USFS CG with "must reserve" requirement

Like someone said, reservation only eliminates the need for each park to have a cash management system in place. It would also reduce problems with people driving in and setting up in someone else's previously reserved site. Those instances require camp hosts and often rangers to sort out. Many of the smaller parks have neither hosts or rangers on site making either a reservation only or a totally no reservation system optimal. From a guest's point of view, making reservations, even day of stay, is less of a problem then driving around trying to find a vacant first come/first served site during the busy season. So if you have to choose one or the other, reservations only leaves fewer people driving around aimlessly.
As for added fees, it is likely those fees are a work-around for some mandated site fees. The state and federal parks can't just set whatever fees they want, they have to be approved by who knows how many layers of bureaucracy. Kind of like how KOAs get around paying the 10 percent franchise fee on site rentals, they just have all sorts of additional fees that aren't subjected to that 10 percent. One thing is clear to me. There is no way any government entity could handle and manage a reservation system for $8.00 a reservation, they are just not that efficient.

Sycamore Grove is a bit different from other USFS campgrounds in California. It is right off I-5 and caters to travelers as well as campers. It is not very big either - only 30 sites. And has hookups. They have also been working on the natural area around the campground to make it more enjoyable with trails, etc.

I suspect they are going to reservations only because they get so many overnighters that it gets in the way of campers. From the website, they really advertise it as a destination campground not a convenient overnight park.

monkey44 wrote:
We saw this coming when we were in Gr Smoky's few weeks ago. Ranger told us the new company taking over allows NO cash payment for site, and we would have to call in and "reserve" a walk-in site. That means every site every time will now have a reserve fee tagged on if it happens that way. Ranger was not sure ...

But, I see that as a money grab for the reservation system, not the parks. SO, now, even one night walk-in will require a reservation fee - which really sucks for travelers and any series of one night stays ... it certainly eliminates any ATB discounts in a sense....

I don't know how the USFS works it, but on the state campgrounds I've stayed at with a similar system the reservation fee was waived for same-day phone (and maybe also online) reservations.

We saw this coming when we were in Gr Smoky's few weeks ago. Ranger told us the new company taking over allows NO cash payment for site, and we would have to call in and "reserve" a walk-in site. That means every site every time will now have a reserve fee tagged on if it happens that way. Ranger was not sure ...

But, I see that as a money grab for the reservation system, not the parks. SO, now, even one night walk-in will require a reservation fee - which really sucks for travelers and any series of one night stays ... it certainly eliminates any ATB discounts in a sense....

I hope this doesn't start happening in Idaho. In our FS CG's, if a site is reservable, there is a sign on it indicating to check with the host and if it is reserved, you'll know it because a tag will also be on the post listing the reservation dates and name.

We have seen this at a few COE parks also - we don't stay at parks that require reservations even when they have empty, non-reserved sites. We want to see the available sites and choose the one that suits us best. We also hate to obligate ourselves for anything more than overnight for anything that we have never seen.

Colorado has a pilot program, or so they told us, which Trinidad Lake SP and Cheyenne Mountain SP would become reserve only.

I was a USFS campground manager for a National Forest that had about 30 developed campgrounds (100's of individual campsites). We tried to always have some first come first served NON-reservable campsites at each campground (approximately 30% of the sites). We thought this was fair. However, I have been retired for about 8 years now and perhaps the rules have changed. I know some states have also gone to a reservation only policy. I've written letters to the local State government with reasons for why they shouldn't do this...but alas to no avail. I've got to say I am definitely NOT a fan of having all the sites be reservation only.

There are unintended consequences of having such a system. By having some non-reservable sites, a person is able to occupy a site and then determine (based on weather, interest in the area, etc.) how long they want to stay (up to the 2 week limit). They can simply re-up each day prior to a certain time (usually late morning). But if all sites are reservable, most are already reserved for the weekends (THurs - Sunday) so even if you find an open site on a Monday, you can only stay for a few days, because the site is reserved, even if nobody shows up for the weekend.

And I am not interested in making reservations 1 year in advance and locking myself in to specific places and specific days that far in advance.

Some states are doing a similar thing; if you arrive after the person is gone from the entrance shack, you must call a reservation number (or use a hotline phone) and make a reservation for a site before driving in and occupying it. I don't care for the system. I guess it does make for easier checking up by the rangers as they can always have an up-to-date list of what sites are in use and who claimed them.

To me, the biggest annoyance is that you have to select a site without having the benefit of seeing what they look like, usually assisted by some call center employee who knows nothing more about it than the basic facts available in the online reservation system such as stated maximum length and whether it's right next to the washrooms. They usually don't have any idea if there is a nicer view from one, or if it's a wider site than most, etc.

As competition for sites becomes more intense it will likely become more common.