Are researations needed most of there time anymore?

We like Silver Falls State Park especially in the fall when the colors are in and the waterfalls are raging. We went this spring and our friends us acquired the last two sites available in the hook up loop. When we arrived the campground was nearly empty and didn't fill up until the week end. Either the reservation system is faulty or your fellow campers are gaming the reservation system by canceling at the last minute and making it impossible for people that need to plan ahead get reservations. I think the latter.

Here are a few questions to ponder:

- Do you make reservations with little intention of using them?
- Do you make a reservation as a back up?
- Do you consider the cancellation fee to be no big deal?
- Do you have a spreadsheet with your reservations that has a column for the last day to cancel?
- Do you have a reservation and not show up and not cancel and just eat the reservation fee and one night site rental?
- If you have to cancel late and have to eat a site charge do you insist the site remain empty even though a family would like to occupy it?
- Do you make a campsite reservation just for your boat denying the site to someone that wants to take their family camping?

If yes to any of these questions then maybe the problem of ostensibly full parks but in reality empty parks lies within.

mileshuff wrote:
...Several told me they have an app that auto books them at midnight when the reservations open for the time frame they need.

If there is an app that automatically books campground sites it must be the most closely guarded secret since area 51.

Silver Falls is a nice park and a short drive from Portland - it's not representative of typical Oregon State Park. I never camp a SFSP without a reservation and often you have to make those well in advance. With that said - Oregon State Parks are getting more crowded every year - State has had inflow of people for a long time and word has gotten out that our State Parks are far superior to most. I never used to make reservations in the off-season but I suspect that's going to change.

mileshuff wrote:
Here in Arizona during the fall and winter months full timers horde the campsites. CG rules state a maximum stay of 14 nights in the same site. When the reservation system opens for a given period they'll book another 14 night stay and move their rig to the new site. Several told me they have an app that auto books them at midnight when the reservations open for the time frame they need.

I know that some states have rules that say you have to leave the CG entirely for at least 24 hours before you can come back in.

Lyle

jbeliera wrote:
It all depends on whether you just want to wing it or be assured a spot for the days you want. I find that as we plan our trips I line up the route to my destination or the number of places we want to stay Even as you travel getting to a destination you still should make calls. I look at where we want to go the nights in spots to get there and then call the RV campgrounds to to check out my chances of a smooth trip and having a place to stretch out. Even Walmarts are getting to be iffy these days. I know some people don't want to go through all that trouble they want to strike out and take their chances well these days that is just what you are doing. You may not get a site in the places you want to stay. A little planning and a few calls even if it is just for info is always good to know ahead of time in order to have a smooth non climatic experience.

This is definitely a "to each his own" situation. I personally find less stress in doing some planning, knowing where I'm going and where I'm going to stay when I get there. Towing a fifth wheel, I like to know where my fuel stops are going to be ahead of time. Others, especially full-timers, perhaps having to cope with imposed plans and schedules in their "previous lives" may prefer to go without plans and find that more relaxing.

I am more relaxed with planning. Then I am only concentrating on driving from point A to point B.

Chuck .. wrote:
We live in Salem, Oregon and just completed purchasing a new dually and a used DRV. Last couple of weeks we have been trying to put 1,000 miles on the truck for the break in period. So; drove to Sisters, Bend, other places in the state and now staying at Silver Falls campground about 20 miles east of Salem. Got here Wednesday night late and want to stay through Sunday. Found out this morning that the campground is mostly booked up through this weekend and got one of the last three open sites in group B which holds 40 RV's. There are other sites but they don't have services.

We are surprised that a lot of RV camp's/and State camp grounds are full up this time of the year. I am talking it is the third week in October, raining hard, mid 50's and the camp grounds that are open are still full up.

We know some campground in Oregon, you have to book a year in advice to get a spot, like Wallowa Lake in north-eastern Oregon.

Hope this is not getting to be the case around the country. Summer time is hard enough getting a nice campground site during mid week.

I was hoping at the end of your post it would tell this. What an awesome new truck we have. chevman

Here in Arizona during the fall and winter months full timers horde the campsites. CG rules state a maximum stay of 14 nights in the same site. When the reservation system opens for a given period they'll book another 14 night stay and move their rig to the new site. Several told me they have an app that auto books them at midnight when the reservations open for the time frame they need.

We did 13 states between Aug.15th and Oct. 3rd. May have made one reservation the rest was wing it and we were not turned away. One campground was a first come first served. Stayed two weeks at one place.
stayed at a few KOA's and they still had sites when we got there without reservations. This is how we usually travel. Has worked for us for the last 17 years.

goducks10 wrote:
I'm from Oregon and yeah it's amazing how many are still booked up. Some of that though has to do with the State parks themselves. Many will close certain loops because they don't fill up and it's less maintenance to do.
Two weeks ago we stayed at Bend Sisters Garden RV park. It was all but full. Last weekend we stayed at Armitage Park in Eugene and it was full.
You can get into some of the coast St parks. South Beach is usually a good option. Beverly Beach tends to stay full longer.
I think it's a combination of brisk RV sales and warmer weather lasting longer into the season.

Well, have been hosting the last three months at South Beach, the first two I don’t think the “Campground Full Sign” ever came down. The last couple weeks mid week is pretty open, but still close to full on the weekends.
It is also the season that many of the costal parks start closing off loops for cost savings.
I may be a bit biased, I feel Oregon has one of the best State Park systems in the nation. During the summer the coast is going to be full! This continues well past back to school, as the older campers like it a little quieter come out and fill the parks.
Even in winter we would get reservations so we knew we had a big enough spot for our rig.

Here in the southeast it depends on where you want to go, and the time of the year. During the Summer if you want a lakefront site, you better reserve at least a couple of weeks ahead of time, after about mid Sept it's not a problem. In the North Georgia mountains, in the fall you better get reservations a couple of months in advance. Florida State parks in the Keys, you have to reserve as soon as they become available 11 months ahead of time.

It is hard to do a spur of the moment lake trip on the weekends during the summer.

I'm hoping they start building some new campgrounds either public, or private. In many areas they are needed.