Do not mean to hijack, Please excuse text, an almost senior relearning to reread/write. When healthy I backpack alone Appalachian albeit hindsight stupid but ignorance was bliss. I worked 38 years to save for NP trips but never dreamed you could not just leave and visit them, that reserve year ahead first. To reduce load on parks:
1) rig dry camp training.
2) If tour buses/shuttles were made available to pick up campers from camp sites in/out of NP without advance reservations it would decrease the traffic on the roads through park and maybe less accidents/congestion, and more folks camp outside park. Obviously since never been to NP I cannot say, but I can say what is holding me back from seeing them is fear getting trampled in crowds (or caught in snow in off peak times), fear once I get there discovering once inside needed another type reservation a year advance to see sites, fear noplace to park if no reservations months/year advance (not knowing how to make a reservation nor how long it would take between stops to get there to attempt reservations). I was guided to caravan link which was awesome advice and will likely do to start with.
People would be willing to camp outside of park if they knew didn't have to start all over each day to get to same mile marker as day before due to traffic. I believe shuttles with shuttle destinations would help with that.
3) Make unused reservations available to people if folks have not called in to keep reservation by noon the next day (or something similar). When I have taken rig to local places through ReserveAmerica, I'm amazed the sea of open slots because folks didn't cancel the reservation and camp is sold out. I believe if you don't notify the camp ground by noon the following day the camp ground should allow drive in's or next on notification list the space and relist it in ReserveAmerica. When I inquire why folks being turned away with a sea of open slots it is because they are already paid for and reserved. So folks reserve multiple weeks with a couple names to cover a year in advance and may not use them but the cost is low enough that they can afford the latitude of going or not (seriously, folks book every weekend and nearly impossible to get 10-14 days because weekends booked but never used because affordable to do it). I call ahead and even if I'm not going to be refunded I ask them to ensure the slot is given to somebody. I'm impressed folks can plan months and years ahead, some folks can only go when they hit a break to escape without warning (e.g., nursing home gets an opening, etc.). Sounds like a personal problem, with personal hang ups, I agree.
4) incentive for people to cancel reservations, at present zero refund if you cancel on/near date, so why bother. But if you could get even 50% refund in instances the spot subsequently gets rented then more folks would call in and more folks could see park instead of spot remaining vacant.
5) Make cancelled spots available. I reserved two spots once but other couple could not make it, that other spot remained open the entire week and showed taken on reserve site even though called and cancelled it.
dry camp training, shuttles, unused reservations made available next day if nobody calls in for late arrival and gets confirmation number for late arrival, majority slots reservable in entire week increments not just weekends.
