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Oasisbob's avatar
Oasisbob
Explorer
Nov 09, 2017

Camping is popular

Some of the best camping, in my opinion, is after Labor day. And I guess others are catching on. I went to make reservations for Thanksgiving weekend at Champeog state park here in Oregon and all RV sites are full. So muchg for that idea. My frustration builds when I learn they close down the A loop this time of year. So do they not see the need? At $31 a night they are turning away revenue. What am I missing here?

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  • GordonThree's avatar
    GordonThree
    Explorer
    Nov 09, 2017
    Same here, the ones that remain open November through April often close all the loops except their smallest, or the one closest to the headquarters building. They claim it's to reduce maintenance costs because they have seasonal budgets. I don't completely buy that excuse - what maintenance is there once the water is turned off and the bathrooms are boarded up?
  • goducks10's avatar
    goducks10
    Explorer
    Nov 09, 2017
    GordonThree wrote:
    Are you certain they're occupied or just no longer valid for reservations? Michigan typically stops accepting reservations after Oct 31, perhaps other states do as well? When viewing online the spots show as occupied.


    Some of the state parks here (Oregon) do close certain loops, but can be filled for overflow on a 1st come 1st serve basis. Champeog St park doesn't seem to offer it like that. They just flat out close some loops.
    Knowing how the state of Oregon works it may take years for them to figure out that because of high RV sales more people want to get out and glamp and they could at least leave some loops open for overflow.
  • GordonThree's avatar
    GordonThree
    Explorer
    Nov 09, 2017
    Are you certain they're occupied or just no longer valid for reservations? Michigan typically stops accepting reservations after Oct 31, perhaps other states do as well? When viewing online the spots show as occupied.
  • IBcarguy's avatar
    IBcarguy
    Explorer
    Nov 09, 2017
    I recently looked for ANY spot on the coast between Santa Cruz and Monterey CA and there was NO available weekend spots at state parks and I went out 6 months! Very frustrating.
  • RoyF's avatar
    RoyF
    Explorer
    Nov 09, 2017
    Apparently, a lot of us like to go camping over Thanksgiving. My favorite nearby state park is usually full at Thanksgiving, but we find someplace else.

    I suppose that you know about Ft Stevens State Park, Oregon. (We were there one month ago.) A huge campground, but most sites are tucked into the trees so that we had a feeling of being in the deep woods.
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Nov 09, 2017
    They keep selling more and more RV's yet there are fewer spaces available. It's gotten to the point that for us to make a RSVP fo r a state CG, we have to make resi's 9 mos in advance. Even then, for the more popular spaces we have to trick the system.

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