I recently pulled into a beautiful Forest Service campground in UT and found that all but two camp sites in the loop were reserved for three days, including the day I arrived. This was not on a weekend. I noticed that the dates on the reservation cards were the same but the names were different. So I felt fortunate to get one of the remaining sites and expected campers to start pouring in later in the day. It never happened. And when I left in the morning I noticed that only two of the sites were occupied (of about twenty). This is not the first time I've seen 'reserved' sites remain empty. I try to choose campgrounds with a 'no reservations' policy for this very reason but it seems to be more common now for USFS to allow them.

I can kind of see your point, but consider that without reservations, those sites might have stayed vacant anyway, and no income would have been produced at all.

fj12ryder wrote:I can kind of see your point, but consider that without reservations, those sites might have stayed vacant anyway, and no income would have been produced at all.Boy, do I not agree with the idea of being happy about the CG making money on folks that do not show up. The important thing about this is that it cuts down on the available campsites for those that do show up. OP - I have the same reservations.

Years ago NC State parks required a 4 night stay in order to reserve a site. And we would frequently reserve and pay for a fourth night in order to ensure we had a site available for the three nights we would plan on being there. I didnt want to drive 3.5 hours to be told no sites were available. Could this be the case here?

kerrlakeRoo, I just looked up the reservation website and there doesn't seem to be such a policy there. Good question, though. I think I'll just stick to 'first come, first served' campgrounds.

In some areas rv rental companies reserve sites so they can package them with the rvs they rent, sometimes people's plans change and they don't cancel the reservation. Sometimes ?....

Reservations about Reservations in USFS campgrounds

34 Replies

mockturtle
Explorer II
Jun 03, 2018
kerrlakeRoo, I just looked up the reservation website and there doesn't seem to be such a policy there. Good question, though. I think I'll just stick to 'first come, first served' campgrounds.
kerrlakeRoo
Explorer
Jun 03, 2018
Years ago NC State parks required a 4 night stay in order to reserve a site. And we would frequently reserve and pay for a fourth night in order to ensure we had a site available for the three nights we would plan on being there.
I didnt want to drive 3.5 hours to be told no sites were available.
Could this be the case here?
pasusan
Explorer
Jun 03, 2018
fj12ryder wrote:
I can kind of see your point, but consider that without reservations, those sites might have stayed vacant anyway, and no income would have been produced at all.
Boy, do I not agree with the idea of being happy about the CG making money on folks that do not show up. The important thing about this is that it cuts down on the available campsites for those that do show up.

OP - I have the same reservations.
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Jun 03, 2018
I can kind of see your point, but consider that without reservations, those sites might have stayed vacant anyway, and no income would have been produced at all.

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Reservations about Reservations in USFS campgrounds

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