For the first time in many, many years of camping, Genie and I were pushed to find a campsite several times during our last trip from end of August into October. We were never without, but we understand the method and have always made no camping reservations - it's really getting harder in the destination parks, both state and national. But we often explore out of the "public eye" areas too, so that helps.
We actually arrived at N Rim and could not get a site, but did get one of the last two in that NF campground right outside the entrance for two days, could have had more, but we had to wiggle. We did get a few days at So Rim entrance CG with no problem, but it filled by very afternoon. That's the first time in years we've seen so many open AM but filled by PM ...
I suspect some of it is sale of RV's as the RV industry matured over the years. But also believe more families stay in USA and Canada - camping - rather than travel abroad for vacations due to the unrest in many areas.
We also spoke to numerous foreign travelers that chose USA rather than other countries for the same reason - unrest.
