Traveling in the summer

We always wanted to see St. Augustine, FL and camp at Anastasia SP. Watched their reservation site for the closest to the dates we wanted and went from there. Reserved our 4 day stay, by guessing at a "good" site from the reservation site, google earth, RV ParkReviews and any other info I could garner.
Pretty much based our 3 week trip around that. It was the focal point and we made that the middle of our tour of the south. All worked out fine as we enjoyed every CG before and after. Just have to be flexible at times.

We camped in the summer when the kids were young. We normally made reservations. We occasionally camp in the summer with the grand kids and have always made reservations. Usually,you can normally find an open spot for one night when you're traveling unless it's a holiday weekend. For longer stays I would make reservations. And it's easier to get them if you book from Sunday through Thursday. The weekends are much harder to get a site the longer you wait to book. If you can still camp in the off season, that's best. Easier to get sites and less people. We went to Yellowstone in May. We had a reservation for the first night because it was a Saturday. We also had reservations in Yellowstone for Wednesday through Saturday. But the rest of the trip we didn't have reservations. We stayed mostly at state parks and paid anywhere from $16 to $26 for sites with electric.I tried to figure how far we would go in one day and then find a state park close by. It worked out very well.

jplante4 wrote:
All that being said, remember that other people's plans tend to change and there are always last minute cancellations.

Good point. We've gotten into Madison and Bridge Bay campgrounds in Yellowstone this way. We just pulled up, asked for a site and a long one was available. It also worked for Zion Nat'l Park - Watchman campground.

All that being said, remember that other people's plans tend to change and there are always last minute cancellations. I heard similar "horror stories" about doing the southeast over the winter. "Make advanced reservations", "stay away from this area" etc. We had no problems planning a couple of weeks in advance, and summer camping in the northern climes won't be much different. Last summer, we decided last minute that we didn't want to deal with Cape Cod on July 4th and made reservations at a KOA close by (but OFF cape). They had several sites available due to late cancellations. As is usual, people make reservations a year in advance on the popular weekends and find themselves unable to go.

If you avoid the camping spots close to large population centers or tourist attractions, you won't have a problem.

Snowman9000 wrote:
I read horror stories about the crowds in the summer. Of course, we don't like crowds. Who does. :) So how bad is RV-ing in the summer? Or is this much ado about nothing?

having camped for 35 years, mainly on the West Coast, camping in the summer is as bad as you can imagine.
so bad, that we quit camping in the summer, 20 years ago.
only camp spring and fall and weekdays.
no summers, holidays or weekends.

luckily i was a firefighter so i could go weekdays and non-summertime/holidays. and now i'm retired, we still do the same.

Being a retired couple from the mid-west and enjoying the Gulf Coast either before Memorial Day or after Labor Day was our rule of thumb. Not so much any more, between spring and fall breaks and the year around school and their frequent breaks, there are families with children every where. And you never know when they'll be there. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that kids get introduced to the wonders out of doors. My parents took me CAMPING when I was 6 mos. old, just turned 70 the other day, and still loving it. And I should not complain about the families with youngsters being the only reason for crowds at the parks. I AM A BABY BOOMER and we're totally consuming the camping space. More of us hit the road every day.
So with that said my advice is to have a Plan B.

We live in GA and spend our summers in NJ. Our campground is more inland, about 15 miles from Philadelphia. It's not a tourist attraction - about 45 minutes to the closest NJ beach, but it is close to family which is why we are there. As our parents get older, they can't travel to see us anymore, so we spend the summers there so they can see their grand kids and we get a break from the relentless GA sun.

Our campground is pretty quiet during the week in the summer. It starts filling up Thursday and back to quiet Sunday evening. Holiday weekends are usually packed. Our campground doesn't allow pets, which probably keeps it from filling up all the time. Along the coast of NJ, campgrounds are usually close to full all summer long.

It would probably be beneficial to try a few different campgrounds for a summer or two to find one you like. Try to stay away from touristy areas to avoid the worst traffic and crowds. We lucked out and found our campground first try - although it wasn't hard since there are only 3 campgrounds in the County and the other 2 are a good bit further from family than we want to be.

-Michael

Thanks everyone for the insight.

We leave Florida in June, usually for a couple months or longer. I do plan out the trip and make reservations at the more popular spots, but have never had an issue with getting a site at or near where I wanted to be. Now, it's just the opposite here in FL in the winter. It's pretty much impossible to get a site without having made reservations way in advance.