Virginia State parks new site specific policy

You're right, NoVA RT: At Chippokes, the site-specific reservation fee is $36 and the non-site-specific is $33.

toedtoes wrote:
Two scenarios:

I can only camp from Friday to Sunday and all the nice sites are full by the time I arrive and I can only get the site next to the bathroom. Now with reserved sites, I can actually get a decent site for the weekend.

I can arrive before the crowds and have always been able to get a decent site. Now because people can reserve specific sites, I get stuck with the site next the bathrooms.

Let's face it - there is no way to please everybody.

I thinks toedtoes sums it up best. I actually took part in the survey about a year ago on about changing the reservation policy and stated basically it's a catch twenty-two. Great if you can arrive Sunday - Thursday and have a lot of sites to pick from. Not so great to arrive Friday evening, maybe delayed because of traffic and sites left are to small to fit on. Really I just wouldn't chance the weekend trip for nonspecific sites and it limited me for just camping in my favorite Virginia parks for the weekend. But I can see the other side where now the reservation schedule has nine months of sites booked only on the weekends and you can't get a larger block of time without having to move sites.

I prefer having site specific reservations. We usually camp with at least one other family, often times 4 or 5 families. Being able to reserve 5 sites together is preferred. At non site specific parks, they may have 20 open spots, but maybe not enough together for a group.

Perhaps a compromise would be to reserve a site (non specific) for the flat fee. If someone like me wants to reserve a group of sites (specific), you pay the flat fee plus a nominal site reservation fee ($2-$4 fee). Having that slight fee will hopefully prevent people from requesting specific sites if they don't really need it, and will allow larger groups to have a better chance of camping together.

johnvb wrote:

Bob806 wrote:
Funny you started this thread, as I'm totally frustrated with the Reserve America in regards to VSPs. I was looking into visiting Douthat this fall, for the first time ever, but the system employed by Reserve America is awful. It looks like the entire CG is full, when the folks at their campground office told me it's not the case at all. Makes things difficult for first time visitors to any park....I like being able to drive in and scope out the best of what's available when I get there. Like others have mentioned, that seems to be a thing of the past and it's no good.

Douthat is a gorgeous park and area. If you have a decent size RV, you are going to want to stay in the Whispering Pines section. The furthest from the lake, but the newest section. I imagine during the fall "leaf colors" season, the place fills up completely.

I may end up at Bolar Mountain (another Reserve America system) if I can't resolve the Douthat SP confusion. We're looking to visit an area we've never been too.

I like certain sites because they are level and we fit.
Not a problem if you fit anywhere or all sites are the same.
I don't like that I am going to be charged an extra $6 a nite because I am from out of state. State Parks are not cheap anymore.
I also don't like that I can't print out a map of the campsites anymore.

Southwind98 wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
Two scenarios:

I can only camp from Friday to Sunday and all the nice sites are full by the time I arrive and I can only get the site next to the bathroom. Now with reserved sites, I can actually get a decent site for the weekend.

I can arrive before the crowds and have always been able to get a decent site. Now because people can reserve specific sites, I get stuck with the site next the bathrooms.

Let's face it - there is no way to please everybody.

I thinks toedtoes sums it up best. I actually took part in the survey about a year ago on about changing the reservation policy and stated basically it's a catch twenty-two. Great if you can arrive Sunday - Thursday and have a lot of sites to pick from. Not so great to arrive Friday evening, maybe delayed because of traffic and sites left are to small to fit on. Really I just wouldn't chance the weekend trip for nonspecific sites and it limited me for just camping in my favorite Virginia parks for the weekend. But I can see the other side where now the reservation schedule has nine months of sites booked only on the weekends and you can't get a larger block of time without having to move sites.

That's it, if the system changes to benefit one type of camper, it ends up messing things up for another type of camper. It's impossible to establish a system that works for every option:

1. The planners - plan camping trips and reserve campsites well in advance (need to know they have a site before driving 3+ hours to nowhere)

2. The wingers - can't or don't want to make plans, just want to say "let's go camping today/tomorrow", jump in the RV, and go to their favorite campground

3. The weekenders - can only head out to camp on Friday or Saturday

4. The weekdayers - can camp during weekdays, weekends, whenever

5. The longtermers - camp more than 1 week at a stretch

6. The shorttimers - camp for 1 week or less

For me, I'm a planner, weekdayer, shorttimer. Policies that work best for me will make it all but impossible for the wingers and longtermers. Policies that work best for the wingers and weekenders will make it all but impossible for me.

Something else is gonna happen and that's that folks are going to figure out the part about reserving a number of sites at different sites and then at the last minute the ones they aren't going to use and eat the res fees. Oregon and Washington figgered that out and now you have a moving cancellation fee based on when you cancel. It has stopped some folks, but not all.

There's always going to be those who are willing to throw away money on multiple reservations - but with the right cancellation fees and policies, it will reduce them.

Some CGs take away the remaining days if not occupying site the first night.

That's good for walk-ins, as long as you know the policy. The problem sometimes, a traveler won't know about walk-in policy - and the website says, "totally booked" ...

We never believe the totally booked signs on the web - we only believe it if we call the CG directly and ask. Otherwise, we go and take our chances, especially when on our way to a destination. We've almost always had good luck, and very few times over all these years camping have we not found a spot, or at least some kind of overflow temporarily.

We stop early, not at the last minute, and we don't often go to major attraction areas - at least without some sort of planning (like off-season).

That doesn't work for families with date issues - but it works for us. but it still would be unfair to book every site via reservation. Every public CG should have a portion available to walk-in traffic.