Reservations for popular campgrounds

Actually the campground I am trying to get reservations are reservation only and do not have first come first served sites. Recreation.gov reservation site shows availability and allow 14 day reservations which can be booked 6 months from the date of the first reservation. For instance I tried to book a site 6 months from today (July 9) for January 9, 2016. The site showed a couple of sites available and the second the window opened I tried to book the site and the response was "no inventory available" and when I checked availability I found the campsite had already been booked for January 9 thru January 22.

This is very frustrating as I have tried this multiple times and found I was a fraction of a second late in attempting to reserve. Maybe I am doing something wrong but I don't think so as I have used the same reservation site previously for booking other less popular campgrounds.

We Cant Wait wrote:
The site might have been booked by someone for several days before you wanted it, thus it showed up as booked. Say you want Jul 16-23rd, someone else might have it booked for July 12-19th.

I think this answer is spot on - I got into Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone last fall by checking back often

The site might have been booked by someone for several days before you wanted it, thus it showed up as booked. Say you want Jul 16-23rd, someone else might have it booked for July 12-19th.

They use a similar system to most hotels which updates immediately. Remember the electrons inside of the IC's are moving in virtually nano-seconds. So yes it happens that fast.

However most of the parks do have space that comes available each day as people leave early or dont show. Some parks keep a percentage for first come first served. Try spending the night just outside the park and get to the window early.