When we started camping 40+ years ago I'm not sure we ever made reservations and probably seldom did until much later. Now I've adopted the attitude that if any doubt at all, make reservations and be prepared to accept "losing" some money by cancelling. Being cheap this is hard but not as hard as showing up late afternoon at a favorite place and finding it booked. I've also adopted the attitude that " anything is possible" as far as campgrounds being booked. Places we never thought would fill now might. It's just all part of the new reality of the popularity of RVing. I just tried to reserve a national park site in March only to find our preferred loop is booked.

I'm still a no-reservation guy unless it's a weekend in a popular place. I find Sunday thru Thursday no problem, especially if you don't need hookups - and almost all new campers need hookups. Investing in solar, batteries, inverter and carrying water.. priceless.Nothing ruins a trip for me quite like maintaining a schedule to honor a reservation.

After our first trip in an RV when I made reservations for the whole trip, broke down and lost money, decided that was the last time I'd do that. We don't camp in summer as we are retired, so that helps. We are perfectly happy to dry camp, and that helps. And when we absolutely need to make reservations, we just call the day ahead or in the morning and so far we haven't had an issue.

We’re still the no reservation types and with a smart phone and being fully self contained, not going to change now. A campground that would be impossible to find the site on Friday is often empty on Monday. We usually travel and resupply on the weekends with the exception of long holiday weekends where we hunker down someplace.

We traveled this summer for the first time in 4 years and found we really needed reservations. We really needed them for any holiday. I only had to cancel 1 reservation. Like 2oldman we didn't like having to go, go to get to the next reservation. We will go back to traveling in the fall, winter or spring.

Given the loading & gas money wasted if campground is full we make reservations. Sadly 3 were cancelled this year. In Oregon it is really really hard to get into a state park without a reservation. We have families living in our Oregon state campgrounds as it is cheaper than rent. Things have sure changed

Reservations | Good Sam Community

Crowe
Explorer
Sep 19, 2018
We always made reservations. Tight schedules didn't give us much alternative plus I felt it was one less thing to stress about. Last thing I wanted was to get somewhere and not have a place to sleep.
mdcamping
Explorer
Sep 19, 2018
We still are doing 40, so reservations are a must. I have noticed the past few yrs that sites are tough to come by on the more popular rvparks/campgrounds, so my booking starts around the first week in January. For this upcoming columbus day weekend to get a W/E site at assatleague state park I had to book 1 year in advance, just hrs after the online window opened.

Mike
DrewE
Explorer II
Sep 19, 2018
As a non-retired person, I nearly always use reservations, though they are not always made far in advance. I don't have the luxury of adjusting my schedule by a few days if needed.

Sometimes this has led to making what turned out to be unnecessary reservations, such as at Greenbelt Park near Washington, DC around Thanksgiving time when the occupancy rate was less than 5% and for most of my stay I could not see another camper from my reserved site.
jplante4
Explorer II
Sep 19, 2018
It's easier in some parts of the country to go no-res. North Dakota for instance. I'm at a COE park in Nebraska right now and there are over 100 sites open. The camp host has the day off. Pull in and pick a site.

This trip we had reservations (or were going to a first-come place) for the next stop and I was looking for the place after that. I need to be in the Kansas City area around Oct 1, so I have the next 2 weeks booked.

I would not recommend winging it in the northeast in Just and August. Too many campers, not enough parks.
BB_TX
Nomad
Sep 19, 2018
If there is a park that allows site specific reservations I make reservations well in advance to get a site I know we like. Otherwise I call a park a day before arrival (or maybe morning of) to make sure sites are available and make a reservation. I have no desire to pull into a park late in the day, find it full, and start trying to find a place to stay. We have stayed at parks that were full by mid afternoon. We don’t do parking lots.
2oldman
Explorer II
Sep 19, 2018
2 Retired wrote:
know several who stayed in SC State Parks all fall and winter, into the spring, and never had to move.
Complete with their blue tarps, skirting, homemade stairs and collections of junk?
2_Retired
Explorer
Sep 19, 2018
We almost always make reservations, and have rarely had to make a cancellation. State Parks and Federal facilities seem to be the hardest to find a site in, probably because of their generally lower cost from neighboring, private CGs. It is much easier to get a site from Sun - Thursday, but that can prove difficult in high-traffic areas, such as the Ocean front state parks in SC (one less now that Hunting Island is all but closed to camping). Edisto Beach, Huntington Beach and Myrtle Beach State Parks have significantly raised their site prices, and getting a site reservation in any of these parks now for the late spring - early fall is very dicey.
2_Retired
Explorer
Sep 19, 2018
Many state parks do have 14 day limits, but some allow to switch sites to continue staying, some only require 1 day away to get a new site. know several who stayed in SC State Parks all fall and winter, into the spring, and never had to move. Only when CG is in high demand is the rule strictly enforced.
downtheroad
Explorer
Sep 19, 2018
We have our favorite parks and favorite sites in these parks...Getting reservations at these places during the summer is harder than getting front row center tickets to a Stones concert...

We start 9 months in advance. Hate it, but that's the way it is now days.
2oldman
Explorer II
Sep 19, 2018
Oasisbob wrote:
We have families living in our Oregon state campgrounds as it is cheaper than rent.
That's a shame, but that deprives others of using the campground for its intended purpose. Most places I go have a 14-day limit. Perhaps Ory-gone needs to do that.

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