Recreation.gov website

Any system can be abused in regards to reserving in advance. It is not the systems fault it is people.
What would you recommend walk up only?
For me I am not able to get out of town until Friday late afternoon and I really like being able to arrive sometimes after dark and my site is reserved.
Many of the best sites in my area are full in the summer and we would not have the chance to camp if it were not for this system.
Like I said "I like it and it is well run and worth the money"
jesseannie

mpierce wrote:

We detest the reservation system. Those of us who cannot set our vacation schedules ahead of time, are locked out. One time, we were able to take off at the last moment. Got to a park, and we could not get a site because it was all "booked". We dry camped nearby, and when we drove by early the next AM, I would guess over 50% of the sites were empty. The system is being terribly abused. I wish there was some way to surcharge 100% if one does not show up for a reservation, without canceling 24 hours in advance. That would stop at least some of the damage.

The national forest sites I've seen, you forfeit the 1st night's fee if you don't cancel more than 2s hrs in advance. And, you lose the entire reservation if you aren't actually at the campsite the first night. No dropping off a chair or two and coming back 3 days later.

I wonder if the problems are more geographical. I really don't see any empty spots in Northern Canifornia. And the national forests have a good mix of reservable and walk-ins, either within one campground, or campground A is reservable, campground B a bit aways is all walk-in.

I love and use RA and Rec.gov for virtually all of my camping.

2gypsies wrote:

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
I even know one couple who reserve a specific site EVERY weekend all summer on Lake Texoma north of Dallas - and only go about 1/2 the time. So the site is locked out for drive up campers even those weekends because the couple doesn't care about losing the Friday night camping fee.

I knew there were some people who played the system and didn't care about the cost, but after we got into volunteer camp hosting at NPS and state park - I've found it is very common.

As volunteers we have found this to be the case, too. It is truly selfish of people to do this and lock others out. It made us sick to see a unused site sit for the weekend when others really wanted to be there.

We detest the reservation system. Those of us who cannot set our vacation schedules ahead of time, are locked out. One time, we were able to take off at the last moment. Got to a park, and we could not get a site because it was all "booked". We dry camped nearby, and when we drove by early the next AM, I would guess over 50% of the sites were empty. The system is being terribly abused. I wish there was some way to surcharge 100% if one does not show up for a reservation, without canceling 24 hours in advance. That would stop at least some of the damage.

I tried to get a site in the Everglades NP with Reserve. Online did not give me any openings. I was on hold for 15 minutes when I called & they did have 2 days open too late for me. Then I saw the additional reservation fee and another additional cancelation fee. Money grabbers.

I talked to the Park Service campground officials there and at several other spots and they all hated the non-park reservation system and felt it should just be run by the staff at each campground like commercial cg's.

Wow. I guess I am really cheap - I'm not willing to lose $10 that easily.

Maybe recreation.gov/reserveamerica should collect data on the non-show-uppers and start denying them reservations... I know not really practical, but it's a shame folks play these games and take the opportunity away from everyone else.

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
I even know one couple who reserve a specific site EVERY weekend all summer on Lake Texoma north of Dallas - and only go about 1/2 the time. So the site is locked out for drive up campers even those weekends because the couple doesn't care about losing the Friday night camping fee.

I knew there were some people who played the system and didn't care about the cost, but after we got into volunteer camp hosting at NPS and state park - I've found it is very common.

As volunteers we have found this to be the case, too. It is truly selfish of people to do this and lock others out. It made us sick to see a unused site sit for the weekend when others really wanted to be there.

Ever tried to get a reservation at Yosemite, Bahia Hondo State Park, and some other really popular locations?

Heck, I even know one couple who reserve a specific site EVERY weekend all summer on Lake Texoma north of Dallas - and only go about 1/2 the time. So the site is locked out for drive up campers even those weekends because the couple doesn't care about losing the Friday night camping fee.

I knew there were some people who played the system and didn't care about the cost, but after we got into volunteer camp hosting at NPS and state park - I've found it is very common.

I've had 'fully booked' campgrounds less than 1/2 full on prime weekends.

On a regular weekend my unscientific guess is 20-30% of paid campers don't show up. When you see the same names reserving the same sites over and over, and seldom show up, makes me cynical.

It just depends on the organization and the campground. What I've noticed is that those campgrounds that are open seasonal and book up quickly usually have the service fee attached. I suspect it keeps folks from booking throughout the season and then cancelling at the last second any period they don't end up using.

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
Various states and agencies impose cancellation fees to simply try to keep people from making reservations on a 'maybe' basis.

It really doesn't work as a deterrent in my opinion.

Why don't you think so? It works for me. I spend $60 to $100 for a 4-day camping trip and that extra $10 to change or cancel is more than I want to give up, so I'm really careful about my reservations.