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pipsi's avatar
pipsi
Explorer
May 12, 2019

First-come first-served campsites: how to keep my spot?

Hi all, we are visiting Grand Teton NP in early June and I had a question about the first-come first-served RV campgrounds within the park. If we manage to get a spot by waiting early in the morning, will we keep our spot even if we want to head out in our RV to check out other areas of the park during the day? Or will the rangers assume leaving the park means giving up your spot and assign it to someone else? I am not familiar with how it works.
Thanks!
  • a chair placed in the middle of the site with a polite note saying you have gone to the store and will be back shortly.
  • BillyBob Jim wrote:
    Did campsite squatters recently become en vogue or something? I can't say I've ever had or seen the issue, nor worried about the possibility.

    First come first serve is no different than reserved as I see it or anything else. If you paid for the site for a week, leave and return during the day and some idiot is on it, tell them to move. If they refuse then call the ranger, host, or management and they'll make them move. I've yet to see a Fed or State campground where there was not some method used to mark a site as occupied or reserved, such as a tag on a post.


    No it happens. Most will honor chairs, and tables left on the site. But there are those that will push those to the side. It really is a problem in some places.
  • Did campsite squatters recently become en vogue or something? I can't say I've ever had or seen the issue, nor worried about the possibility.

    First come first serve is no different than reserved as I see it or anything else. If you paid for the site for a week, leave and return during the day and some idiot is on it, tell them to move. If they refuse then call the ranger, host, or management and they'll make them move. I've yet to see a Fed or State campground where there was not some method used to mark a site as occupied or reserved, such as a tag on a post.