pick a site that is available. When you click on the green square for your date a window does at least pop up to give you some info. on the site...but no photo. Unless you know the campground already and know the sites you want you are just running blind!

Can you tell I'm a little frustrated ????

Steve